In TRIPLE FRONTIER (2019), a group of retired American soldiers reunite for a heist in South America that will put their warfighting skills, friendship, and moral compasses to the extreme test. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Not everything worked for me, but I liked the overall result and loved the effort. Santiago “Pope” Garcia works as an adviser for a government in South America that is fighting the drug cartels. He learns that a kingpin is keeping all his cash at a remote house in the jungle that he turned into a fortress. Tired of mercenary work, Pope hatches a plan to ste ..read more

In DUNE: PART TWO, Paul Atreides struggles both to find his place among the Fremen fighters resisting the Harkonnen occupation of Dune and his own apparent destiny as both Dune’s messiah and the Kwisatz Haderach, a super-being. This is pure spectacle, beautiful world-building, and a model for how to adapt a complex classic novel. The end result is Denis Villeneueve gave me a reason to go back to the movie theater. DUNE has a complex story, but it’s not terribly difficult to follow. The galaxy is ruled by great houses that in turn serve the emperor. A strategically vital planet is Dune, where ..read more

In TOP GUN: MAVERICK, Tom Cruise returns to the iconic 80s fighter pilot movie with a sequel that is actually goddamn superb. It’s 30 years after TOP GUN, and Maverick is stuck at the rank of captain due to him living up to his call sign and pissing off admirals. After getting booted as a test pilot, he’s given one last chance to serve the Navy, which is train a group of Top Gun pilots, the best of the best, to fly a mission into an enemy state that is preparing to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. One of the candidates is Rooster, son of Goose, who was Maverick’s back-seater in the 80s an ..read more

In POOR THINGS (2023), a scientist resurrects a young woman and protects her as his ward, but she leaves to explore the world and herself. Artistic sets and a powerful sense of whimsy elevate the film, but overall, its single note of sexual liberation drags, with a just but pointlessly vindictive ending. For that, I fell far short of loving it. Based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, this is a feminist take on FRANKENSTEIN, in which a Dr. Frankenstein type (or Dr. Frankenstein’s monster himself) resurrects a dead woman with a brain transplant that results in her becoming a child. Tired of be ..read more

In THEY/THEM (2022), a group of teens sent to a gay conversion camp discover its sinister methods and hypocrisy, while a masked killer invades. It’s an interesting setup with quite a bit of potential, and while I liked it better than I think most people did–it got a 24% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics didn’t like it much better–I found it overall underwhelming. The film introduces us to the teens, who came to the camp for various reasons. (I’m amazed and horrified camps like this still exist, but they do.) Some of the kids are tired of struggling and want to be “cured,” thinkin ..read more

NAPOLEON (2023) seemed to have everything–Ridley Scott directing, a solid cast, beautiful cinematography. Unfortunately, the movie also seemed to bite off way more than it could chew, even with a nearly three-hour runtime, and what it did contain it squandered on Napoleon and Josephine’s relationship and a depiction of Napoleon that made him seem even more opaque than before I watched it. The movie starts with the terrible days of the French Revolution, where we see Napoleon, a young artillery officer, prove his mastery of tactics in multiple campaigns. Over time, he ascends to complete contr ..read more

WEIRD: THE AL YANKOVIC STORY (2022) is a satirical biopic about Weird Al Yankovic, a movie that embodies his off-kilter brand of comedy. Great cast, a lot of heart, and a solid conceit, only to really love it, you have to love Weird Al’s kind of humor. The movie rolls out as a typical rock star biopic, starting in Weird Al’s childhood, when his parents forbade him from being weird and playing the accordion. He winds up playing anyway, becoming popular in the process, and once he starts changing the lyrics to popular songs to comedic effect, he becomes the greatest rock star who ever lived. Ma ..read more

In DREAM SCENARIO (2023), a mild-mannered man discovers he is appearing in other people’s dreams, with escalating consequences. This Charlie Kaufman-style concept is almost perfectly rendered, particularly with Nicholas Cage in the lead, though it reaches so far conceptually in the third act that the ending may not be satisfying for some. I liked it a lot but wished the film had stayed focused and that I had loved it. Paul Matthews (Cage) is a college professor going through a midlife crisis. He doesn’t feel special. He wishes he could be noticed. When people in his life and then random stran ..read more

In OPPENHEIMER (2023), brilliant physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is recruited by Lt. General Leslie Groves to build the Manhattan Project, which produced the atom bomb and forever changed history. Directed by Christopher Nolan and featuring an enormous cast of recognizable and quality actors delivering excellent performances, it’s a powerful film that largely follows history, reveals Oppenheimer’s life with brisk pacing in multiple timelines, and has real importance. One thing is for sure: History, and a single man’s life, are complex and messy affairs that often defy simple narratives and oc ..read more

Enter for a chance to win an eARC of HOW TO MAKE A HORROR MOVIE AND SURVIVE, my new horror novel coming out from Hachette Book Group June 18, 2024. A hundred copies will be given away at Goodreads. U.S. only, 18+ in age. No purchase necessary. Goodreads rules apply. You can enter anytime up until March 18. About the novel: “A slasher film director wants to make a horror movie using a cursed camera that kills anyone he cares about. The scream queen he loves wants to survive the night.” Click here to enter the Goodreads Giveaway! The post Enter Goodreads Giveaway for HOW TO MAKE A HORROR MOVIE ..read more