Contributor: Paul Asay

What happens when persecuted psychics battle an evil government organization, evade a dastardly crime syndicate and wrestle with a brutally tortured screenplay? You don’t have to be psychic to figure it out.

South-central Los Angeles is a tough place for anybody to hang out. But if you just so happen to be wearing blue and carrying a badge? Well, this film aims to show us just how gritty, gory and incredibly obscene that experience can be.

The best thing about this movie is its title. It’s a name and an emotion—the exact right emotion one should feel if preparing to watch.

I’m a bit of a history geek. For much of this year, when I’ve not been watching movies or reviewing television shows, I’ve been reading history books—presidential biographies, to be specific. And of all the movies that I’m looking forward to seeing com …

There are some things that just won’t die—things that seem finished time and time again, only to dig themselves from their graves and grotesquely shamble around, masquerading as something full of life while not being very “lively” at all. I am speaking …

The other day, as I was typing up a blog or movie review or some such, my Plugged In compatriot Adam Holz stumbles into my cubicle, eyes all red. He’d been listening to Taylor Swift’s new song “Ronan,” and he told me exactly what he told all of you in …

Paul Thomas Anderson’s graphically quirky telling of a cult’s formation will leave Scientologists feeling cold, scared and angry. Actually, it will leave everyone feeling cold, scared and angry.

It’s interesting how we sometimes forget. I had almost forgotten about today’s significance until I drove in this morning and heard about the ceremonies at the World Trade Center Memorial, Washington D.C., and elsewhere. “Oh, that’s right,” I thought t …

Did you go to a movie this weekend? I thought not. Not very many people did. The top 12 movies earned a grand total of $51.9 million this weekend: Given rising ticket prices, that equates to just 276 attendees nationwide (according to a rather dishevel …

A honeycomb of interconnected stories all ask one basic question: What makes a meaningful life? This is a complex, poignant tale that tells us the choices we make matter. Which is why we need to talk a bit about a few choices the filmmakers made …

If we’ve learned anything about cinematic evil spirits over the years, it’s that they’re all kinda grabby. Like petulant toddlers, they like to take things from their harried mortal prey—be it their happiness or well-being or, very often, their very so …

Eddie Murphy’s out and Cuba Gooding Jr.’s in as day care turns into day camp. Greasy grimy gopher guts, anyone?

The best things always come in small boxes? This movie proves it’s not true.

Last night I was leafing through Neil Zawacki’s book How to Be a Villain (yes, it was a gift; no, it wasn’t from a disgruntled reader who thinks I’m well on my way) and ran across a section titled “The Evil Laugh—A Must-Have.” Zawacki calls the evil la …

I never met Neil Armstrong. Honestly, I’d have a hard time recognizing him without his spacesuit on. And when he died Saturday at the age of 82, I couldn’t remember what he looked like for a while, not until I went online to get a little refresher: Aft …