CRAWLERS is dumb. And that's glorious. Let @sgorr.bsky.social tell you all about it in her review. buff.ly/IndpgBC
Weaving a web of schlock, Crawlers delivers a good time
In this, the spookiest of seasons, we’ve been blessed by the gods of schlock horror, who I assume look exactly like Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy. They have delivered onto us one of the finest gifts we…
buff.ly
ICYMI @ungajje.bsky.social digs (ha!) into DIGGER, exploring a film that deserves a closer look because of, not despite, its divisiveness. He ends up positive on it. Will you? buff.ly/wlCtcvj
Digger: Divisive? Definitely! Decent? Depends.
One of the most exciting aspects of an artist’s career is how past works inform present efforts and vice versa. Case in point, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s newest, Digger, brings aspects of…
buff.ly
Anne Hathaway understands what VERITY should be, but neither the screenwriter nor the director has the bravura to meet her wavelength, argues @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social . buff.ly/XCZzmQS
The truth is only Hathaway sizzles in Verity
When you’re a struggling writer, you’ll take any employment opportunities. So it is with Verity protagonist, Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), a novelist whose works languish in obscurity. That’s why,…
buff.ly
BUDDY is a unicorn from our nightmares, but his film sadly doesn't live up to its impressive world-building, argues @ungajje.bsky.social . buff.ly/DBTzJqp
For a thin story with surreal gore, grab yourself a Buddy!
If you are Gen X or a Millennial, chances are good you’ve encountered some piece of “Kill Barney” “humor” over the years. Perhaps a quick-and-dirty reworking of “I Love You” or something even more…
buff.ly
@ungajje.bsky.social declares SLOW HORSES Season 6 a great return to form after last year’s stumble, giving the show its highest score yet. buff.ly/wNKcKs4
Slow Horses Season 6 gallops back to form
In perfect fashion for its collection of castoffs, Slow Horses Season 6 begins with a payroll error. For some reason, no one at Slough House got a paycheck. By the end of the season, bodies,…
buff.ly
#ResidentEvil has @sgorr.bsky.social believing in the possibility of perfection. Check out her review now. buff.ly/nKoL248
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil: A five S.T.A.R.S. adaptation
If you’ve never played a horror video game, you probably haven’t really considered just how much scarier they can be than a horror movie. The difference is in the control. In a game, you’re not…
buff.ly
LAST SEEN does a lot well, but a penultimate flashback episode and an ending far more interesting than what preceded it left @UnGajje.bsky.social disappointed. buff.ly/utPV4SV
Last Seen ends where it should begin
Whether fairly or not, the ending of a work can determine one’s impression of it. A film or TV show that ends badly can leave even everything that preceded it looking worse. That’s not quite the…
thespool.net
The Spool is back! And fittingly, it returns with a @sgorr.bsky.social review of Insidious: Out of the Further, an installment of a horror franchise that seemingly can’t be killed. buff.ly/L7Kzcqk
Insidious: Out of the Further comes sloppy scripted solid scares
In the world of high-sheen, surface-level studio horror franchises, Insidious is relatively solid. It follows the expected pattern. The first, released in 2010, now ranks as something of a modern…
thespool.net
@ungajje.bsky.social praises THE END OF OAK STREET's effective balance of scares and humor, calling it a late-summer treat. buff.ly/TLkysx6
The End of Oak Street is a thrilling way to spend the end of summer
It’s strange how big a difference a shift in perspective can make. For over a decade, the Jurassic World franchise has repeatedly told its characters—and filmgoing audiences—that dinosaurs are passé.…
thespool.net
REACHER Season 4 forces the big man to use his brain more, but don't worry, there's still plenty of violence, declares @ungajje.bsky.social . buff.ly/jO0fGeS
