This article spoils the end of 28 Years Later* We’ve all seen films featuring human beings that are a) adults and b) presumably not brain damaged yet they behave in extremely brain damaged adult kind of ways. It sucks. It’s maddening. It’s what happens when filmmakers hyperfocus on the plot, so much so that they […]

On November 11, 1947, Winston Churchill said during a speech, “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those […]

To say I’m a movie guy is an understatement. Since I was roughly as tall as E.T., I’ve been into them. That passion brought me into a career as a film critic, as well as a career as a screenwriter.* I want to watch the damn things and make the damn things as much as […]

In a general sense, 2025 sucked. The United States seems to have been transformed into a foul combination of kakistocracy and plutocracy, while sliding pell mell into fascism. Innocent people are being arrested and disappeared to God knows where. Real Christianity feels further away than ever, while gleeful cruelty feels like the law of the […]

You likely know that, alongside his wife Michele Singer Reiner,* Rob Reiner died violently on December 14 of this year. He left behind a shattered family, a battalion of whys, and a legacy that ended in tragedy. As time goes on, we won’t want the details of the murders, but we’ll get them anyway.  Right […]

When I first started as a film critic, I had close to zero problems writing a bad review. My calculus was simple; if you make a film and release it for public consumption, you should be prepared for positive and negative reactions. You worked really hard on a project and people don’t like it? Hey, […]

If you’re reading this review, you likely fall into one of two groups. Either you’re the kind of person who will enthusiastically check out a movie entitled Time Travel Is Dangerous, or you’re the kind of person who needs some persuading. Presuming you’re the first kind of person, trust me when I tell you it’s […]

I don’t care about mainstream sports. Football doesn’t matter, basketball is a nonissue, and baseball is met with a shrug.* Despite my father’s repeated attempts to raise an all-American son who loved to toss around the ol’ pigskin and would cheer lustily for the home team, what he got was someone who could talk at […]

Back in the day, whodunits appeared with great regularity on both televisions and movie screens. With the cinema, audiences ate up mysteries such as Chinatown, Basic Instinct, Gosford Park, The Gift, and In the Heat of the Night. These films didn’t need massive explosions, death-defying stunts, or even high-wattage movie stars. All they needed were […]

You might not be a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s films. You might not be into his ludicrous musculature, his puns, or his movies that so often feature him shooting, stabbing, crushing, and exploding a wide variety of luckless goons. You might turn your back haughtily on all of that, but one thing you can’t do […]