Guy Ritchie’s follow-up to his take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic creation, Sherlock Holmes, brought to life entertainingly by Robert Downey Jr., plays with some familiar elements, characters and story moments. It gives us a rousing second film that builds on the first and makes things personal for Holmes in his pursuit of Professor Moriarty…
Tag: brother
Age of Ash (2022) – Daniel Abraham
Orbit Books invited me to take a look at the first novel in The Kithamar Trilogy, a new fantasy series from author Daniel Abraham. Fantasy novels have always been a tough in for me, I enjoy Tolkien, have delved into some Terry Pratchett, and have been known to enjoy some fantasy entries in the ‘Young…
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) – Jun Fukuda
The dwellers of Seatopia send the drilling kaiju Megalon to the surface to destroy humanity for causing the destruction of a number of their people and their homes with the ongoing nuclear tests humanity is conducting. And despite the fact that they disappear about halfway through the film and don’t show up again, the rest…
The Lovely Bones (2009) – Peter Jackson
Director Peter Jackson adapted Alice Sebold’s heartbreaking novel, The Lovely Bones, to the big screen alongside his collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and while there are a lot of differences from the book to film (the novel definitely has more adult themes, and things were toned down for the teen, twenty-something audiences), and some…
Jeepers Creepers (2001) – Victor Salva
Back in 2001, I was still working in a video store, and I would take home all the new releases before they came out so I could watch them, and, according to the business model of the store, make recommendations. I enjoy my horror movies, and was intrigued by the idea of this one when…
Flight of the Navigator (1986) – Randal Kleiser
Disney delivers a staple of 80s childhood with a revisit to Flight of the Navigator. Watching it now, I find myself more interested in the mysteries going on at the edges of the story than the main thrust of the narrative following young David Freeman (Joey Cramer), his abduction and subsequent return eight years later,…
In the Tall Grass (2019) – Vincenzo Natali
In the Tall Grass a novella by horror legend Stephen King, and his son Joe Hill makes for a fascinating and unnerving watch, even if the film version leans towards a kind of happy ending that wasn’t even brushed on in the original source material. And speaking of, horror novels work on a whole different…
Get Out (2017) – Jordan Peele
With his directorial debut, Jordan Peele became a horror writer/director to watch, and cemented me as a fan. Crafting an unnerving and terrifying story layered in social commentary, Peele used the genre to deliver a powerful story about race, one that is executed with precision and perfection. Balancing mystery, truly horrific moments, and a sense…
Jungle Cruise (2021) – Jaume Collet-Serra
Disney’s latest film, is definitely an E-ticket ride to joy! Owing as much to the 1999 update of The Mummy and 1951’s The African Queen as it does the adventure serials of yesteryear, not to mention the ride that preceded it to the theatre, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise is a capital ‘S’…
Furious 7 (2015) – James Wan
Paul Walker’s final Fast and the Furious franchise due to his untimely death, who died during production, and caused the creative team to decide whether to work a way around that, or scrap the film entirely. Obviously, they worked around it, and the film itself is a huge action film that also gives Walker’s character,…
The Mind Reels 