BE REEL

(Courtesy TV Insider )   Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. was interviewed recently and he commented on how the horror genre has experienced new phases nearly every decade. The man himself was a part of such a phase in the late-1990s, almost one year after late director Wes Craven broke the mold with the violent meta blockbuster Scream . Interestingly, that daring and provocative film’s writer, Kevin Williamson (who also created the hit TV series Dawson’s Creek ), had a more standard, slasher screenplay (based on a novel by Lois Duncan) that he shopped around Hollywood. But that script was rejected by nearly every studio, who told Williamson that slasher movies were a thing of the past.  That, of course, was before Scream became a surprise hit.  Ironically, many critics were quick to point out how pale his script and feature-length version of I Know What You Did Last Summer was in comparison to Scream ’s meta commentary on the genre as a whole. Even so, the 1997 flick still work...

(Courtesy Movieposters )   Set years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion , a pharmaceutical company is looking for a cure to save countless lives from heart disease. A representative asks a mercenary and a museum paleontologist to head a mission to sneak into illegal territory on the Equator, to collect samples from the three largest dinosaurs left, despite the fact that, apparently (and ironically), “nobody cares about dinosaurs anymore.”  I had hopes that director Gareth Edwards and original screenwriter David Koepp would bring the Jurassic Park movie franchise back to what made it such a phenomenon, when the original milestone was first released in 1993. While recent entries got bogged down with an overabundance of CGI and convoluted science, Jurassic World: Rebirth takes things back to a primitive state, with real locations, a singular mission, a small cast (headed by Scarlett Johansson’s mercenary Zora Bennett, Mahershala Ali’s boat captain Duncan Kincaid, and ...

(Courtesy  IGN India )   Three things that separate the moviegoing experience from watching films on TV or mobile devices are the enhancement of picture, sound, and scale. Ditto how much more immersive the story is, whether on a regular screen, in 3D, or in IMAX. These are just some of the reasons that F1 ®   is already one of the year’s best films. Headlined by Brad Pitt, directed by Joseph Kosinski, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film follows a washed-up driver who gets back into Formula One racing after three decades.  Opening with crashing waves on a beach and intercut with driver’s seat perspectives and Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” Pitt’s Sonny Hayes is a gambling junkie who roams from race to race, looking for the next big win—but more for the thrill than for the paycheck, apparently. A beast behind the wheel, Hayes has made a lot of enemies as well. One day, an old friend and racing owner (Javier Bardem) shows up and gives him an opportunity to h...

(Courtesy Reddit )   WRITER’S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on July 7, 2025.   Pixar Animation Studios is no stranger to changing directors and story elements for their movies during production. Their latest project—a sci-fi adventure comedy about a lonely boy who desperately wants to get abducted by aliens and gets his wish—was originally slated for a summer 2024 release . Then the writers and actors strikes the year before pushed back the release date, as did initial director Adrian Molina (who worked on Coco ) being replaced by Turning Red helmer Domee Shi and that film’s story lead Madeline Sharafian.  While Molina is still credited as a co-director and the final film has received favorable reviews from critics and audiences, Elio  has struggled at the box-office since its opening weekend at the end of June 2025, resulting in the lowest opening for a Pixar movie. The studio’s 2023 flick, Elemental , went through something similar ...

(Courtesy  IMP Awards )   WRITER’S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on June 30, 2025.  It’s the 1950s. After surviving a plane crash and assassination attempt in a cornfield, wealthy business tycoon—and a figure of international controversy—Zsa Zsa Korda plans his biggest project to date. He also intends to pass his inheritance and estate on to his estranged daughter, Liesl, a practicing nun. That’s the setup for Wes Anderson’s episodic and interesting arthouse caper, The Phoenician Scheme . The auteur’s quirks and style are still in tact, from slow-motion action to rapid-fire dialogue, an ensemble cast that includes some Anderson regulars, theatrical blocking, staging, and directing (partly influenced by Stanley Kubrick, and thoroughly shot in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio); excerpts of classical music excerpts; stylized credits; and (in this case) shoeboxes with detailed instructions or inscriptions. But what makes The Phoenician Scheme stand out a...

