I have found a love for the modern Western in the past few years. From direct reimaginings of classics like True Grit to genre blends like Bone Tomahawk, modern cowboy stories are making a grand return. The latest entry into the chronicles of the 21st century rancher is Concrete Cowboy, the feature debut of Ricky…
Writer/director/actor Jim Cummings had one of the best sleeper hits of 2018 with Thunder Road. Adapted from his short film of the same name, Cummings’ performance is a tour de force in the story of a police officer overcoming his internal turbulence when his professional and personal life begin to crumble. The Wolf of Snow…
David is your average lonely guy. He lives with his elderly mother, who calls him by his father’s name. He takes care of her (and watches old Cary Grant flicks with her) and the small neighborhood home they inhabit. He’s also subscribed to a retro version of Tinder, where your dating profile is recorded onto…
One of the many deep corners of cinema that I have wandered into in the past few months has been the filmography of one Herschell Gordon Lewis. A patriarch of the video nasty era, Lewis often shares the title of “Godfather of Gore” with giallo maestro Lucio Fulci. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, a film…
The tragic passing of American filmmaker Stuart Gordon in March of 2020 led me down the winding road that is his filmography. Rarely has a filmmaker sported a catalogue so varied in content and consistent in quality. From splatter comedies like Re-Animator to grimy drama Stuck, Gordon was a multifaceted and layered creator. When watching…
I love Johnny Cash. I’ve loved him since high school, listening to the Essential compilation and picking up random records of his that I would find in antique stores. I remember when the trailer for Logan came out, perfectly utilizing Cash’s version of “Hurt” to set the tone for one of my favorite movies of…
Streaming services have been great lately for satisfying my appetite for cinema in these times. I’ve been visiting a lot of classic films from great filmmakers and hidden gems that I never would have discovered without this much time on my hands. Cue my surprise when I saw this new release from Netflix, a Spanish…
I would have been very happy to review The Hunt back in September when the very provocative first trailer was making the rounds. After the tragic shootings in Dayton and El Paso (and Donald Trump decrying the film on his ever monstrous Twitter account), Universal pulled the film indefinitely, only to release it a few…
Adolescence is a troubling time for almost everyone. Our teenage years are a time for growth, but that growth often comes from negative experiences. We learn about our place in the world, assess our past selves, and try to move on to become better. If we’re lucky, we overcome those negative events in our past…
Leigh Whannell is arguably one of the most underrated creative minds in the horror genre. Being a longtime partner of filmmaker James Wan, Whannell started his career as a writer. The two of them would collaborate and spawn the Saw and Insidious franchises. He finally made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3, and followed…
