“Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” trailer breakdown…

****STAR DESTROYER-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!**** The Final Trailer. Clues/Observations. The captions to the following screenshots are my own speculations, and should be treated with no more authority or insight than anyone else’s. I’m just a fellow Star Wars fan, and have been since I saw the original “Star Wars” (sans “New Hope”) back in 1977 at…

“Darkside In Riverside”: A three-day SoCal Halloween horror fest…

Horror Close To Home… As a longtime horror fan, I was pleased to learn (via Instagram) that a 3-day horror convention was coming to nearby Riverside, California (20 minutes away from me). “Darkside In Riverside” took place from Friday October 18th through the 20th, and was the very first in what I hope will be…

Retro-Musings for Halloween: Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath” (1963)…

When I was a kid, I was (and still am) a big fan of horror anthologies. Beyond vintage TV series such as “Thriller”, “Twilight Zone” or “The Outer Limits”, I loved the British Amicus films (“Tales From The Crypt” “Vault Of Horror” “House That Dripped Blood”) and Dan (“Dark Shadows”) Curtis’ 1975 TV movie “Trilogy…

Star Trek: Short Treks 2.2; “The Trouble With Edward” gets in a lot of tribble…

****SPOILERS!!**** The latest Star Trek: Short Trek has beamed down from CBS-All Access. “The Trouble With Edward” marks the fourth Star Trek story centered around writer David Gerrold’s famed creation, the tribbles (TOS’ “Trouble With Tribbles”, TAS’ “More Tribbles, More Troubles,” and DS9’s superlative “Trials and Tribble-ations”). The tribbles themselves are a species of fast-breeding…

“Joker” (2019) is a gritty ode to 1970s antiheroism…

****SPOILERS**** Director/cowriter Todd Phillips (of the obnoxious “Hangover” movies) offers this latest take on the now 79-year old Batman villain “Joker” in a film so utterly dark, and so morally complex that I actually wish it weren’t a DC comics movie. The movie borrows more heavily from the works of early Martin Scorsese films than…

Star Trek: Short Treks, 2.1: “Q&A” offers a brief, but nice ride…

CBS-All Access has just launched its second series of “Star Trek: Short Treks.” Short Treks are a brief series of webisodes designed to keep CBS-AA from hemorrhaging subscribers before the debut of “Star Trek: Picard” and the third season premiere of “Star Trek: Discovery”; both arriving in early 2020. Last year’s Short Treks were an…

Musings on the 2nd trailer for “Star Trek: Picard”…

****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!***** The second trailer for CBS-All Access’ new series “Star Trek: Picard” unveiled last week at New York Comic Con, and while I wasn’t there personally (wrong coast), I have seen the trailer and have some comments and observations on it, so without further ado… “Engage!” The Trailer. Musings on the trailer. Star…

“Interview With The Vampire,” 25 years later…

My own Vampire Diaries. I have to admit, when the film adaptation of “Interview With The Vampire” first came out in 1994, I had little interest. I hadn’t yet read any of author Ann Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles” books, and I wasn’t much of a vampire buff (save for a handful of movies). I loved the…