"Mother Mary" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½ Mother Mary  is a movie with keen insight into human nature, into the way people form and then break attachments and what that...

The price of fame, the hidden cost of success. You've seen movies about them before, but none quite like "Mother Mary." It works very, very well as a psychodrama between two women, but less well when it veers into the paranormal.
My rating: ***½ of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/04/moth...

"Exit 8" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½ Exit 8  opens with a man on his way to a temp job. He's riding in a packed Japanese subway train, and not everything is going we...

Confounding, dizzying and surreal, the Japanese psychological thriller Exit 8 manages to transcend its minimal source material, a viral video game, and create a compelling and often disturbing piece of existential dread.

***½ of *****

thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/04/exit...

"Project Hail Mary" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Project Hail Mary  is a popcorn flick, a movie whose primary, maybe even sole, ambition is to entertain and delight audiences who ...

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's sci-fi romp is purely delightful. I've seen naysayers, but I can't quite figure out why they'd want to resist this virtually irresistible piece of popcorn entertainment. #MovieReview #MovieSky
My rating: ***** of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/03/proj...

"Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   A digital wristwatch doesn't tick, but it might as well, because the ticking clock is the classic device that brings constant ...

"Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die" is indeed a lot of fun: zany, relentless, weird ... and it has some really great ideas at its core, though an overblown finale means those ideas never quite stick.
#moviereview #moviesky
***½ of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/03/good...

"Crime 101" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   The prevailing view of movies made by streaming networks is that they dumb things down too much, that distracted audiences s...

"Crime 101" is the real deal: A sizzling, nail-biting crime thriller that bucks the trend of "dumbed-down" movies to fantastic effect. Super highly recommended! #MovieSky #MovieReview
My rating: ****½ of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/02/crim...

"Pillion" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Pillion does something so rare in movies it's easy not to notice how special it is: It presents us with a relationship that we don...

"Pillion" is a true and utter surprise — it's sexually charged, certainly NSFW, and bold. But also honest and unexpectedly deep and moving. #MovieSky #MovieReview
My rating: **** of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/02/pill...

"Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie  puts me in a bind. I saw it as part of AMC's "Screen Unseen" series, which presents movi...

This may sound crazy, but: The first great film of 2026 is "Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie." In fact, I think it's something like a masterpiece. See it. And DON'T try to find out anything about it first! #MovieSky

My rating: ***** of *****

thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/02/nirv...

"Send Help" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   Send Help  makes you feel at least a little sorry for Dylan O'Brien. He's a terrific actor. He was jaw-droppingly good in the ...

"Send Help" may not break any new ground or offer much that's really fresh, but it's a lot of fun. Its two central performances are great, too, but Rachel McAdams as Linda from, uh, well, *not* accounting really steals the show. #MovieSky
***½ of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/02/send...

Du bist nicht allein!

"Hamnet" ☆ ☆   "Keep your heart open," exhorts the poster for Hamnet , the wildly acclaimed, careful, quiet, and deeply earnest movie that almost...

Oof. I really, really tried to meet "Hamnet" more than halfway. I wanted to discover that a book I didn't like had been transformed into a movie that cast a spell on me. But it didn't. There's no easy way to say this: I just don't get "Hamnet."
** of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/hamn...

"Song Sung Blue" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   Movie screens used to be filled with films like Song Sung Blue , which exist for no reason other than to entertain a large num...

Hugh Jackman sparkles, but Kate Hudson absolutely shines in "Song Sung Blue," which may be schmaltzy, but it's effective.
My rating: ***½ of *****
#moviesky #moviereview
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/song...

"Disneyland Handcrafted" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   For many of us, Disneyland has always existed. Even for those old enough to have known a world without the physical theme park...

"Disneyland Handcrafted" on Disney+ is a deep dive into the making of Disneyland, offering an incredible glimpse into the near-impossible task of building the place ... and the risk-taker behind it. #moviesky
**** of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/disn...
#Disney #Disneyland #MovieReview

"Megadoc" ☆ ☆ ☆   Moviemaking is a curious art form. Individuals are recognized as the creator of films, and yet dozens, scores, hundreds, even thou...

If you want to know HOW Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" was made, director Mike Figgis's documentary "Megadoc" is worthwhile. If you want to know WHY ... expect no answers, just more mystery. #moviesky #moviereview
My rating: *** of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/movi...

"Is This Thing On?" ☆ ☆ ½   At the beginning of Is This Thing On? , Alex Novak (Will Arnett) really needs a drink, because that's the only way he can think of...

In "Is This Thing On?" Bradley Cooper as director and Will Arnett as star proved what Steve Martin said decades ago: Comedy is not pretty. In this case, it's not even funny. #moviesky #moviereview
**½ of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-t...

Where the Day Takes You Emerald lives by routine. Aging and alone, she anchors herself in ordinary rituals, and takes comfort in revisiting the moments that shaped her life: love, ambition, grief, and a quiet sense of purpos...

To my reader friends!

I'm helping out a new site called Readerful in beta testing. I've published one of my short stories. Are you willing to check it out and let me know if you encounter any problems accessing the site? And, if you're inclined, to rate my story?
app.readerful.com/story/where-...

