Known best for his work scoring the majority of Albert Pyun’s films, Tony Riparetti has always blended elements of new wave synth and guitars, and soaring drums into his compositions for a signature sound integral […]
Category: Articles
UNCLARITY OF PURPOSE: THE NATURE OF COMEDY AND THE ENDURING APPEAL OF ‘PCU’ (1995)
“The strange thing about Political Correctness,” wrote Roger Ebert in his 1994 review of PCU, “is that it seems to have many opponents and no supporters. No one ever describes themselves as Politically Correct, and […]
‘OH, People–People, No!’ TV’s Tim Stack on the cult of ‘Night Stand’
The mid-’90s seemed to be the golden age of syndicated television. After the prime-time, major network programming ended, you could search the dials to discover a vast swathe of programming populating the late-night airwaves. From […]
IF YOU’RE CLOSE ENOUGH TO READ THIS HEADLINE, YOU OWN THE RIGHTS TO BATMAN. ALSO, YOU’RE A RELIGIOUS NUT.
Brian Miller holds a degree in Religious Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Be sure to click over to his personal movie review blog to see his “favorite filmic things” of 2020. If you […]
“THERE’S A STORM COMING”: ‘TAKE SHELTER’
“You think I’m crazy? Well, listen up, there’s a storm coming like nothing you’ve ever seen, and not a one of you is prepared for it.” Some of us can catalog our various family member’s […]
CONFESSIONS OF A NEUROTIC, LAZY FILM JUNKIE DURING THE ENDLESS CALAMITY OF 2020
Ten months into the never-ending nightmare that is the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m exhausted, adrift in a world gone mad with cruel, inept politicians, conflicting social-media messaging, selfish, belligerent anti-maskers, and death. I’ve dealt with several […]
NAME DROP: WHAT HOWARD KAYLAN’S ‘MY DINNER WITH JIMI’ GETS RIGHT ABOUT THE ROCK BIOPIC
In 2016, I went with my mom and my aunt to go see The Turtles play. It was a good time– Iowa’s a good state for that sort of thing. We went to see them […]
A TRILOGY ABOUT THE BLADE TRILOGY, PT. 3
When a film series fills a studio’s coffers and wins approval from critics and fans, its producers are often protective, making sure nothing will upset their lucrative franchise’s profitability. However, despite such safeguards, it’s almost […]
PSYCHOS AND PINA COLADAS: WHY CLUB DREAD DESERVED MORE
Nathan Smith talks to members of comedy troupe Broken Lizard about their fan favorite (but often overlooked by the mainstream) 2004 horror comedy, Club Dread For horror fans, it seems as though no sub-genre was […]
A TRILOGY ABOUT THE BLADE TRILOGY, PT. 2
Last time, I wrote about my introduction to Blade and how it helped me overcome my film snobbery and made me a better human being. I’m still a snob, but one with fewer self-imposed restrictions […]
THE QUIRKY SIDE OF OLIVER STONE
When people think of Oliver Stone and his films, immediately they jump to the conspiracy theorist and bombastic narcissist who loves the sound of his own voice and lets his ego run roughshod over his […]
A TRILOGY ABOUT THE BLADE TRILOGY, PT. 1
In the year 2000, I remember an imposing man, with questionable sanity, forcing me to watch a snowy, pirated copy of Blade. My friend Natalie and I were visiting her sister up the highway in […]
“Me: Don’t call this ‘The Zen Art of Franchise 3rd Entries’; Grumpire: ‘Okay, we won’t’.”
The auteur casts a long and heavy shadow over genre franchises. Those inaugural, boundary-breaking, breathtaking works of art set things in motion for entire new worlds, while simultaneously doing everything they can to pump the […]
THE STEALTHY SUB-GENRES OF THE PSYCHO SEQUELS
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is long considered one of the horror genre’s grandest achievements, so much that in 1992, it was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress. The level of talent […]
STUCK IN THE ’90S: UNSUNG FILM HERO HAL HARTLEY AND THE DIY APPEAL OF AMATEUR
There’s much to love from the the 1990s, pop culture wise (I could write a Masters thesis on the brilliance of low-fi indie rock, like a sad Pavement fan who still wakes up each day […]