Posted in October 2015

Review: Crimson Peak, 2015, dir. Guillermo del Toro

Review: Crimson Peak, 2015, dir. Guillermo del Toro

“Don’t buy a ticket to Crimson Peak expecting a horror movie. Buy a ticket expecting a Guillermo del Toro movie. Your mileage with the film will improve exponentially, sort of like if you traded in your Bentley for a Tesla. With del Toro, “horror” is a misleading label applied mostly by critics and film geeks. … Continue reading

Why Stonewall Doesn’t Work

Why Stonewall Doesn’t Work

“A couple weeks have passed since Roland Emmerich released his latest disaster flick, Stonewall, to the outrage of the gay community, the transgender community, the Ron Perlman fanboy community, the film critic community and probably the “outraged over outrage” community, too. Maybe we should have seen the uproar coming. Emmerich is not the man you … Continue reading

Review: The Muppets, 1.04, “Pig Out”

Review: The Muppets, 1.04, “Pig Out”

“The bright side of last week’s terrible episode The Muppets is that this week’s looks downright terrific by comparison. That’s not to say “Pig Out,” our fourth venture into ABC Muppetsterritory, is bad television, or even good television: It’s adequate, which is a godsend after “Bear Left Then Write” failed to tell a story, or … Continue reading

Truer Story: Sicario, Cartel Land, & Narco Cultura

Truer Story: Sicario, Cartel Land, & Narco Cultura

“Mexico has had a problem with drug cartels for decades, but the country’s drug war didn’t officially start until Felipe Calderón ordered a battalion of troops to Michoacán for the dispensal of indiscriminate justice in 2006. You can trace the fallout of Calderón martial intervention either through good old fashioned journalism or U.S. pop culture: … Continue reading

Review: Pan, 2015, dir. Joe Wright

Review: Pan, 2015, dir. Joe Wright

“When Joe Wright’s Pan moves its setting away from London and into Neverland, Peter (Levi Miller), not yet the hero we know he becomes, steps out onto the deck of a flying pirate ship to observe a strip mine jammed with filthy children singing a shanty song that sounds an awful lot like “Smells Like … Continue reading