I grew up around faith the way some people grow up around fire. It was always present, always framed as protective and always capable of doing real damage, depending on who was holding the match. I watched ordinary people gain… Continue Reading →
Remote wilderness: A place where you can unwind with nature, not seeing or hearing another soul. It’s a peaceful promise, one which I recently accepted in purchasing a house on the outskirts of a suburban neighborhood; where I can still… Continue Reading →
I have a long, complicated history with group projects. Not the school kind, where some kid named Kyle shows up with nothing but a Capri-Sun and the confidence of a man who did zero work, but the adult kind: meetings,… Continue Reading →
As defined early within Gus Van Sant’s new film, a “dead man’s wire” — the modern term originally derived from “dead man’s line” — is a simple device, much like a harness, that’s wrapped around a loaded gun and its… Continue Reading →
There’s a tiny part of me, buried somewhere between the kid who grew up checking the mailbox like it was a treasure chest and the adult who still falls for “Maybe this one isn’t junk,” that secretly hopes one day… Continue Reading →
I have reached the point in my moviegoing life where I no longer believe Nicolas Cage can take a bad role. Not because every film he appears in is great, but because Cage, himself, refuses to be boring. He does… Continue Reading →
I have always believed the purest horror is the kind that strands you in the woods with bad choices, worse friends and a killer who solves problems like a MacBook powered by evil. For me, Friday the 13th is the… Continue Reading →
Watching the adults of tomorrow grow up — or not — is a scary proposition for this Child of the ’80s. Folktales proves that being a teenager knows no boundary, as the kids in Scandinavian countries struggle just as much,… Continue Reading →
The 2024 awards season was very good to Jesse Eisenberg. A Real Pain received much acclaim and numerous awards, but it also allowed the multi-hyphenate filmmaker to make a victory lap, of sorts, afterward and take on more behind-the-camera opportunities… Continue Reading →
If you thought Napolean Dynamite was outrageous back in the day, but you were wondering what those types of characters were up to after high school, it’s time to take a trip to Tapawingo, where the small-town charm of a… Continue Reading →
Secret Mall Apartment Stashes Hidden Truths
The 2024 awards season was very good to Jesse Eisenberg. A Real Pain received much acclaim and numerous awards, but it also allowed the multi-hyphenate filmmaker to make a victory lap, of sorts, afterward and take on more behind-the-camera opportunities… Continue Reading →