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For movies like A Quiet Place – science fiction-based horror films that aren’t obsessed with appealing to the Blumhouse demographic – tone and atmosphere are the most critical production aspects. This is something Ridley Scott understood...

The prequel to John Krasinski’s horror/science fiction duo, A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II, Day One offers a self-contained story that is different than the earlier films both in tone and intent. This is a moodier, more existential look ...

Numerous movies about grief miss the mark by a wide margin, sliding down a slippery slope of schlocky melodrama with overacting performers failing to convince us that their tears are real. Every once in a while, however, a film gets it right. In ...

Spoilers Ahoy!: The assumption is that everyone reading this review has seen Raiders of the Lost Ark. The review discusses in frank detail things about the ending, so, if you haven't seen the film and don't want its secrets spoiled, watch the mov...

Rain Man is an oddball buddy/road movie that nearly drowns in a tsunami of sentimentality and predictability. An unabashed crowd-pleaser, the 1989 Best Picture Oscar winner has aged poorly, its marginal likability fading like an old Polaroid s...

It has been several years since I've read a book by John Grisham (I believe the last one was The Client). After three or four of Grisham's novels, I grew tired of the predictable repetitiveness and contrived suspense of the narratives. As a resul...

The long-gestating, often-delayed sequel to 2012’s Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph Breaks the Internet is one part fan service, one part product placement, and one part pop culture inundation. It’s breezy and fun and, like its predecessor, relies mor...

The first animated film from ILM is also the first memorable motion picture of 2011. Also, in a break from Hollywood's incessant race to surcharge parents to death by releasing anything bearing the "family film" moniker in 3-D, Rango is available i...

Real Steel, despite being dubbed the "Rock-em/Sock-em Robot movie," seeks to achieve more than such a limiting nickname might imply. A fusion of three popular genres - the father/son relationship movie, the boy-and-his-dog movie, and the sports mov...

Upon reflection, it's not difficult to understand why The Reaping languished for so long on the shelves of Warner Brothers before being dumped into distribution. (Those with long memories may recall trailers for this movie popping up about a year ...