06 Jun 2022

Organ-ized Crime: “Crimes of the Future,” “Watcher,” and “Fire Island”

By Mike Schulz

Concluding his pre-show announcements with “Enjoy the goopy madness!”, the FilmScene staffer then left us to do just that at Crimes of the Future, and he wasn't kidding – the movie was goopy madness, all right. I just wish I enjoyed it more. More pointedly, I wish its writer/director did.

30 May 2022

Bring Back That Lovin' Feeling: “Top Gun: Maverick” and “The Bob's Burgers Movie”

By Mike Schulz

Our official welcome-back is a rather jolting reminder that time stops for no one – not even Tom Cruise. And had Top Gun: Maverick really embraced that fact, and had its star actually embraced his human fallibility, this corny, retrograde, occasionally quite-entertaining outing might've really been something.

22 May 2022

One Wedding and a Funeral: “Downton Abbey: A New Era” and “Men”

By Mike Schulz

The experience of director Simon Curtis' Downton Abbey: A New Era is nothing if not exceedingly comfortable, even if there's little that's remotely New about it.

15 May 2022

Kumbayeah!: “Family Camp,” “Firestarter,” and “The Survivor”

By Mike Schulz

Damned if I didn't grin and giggle at Family Camp from the very start, and damned if I didn't get misty-eyed on a couple of occasions – though given the film's leanings, I should probably be saying “darned." I'll try to remember that if, or more hopefully when, we get a sequel.

09 May 2022

Strange Interludes: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”

By Mike Schulz

Arriving in the midst of a franchise extender almost shockingly bereft of weirdness, one scene in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did manage to completely surprise and tickle me.

02 May 2022

Totaled Recall: "Memory"

By Mike Schulz

Martin Campbell's Liam-Neeson-with-a-gun revenge thriller isn't necessarily a good movie, but compared to four-fifths of its Irish headliner's big-screen blood baths, it's definitely an improvement.

25 Apr 2022

Alas, Poor Amleth: “The Northman,” “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” “The Bad Guys,” and “Unplugging”

By Mike Schulz

The Northman is a period action drama with supernatural leanings that's five times bloodier than Braveheart, nearly as nutty as The Green Knight, and just as divisive as you'd expect from the filmmaker whose two previous features were the talking-goat freakout The Witch and the two-man fever dream The Lighthouse.

18 Apr 2022

Potter-y Yarn: “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” and “Father Stu”

By Mike Schulz

When last we encountered the many heroes and villains of J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts series, the screenwriter/producer's pre-Harry Potter assemblage of wizards and Muggles was … . Um. I'm sorry, but does anyone recall what was going on with these people at the end of their 2018 film? More to the point: Does anyone care?

11 Apr 2022

Parallel Mothers: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Ambulance,” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”

By Mike Schulz

I've loved a number of movies released over the past 10 months. But not since The Mitchells vs. the Machines have I been as over-the-moon in love with a movie the way I am with Everything Everywhere All at Once, which just might be the only sci-fi/martial-arts/time-travel comedy you'll ever see that also boasts an emotional power to make you cry – a lot.

04 Apr 2022

Leto Me In: "Morbius" and "The Contractor"

By Mike Schulz

There was literally nothing about the prospect of Morbius I was looking forward to, so I suppose it's almost a compliment to say that while I didn't enjoy director Daniel Espinosa's largely dull, grossly formulaic comic-book yarn, I didn't actively detest it, either.

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