A love letter should feel familiar. They should have a lot of the same qualities one would expect. But what if that letter was also a loving critique? That’s exactly what Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard did with their horror film The Cabin In The Woods. Yet, despite how smart and searing the film can be as a criticism, it stands as equally entertaining for fans and non-fans of horror. All of that isn’t to say that the film is lacking in thrills or blood. The violence is brutal and creative enough to keep from feeling ho hum. Especially in the first half, while the second becomes something else entirely.…
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G-S-T Review…Bully
Every kid on the planet has either heard or said that old phrase “sticks and stones can break your bones but words will never hurt me“. Well, turns out, it’s not as true as our parents and educators led us to believe. Just like those sticks and stones, words do hurt and sometimes they cut very, very deep. Throughout the making of this powerful film and its ongoing ratings battle, The Weinstein Company has backed director Lee Hirsch’s eye-opening documentary about bullying in schools. Kids have always been self-conscious and nervous about fitting it but Bully explores stories about individuals and their families to show that bullying is a real problem…
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G-S-T Review…Detention
(Author’s note: a few weeks ago I participated in a round table interview with Detention director Joseph Kahn. That feature was published over on my site, A Constant Visual Feast; it makes for a great read in conjunction with the review itself. Go here to read the interview if you haven’t already!) There’s really no good preamble one can fashion to properly introduce Joseph Kahn’s sophomore feature length film, Detention, in a review; temptation and delusions of wit both want to nudge me into describing it as a film so utterly, enthusiastically, uniquely bonkers that it would behoove any cinephile to pay the purchase price of a ticket to watch it.…