REVIEW: Strong emotional core, vampiric thrills power ‘Sinners’

What if “From Dusk Till Dawn” took place in the Great Depression?

That’s sort of what we have here in this new vampire thriller from writer and director Ryan Coogler. A period piece, “Sinners” is set in 1932 and takes place in the Mississippi Delta region. The movie stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, playing twin brothers Elijah and Elias Moore.

After making money as part of Al Capone’s Chicago mafia, they’ve returned to their roots to open a Juke Joint. The duo bring in family and friends to help run the venue and it turns out to be a success. In fact it’s such a success that it attracts a group of vampires.

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REVIEW: Double the ‘Beetlejuice,’ double the fun? To an extent, yes

After more than 35 years, the Ghost with the Most (Michael Keaton) is back on the big screen, getting a legacy sequel of his own.

In addition to Betelgeuse, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) also comes back, though she has traded her gothic, rebellious attitude for a TV personality, albeit still wearing black. She has to step away from her paranormal-centric show, though, as she has to attend the funeral of her late father.

Joining her is her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), though the latter isn’t as excited to be there as she has a strained familial relationship. However, when the family goes back to their old house, some dangerous afterlife shenanigans begin, forcing them to not only band together, but call on help from the titular character.

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REVIEW: ‘Smile’ will have horror fans smiling

Here in Minnesota, we know all about misleading smiles. It’s called being passive aggressive. The smiles in this film, though, are much more devilish.

Parker Finn makes his feature directorial debut with this new horror film, with Sosie Bacon playing the protagonist Rose. A doctor in a psychiatric ward, Rose regularly works with patients and it’s what brings her into contact with a troubled woman at the movie’s start.

The woman, a PhD student, says she’s been seeing a sinister figure who takes the form of people with an evil grin, before taking her own life. At first, Rose deduces that the woman must have been suffering from a mental ilness, until the same evil force begins appearing before her, too.

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REVIEW: Please, no more ‘Morbius’

Even “Dracula Untold” from the ill-fated Dark Universe did a vampire origin story better.

The movie follows the titular character Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), who’s lived with a debilitating blood illness his whole life. It’s something he shares with his surrogate brother Lucien (Matt Smith), with the two meeting at a hospital as children to be treated for the same disease.

As adults, Lucien has become a wealthy businessman while Michael is a world-renowned doctor specialized in treating blood-related diseases. Michael’s latest experiment to treat illnesses, including his own, turns out to be a mistake, though, as he is transformed into a vampire.

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REVIEW: ‘New Mutants’ misses the mark

After nearly two years of delays “The New Mutants” has finally arrived. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say that it’s worth the wait.

The movie begins with a teenager, Danielle (Blu Hunt),  waking up in a hospital-like facility after what seemed to be a monstrous tornado destroyed her town. Danielle soon learns from the single physician at the facility, Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga), that she is a mutant and she’s at an establishment meant to keep other young mutants from the general public and teach them to control their power.

The other mutants include Rahne (Maisie Williams), Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam (Charlie Heaton) and Roberto (Henry Zaga). As Danielle starts to settle in, the other mutants began having hallucinations while also getting closer to the truth of what the facility actually is.

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REVIEW: New Netflix film never reaches full ‘Power’

Super powers can be a fun thing in movies, but they need to have rules and, more importantly, they must make sense.

“Project Power, unfortunately, doesn’t have a good control on this aspect, or other film elements for that matter.

The film is set in New Orleans and takes place as a new drug is spreading through the city. Rather than giving people a high, though, this new drug causes people to have five minute bursts of super powers.

As the film goes on, the drug is shown to give different people unique powers, such as super strength or camouflage. The film follows a trio of characters mixed into the situation, a cop who’s using the drug himself to fight back named Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a former soldier ,Art (Jamie Foxx), who’s trying to limit its spread and a student, Robin (Dominique Fishback), who’s started dealing the substance.

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REVIEW: ‘Satanic Panic’ is fun but scares are limited

With the closure of movie theaters because of the coronavirus pandemic, I’m taking a look back at movies from 2019.

When I first heard about this title, I had hoped the film would be about the Satanic Panic phenomenon of the 80s that dominated pop culture.

That’s not the case with this flick, but it’s still an alright watch.

Hayley Griffith plays Samantha in this 2019 horror comedy, a young woman just starting out her delivery job for a local pizzeria. With a lot of deliveries taking place in the rain to homes not interested in tipping, though, her first day isn’t going great.

However, she gets an opportunity for a bigger tip when she delivers to a very wealthy neighborhood. The only problem is the neighborhood group she delivers to just happens to be a Satan-worshiping cult that decide to use her as a sacrifice. To survive, she has to team up with the daughter of the cult leader, Judi (Ruby Modine), who’s also become a target.

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