One of my favorite characteristics of cinema is that it can defy one’s expectations. For instance, I didn’t expect to enjoy the political thriller Shadow Land based on what little I knew about it, its poor IMDb rating, its main star […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
M3gan 2.0 (2025) ☆ ☆ ☆
I was a (happily surprised) big fan of M3gan (2022) when I caught up with it, a superbly staged science-fiction / horror cautionary tale regarding the dangers of AI (Artificial Intelligence). This story has stayed with me and I have […]
Continue reading »Three Thousand Years of Longing (2023) ☆ ☆ ☆
While fantasy films often cause me intellectual discomfort, I can be brought around if they are done well. This one is. George Miller’s fable explores the “three wishes” scenario we all know. A scholar (Tilda Swinton) in Istanbul releases a […]
Continue reading »Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) ☆ ☆
Pretty much the whole gang has returned for the third Sonic the Hedgehog entry in this ongoing franchise — which I applaud for maintaining consistency — but the result is also pretty much the same, despite a noticeable deepening of the […]
Continue reading »Thrash (2026) ☆ ☆
I am a sucker for shark films but fully realize that the vast majority of them are not of good quality. Neither is Thrash, which exploits a premise that I have long thought had real promise for such a predatory tale. […]
Continue reading »Hijack ’93 (2024) ☆ ☆ 1/2
One should always keep in mind that movies “based on a true story” can and often do distort the facts of the stories they tell to make points, support an agenda or merely be more entertaining. It is a weakness […]
Continue reading »The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) ☆ ☆ 1/2
If Agatha Christie were still alive and writing, she may have produced something like this modern mystery, although my guess is that her version would have been more intricate and tricky to decipher. This Netflix project certainly calls to mind […]
Continue reading »Interceptor (2023) ☆ ☆ ☆
Sometimes more satisfying movie experiences are provided by unlikely titles; this is one of those times for me. To be sure, Interceptor is a rather cheesy action movie, exaggerated in premise and unabashedly violent and villainous. It’s not an A-level action […]
Continue reading »The Great Flood (2025) ☆ ☆
In the old days, massive, mind-bending plot twists were virtually nonexistent in movies, but somewhere along the way, filmmakers occasionally thought to flip their storylines in crazy ways to surprise and befuddle audiences. The first film I can think of […]
Continue reading »The Mother (2023) ☆ ☆ ☆
I continue to try to catch up with films I missed over the last five years, which I still consider to be “Recent Releases.” Since I tend to gravitate toward “concept” films rather than “slice of life” pictures I have […]
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