The rites themselves have changed in practice if not in spirit, and the movie rekindles enough of its ancestor’s spirit that it’s hard to imagine a better result. What more were all the naysayers expecting?

This article is filed under Best Movies, Death, Great Britain, Horror, Movies, Mystery, Mythology, Religion, Satire, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

Quentin Tarantino proclaims ”My favorite movie of the last 20 years! I wish I had made this movie.” That is as perfect an endorsement as a film distributor could hope to have, especially when selling a film like Battle Royale to a hungry cult audience.

This article is filed under Best Books, Best Movies, Books, Graphic Novels, Horror, Japan, Movies, Psychology, Satire, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Sociology, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

This film will upset you. This film will follow you home and haunt you. This film takes courage to face. You will not forget We Need To Talk About Kevin.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Books, Crime Fiction, Horror, Movies, Psychology, Sociology, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

Acting, directing, and writing awards are the most popular targets for discussion, but there were more very creative folks left off the roll this year. Two aggressively original outsiders are out in the rain, peeping in at the Best Original Score category without so much as an acknowledgment.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Movies, Music, The Fourth Wall.

It is heartening to see so much well-crafted entertainment geared toward whole families in a single year. That increases the likelihood of a new generation that wants to grow up and make great movies. However, it is also a signal to the makers of strictly grown-up films to wake up and get creative again.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Movies, The Fourth Wall.

And so the clock has run out on 2011. We had some major comedy misfires on the big screen, and relied a lot more than usual on television for laughs. What’s going on here?

This article is filed under Best Movies, Humor, Movies, Television, The Fourth Wall.

As the holiday season builds to its peak, we movie watchers face a release pattern that seems a bit less robust than usual. However, there are plenty of perfectly interesting options out there. In addition to the major franchises sequels like Sherlock Holmes and Mission Impossible, there are a few titles running on the outside [...]

This article is filed under Best Movies, Movies, Satire, The Fourth Wall, Theatre, Thrillers.

Early press for The Wicker Tree has not been overwhelmingly good, but one might say it has been encouragingly mixed. The original Wicker Man did not become known as “the Citizen Kane of horror films” overnight, or even during the horror boom of the 1970s. It vanished into relative obscurity for some time before its rediscovery, and look at that baby burn now!

This article is filed under Best Movies, Great Britain, Horror, Movies, Mystery, Religion, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

“Vampires versus werewolves” is only one of the time-tested feuds that film and television have offered for our amusement. This week, Brett Harrison Davinger and I (Dan Fields) take a look at some other monstrous matchups, scary skirmishes, and curious critter clashes.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Horror, Movies, Mystery, Phobias, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Television, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

At last, the long-rumored prequel/remake of John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece The Thing infects theaters across the country. And I mean that in a good way, because I still hope it will be entertaining, despite persistent pangs of common sense. The trailer, at least, sold it as a pretty faithful re-shooting of the original, though no [...]

This article is filed under Best Movies, Horror, Humor, Movies, Satire, Science Fiction and Fantasy, The Fourth Wall.

The practice of blessing mass entertainment with the bard’s prose confers a kind of loftiness upon it, or at least that must be the idea. A quick glance indicates that Shakespeare has provided titles for an alarming number of Star Trek episodes, just for starters. This week, lend your ears to Brett Harrison Davinger and me (Dan Fields) as we look at some of our favorite films to borrow a title from the works of Shakespeare.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Horror, Literary Themes, Movies, Mystery, Poetry, Satire, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Television, The Fourth Wall, Theatre, Thrillers, Writers.

Forget good fences, and forget good neighbors. Characters in movies and television are far more compelling when not acting the least bit neighborly.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Horror, Movies, Mystery, Satire, Television, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

This week, I join forces with Brett Davinger to chronicle some of the best heists, rip-offs, and holdups ever put on screen. So just sit quietly and keep your hands away from the phone, where we can see them. This won’t take long.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Crime Fiction, Humor, Movies, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

We the critics of the Fourth Wall – Julia Rhodes, Brett Davinger, and myself – devote this week to the discussion of our favorite (and least favorite) films released in 2011 so far. After careful consideration, each of us has selected a “Top 3″ and “Bottom 3″ for the year’s first half. Read along and see how our love and hate stack up against your own.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Horror, Movies, Science Fiction and Fantasy, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers.

Clive Barker has lent his eyes and hands to virtually every medium, from page to the screen to the stage to the canvas to the console. However, film fans know him particularly as a horror master. There is so much undermined material for gifted fantasy filmmakers that perhaps we could dispense with further Candyman sequels and retire the Hellraiser juggernaut with contented hearts, and enjoy a Clive Barker renaissance clad in all new colors.

This article is filed under Best Books, Best Movies, Books, Gay and Lesbian, Graphic Novels, Horror, Literary Themes, Movies, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Sex, Short Stories, The Fourth Wall, Writers.