by Steven Warner

For the Sake of Vicious doesn’t reinvent anything, but is a lean, nasty thriller that doubles as a remarkable calling card for the directing duo. Writer-directors Gabriel Carrer and Reese Evensehen are no strangers to the DIY Canadian horror scene, each having delivered a…

Episode Description: This week, the fountain of youth wreaks havoc on the lives of Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, and Goldie Hawn in 1992’s dark comedy Death Becomes Her, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Streep plays a vain, aging actress trapped in a loveless marriage who…

Thunder Force is yet another high-concept comedy collab between McCarthy and Falcone that fails at, well, being funny. On its surface, a film like Thunder Force holds promise. An original superhero concept in the present climate is a rare thing, but one that is…

Moffie is a visually striking film but one which suffers for failing to fully commit to the ugliness inherent to its narrative. Moffie is the sort of prestige drama that possesses all of the hallmarks of so-called important filmmaking, but one which fails to…

Held manages to best Cluff and Lofing’s The Gallows, but it still an abysmal, problematic, and tension-free failure. The new marriage-in-peril thriller Held comes courtesy of directing duo Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing, the two dudes responsible for 2015’s found-footage horror flick The Gallows,…

Episode Description: This week, we’re talking 2021’s first legitimate blockbuster (of a sort): Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the four-hour behemoth currently streaming on HBO Max. Yes, we’re aware this isn’t a summer film, but we covered the 2017 original. Also, we’re gluttons for punishment.…

Bad Trip fulfills its minimum obligation to produce a baseline number of laughs, and does very little else. Bad Trip is yet another casualty of COVID-19’s continuing battle with theatrical releases. Originally set to debut in April of 2020, the film was ultimately picked…

Happily is heady, genuinely hilarious, and a work of impressive tonal balance from director BenDavid Grabinski. The law of diminishing returns dictates that, over time, optimal output will ultimately level off as new variants are introduced into the equation. The same goes for relationships; the…

Violet, written and directed by actress Justine Bateman in her feature film debut, is a tale of female empowerment told with a full measure of bluntness. Its opening moments are a flurry of shock cuts depicting decay and destruction. Its protagonist, the titular Violet…

Character actor extraordinaire Udo Kier takes center stage in Swan Song, writer-director Todd Stephens’ affectionate snapshot of “true life icon” Pat Pitsenbarger, a Sandusky, Ohio hair stylist and local gay icon. The film finds Pitsenbarger in the final stages of a fabulous life gone…