Reviews

An extraterrestrial warrior comes of age in Predator: Badlands

In a way, the Alien/Predator universe has been alive and well since Alien first debuted in 1979, but there’s no denying that the franchises have experienced a resurgence in recent years. Predator: Badlands is the perfect culmination of this revival and is sure to appeal to Predator fans, Alien enthusiasts, and newcomers alike.

Festivals Reviews

Train Dreams is among the best of the Pacific Northwest

Opening with a spectacular shot of a massive tree falling in the woods (shot from the perspective of the tree) in the late 1800s and spanning decades into the twentieth century, Train Dreams was one of the major premieres to emerge from this year’s Sundance. Ahead of its theatrical release, it plays next week as a special presentation by the Seattle Film Critics Society.

Reviews

Mary Shelley would be giddy over del Toro’s Frankenstein

The story is a metaphor for many things and if you read it in high school English I’m sure you discussed more than your fair share of conclusions, so I’ll digress from that. However, what I’ve read of and from her, Mary Shelley loved the macabre. Dark stories that hit at the heart of our deepest desires and most crippling weaknesses. Intensity is the key. I had an inkling, but even while watching del Toro’s take on this story, I was confident Shelley would be enthralled by his re-imagining.

Reviews

The sad truth of Roofman is what it reveals about the world we live in

In Roofman we see the world through the everyman Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum). It starts off with his most notorious act, robbing a McDonalds, but in the sweetest way you can while holding hostages at gunpoint. The story backs up a little to explain what brought him to that point: after leaving the military he had no real sense of who he was or how he fit in the world. The only thing he really did well was observation, seeing the details that others missed (or maybe just didn’t use for their own gain).