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When one speaks of cultural relevance, some movies capture it in the moment (oftentimes dating the production in the process). Others grasp it as if looking in a rearview mirror. But there’s a small group, either through clairvoyance or happenst...

Sometimes, the lure of generic horror tropes can be too strong for even the most high-minded films to avoid. Come Play is an example. The premise intrigues with its potential – the idea that just because something looks like a traditional �...

The television series Fantasy Island was a TV staple in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Paired with The Love Boat, it ran for seven seasons from 1978 (when it arrived as a mid-season replacement) until 1984. The high-concept, low-intelligence ...

Spoiler Warning: I’m not 100% certain what constitutes a “spoiler” for this film and what has been revealed in the trailer and/or pre-release publicity. However, it’s difficult for me to engage in a coherent discussion of the movie wit...

For anyone who doesn’t remember the media popularity of Dr. Ruth Westheimer during the 1980s, Ask Dr. Ruth (a documentary made for the Hulu platform) may be little more than a curiosity – a competently mounted film providing insight into a...

Spoilers aplenty! You have been warned.The ending of Halloween 4, one of the stronger sequels in the long-running horror franchise, promised something special for Halloween 5. Alas, the filmmakers, concerned about losing audiences if the famil...

Suicide. Despite its growing prevalence in modern society, few filmmakers tackle this issue, at least not in a serious fashion. The Valley, set in California’s tech-heavy Silicon Valley, examines the impact of a young woman’s suicide on tho...

With a studio as prolific as Blumhouse, whose mission is to prioritize profit over quality, there are bound to be occasional duds. To date, however, nothing with producer John Blum’s name attached has been quite as creatively bankrupt as Tru...

The concept of “alternate histories” has always represented a source of fascination for history buffs and science fiction fans alike. Alternate histories hone in on potential turning points in world events and postulate what might have hap...

The filmmakers behind Marshall understand what it takes to make a successful bio-pic. Instead of using a “greatest hits” strategy that attempts to cram an entire life into two hours, they have targeted a single representative event from th...