I was mostly bored by this film. The antagonist is supposed to be a fearsome void, but I was mostly annoyed with his questions, like the detective. After about halfway through and I realized where things were going, my mind started to wander to other, better, examples of psychological control. Hannibal (the TV series) immediately comes to mind; he's able to believably and chillingly control others because he has sunken deep into their wounds and uses an individual's pressure points against th...

The first recording today starts with the end of Raven. There’s a trailer for Timmy Time. Plus a trail for Deadly 60. Then it’s The Sarah Jane Adventures – The Gift – Part 1. It starts with Sarah Jane and co chasing a fat kid. Seems like bullying to me. Oh wait, it’s a Slitheen, so that’s OK. They […]

Directors Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell's documentary, The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, benefits from a personal twist. Already in progress, the movie’s urgency amps up when Roher, who does the movie's interviewing, learns that he and his wife are about to become parents.   Given the many dire forecasts about AI Roher has already heard, he's understandably apprehensive about the life that awaits the child he'll be raising.  At first, Roher's questions seem motivated by a fear...

To appreciate the animated biopic, A Magnificent Life, a bit of background helps.    The name Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) may not have the same kind of resonance with American audiences as French directors such as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. Even when it comes to movies of the 1930s, cineastes are probably more familiar with the work of Jean Renoir and Rene Clair, both of whom were Pagnol's contemporaries.    I'm being sketchy, of course, but I begin this way because Pagnol may...

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Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks) Joe Kubert (colors) Sam Rosen (letters) Spirit’s been overdue for a nice, wholesome story, so when Thomas Hawkins starts the strip getting out of prison and the guard says, “Once a killer, always a killer,” it’s concerning. The strip turns around immediately, however, as Spirit drops in to see … Continue reading The Spirit (May 25, 1941) “Thomas Hawkins”

Two friends to enemies meet in a hotel bar in the early hours. The years have passed since something happened to shatter their relationship, but emotions haven’t necessarily mellowed. Mark Bastin’s play The Dawn of Reckoning is a two-hander which unravels the broken friendship between Ruth (Jilly Bond), a children’s book illustrator, and Helena (Bryonie […]

Super sleuth Davrie Caro sent me this film showing customers leaving the Claremont Theater in New York City after the showing of the film On the Stroke of Twelve in 1915.  The weather is transitional, since some patrons are bundled … Continue reading →

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A classic investigation/recap board appears in Troll 2 (dir. Roar Uthaug, 2025).

Blitzing through season one of Garrow’s Law (2009-11), I had a number of revelatory thoughts about it.

Theatre Centre’s Resident Writer, Debris Stevenson (co-adaptor of the RSC’s celebrated Cyrano de Bergerac) is on a mission to make…

Do actors who appeared on HBO's legendary Jersey-gangster drama have a higher rate of criminal-justice contact? Or is it just click-baiting by news desks? SDB looked into it.

Or, is it fair to be cross with a film that doesn’t want to be any good? Three weeks ago, Circus Film Studios brought out a feelgood comedy ‘Mother’s Pride’ about a pub-owning family. Mick Harley (acted by comedy veteran Martin Clunes) is the landlord of the Somerset pub, The Drovers Arms. His business is […]

Deadline: Stephen Colbert doesn’t have to worry about his next gig after he signs off as host on CBS’s The Late Show on May 21. The late-night host will be embarking on what is arguably his dream project: adapting the next Lord of the Rings movie from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures. The […]

So as you might imagine, even this far out from (some version of) the character’s appearance on the silver screen, I’ve had an upswell of demand for comics featuring Doctor Doom. And not too long ago, a young man, probably 12 or 13, fished a couple appearances out of the Fantastic Four boxes and purchased […]

Finished Chainsaw Man Part 2 and honestly thought it was kind of Bad

Did the nine of 12 chefs on Top Chef Carolinas in the bottom fail? Or did the food dyeing challenge and judging fail them?

Today’s recording starts with the end of Ray Mears Northern Wilderness. There;s a BBC 5 Live promo featuring Gabby Logan, Colin Murray and Richard Bacon. There’s also trails for Children in Need and Top Gear. Then it’s another episode of James May’s Toy Stories – Scalextric. James May still has one of his Scalextric cars he had when he was […]

CRY HAVOC!   Director Tamara Harvey, who gave us that beautiful, thoughtful PERICLES last year (also starring Alfred Enoch),  is not one to interpret Henry V in the stormingly militant-heroic mould once so beloved and familiar as successive … Continue reading →

by Cláudio Alves FRANKENSTEIN is the third Guillermo del Toro movie to win the Best Production Design Oscar. At the 98th Academy Awards, James Cameron extended his record as the director who has helmed the most Visual Effects Oscar winners, with Avatar: Fire and Ash being his eighth film to do so. At the same ceremony, Guillermo del Toro saw his Frankenstein take the Best Production Design prize, inching ever closer to tying, perhaps one day breaking, Tim Burton’s record of directing four f...

“Fist my bump.” A scientist (Ryan Gosling) wakes up aboard a ship deep in space, with all his crew mates dead. He battles amnesia to discover that he’s been sent on a mission to stop the sun from dimming. We’re back with the Something Str...

Project Hail Mary has almost all of the stuff I love about Spielberg sci-fi without almost none of the stuff I hate. (Mildest spoilers for stuff that's in the trailers)