MIDSOMMAR Review — It’s a Cruel, Cruel Summer
Midsommar review — Ari Aster, the director of Hereditary, doubles down on the dread in his follow-up feature. Dani (Florence Pugh) is a young woman with literally no one in the world. Her family is gone and while her long-term boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) is physically there, he’s emotionally elsewhere. Grasping at straws, a grief-stricken Dani…
ANNABELLE COMES HOME Review — Get the Guest Room Ready!
Annabelle Comes Home review — Her tagline is: “Miss me?” Fortunately, she still hasn’t worn out her welcome with this sinister third installment. Determined to keep the possessed doll known as “Annabelle” from killing anyone else (see: the first two Annabelle movies), demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) lock the haunted…
Rock Doc Roundup – Films Featuring Bob Dylan, David Crosby and Bill Wyman
Staci Layne Wilson provides a rock doc rundown of great movies to watch now, and others that are up and coming. The past year has been something of a golden age for music movies, with the Oscar-winning success of Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born. At the moment, The Dirt and Rocketman reign supreme…
JT LEROY Review – A Movie Within A Film, A Truth Within A Lie
JT LeRoy review — A surprisingly pedestrian take on a fascinating and elaborate story. Everyone thought androgynous urchin Jeremiah Terminator “JT” LeRoy was a bestselling author in the late 1990s thanks to his heart-wrenching, poignant autobiographical novels “Sarah” and “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.” There’s just one problem: JT didn’t exist. He was…
PET SEMATARY Review – It’s the Cat’s Meow
Pet Sematary review — This resurrection of the 1980’s novel and film adaptation is frightfully good. Based on the bone-chilling horror novel by Stephen King, Pet Sematary follows Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), his haunted wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and their two children, 9-year-old Ellie (Jete Laurence) and toddler Gage (twins Hugo and Lucas Lavoie),…
Fosse/Verdon Review – It’s Showtime on FX!
Fosse/Verdon review — Life was not always a cabaret for Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, but their tango makes for great television. In an eight-episode miniseries spanning five decades, Fosse/Verdon explores the romantic and creative partnership between Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams). He is a visionary filmmaker and one of the…
THE ACT REVIEW — Hulu’s Latest is a Top-Notch True-Crime Thriller
The Act Review — Hulu’s latest offering is based on the ice cold killing of the world’s most famous Munchausen-by-proxy moms. The Act is a Hulu Original miniseries, the first in a “seasonal anthology series that tells startling, stranger-than-fiction true crime stories.” This season tells the tale behind the ice-cold killing of the world’s most…
VELVET BUZZSAW Review — A Darkly Comedic Fright Flick Based on the Adage: “Art is Dangerous”
In her Velvet Buzzsaw review, critic Staci Layne Wilson says it’s one of the better horror movies she’s seen lately. And it’s oh-so stylish! Velvet Buzzsaw stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, John Malkovich, and Toni Collette as ambitious art aficionados clawing their way to the pinnacle of their profession. This is an empty, air-inflated world…
I AM THE NIGHT Review – Pulp Mystery That Takes Itself Too Seriously
I Am the Night Review — Fun pulpy noir, despite the lack of definitive tone. I’m a true-crime addict—I read all the books, listen to podcasts, and of course watch each and every one of the lurid shows on the Investigation Discovery Channel—so when I heard about TNT’s I Am the Night, I simply had to…
GLASS Review – Fragile Story Holds Together, But Just Barely
Staci Layne Wilson’s Glass review says it combines elements from Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016), then weaves them into something wicked, new and intriguing. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan has crafted an intriguing if somewhat convoluted tale in Glass, which can best be described as a dark superhero thriller. It combines characters and elements from Unbreakable…
