Smile (2022) – Parker Finn

Paramount Pictures’ latest theatrical release is an unnerving look parable for what happens with trauma when we just simply grin and bear it, instead of speaking of it openly, freely and dealing with it when it happens. Doctor Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) works as a psychologist in the emergency department of a major hospital. She’s…

Battle Royale (2000) – Kinji Fukasaku

It’s been over a decade since I last watched this iconic action film. And while I didn’t remember all of the characters and details of the film I knew it was a kick-ass film and was eager to take a look at it. Wrapped in blood and violence the film is a harsh coming of…

The Final Girl Support Group (2021) – Grady Hendrix

I’ve been a fan of Grady Hendrix’s writing since I first discovered the vhs looking cover of My Best Friend’s Exorcism. Since then, I hunted down anything he’d written before and after that (two last titles to read and I’m caught up) so I dug eagerly into The Final Girl Support Group. A Final Girl…

Hell House LLC (2015) – Stephen Cognetti

The found footage sub-genre of the horror realm can be hit or miss. You not only have to be willing to be swept up into the tale, and the reality it presents, it also has to be engaging enough to keep the viewer involved. Therefore it has to have an interesting story, and at the…

Hannibal (2001) – Ridley Scott

Anthony Hopkins returns to his iconic role of the cannibalistic doctor, Hannibal Lector in the sequel to the brilliant The Silence of the Lambs. This film shows up in Ten Bad Dates with De Niro on a list of films that it is painful to like. Jodie Foster and director Jonathan Demme elected not to…

Space: 1999 (1977) – Dorzak, and Devil’s Planet

Here we are in the penultimate week of my Space: 1999 reviews, which means including this review, there are four episodes left in the series. Having said that I don’t expect much of a tie up for the last episode. Dorzak is the first episode up this week (though the continuity is still a bit…

The Dark Tower IV.V: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012) – Stephen King

Published eight years after the last volume of The Dark Tower series, Stephen King created another tale to share of the gunslinger Roland Deschain of the line of Eld. Following their escape from the castle that was not the Emerald City from Wizard and Glass, Roland, Susannah, Jake, Eddie and Oy the billy-bumbler take shelter…

Space: 1999 (1975) – Alpha Child, and Dragon’s Domain

Moonbase Alpha continues it’s not exactly lonely journey through space – there is a lot of life out there apparently, and all so conveniently close for storytelling purposes. First up this week, Koenig (Martin Landau), Dr. Russell (Barbara Bain) and Professor Bergman (Barry Morse) meet the Alpha Child. Written by Christopher Penfold and Edward di…

Sophie’s Choice (1982) – Alan J. Pakula

The recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film for my screening of Schindler’s List are all powerful and exceptional films, and the first one featured some truly stunning performances. Adapted from the novel by William Styron, Pakula adapted and directed this moving and stunning film that sees Meryl Streep, in an Oscar…