“The horror movie is innately conservative, even reactionary.” - Stephen King

I was raised a-religious by two parents who grew up extremely Christian, exhausted by and fed up with their upbringing in the church and wanting something different for their son. They had me baptized, and other than weddings that was the last time I went to any church with my parents. Thinking about it now, I wonder if this movie had any influence on them baptizing me. Perhaps as…

Summer, 1984.
57 minutes.

A family of three entered a movie theater in North Syracuse, New York. Mother, father, and an eight-and-a-half year old boy. They got popcorn and drinks. The boy had a Dr. Pepper. He was already quite sophisticated for his age. They walked into the large screening room through the door on the left side and picked seats midway down, on the aisle. The theater was packed. The boy had seen commercials for this film on television,…

First saw Hoosiers in the theater with my parents, and don't think I've seen it since then. But heading into an Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup with the Pacers - a rematch from last season's playoffs, and a rekindling of one of the NBA's best rivalries - I figured now might be the right time for a rewatch. Heck, it worked with The Town.

Nothing is better in basketball than an offensive rebound that gives your team a second chance, and…

Becoming Led Zeppelin does indeed tell the story of Led Zeppelin becoming that band that took over the world in the early '70s, growing into one of the biggest rock bands ever. The film does this through recent interviews with the three surviving , and an unheard archival interview with drummer John Bonham. It's fascinating, if hagiographic, stuff. Especially the live concert footage from the pre-Zep and early-Zep days. It's unsurprising to have the film stop their story at the…

A shy and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day.

There's the inciting incident for this movie, and the reason I have never seen it until now. Plus: never been the biggest Abel Ferrara fan. But I like to avoid exploitative rape scenes when I can. Ms. 45 gets those out of the way almost immediately, and they're brutal. Ferrara casts himself as the first rapist, if there's any question about his commitment to…

Alien: Romulus doesn't reinvent the franchise the way Aliens did after the first film, or the way Prometheus tried to do by expanding the lore of this universe tenfold. Instead director Fede Álvarez sets out to make the best god damn Alien movie he can by sticking close to the formula of terrifying monsters in a dark space ship, and other familiar beats. In doing so, he lays down heavy fan service references to all three of the aforementioned movies…