One of my proudest moments recently came during last October. My son, Liam, has been dipping his toe into the murky pool of horror movies. During dinner, he told me he was ready for one of the big ones, the OG Halloween. Did I want to watch it with him? Well. In a moment of parental maturity, I nearly lunged over the table and yelled, “YOU’RE DAMN SKIPPY I DO!” And, as is the tradition, my wife rolled her eyes at this. So how did he like the merry adventures of one Michael Myers, esquire? He dug it! I told him that the franchise has more than its fair share of crap, yet there are diamonds... Read More

Poor Aquaman. Ask any kid, any comic aficionado, any pop culture enthusiast who their favorite superhero is. Batman will come up a lot, Spider-Man and Wolverine will certainly get mentioned, even Black Panther and The Flash will get some love*. But the King of Atlantis? Eh…not so much. Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger created the character for DC Comics way back in 1941, and he languished in obscurity until the era of Saturday morning cartoons in the 1960s. From that point on, Aquaman became a joke. You could tell people all day long that he was immensely powerful, due to an ability to withstand... Read More

If the horror genre were a comedian, it would be Rodney Dangerfield. It gets no respect. Horror relies on pure filmmaking to create an atmosphere of dread. Directors can fudge things and get sloppy if they’re making a comedy, or particularly an action flick, but still get away with it. But horror is unforgiving. If it’s poorly done, then we get one of the many, many, many substandard horror films that grace theaters for 15 minutes or so, then enjoy a long life unbought in a bargain bin. The tragedy of the horror genre is that talented filmmakers are frequently ignored in favor of... Read More