(Courtesy ebay )   WRITER’S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on June 30, 2025.   It begins where it ends. Earthquakes occur. Internet and phone connections get lost, as do TV signals. Patients disappear from hospital beds, while the monitors still running at the same rate. Lights going out. The lives of a small town school teacher and a local nurse reconnect over discussions about time, change, and environmental disasters (which could start feeling more like raptures). In the midst of these events, a mysterious billboard frequently appears, with the profile of a 39-year-old man named Charles Krantz, being honored for his years of service. Citizens dub him “the Oz of the Apocalypse.”  In the same dramatic league as The Shawshank Redemption and, more specifically, The Green Mile , writer-director Mike Flanagan adapts Stephen King’s novella, The Life of Chuck (from the author’s collection of short stories titled, If It Bleeds ). It chronicles—i...

(Courtesy  https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastic_Four )  Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four (2015 Documentary)  One of my fondest memories of watching Saturday morning cartoons on TV growing up was the “Marvel Action Hour” on Fox Kids. I remember the rich narration of veteran voice actor Jim Cummings, introducing a team of scientists that has a collision with cosmic rays during a space mission, and each getting superpowers as a result. ("Mr. Marvel himself"  Stan Lee  would then appear, introducing that day's exciting episode.) Reed Richards a.k.a. "Mr. Fantastic" gains the ability to stretch. Sue Storm a.k.a. "The Invisible Woman" can disappear and create force fields. Johnny Storm a.k.a. "The Human Torch" can turn himself into fire. And Ben Grimm is a giant monster known as "The Thing." (Imagine if the Incredible Hulk was made of rocks.) Then there’s Victor Von Doom, the ally-turned-rival who becomes...

(Courtesy IMDb)   WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on May 12, 2025.   I believe one of the reasons that stories about children who befriend animals—or otherworldly creatures—still resonate and hold up are because they represent groups or that not only struggle communicating with each other, but more specifically understanding each other. Ditto how said friends bring those respective communities together, even in a small way. Language and communication are key in writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s new fantasy-adventure, The Legend of Ochi (A24’s first family film since Marcel the Shell With Shoes On ).  Set on an isolated island named Carpathia, where local residents struggle to survive a centuries-old conflict with the mysterious creatures that roam the forests—young boys are trained to hunt and fight, like Medieval knights—a shy young girl named Yuri befriends an injured baby Ochi (orange, furry, primate-type beasts with bat ears). Conv...

(Courtesy   IMP Awards )   WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on May 9, 2025.   My first viewing of the latest entry in the MCU had me place it somewhere between what you would expect from a Marvel movie and not what you would expect, considering a few cliched genre tropes and an abundance of CGI action on display. The more I think about it, though, I realize that the themes and ideas and characters here represent more of what we wouldn’t have expected. In one word, Thunderbolts* (yes, that asterisk is intentional) is surprising.  On the surface, the film is a high-concept assembly of anti-heroes introduced over the last couple of phases of movies and streaming series. From Black Widow , there’s Red Room assassin Yelana Belova (Florence Pugh), her surrogate father/super soldier Alexei Shostokov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and fellow assassin Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). Then there’s the teleporting Ghost/Ava Starr (Hannah John-K...

(Courtesy   IMP Awards )   WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on May 2, 2025.   In the mid-1800s, author Charles Dickens spent roughly three years writing a manuscript about the life of Jesus of Nazareth titled, The Life of Our Lord . Although it wouldn’t be published until 1934 (more than 60 years after the author’s death), Dickens would reportedly read it to his children every year. That story is now the subject of a new computer-animated film from Angel Studios and CGI company Mofac.   The King of Kings opens with Charles giving a live reading of his beloved novel, A Christmas Carol , occasionally interrupted by his son Walter, who is fascinated with the story and legend of King Arthur. At the insistence of his wife Catherine, an impatient Charles tells his son the story of “the king of kings.” While uninterested at first, Walter soon becomes immersed in this epic and decades-spanning story about forgiveness and love....

