The Movie Guy

There’s one movie I find myself watching every Halloween. For me, it’s a movie that strikes all the right chords in its blend of horror, creepiness, and scares. It features a smart, compelling story, actors I like who are given clever, humorous dialogue with obscure references to recite, film direction filled with creepy cutaways and insane imagery, and, in my mind, the granddaddy of all movie monsters. It’s one of the most overlooked and underrated horror movies ever made; a movie easily passed off as just another cheesy sequel- but it’s the real deal, a genuine continuation of arguably the scariest movie ever made. Written and directed by the man who created the original “Exorcist,” it’s William Peter Blatty’s 1990 film, “Exorcist III.” Continue reading →

In a cinematic career spanning 35 years, Bill Murray has had few missteps. His sarcastic, juvenile good-natured antics have kept us entertained for decades and his appearance in a movie has always guaranteed a bright spot in our movie-watching day. He’s the guy you depend on to give you a smile; he’s the guy you root for- Murray never lets you down.

And Bill Murray doesn’t let you down in “St. Vincent” either – his performance in the title character of Vincent McKenna is one of his best. Continue reading →

As Halloween approaches, I think back to how my love affair with movies really began.

My love of movies began with monster movies. Not horror movies, monster movies- specifically Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein. For personal reasons, I identified with these monsters- loners who lived by night.

As a kid, I would constantly get my days and nights mixed up. As a baby, my mother thought I was great because I would sleep until 1 pm. It was only when my aunt stayed over and found me standing in the crib of my darkened bedroom that my mother realized the truth. From that moment on, my aunt began calling me ‘demon,’ a play on my middle name Damon.

Even school couldn’t quell my nocturnal habits. Every summer vacation I’d find myself staying awake until 8 am and sleeping until 4pm. I’d go outside to play when the sun was going down and stay awake all night watching television. It was in these late-night hours that I’d get together with old friends, my fellow castaways from the world of the living who found themselves (like me) on the graveyard shift. It wasn’t their choice to keep these hours just as it wasn’t mine, so we bonded. Continue reading →

With the onset of autumn, the days getting shorter and the cool air closing in, we can all become introspective based on the physical nature of the weather around us. Sometimes that’s all you need to connect with a movie- a movie that has the same atmosphere as the world around you because the characters you’re watching are in a similar physical or psychological place. While there’s sunshine that has sporadic warmth, there’s also an underlying chill that can be as refreshing as it is numbing. Such was my experience with “The Skeleton Twins.” Continue reading →

Having read and enjoyed the book, the film adaptation of “Gone Girl” keeps the story intact, largely due to the screenplay being written by its author Gillian Flynn. Yet while some of the more in-depth character motivations or “red herrings” presented as clues in Flynn’s whodunit of a woman’s disappearance on the morning of her fifth anniversary are given superficial treatment in this movie, these shortcomings can be overlooked thanks to the strength that lies in the hand of director David Fincher’s dark touch.

We’ve seen this dark touch before, and this is something Fincher does well. Whether delving into the mind of a psychopath or sociopath in films like “Se7en,” “Fight Club,” “Panic Room,” or even “The Social Network,” his sure directorial hand grips you in his depiction of our cold, ruthless nature. “Gone Girl” is no exception.

Continue reading →