Reacher Season 4 outthinks Jack
One of the delights of Reacher's first two seasons was seeing this enormous man be the best. He was consistently be the smartest, strongest, and most dryly sarcastic cat in any room. The creative…
thespool.net
@ungajje.bsky.social pushes deep into ONE NIGHT ONLY, a film whose baffling premise eventually derails a pretty decent romantic comedy. buff.ly/eTx34aO
New rom-com’s problems go on for more than One Night Only
There’s an adage that goes, “People are rarely not weird about sex.” Don’t worry about looking it up. Just trust us on this one. One Night Only and the reactions it’s inspired have clearly…
thespool.net
TONY may play with the facts of Anthony Bourdain's life, but that doesn't stop it from being a five-star film, argues @sgorr.bsky.social in her review. buff.ly/Wn37EHM
Tony fudges the facts to create a five-star flick
Thanks to the wild success of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie earlier this year, audiences should be a little less surprised by Matt Johnson’s slippery relationship to reality, rules, and…
thespool.net
The Ryan Murphy/Bret Easton Ellis collab THE SHARDS is SO them, it borders on parody. Unfortunately, @ungajje.bsky.social isn't laughing. Read his review now. buff.ly/9qDmAO5
The Shards is sharp, but its cuts are only superficial
Bret Easton Ellis has a distinct style. That’s always been a part of his appeal. You can hear a passage from Less Than Zero, American Psycho, or Lunar Park and recognize the same pen behind them even…
thespool.net
#TedLasso's return is a rough one, observes Lasso-enthusiast @ungajje.bsky.social . There are signs of improvement over the first four episodes, but the biggest recommendation he can offer is half-hearted. buff.ly/qrE6K1B
Ted Lasso Season 4 returns to the field not yet game-ready
I love Ted Lasso. Yes, even the overstuffed and hurried third season, which, in retrospect, left several subplots stranded or too swiftly wrapped. So, while the show did find a satisfying ending, I…
thespool.net
#SpiderMan: BRAND NEW DAY is a limber return for the Webslinger to the big screen that will nonetheless leave some fans unhappy, says @ungajje.bsky.social
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is more recommitment than reboot
Adaptation is a tricky thing. One need only look at the current controversy around The Odyssey to see that. Homer and Emily Wilson occupy decidedly different literary spaces than Stan Lee, Steve…
buff.ly
With two behemoths at the box office this weekend, is it worth hunting down MOTOR CITY for a little bit of counterprogramming? @ungajje.bsky.social lets you know.
Motor City can’t quite articulate an argument on its behalf
Creating a near-wordless film in the modern era is a challenging exercise. Sometimes it utterly implodes, as with John Woo’s 2023 Silent Night, my pick for worst film of that year. When done…
buff.ly
BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER Season 2 is back and more brutal. Does it work though? Read what @ungajje.bsky.social has to say in his new review. buff.ly/3jcTBL4
Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 gets its knuckles bloody
In a review written exactly two years to the day I’m writing this one, I complained that Batman: Caped Crusader did too little to differentiate itself from Batman: The Animated Series. My argument,…
thespool.net
@sgorr.bsky.social has plenty of praise for THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER and how it smartly deploys it mysteries to ponder far larger questions. buff.ly/WVNxTmJ
The Samurai and the Prisoner captured by questions, small & large
Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been on a tear in recent years. Since 2020, he’s had eight projects. That includes two features and a short film in 2024 alone—Cloud, a thriller about an internet reseller;…
thespool.net
THE DINK is sweeter than it is funny, says @ungajje.bsky.social , but Ed Harris and Patton Oswalt score laughs in supporting turns.
