Hollywood Reviews
Now Streaming: CURSED FILMS, The Stories Behind Horror's Cursed Cinema
Starting tomorrow on Shudder, Jay Cheel's five part docu series Cursed Films takes a look at some of horror's most infamous films. Films not lauded for their contribution to the genre but for strings of tragic, untimely events that led to the...
Streaming Soon: TALES FROM THE LOOP, Calmly Exploring the Impossible
Rebecca Hall and Jonathan Pryce star in the upcoming Amazon Prime series, created by Nathaniel Halpern ('Legion').
Blu-ray Review: LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN Hypnotizes
Murder. Neglect. Jealousy. Oppression. Obsession. These themes collide in Leave Her to Heaven, the oddly sunny drama-turned-film noir directed by John M. Stahl from the book by Ben Ames Williams. I say "oddly sunny" because it's a deceptive opening: the...
Now Streaming: STARGIRL Captures Real Magic on Screen
The newest film from director Julia Hart ('Fast Color'), now streaming on Disney+, surges with light and empathy.
Review: BLOODSHOT Gives Vin Diesel the Next, Not-So-Great Franchise Starter
Vin Diesel, Eiza Gonzalez and Guy Pearce star in the comic-book adaptation, directed by Dave Wilson.
Review: THE HUNT, Satirical Action Thriller Takes Aim at Divisive America
Betty Gilpin stars in an entertaining action-thriller, directed by Craig Zobel.
Review: ONWARD Gives Pixar Another Emotionally Resonant Hit
Tom Holland and Chris Pratt voice elf brothers who seek to reunite with their long-gone father.
Sundance 2020 Review: COME AWAY Disappoints on Almost Every Level
Angelina Jolie, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michael Caine star in an adventure directed by Brenda Chapman.
Review: THE CALL OF THE WILD Gives Mo-Cap-Heavy Adaptations a Bad Name
Harrison Ford and Terry Notary star as a prospector and a dog, respectively; Chris Sanders directs a new version of Jack London's classic tale of adventure.
Blu-ray Review: George Cukor's HOLIDAY Is As Alive as Ever
The screwball genre may remember George Cukor most fondly for his Katherine Hepburne / Cary Grant vehicle, 1940’s The Philadelphia Story, which helped to rescue Kat from her cruel ‘box office poison’ tagging. But for my patronage, Cukor’s lesser-known, Holiday,...
Review: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Runs for the Brass Ring of Mediocrity
Jim Carrey, James Marsden, and Ben Schwartz star in a live-action Sega video game adaptation.
Blu-ray Review: FAIL SAFE: Everything Old is New Again
In 1964, Fail Safe was released. It was directed by the very influential and prolific director Sidney Lumet, an American master of cinema and television, who helmed films such as Network, 12 Angry Men, Serpico, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead,...
Sundance 2020 Review: PALM SPRINGS Delivers Diversionary Pleasures for Our Darkest Timeline
Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti star in writer-director Max Barbakow's romantic comedy.
Review: BIRDS OF PREY, Glitter And Gloss, Giggles And Gore, Gunpowder Girl Power, All This And More
Some break-ups are rougher than others. For a woman like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, reprising her role from the spectacular disaster that was Suicide Squad), this break up is rougher than most. Formerly the Joker's right hand, at the opening...
Sundance 2020 Review: DOWNHILL Serves as a Reminder That Julia-Louis Dreyfus Is a National Treasure
Julia Louis-Dreyfus delivers one of the best performances of her decades-long career; Nat Faxon and Jim Rash directed.
Dave Canfield's Favorite Film Books of 2019
Film-related books are a joy to behold and hold. Typically oversized and heavily illustrated, they allow a languorous exploration of their subject that no broadcast media or online experience does. Held in the lap, they invite physical and mental pauses, and...
Review: BAD BOYS FOR LIFE, These Bad Boys Are Now Grumpy Old Men
It's not an easy thing to pick up a franchise sixteen years after the last entry, especially when so much has changed in the interim. The two Bad Boys films left inedible marks on their times, with the first film...
Review: VHYES, A Jolt Cola Induced Surreal Flashback To The Analog Days Of Yore
The '80s were a wild time to grow up. Technology blooming all around us in new and bizarre ways created entire new types of obsession for adolescents. The mass proliferation of home recording devices gave rise to the VHS tape...
Blu-ray Review: BODY PARTS Will Have You in Pieces
The early 1990s was still the 1980s, really. Not just in terms of music, but clothes and films, too. Bombastic touches in special effects as well as in storytelling often went along with pleated pants, stonewashed jeans, shoulder pads, and...
Review: UNDERWATER, Monsters Stalk A Drilling Rig At The Bottom Of The Ocean
There's nothing quite as terrifying as the unknown. For centuries scientists and fiction writers have speculated about the mysterious realms beyond our terrestrial homes, both above and below the surface. There is something about the darkness of space and the...