"The Secret Agent" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   A man named Marcelo walks into the lobby of a popular movie theater in Recife, Brazil, in early 1977. As he does, three women emer...

"The Secret Agent" has such Oscar buzz that I went in expecting something heavy-handed, ultra-serious and politically angry ... and came away not entirely sure of what I saw, but enjoying it quite a lot anyway.
***½ of *****
#MovieSky #MovieReview
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...

"Marty Supreme" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   Those of us of a certain age remember our friends who had a certain habit — the nice word for addiction — back in the 1980s and ...

Timothée Chalamet just keeps going and going and going in "Marty Supreme." Some may find it visceral and exciting and even charming. I got increasingly exhausted. ***½ of *****
#MovieSky
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/mart...

"No Other Choice" ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   In the endlessly fascinating, book-length interview between Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut, Hitchcock says of his work...

"No Other Choice" is a dastardly movie, a pitch-black comedy and a squirm-in-your-seat thriller. It also gets a little too murky at times and can be a little hard to track. Still, it's often a visual wonder and ratchets up the suspense nicely. #MovieSky
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2026/01/no-o...

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½   I walked into Avatar: Fire and Ash as a tired, jaded adult and walked out a 10-year-old kid, having spent three hours staring ...

I'll come right out and say it: I LOVED "Avatar: Fire and Ash." It may be my favorite of the three. If it has one flaw it's that it could have been even longer. Really! It's sometimes rushed and disjointed. On the whole, it's just an amazement. #moviesky
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/12/avat...

Agreed!

Favorite Films: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" As I write this, it's coming up on Christmas, and the ubiquitous A Christmas Story  has begun appearing. It's no longer limited to a 24-hour...

One of Disney's oddest and most forgotten films is also among my Favorite Films. This is the first "Favorite Films" post I've written on my blog in years. Let me know your thoughts ... on my writing, or on this unique film. #moviesky #disney
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/12/favo...

"Wake Up Dead Man" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Peter Falk did it every few weeks for years. Angela Lansbury did it every Sunday night for a decade. Agatha Christie did it 75 times...

If "Wake Up Dead Man" lacks a little of the satiric bite of "Glass Onion" or the acid-tongued humor of "Knives Out," it's still awfully fun. **** of *****
#moviesky #moviereview
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/12/wake...

"Train Dreams" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Robert Grainier doesn't know who he is. He has no birthday, no parents, no hometown. He has only himself. Most of us aren't like G...

The easiest way to put it is: "Train Dreams" is perfect.
#moviereview #MovieSky
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/12/trai...

"Wicked: For Good" ☆ ☆ ☆ Now, wait just a clock tick. On Broadway, Wicked runs 2 hours, 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. On film, Wicked: Part 1  an...

Don't kill me here, but if not for the two lead performers in the climactic "For Good" number, "Wicked: For Good" wouldn't be very good at all. It constantly mistakes excess for emotion. Still, that song mostly makes it worth seeing. #moviesky
FULL REVIEW: thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/11/wick...

"Bugonia" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ A word of warning for those about to watch Bugonia : Afterward, expect to find yourself falling down a rabbit hole of inquiry abou...

Just when you thought Yorgos Lanthimos couldn't get any weirder...he did. Gloriously so. "Bugonia" is quite a thing to behold—glorious, bewildering, offensive, hilarious, gory, off-putting and thought-provoking, sometimes in the same scene.
***** of *****
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/11/bugo...

"Die My Love" ☆ ☆ ☆ Some people will argue (its director, Lynne Ramsay, says wrongly) that  Die My Love  is about post-partum depression. I agree with Ram...

"Die My Love" is a difficult challenge, a movie that all but dares you to hate it. With performances like the ones given by Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson and Sissy Spacek (among others), it's worth trying if you're brave. #MovieSky
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/11/die-...

"Nuremberg" ☆ ☆ ☆ It's an awful, damning truth that far too many Americans — and, based on global affairs, it can be assumed citizens of many other coun...

"Nuremberg" isn't a bad movie, but it will work best for those who are less familiar with World War II and the Holocaust. Russell Crowe and Rami Malek are rather badly miscast, yet it's worth seeing, if only for the real footage shown during the trial.
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/11/nure...

"Roofman" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ There aren't many pleasant surprises in the world these days, which makes  Roofman something to cherish. It's a disarming surpri...

"Roofman" is a total, disarming, wonderful little surprise. It's not the movie you might think from its marketing, which is the best thing about it. #MovieSky
**** of *****
Full Review:
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/11/roof...

"Good Fortune" ☆ ☆ ☆½ The easiest and most obvious movie to which to compare Aziz Ansari's  Good Fortune  is Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life , but th...

Aziz Ansari's "Good Fortune" is charming and funny, with a truly perfect performance by Keanu Reeves at its heart, but falls shy of greatness by tacking a heavy-handed (though fortunately non-religious) "message" on to its lightweight story. #MovieSky
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/11/good...

"Frankenstein" ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ More and more, the question to ask about movies isn't, "Is it any good?" but, "Can I watch it at home while doing sixteen other th...

"Frankenstein" isn't a great movie — it's far too familiar to be that — but it is a very, very good movie. Guillermo del Toro has made a grand, gothic entertainment sadly destined to be experienced in the half-attentive fog of Netflix.
thereinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/10/fran...