The Paradox of the Thirst Trap
A random observation about how a culture that gets more liberal also gets more prudish, because if everything is sexy, nothing is
Dream Warriors, or, One, Two, Eighties Coming For You
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 might’ve been a somewhat cool movie if not for its franchise and its decade
Under the Skin, or, Black Widow
A striking and unsettling science fiction horror story that makes the most out of a black void and Scarlett Johansson
Dracula, or, There’s Some Horrors in This House
Some quick thoughts about Hammer’s 1958 classic Horror of Dracula. (Spoilers for a movie from almost 70 years ago)
Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: Sooner or Later
Two tangentially-related tunes for two dozen other dirty lovers
The Innocents and the surprising rarity of satisfying ghost stories
My thoughts on the 1961 film The Innocents and how hard it is to find a good old-fashioned haunting
Reaction Heroes
A simple yet shockingly insightful observation about super-hero inflation and bringing the stakes back into action movies
One Thing I Like About One Battle After Another
One Battle After Another is full of outstanding performances and virtuosic, genuinely daring filmmaking. I just wish more of it had connected with me.
One Thing I Like About Dead of Winter
Almost certainly the only review of the Emma Thompson thriller that compares it to Paddington
Martyrs to Degradation
Making sense of the process of turning off the noise without losing the core of what you’re trying to protect
Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: Any Minute Now
Two tunes that take forever to get started and frankly are better for it
Vast and Trunkless Legs of Stone
The people pumping up the generative AI bubble are so lazy that they’ve skipped over a crucial part of the whole pitch