Sequels are hard, but you knew that already. Moviegoers have been pummeled by horror franchises, walloped by action franchises, and thrashed by sci-fi franchises. Through years of substandard crap, we’ve been trained that anything with a title that includes a Part Two/The Spawning/The Quickening or some usage of a colon probably sucks.  That’s not always the case, though. Done right, sequels aren’t simply a craven cash grab. They can illuminate aspects of the original, tell a story that’s more complicated, flesh out supporting characters, and even tell an aspect of the story a different... Read More

One Night in Miami is streaming on Prime There’s a vast canyon of difference between a celebrity and an icon. Celebrities are famous, sure. Most of the time, that fame is earned. Here in the Denver area, there’s a reason why people still talk about John Elway. There’s a reason why, when Samuel L. Jackson appears on the screen, all those with taste smile in anticipation. Sometimes people are famous for being famous, which is an experience people in both the Kardashian and Hilton clans are intimately familiar with. Icons are a different breed of cat. They represent something that speaks to... Read More

If you’re reading this, you’re alive and you survived 2020. Trust me when I tell you, that’s good! We had an insanely acrimonious presidential election, a pandemic that almost completely caught the world unawares, and an economy that’s currently curled in the fetal position. Selfishness and willful ignorance swept the land. There was serious talk of secession. The whole thing sucked. And then? Then, we passed across that hazy and insubstantial border to 2021. A new year. An opportunity to, if you’re a cynic, make laughable public promises to change your life and fail to do so. Years of... Read More