Flames are never far from Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), starting with those lapping near, but not too near, his heels as he exits the house that he’s just set alight over the body he’s deposited beneath the floorboards. In Guillermo del Toro’s oneiric vision of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel, NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Notice, too, the… Read More »
DEAR JOHN
DEAR JOHN continues the translation from page to screen of wholesome romances devised by genre juggernaut Nicholas Sparks. This one weaves 9/11 into a story about the distances between people and the difficulties in bridging them, whether those distances are spatial or emotional. Our lovely couple are Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) and John (Channing Tatum), two… Read More »
LET ME IN
LET ME IN unfolds at a deliberate pace, all the better to allow the audience to assimilate this unusual take on the vampire mythos. The film, a variation on the Scandinavian art-house hit LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, aspires to do more than shock with gore. And it does. The shock, though, is in considering vampirism,… Read More »