Horror and dumb go together like peas and cah-rots, to paraphrase Forrest Gump. Think: There’s a serial killer on the loose … let’s split up! The monster sure looks like it’s dead. Let’s drop our weapons! You know the drill. “Abigal” is a different kind of dumb. The film’s screenplay insults us at every turn. You can’t help but question what’s happening instead of letting go and having fun. Young, talented Abigail (Alisha Weir, very good despite the story around her) gets kidnapped as the story opens. The fledgling ballerina is the daughter of a powerful mob boss, and a gaggle of goons hopes ..read more

Andrew Schulz says he didn’t believe the media’s portrayal of San Francisco. Surely a major American city can’t be as filthy and out of control as the updates he sees on his smart phone and elsewhere. Exaggerations often camouflage the truth, and this could be yet another example, the “Flagrant” podcaster figured. Call it Fake News on Steroids. And then he visited the California city for himself last month as part of his “The Life” stand-up tour. Schulz posted a clip from that performance this week via his Instagram account. Suffice it to say the media reports were not exaggerations.   ..read more

The Coens. The Russos. The Farrellys. The Duplasses. The Safdies. The Chinas? No, Paul and Benjamin China aren’t in the rarified air of those famous directorial duos. Not even close. Still, the China Brothers’ indie debut, “Night Shift,” is so confident in its storytelling that you can’t help but ask a simple question. What else do they have up their sleeves? A troubled woman named Gwen (Phoebe Tonkin) arrives at a just-north-of-seedy motel to tackle the night shift. She’ll be paid in cash and work alone until owner Teddy (Lamorne Morris) relieves her at 7 a.m.  What could go wrong? Ple ..read more

John Cusack is the anti-Michael Rapaport. The two actors see the current Middle East crisis from diametrically opposed positions. Rapaport of “Beautiful Girls” fame is staunchly pro-Israel and attacks stars for not speaking out on behalf of the hostages held by Hamas. That’s assuming they’re still alive six months into its war with Israel. He also posed as an Oscars emcee to shame actors for their awards-season silence on the hostages’ fate. And he’s taken a hit for his stance. Antifa-style activists tried to shut down his comedy performances earlier this year with no luck. Cusack, the forme ..read more

There’s one reason we still know the name Molly Ringwald 30-plus years after her first burst of fame. John Hughes. Ringwald co-starred in the writer/director’s “The Breakfast Club” (1985) and headlined both “Sixteen Candles” (1984) and “Pretty in Pink” 1986), three seminal films from the Reagan Era. The now 56-year-old actress has been trashing the Hughes canon ever since. What makes it worse is that Hughes can no longer defend himself or his signature works. The populist director died in 2009 at 59 from a heart attack. The actress first lashed out at her own films and, by extension Hughes ..read more

Katherine Maher’s tenure as head of far-Left NPR is off to a rocky start. Maher ascended to the position last month, but two recent events have caused her considerable headaches. And one is all her fault. NPR's senior business editor Uri Berliner details how the newsroom was overtaken by Trump Derangement Syndrome after 2016. pic.twitter.com/qwUnBsTBXr — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 9, 2024 Last week, a veteran NPR editor exposed the outlet’s extreme liberal bias for all to see. Uri Berliner took to the cyber-pages of The Free Press to lament NPR’s inability to do its job. The ..read more

Bill Maher doesn’t want comedians canceled for telling the “wrong” joke. He’s made that clear on both his “Club Random” podcast and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Few entertainers, Left or Right, have been as relentless in attacking the woke mindset, the rocket fuel behind Cancel Culture. Maher makes a living by telling jokes that make us think, laugh and sometimes squirm. And while he understands some show biz types deserved permanent cancellation, like incarcerated movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, others deserve leniency. Maher mentioned two of the industry’s biggest stars who deserve a sec ..read more

Confession: This critic loves movies where innocents scramble in the woods while something or someone hunts them down. Think of thrillers like “Backcountry” or the sublime “Alone” as prime examples. The plots are simple but effective. And who can’t relate to a person thrust into a life-or-death challenge? It’s like “Squid Games” in Mother Nature. Yet “Prey,” a German thriller now streaming on Netflix, might be among the worst of this guilty pleasure sub-genre.  We follow five allegedly close friends on a different kind of bachelor party. They don’t need strippers or booze, just a little ..read more

Actor Alan Ritchson is having a moment. It’s a rare and magical thing in Hollywood when a star’s docket brims with exciting new projects. The media, as if on cue, fawns over his or her every syllable. That’s where Ritchson stands today. Not only does he headline Amazon Prime’s “Reacher,” he also has a buzzy new action film heading our way soon – “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” (April 19).  Ritchson, who most recently starred in “Ordinary Angels,” opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about, well, everything. Trump. Christianity. Fame. Sexual Abuse. Now, Ritchson is acknowledging ..read more

John Cleese is the master of both silly walks and sublime comedy takes. The Monty Python veteran is as feisty as ever at 84, slashing those attempting to crush comedy that breaks any kind of so-called rule. Cleese opened up to FIRE’s Greg Lukianoff about free speech, “The Life of Brian” and much more in a revealing chat. FIRE stands for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a group that often does what the ACLU once did – stands up for free speech. The comic legend recalled the reaction his 1979 film “The Life of Brian” and today’s Cancel Culture movement.  The former exp ..read more