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The first found-footage horror flick, The Blair Witch Project (1999) never really lived up to its potential as a film or a franchise. The concept and the mythology behind it were solid, but like its ill-fated cast the movie ran around in circles before coming to an abrupt and unfortunate end. It had barely scratched the surface of its … Continue reading
It’s tempting to describe Morgan as a poor man’s Ex Machina or a more competent Transcendence, but to do so would be reductive and a little unfair. Sure, it’s a pulpy B-grade sci-fi thriller, but it’s a sleek, smart, and well-made pulpy B-grade sci-fi thriller that catches you off-guard a few times. A Black List script written … Continue reading
A fun piece of throwaway cinema, The Shallows is a sleek, beautifully shot, and mostly satisfying thriller that plays it smart and simple, only faltering by opting for a schlocky climax. It’s not the new Jaws by any stretch of the imagination, but where that movie transcended genre, The Shallows cleverly plays with it. Blake Lively (Green Lantern, … Continue reading
It’s tempting to call Green Room the punk successor to Deliverance, but that glosses over the brilliance writer-director Jeremy Saulnier’s smart, ferocious, blood-soaked thriller. His previous film, Blue Ruin, was an art house family drama disguised as a B-grade revenge flick; Green Room is a B-grade exploitation thriller with art house sensibilities. It’s schlock so smartly written … Continue reading
In all fairness to screenwriter Max Landis (Fantastic Four) and director Paul McGuigan (Sherlock), finding a fresh spin on Mary Shelley’s classic novel is no easy feat. On the surface of it, re-jiggering the story as a mildly demented buddy movie is one of the few iterations left; unfortunately, the execution is lack and Victor Frankenstein … Continue reading
A sporadically clever zombie-themed romantic comedy, Life After Beth makes a valiant effort to shake up the zombie movie genre in terms of tone and content, but it arrives late to the party in terms of both. it’s a nice change of pace, the story is quirky, and the players are endearing, but it’s too thin … Continue reading
A poor man’s The Exorcist grafted to a by-the-numbers police procedural, Scott Derrickson’s Deliver Us from Evil gets more mileage from its hybrid premise than one would expect, by it quickly goes adrift in before coming to rest with an anti-climactic thud of a conclusion. The story is based on the book Beware the Night … Continue reading
An atypical horror movie that could have been great but instead settled for mediocrity and recycled tropes, Oculus is a frustrating near-miss. By focusing less on gore (though there’s still enough on display to meet minimum requirements) and more on its characters and intriguing premise, it sets up gripping tale — and then it runs … Continue reading
The Magnolia’s Big Movie film series continues with Mike Nichols’ iconic comedy The Graduate (1967), 7:30pm and 10pm, March 4, at the theater. Details The Texas Theatre’s Tuesday Night Trash series returns with a screening of Mardi Gras Massacre (1978), 9:15pm, March 4, at the theater. Details The Alamo Drafthouse’s Wes Anderson Week runs through March 6 with screenings of movies from the … Continue reading
The Alamo Drafthouse’s Big Screen Classics series continues with a screening of Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca (1942), 12:30pm, February 23, at the theater. Details The Alamo Drafthouse’s Tough-Guy Cinema series presents a screening of Walter Hill’s cult classic Streets of Fire (1984), 9pm, February 24, at the theater. Details The Magnolia’s Big Movie film series continues with Philip Kaufman’s historical drama The Right Stuff (1983), 7:30, … Continue reading
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