(Courtesy IMP Awards )   WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on April 28, 2025.   After taking part in the Rocky spinoff series, as well as Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, filmmaker Ryan Coogler tackles his first wholly original project. And a very personal one at that. Set in the 1930s Prohibition era in the Deep South, Sinners follows two gangster twin brothers who return to their hometown after being years away, and open a juke joint in the area over the course of one night. They and several others soon confront a great evil awaiting them, leading to an invasion thriller of sorts, on par with a gripping haunted house chiller.  Shot on a combination of Ultra Panavision 70 cameras (a 2.76:1 aspect ratio that’s very rare in the industry these days) and 70mm IMAX, Sinners is a genre-bending story in the guise of elevated horror (vampire horror, to be precise). Its opening narration not only highlights the power of musi...

(Courtesy IMDb)   WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on April 14, 2025.   A single mother goes on a date for the first time in months. When she starts receiving anonymous airdrops from a mysterious caller, which turn from nuisances to threats, her evening takes a nightmarish turn, questioning everyone around her and who could be behind it all. That’s one way to summarize this thrilling co-production between Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes, and director Christopher Landon, who describes Drop as a commentary on the toxic use (and abuse) of social media.  The film’s primary restaurant setting (fictional, although it could pass for a real sky-high, culinary establishment) presents various characters, how they interact with their respective devices, and how they present themselves in general, which adds to the genre trope of “everyone is a suspect” (mentioned decades ago in Scream ). Add to that the use of home security cameras and bugged surv...

(Courtesy IMDb )   I have a confession to make. I have never played Minecraft . Back when it was first released, I had some students I used to tutor that would tell me about the original game and how it worked. From my understanding, it’s basically a world-building universe made entirely out of blocks. In addition, realms within that created world are discovered, as are the characters and creatures that occupy those worlds.  Many people (myself included) hardly had any hopes, let alone interest, for the big screen adaptation (courtesy Napoleon Dynamite  director Jared Hess) that was released earlier this year. The movie’s poorly-received teaser trailer apparently didn’t help, despite the odd casting of Jason Momoa (as former gaming champion, Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison), Jack Black (as Steve, reuniting with Hess since Nacho Libre ), Oscar-nominee Danielle Brooks (as real estate agent Dawn), and young actors Sebastian Hansen and Emma Meyers (as siblings Henry and N...

WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on April 14, 2025.   In November of 2006, two Navy SEALs platoons were assigned to an outpost in Ramadi, Iraq, for a specialized operation. The new film, Warfare , written and directed by Alex Garland and Iraq war veteran Ray Mendoza (one of the soldiers who lived through that battle), viscerally recreates this event in jolting and rumbling detail, as the mission goes south very suddenly and all hell breaks loose.  Told (mostly) in real time and from ground-level perspectives, this A24 release generally avoids the typical Hollywood flair that plagues many war pictures. While several young, up-and-coming actors portray members of these platoons (including Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, the latter of whom plays Mendoza), Warfare was reportedly based on interviews with those who were there (many of whom requested to keep their physical identities obscured). To its credit...

WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on April 4, 2025.   Known for his work on the Prime superhero series The Boys , as well as horror features like Scream and Companion , Jack Quaid headlines this genre-bending action-romantic-comedy about an introverted bank clerk named Nathan Caine, who has a rare-but-very-real condition where he can’t feel pain. His life changes when he falls for a pretty coworker named Sherry (Amber Midthunder). But when his bank is robbed (led by Ray Nicholson) and Sherry is taken as a hostage, Nathan goes on a risky mission to find and rescue her, becoming an unlikely hero—though he is in way over his head, and risking his own health and safety for another.  Readers and viewers should know up front that Novocaine is a violent and profane movie. More accurately, it pushes the envelope of graphic visuals and macabre sensibilities. There are some scenes of policemen being gunned down, while the main criminals are apparen...