The Dink takes a light bouncing shot at comedy
In Spinal Tap, there’s a moment where Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner) shares some album reviews with the band. One in particular, Shark Sandwich, earns the two-word critique, “Shit Sandwich.” Some titles…
buff.ly
Anya Taylor-Joy is Lucky in the new series LUCKY. Does @ungajje.bsky.social think audiences will be lucky to see it? Read his review to find out! buff.ly/n0SFqGD
Lucky for us, a decent reason to stay in the air conditioning
What if one were to make “Parental Issues: The Series” and mix in a crime drama for fun? It would likely look a lot like Lucky, the thin but enjoyable Jonathan Tropper-helmed adaptation of Marissa…
thespool.net
I do think that thinkpiece comparing BlueSky to Twitter is largely correct. However, I also find it amusing that the piece takes a moment to say, "Just to be clear though BlueSky is an unfun place full of dork scolds."
@ungajje.bsky.social is delighted to accept the invite to Olivia Wilde's latest directorial effort, THE INVITE.
RSVP yes for The Invite
Four years after Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde’s previous directorial effort, it can be tempting to view The Invite as some sort of comeback effort. It was certainly a film met with its share of…
buff.ly
@lisalamanfilmfan praised THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS for capturing the grimness and hope in its subject matter.
Moving The Last Picture Shows spotlights independent film houses
“When you turn on the light/It’s just an apparition/Now I believe in ghosts.” Kacey Musgraves crooned those words on the Middle of Nowhere track “I Believe in Ghosts.” Many viewers of The Last…
buff.ly
EVIL DEAD BURN shows flashes of what made the franchise great, but it can't reconcile its signature gore with its desire to earnestly look at trauma, says @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social . buff.ly/GmkXvw5
Evil Dead Burn doesn’t burn bright or nasty enough
Squish! Squelch! “EEEEEEEEEE!” These are the noises dominating the soundscape of Evil Dead Burn, overcoming even Double Danger’s original score. Would you expect anything less from the newest entry…
thespool.net
Silo Season 3 finds a higher gear for the series without losing the aspects that @ungajje.bsky.social loves.
Silo Season 3 digs in, nearly hauls
For those intrigued by AppleTV’s adaptation of Hugh Howey’s novel series but find its deliberate pacing and hushed tones too off-putting, I have potentially good news. In Silo Season 3, the…
buff.ly
For fans of the filmmakers behind WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER and THEY CAME TOGETHER, GAIL DAUGHTRY AND THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS will be a welcome return to their funny and strangely kind world, suggests @ungajje.bksy.social . For others? Maybe not.
Cash in Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Celebrity “free passes” are one of those relationship games that no one ever really expects to play out. For one, the chance of ever randomly encountering Harry Styles or Margaret Qualley at their…
buff.ly
@lisalamanfilmfans appreciates MINIONS & MONSTERS for its nods to old Hollywood and expects lovers of the yellow guys will find plenty of laughs.
Minions & Monsters delivers some giggles & guffaws
Screenwriters Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin (also the director) begin Minions & Monsters with a frightening phrase: “tribes of Minions exist across the globe”. As spoken by Olivia (Allison Janney),…
buff.ly
LEVITICUS is made all the more terrifying by its grounding in the present-day terrors of living as a queer person, argues @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social .
Sharp horror filmmaking draws on horrifying reality in Leviticus
In the near future, Texas will open up America’s first “detransition clinic.” This disturbing domicile pushing a bogus “cure” for trans identity—a state of being that requires no cure, to be clear—is…
buff.ly
GIRLS LIKE GIRLS proves a frustrating but worthy viewing experience for @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social .
Girls Like Girls worth liking, not loving
Hollywood will infamously adapt anything into a movie. Yet, outside of the Christian movie scene (where I Can Only Imagine and God’s Not Dead reign supreme), motion pictures based on chart-topping…
buff.ly
@sgorr.bsky.social recommends MADDIE'S SECRET, a film from writer-director-star John Early which acts as a "love letter to Lifetime movies, LA, and sincerity." buff.ly/DspQDuO
Maddie’s Secret? Earnestness, hilarity make for a delicious debut
While “women’s pictures” had an initial heyday in the 50s, they experienced an overheated renaissance in the 90s on channels like Lifetime. In this new era, the over-the-top nature of classics like…
thespool.net