Category: Reviews

Cronenberg returns to his past in ‘Crimes of the Future’

Jeff Mitchell

“Crimes of the Future” (2022) – “Long live the new flesh.” – Max Renn (James Woods) in “Videodrome” (1983) The aforementioned quote is from David Cronenberg’s trippy, sicko story about a renegade cable television station.  Its president, Renn, falls into real-life channels of depravity and inexplicable, fantastical carnage, including an adversary inserting a VHS video tape into the man’s abdomen.  The year was 1983, and VHSs fast-forwarded into millions of American homes, and “Videodrome” played off that pop culture phenomenon.  Cronenberg, the king of body horror films, is back and…

‘Fire Island’ is a welcoming and boisterous vacation

Jeff Mitchell

“Fire Island” (2022) – “Vacation, all I ever wanted.  Vacation, had to get away.” – “Vacation” (1982) by The Go-Go’s The next lyric in The Go-Go’s 80s classic is “Vacation, meant to be alone,” however, that is not Noah’s (Joel Kim Booster), Howie’s (Bowen Yang), Keegan’s (Tomas Matos), Luke’s (Matt Rogers), and Max’s (Torian Miller) collective intention.  It’s summertime, and these five 30-somethings – friends for years – travel on the South Bay Clipper to Fire Island for a week of drinking, dancing, finding drugs, meeting guys, hooking up, and…

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ soars above the 1986 original

Jeff Mitchell

“Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) – “Top Gun” (1986) flew Tom Cruise into the Southern California skies and exploded his stardom into the stratosphere. Thirty-six years later, he returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in a sequel that soars above the original. During the biggest, boldest moments – and there are plenty of them in this 152 million-dollar budget blockbuster – Maverick “takes it right into the Danger Zone,” and yes, this film will “take your breath away.” With a 131-minute runtime – which tops a comparatively thinner 105 minutes of the…