Category Archives: Reviews

The Ritual (2017)

I can’t remember the last time I saw a horror movie set in the woods that actually made the environment feel so oppressive and evocative. The Ritual is certainly the first since The Blair Witch Project to make me dread stepping foot in a … Continue reading

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Terrified (2018)

The way this overlays a multitude of spooky stories and ideas together like weaving a tapestry is a clever way of tackling the horror anthology format. Where traditionally structured examples – one short followed by another – can soon feel … Continue reading

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Cabin Fever (2002)

This really hasn’t aged particularly well and increasingly feels like less of an original horror vision* than a gleeful mash-up of every horror movie Eli Roth loved in his teens. There’s very little finesse here. The stupid excess of homophobic … Continue reading

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Marathon Man (1976)

A solid thriller first and foremost but the calibre of talent involved can’t help but heighten Marathon Man into something far more captivating. Schlesinger is all over this. The performances are imbued with the kind of subtle details he always managed to … Continue reading

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Piercing (2018)

I felt pretty indifferent towards Pesce’s Eyes of My Mother and I’m about at the same place with this. I do like that it’s a complete 180 from that film visually and has more of an explicit, perverse sense of humour, plus … Continue reading

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The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (2019)

“Please. Man up. Save us some pain” An efficient and sturdy bottled-noir that is locked and loaded with an impressive array of character actors who have just been waiting for the opportunity to get their hands on a showcase piece … Continue reading

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The Week Of (2018)

A lot shaggier and lived in that I would expect from a Happy Madison joint. This forgoes the temptation to be mindlessly broad and gross-out most of the time, instead staging a character comedy of duelling families – one jewish, … Continue reading

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Home Again (2017)

Cute effort from Hallie Meyers-Shyer who can’t help but remind you at every turn that she is absolutely her parents’ daughter, though parts of this seem to be enacting a fantasy imagining what life would be like if she was … Continue reading

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

I really don’t mind a lot of the dumb gambles this takes, even when they fall flat on their face, because at least this is idiosyncratic and plays fast and loose with what constitutes an Indiana Jones movie in ways Last Crusade didn’t. It’s … Continue reading

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

While this is the epitome of rock-solid entertainment, I’m always a little disappointed by how quickly Spielberg and Lucas retreated from Temple of Doom‘s brazen tonal risk-taking with their tails between their legs and immediately set-out to just re-stage Raiders of the … Continue reading

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