★★★★ Despite capturing a gorgeous visual aesthetic, the first time I watched the newest Oscar-winning feature from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, I had a hard time following its largely symbolic exploration of grief through a magical realism lens. Upon subsequent viewings, The Boy and the Heron has evolved before my eyes into a breathtaking tapestry … Continue reading Film Review: The Boy and the Heron 4K
Fantastic Fest 2024: Frankie Freako
★★★★ Frankie Freako writer/director Steven Kostanski is certainly no stranger to the strange and unusual. After all, this is the same guy responsible for The Void, Leprechaun Returns, and perhaps most notably, Psycho Goreman. The latter film certainly feels closest in tone to this genre mish-mash, a pastiche of extraordinarily repugnant late 80s/early 90s content … Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2024: Frankie Freako
TV Review: The Penguin
Against all odds, Matt Reeves crafted a surprising masterpiece with his gritty, Se7en-esque take on the caped crusader with his 2022's flick, The Batman. A world so rich with detail ends up being the perfect fit for episodic television. The tertiary baddie of The Penguin still made a major impression in the Reeves film, and … Continue reading TV Review: The Penguin
Film Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
★★★★★ In the thirty-six years that have passed since the release of 1988's masterful dark comedy/horror flick Beetlejuice, not only has the cinema landscape changed entirely, but so has director Tim Burton's filmmaking style and technique. How would a decades-later sequel even work, considering the majority of those containing a massive gap between entries almost … Continue reading Film Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
TV Review: Interview with the Vampire – Season 2
After a surprisingly stellar debut season that came with the seal of late Anne Rice’s approval, Interview with the Vampire journeys to Paris as its gripping gothic romance bites into round two. That’s right, The Vampire Chronicles continues to have a chokehold over audiences in this queer-friendly version of the familiar tale. Creatively melding various … Continue reading TV Review: Interview with the Vampire – Season 2
TV Review: Knuckles
Spinning off from Sonic the Hedgehog and being set in between 2 and the upcoming third installment, Knuckles could have easily phoned it in to deliver an entertaining little side story. Take Knuckles, an outsider learning the customs of Earth for the very first time, present some manner of fish-out-of-water storyline, and sprinkle in some … Continue reading TV Review: Knuckles
Film Review: Sasquatch Sunset
★★ The legend of the Sasquatch has persevered for decades at this point, becoming the subject for many a horror film. Too often we have seen the Sasquatch depicted as a menace, some manner of odd, overly-large creature intent on harming anything that crosses its path. Curiously enough, writer/director David Zellner and his directing partner, … Continue reading Film Review: Sasquatch Sunset
Film Review: Lisa Frankenstein Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray
★★★★★ Coming to Blu-Ray at long last (and currently streaming on Peacock as of this writing), underrated horror/comedy/romance Lisa Frankenstein has a hell of a life for the lumbering dead! Written and directed by two bold female creatives in Diablo Cody and Zelda Williams respectively, this flick did not make much of a splash when … Continue reading Film Review: Lisa Frankenstein Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray
SXSW 2024: 3 Body Problem
From the creators of the legendary fantasy epic Game of Thrones comes… a character-based sci-fi thriller? While David Benioff and D.B. Weiss may not necessarily be the first names that spring to mind concerning aliens, they nevertheless make a bold entrance into the genre with gripping 3 Body Problem. Based on a massive trilogy of … Continue reading SXSW 2024: 3 Body Problem
Film Review: Damsel
★★★★ Right at the top of Netflix’s fantasy/action flick Damsel, Millie Bobby Brown’s Elodie exclaims that this is very much not a simple damsel in distress story. No princes will be swooping in to save the day, nor will first love’s kiss set her free. Elodie will be a different brand of princess, relying solely … Continue reading Film Review: Damsel