Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is an unapologetic comic book movie that embraces the bright colors, superhero logic, and heart-on-your-sleeve emotions of the best of Marvel’s vintage titles from the 1970s and 80s The first movie felt more like a space opera, with roaring starships and galactic vistas. Guardians’ quirky humor and retro soundtrack … Read more
I’ve got a soft spot for lost worlds in general, and Skull Island in particular. I love the idea of worlds that time forgot, wrapped up in mystery, mysticism and maybe a touch of the occult. In many ways, King Kong’s stomping grounds of Skull Island is the epitome of that: a land filled with … Read more
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is a bad movie. It is a terrible, ridiculous, over-the-top, spectacularly bad movie … and that’s why I loved it. Look, let’s be clear — there are no good Resident Evil movies. They’re all bad in one way or another, but after Resident Evil: Extinction (the third one) they fully-embraced … Read more
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is either too short, or too long … I haven’t decided which yet. Regardless it’s a movie filled with spectacular moments, tremendous visuals, and a sense that there’s a story that was some how missed. It begins with what should have been the end of the second … Read more
The Cabin in the Words is the ultimate meta monster movie. It lovingly explains exactly why all those countless teenagers in all those terrible creature features movies had to die, and does so in amusing — yet horrifying — fashion.
There are certain animals that simply creep people out. Endless documentaries on the Discovery Channel and PBS have shown us that sharks, spiders, and snakes are misunderstood creatures, but that doesn’t stop up from secretly worrying about being strangled in our sleep by giant reptiles. Anaconda (1997) exploits those fears with a film that pits … Read more
Eight Legged Freaks is a throwback to the radiation-infused monster movies of 1950s, in which fallout from a nuclear weapon causes fauna to grow to unusual size and then go on a murderous rampage. In Eight Legged Freaks, it’s toxic waste that causes the runaway growth of arachnids at a local spider farm. Unlike the … Read more
The Relic is a Alien-rip off creature feature with delusions of scientific authenticity, unlikeable characters, and an underwhelming monster. Its appearance on Netflix streaming may tempt you to watch it, but you’re better of watching one of the many Tremors sequels available on the service. The Relic (1997) was one of the many creature feature … Read more
The night I went to see Prometheus, a friend tried to wave us off, calling the movie a “hot mess”. We saw it anyway … and she wasn’t wrong. This isn’t to say it doesn’t have its moments, but the film is ultimately beautiful and flawed. Prometheus began life as a prequel to Ridley Scott’s … Read more
Alien isn’t just a monster movie. In many ways it is the definitive interstellar creature feature that spawned dozens of half-baked imitations (including some that had the Alien moniker) Thirty-four years after its release, the movie remains one of the best monster — and science fiction — movies ever made.