Keri Russell doesn’t often do genre films, and while I like the subject matter of Dark Skies, I wish she had chosen a slightly stronger film to be a part of. The last third of the film is just terrible and isn’t executed very well. And why are the Greys, which have been portrayed as…
Tag: climax
21 Jump Street (2012) – Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
I tried twice to start watching 21 Jump Street, the first time, I only got about seven minutes in, and couldn’t vibe with it. The second time, I got all the way through, and while I’m not the biggest Jonah Hill fan, and didn’t care for all of the humour, I really enjoyed this one….
The Church (1989) – Michele Soavi
Lamberto Bava stepped out of the director’s chair for Michele Soavi, but remained heavily involved in the production alongside Dario Argento. It was originally supposed to be a third entry in the Demons series, but Soavi wanted to make a slightly more elevated picture, and Demons 3 was forgotten to tell a different kind of…
The Exorcist: Believer (2023) – David Gordon Green
For the first few minutes of The Exorcist: Believer I thought that maybe the reviews were wrong, that they had been too harsh, or maybe didn’t understand what the film was trying to do. It’s opening felt, to me, very much in line with the original film, until the earthquake hit, and from that moment…
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Strike Zone (1989) – Peter David
Peter David delivered his first Star Trek novel with Stroke Zone. Originally planned to be a novel in The Original Series catalogue, it was changed and updated to take place near the beginning of season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beverly Crusher is at Starfleet Medical, Dr. Pulaski has taken over as the…
Scratch One (1967) – Micheal Crichton
Michael Crichton’s second novel, which he wrote under his pseudonym of John Lange, is a fast-paced thriller that plays on the familiar trope of mistaken identity. This time out an American lawyer, Roger Carr, finds himself mistaken for a high-profile hitman and finds himself stuck between opposing sides in an arms deal which has its…
Escape Plan (2013) – Mikael Hafstrom
Escape Plan feels like a bit of an action throwback and leans into the escapist (pun intended) entertainment of the 80s and early 90s. And what better way to do that than with two of the biggest stars of the 80s Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Stallone plays Ray Breslin, a professional escape artist. He…
Burnt Offerings (1976) – Dan Curtis
The 1976 creepy house tale of Burnt Offerings didn’t engage me as much as the novel did. It has a fairly solid cast, but honestly, it didn’t quite have the eeriness that seemed to permeate the book. The film features Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davis, Burgess Meredith and the always-menacing Anthony James. The Rolf…
The Witch: Part 2 – The Other One (2022) – Park Hoon-jung
The Korean actioner, The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion was very engaging and I loved how it built a world and introduced the viewer to genetic manipulation, enhancing the human state, the variety of parties involved and a hint of the plan at its heart. The first film ended with some interesting reveals about…
Batman: Hush (2019) – Justin Copeland
The DC Animation adaptation of Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee is a solid piece of work and attempts to walk a balancing act between the established canon of the animated films, and the comics. There are also a lot of layers at work throughout the course of the film, something that doesn’t happen…
The Mind Reels 