Danny McBride, with director David Gordon Green, on the set of Halloween. Watching the original Halloween in 2018, it can be hard to appreciate exactly what was so scary about it in 1978. We’ve seen so many derivations of it (from Friday the 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street) and we’ve seen it referenced, […]
Vince Mancini
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The “North Carolina Mafia” Do Horror: Danny McBride Explains How He Ended Up Writing Halloween
Watching the original Halloween in 2018, it can be hard to appreciate exactly what was so scary about it in 1978. We’ve seen so many derivations of it (from Friday the 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street) and we’ve seen it referenced, analyzed, parodied, and homaged so many times (in Scream and everything else) […]
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The Miseducation of Cameron Post Takes on “Gay Conversion Therapy”
The Miseducation of Cameron Post was one of those movies I instinctively avoided at Sundance—a decision that was, admittedly, based on very little information. With festival schedules, you usually only get an image and a synopsis to go on, and based on Miseducation’s single still frame, it seemed to fit a certain kind of festival […]
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The Miseducation of Cameron Post Review: A Tweener Indie, with Potential
Spoiler: “Gay-Conversion Therapy” Doesn’t Work
Spoiler: “Gay-Conversion Therapy” Doesn’t Work
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Sicario: Day of the Soldado Is a Gross Pastiche of Paranoid Fox News Fantasies
I had inklings that screenwriter Taylor Sheridan might have some Fox News Dad tendencies as far back as Sicario. Not enough to totally ruin his movies, but… reservations. So when Sicario announced a sequel and the poster for it came out looking like an Affliction shirt, I was already worried that everything that felt mildly […]
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Upgrade Isn’t Good, Exactly, But It’s Fun as Hell
One of the things I miss most about my childhood is being able to enjoy movies that were kind of bad. Steven Seagal vehicles come to mind, but there were lots of others. Movies that weren’t good, exactly, and clearly hadn’t cost a lot to make, but nonetheless had a certain dynamism and visceral thump. […]
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Upgrade Review: Poor Man’s RoboCop Meets Working-Class Black Mirror
A Schlock Sci-Fi Action Thriller That’s Fun as Hell
A schlock sci-fi action thriller that’s fun as hell.
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Deadpool 2 Review: Finally, a Superhero Who Doesn’t Save the Universe
Plus, It’s Not Three Hours Long!
Plus, it’s not three hours long!
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The Post Is a Reminder of Why Newspapers Matter
We’ve seen a lot of iterations of Steven Spielberg, from Sci-Fi Spielberg (Minority Report, War of the Worlds) to Prestige Spielberg (Schindler’s List, Lincoln) to Middlebrow Schmaltz Spielberg (The Terminal, War Horse). The Post reveals yet another Spielberg: Message Spielberg. Unlike say, Oliver Stone, we’ve rarely seen Spielberg with a bee in his bonnet, delivering […]
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The Post Review: Spielberg’s Ode to the Adversarial Press
Hey, Neat! A Reminder of Why Newspapers Matter!
Hey, neat! A reminder of why newspapers matter!
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Downsizing: FINALLY, a Movie About an Itty Bitty Matt Damon
In Downsizing, Alexander Payne’s big idea is to try to treat his film’s title as literally as possible, positing a world where a Norwegian scientist has invented a shrink ray that can reduce organic matter to a thousandth of its original size. Why? Well, since we can’t enlarge the Earth and its finite resources, maybe […]
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Aww! Look How Teensy Weensy Matt Damon Is in Downsizing!
He’s So Itty Bitty!
He’s so itty bitty!