‘I Don’t Think I Could Do a Film That’s Against My Worldview.’ An Interview With ‘Wraith’ Director Michael Sajbel
As Avengers: Infinity War continues to dominate theaters and wide-release flicks scramble for the scraps, another film made its way direct to video today—a movie unlike any I’ve seen. In some ways, Wraith is a traditional haunted-house ghost story, filled with creepy attics and hidden stairways and something that goes bump in the night. But […]
Another First for Infinity War

Disney and Marvel’s latest superhero story was reportedly a hard movie for its makers to make. It was unquestionably a hard movie for me to watch. But when it comes to money, the earnings couldn’t be easier. To perhaps only Thanos’ surprise, Avengers: Infinity War won again, and once again did so in stellar fashion. […]
Vodcast: Digging Deep Into Avengers: Infinity War

So, how ’bout Avengers: Infinity War, huh? Remember that one scene? And then when that other thing happened … wow. Just … wow. Obviously, we can’t get too specific about what actually happened in Infinity War here. Don’t want to spoil anything in print. But you know what? There’s a whole lot to talk about […]
Avengers: To Infinity and the Box Office!

It came bent on utter domination. Once it was through, it left smoldering ruins in its wake. Try as its adversaries might, nothing could stop this awe-inducing, terrifying, world-destroying juggernaut. Are we talking Thanos, perhaps? Galactus? Darkseid, maybe? Nope. Try Avengers: Infinity War. Disney/Marvel’s latest superhero flick didn’t just win the box office this weekend: […]
Avengers: The Spirituality Behind the Superheroes

This weekend, Avengers: Infinity War will roll into theaters worldwide. It’s kind of a big deal. Infinity War, wherein an array of Marvel superheroes will try to prevent the evil Thanos from collecting super-powerful galactic artifacts known as Infinity Stones, is the culmination (along with next year’s untitled fourth Avengers flick) of a decade-long journey […]
A Quiet Place Re-Takes First Place

Forget about those gigantic gorillas. Never mind those super troopers. Let’s not even worry about Amy Schumer. A Quiet Place made another loud impression on the box office this weekend. The tense, if strangely bucolic, horror film directed by John Krasinski and starring himself and his wife, Emily Blunt, reclaimed the top spot after a […]
Uncool, CinnamonToastKen

Emma Jenkins has nearly 32,000 followers on her YouTube channel. She, like most folks with a YouTube channel, talks about what she likes. And that, it turns out, includes Jesus. CinnamonToastKen has nearly 3 million followers on his YouTube channel. He, also, talks about what he likes. And that, its turns out, includes making fun […]
Rampage Rocks Box Office, But Quiet Place Keeps Rolling

Movies don’t get much different from each other than Rampage and A Quiet Place. The former, based on a 1990s-era video game, is dumb, loud fun built on gigantic monsters and CGI explosions and, oh yeah, the bulky charisma of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. A Quiet Place is, well, a quieter movie—an intelligent horror thriller […]
Culture Clips: The Unliking Facebook Edition

Ah, Facebook. Welcome back, old friend. We’ve seen quite a bit of you these days—well, in our Culture Clips blog, at least. Every time I visit you myself, you ask me to tell you my social security number and demand that I vote for Vladimir Putin for our local school board. Well, maybe that’s stretching […]
A Quiet Place Makes Some Noise

Movie houses have traditionally been a bit empty in the springtime. And really, it makes sense: The kids are still in school. The movie industry is still recovering from awards season. And it’s not quite summer blockbuster season yet. Movie execs figure that we’ve all got better things to do with our time in March […]