SoCal Anime Fans Assemble! “Anime Riverside 2023” had a robust turnout…

Stranger in a Not-So Strange Land… For full disclosure, I have to be honest; I am not a diehard anime fan. Yes, I can appreciate the occasional Studio Ghibli production (“Spirited Away,”” “Red Turtle”), and I’ve watched a few episodes of various anime series here and there, but if you asked me to name a…

Don’t ghost “School Spirits” (2023); it’s worth a few séances…

*****SPECTRAL SPOILERS!***** Back in the 1990s, my then future-wife and I were big fans of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997-2003). I still remember having “Buffy nights” at either my place or hers (as a then-new teacher in those days, she found its school setting very relatable).  Now, after 24 years of marriage and both of…

Retro-Musings: 1975’s “Race with the Devil” is a true vacation from hell…

*****SATANIC SPOILERS!***** The late 1960s and early 1970s broke new ground with high-end supernatural/occult-themed films, such as “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) and “The Exorcist” (1973).  That wave continued into the mid-1970s, but it devolved into a slew of exploitation flicks made primarily for drive-in theaters, such as 1975’s “The Devil’s Rain” and “Race with the Devil,”…

“Creed III” (2023) scores a solid knockout…

*****RINGSIDE SPOILERS!***** The last time I visited the Rockyverse was for my recent column analyzing 1982’s “Rocky III,” but it’s been a good five years since the last new addition to that franchise, “Creed II” (2018).  Yes, I know I primarily write about sci-fi/fantasy/horror entertainment (and conventions) in this column, but I’ve always held a…

A meta-movie remembered; “Last Action Hero” 30 years later…

*****EXPLOSIVE SPOILERS!***** In the 1980s and 1990s, the action movie had evolved (or devolved) into expensive, overwrought, testosterone-soaked chunks of cinematic product.  Producers like Joel Silver, Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, et al, made their fortunes creating over-the-top police fantasies where rogue cops packing semiautomatic heat set right all the world’s wrongs in a couple of…

Michelle Yeoh returns to “Star Trek: Section 31” for a Paramount+ movie…

The Announcement “Paramount+ today announced it has officially greenlit Star Trek: Section 31 starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh. In this special original movie event for the service, Yeoh will return to her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, a character she first played in Star Trek: Discovery’s first season. In Star Trek: Section 31, Emperor Philippa Georgiou joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked…