Damien: Omen II (1978) & The Final Conflict (1981) The Omen’s head-lopping, priest-spearing supernatural delights have meant it’s never dropped out of my horror top ten. And when it comes to its sequels, I’ve never had a problem. They aren’t simple repetition in that we’re following Satan’s son from birth to adulthood. That’s gotta mean…

Around the forty-minute mark of Die Hard 2, John McClane realizes he’s dealing with another bunch of hi-tech, well-organized terrorists. “Oh, man,” he mutters to himself. “I can’t fucking believe this… How could the same shit happen to the same guy twice?” Yeah, dude, you nailed it. For herein lies the problem with most sequels:…

It is nearly impossible to begin describing the relentlessly entertaining over-the-top Indian historical action epic RRR (Rise Roar Revolt), so let’s begin roughly where the movie does, with the introductions of its two lead characters. Based on real Indian revolutionaries from the early 20th century, each is given an entrance that an average action movie…

Do you watch porn? C’mon, you can tell me. Maybe you’re one of those guys who wakes up and immediately staggers bleary-eyed across the bedroom to flip up a laptop lid, a short journey made hazardous by the combination of throbbing boner and ankle-pooled pajama bottoms that necessitate arms thrown out to the side while…

An amuse-bouche of mystery and rising tension bursts into shocking flavor in the early courses with the introduction of a familiar but always startling red claret, finishing with redolent notes ranging from The Wicker Man to Ratatouille (the movie, not the “peasant dish” after which it was named), which combine in the climactic denouement to…

The gross silliness of Heaven’s Gate reminded me to always cast critical eye on even Westerns. They should not get a go-bye simply because I love Westerns, that’d just be goofy. Although goofy is in vogue these days, it’s best to subscribe to the old values. So, when Amazon Prime offers a Western staring Emily…

Brad Whitewood Sr. reveals his true colors in At Close Range (1986) It takes more than an hour of this very nicely photographed neo-noir crime pic for Brad Sr. (Christopher Walken) to show he’s a nasty fucker. Up until then, he’s merely a thief, the leader of a tightly knit bunch of rural crims that…