Hey you can complain all you want about lack of female heroes and lack of African American Heroes and lack of Gay heroes in “Star Wars.” What about us? What about the Hispanics? We have nothing! And don’t come emailing me about the Extended Universe because it doesn’t count. For the short time he was in “The Force Awakens,” Poe Dameron made his mark, promising a riveting and unique star bound hero who took his X-Wing and kicked some dark side ass.
It’s apropos of Marvel to finally bring in Spider-Man to “Civil War.” Because while it is essential that he be introduced to a brilliant cinematic universe, he is representative of the underlying message behind “Civil War.” With great power comes great responsibility. After spending so many years doing battle with aliens and super powered foes, the Avengers are finally taking a toll on the world, and the government from all sides of the globe is angry at their inherent recklessness.
A babysitter is kidnapped and another girl takes her place to watch over a couple’s three children as they celebrate their anniversary. The minute the parents leave the house, the new sitter turns the weird factor way up and begins with a series on increasingly creepy games and situations. Written by Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck and director Michael Thelin, the story gets going very fast here.
The folks behind “Holidays” try to cover all the bases of the resurgence of the horror anthology film. They tackle the holiday horror film, try to create original and unique horror segments out of rarely touched upon holidays around the world, and they also organize it with a faux arthouse gloss that became popularized in “ABCs of Death.” While “ABCs of Death” and its sequel were misfires of the anthology horror film at least they were amusing misfires.
Clocking in at three and a half minutes (five with bloopers included), director Sydney Hord’s “Unbalanced Love” is a tight and very good short horror film that oozes potential. Granted, I would have loved twenty more minutes for exposition, but considering the context of the film’s production, “Unbalanced Love” unfolds the premise and narrative very well.
Sequels should always strive to be better than the original while paying homage to the film that came before it. James Cameron does a bang up job with a film that, in another reality, would have failed big time. Cameron takes what was a slow burn and gradually unraveling horror science fiction film about a woman battling a phallic alien and transforms it in to a brutally and entertaining action horror film. While some of the more ardent fans of “Alien” might have been thrown off by the change in tone, James Cameron embraces the action genre for a brand new generation, offering an extension of Ridley Scott’s film that compliments what came before.
In the remote Shetland Islands of Scotland, legends of ritual sacrifices of surrogate mothers to great warriors’ children crop back up after Dr. Tora Hamilton arrives with her husband to his homeland after losing a child. Soon after, Tora finds a body in her new yard, minus the heart which sends her on a hunt for the truth. Director Peter A. Dowling wrote the script based on the novel of the same name by Sharon (S.J.) Bolton.