THE SHACK, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, is a well-meaning and heartfelt film that dares to tackle a fiendishly tricky question. If God is good and loves us all, why does She allow evil in the world? Couched in parables and riddles, and for all its gentleness of spirit, it arrives… Read More »
THE DARKNESS
THE DARKNESS, released without a press screening, and on Friday the Thirteenth, is everything you’d expect. It’s a tame and insultingly derivative version of POLTERGEIST, right down to the sulky teenage daughter and the darling little kid who sees spirits. That the little kid is a boy, not a blond cherub of a girl, and… Read More »
LONDON HAS FALLEN
Full disclosure, I was not a fan of OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, the previous film exploring the victim/savior relationship between President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and crack Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler). Thus, I was not hoping for much when I approached LONDON HAS FALLEN. The trick to staying sane in this business is… Read More »
SURROGATES
Ever since 18th century philosopher/ mathematician Rene Descartes first dreamed up the image of the ghost in the machine to explain the relationship of mind to body, the image has held potent sway with popular imagination. The concept itself, where the body ends and the person begins, is a question that many philosophers have addressed,… Read More »
CRAZIES, THE
THE CRAZIES, a remake of the 1973 George Romero flick of the same name, is a nicely written, well acted, and perfectly directed entry into the jump-and-scare subgenre of horror. Set in the sleepy Iowa town of Owen Marsh, which is the emblematic of the heartland and its all-American values, it takes little time to… Read More »
CRAZIES DVD, THE
Some remakes pay perfunctory respect to the source material, but THE CRAZIES DVD release does more than that. It is a proper homage to the man who made it possible, George A. Romero, and the sub-genre of political horror that he pioneered. There amid the usual deleted scenes and how-we-did-it featurettes, is THE GEORGE A.… Read More »
SILENT HILL
I’m going to do something that I usually try very hard to avoid in a review. I’m going to plop a spoiler into it. Not only that, I’m going to do it in the very first paragraph. I’m going to do it for two reasons. One, it’s integral to the bitch slap I’m about to… Read More »
FEAST OF LOVE
After a promising beginning, FEAST OF LOVE devolves into a sloppy wallow in melodrama of the most turgid variety. It dallies with hyperbole, but refuses to commit to a conceit that might have made it all come together as a satisfying whole. Instead of magic, it is at best contrived. Morgan Freeman is our narrator.… Read More »