Author: Matt Conway

The Universal Monster Universe was perhaps the biggest example of a cinematic universe failing to connect with audiences. Even with the presence of Tom Cruise, The Mummy was a sizable box office and critical dud, with it appearing that the universe was over before it even started. Since that films failure, very little news has been made about the Monster Universe, until today, as The Invisible Man has finally found a director. That director is Leigh Whannell, who made waves with the underrated science fiction film Upgrade last year. With this announcement, Universal is turning a new page with its Monster Universe. Instead of focusing on big-budget…

January is a particularly desperate time at cineplexes, as aside from Glass and Escape Room, most movies are either leftovers from last year or flat out misfires. While the latest Matthew McConaughey thriller Serenity may fall into the latter category, it does so with one of the most brazenly bizarre experiences you will have in some time watching a movie. Serenity follows Baker Dill (McConaughey), a fishing boat captive driven by his obsession to catch a unique fish. His quiet life is rattled when his ex Karen (Anne Hathaway) returns in his life, offering him ten million dollars to kill her abusive husband Frank (Jason Clarke). That is…

The action genre, while certainly not in the prime of its popularity, has seen a revival of late. Much of that can be credited to John Wick, with the film’s hyper-violent and stylish aesthetic being the main source of inspiration for action films today. One of those many copycat films is Polar, a Netflix actioner that boast more gratuitous style than actual entertainment value. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, Polar follows Duncan Vizla (Mads Mikkelsen), one of the world’s top assassins who is beginning to transition into retirement. Before he can receive his extensive retirement funds though, he must fend off a…

It’s no surprise that the Fast and Furious series is continuing to trend upward. With consecutive billion dollar entries, the series will soon hit uncharted territory with its spin-off Hobbs and Shaw, which will be followed up by Fast and Furious 9. While Hobbs and Shaw is set to hit theaters later this year, not much news has been made about Fast and Furious 9’s future to theaters. View this post on Instagram Crew heads out to London next month for the next chapter… #FAST9 A post shared by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Jan 24, 2019 at 12:07am PST It appears that Fast and…

Tremors is one of the most celebrated creature features of its respected era, and for good reason. The 1990 film echoed back to the 1950s era of iconic monster movies, as well as featuring solid performances from Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward respectively. The same can not be said about the film’s sequels, which failed to capture the spark that made the original a success. While the series may have faded into obscurity, it still is present and has an audience. Last year’s Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell scored modest responses from audiences, which is now leading to the production of a…

James Gandolfini’s death a few years ago still has lingering effect today, with his ability and resume making him one of the most accomplished actors of his era.  While its sad to see that a The Sopranos film is being made without him, that film interestingly enough is a prequel of the original series called The Many Saints of Newark. With that being the case, Gandolfini’s iconic gangster Tony will make an appearance. Who better to bring Tony to life than Gandolfini’s own blood? Well that was the thought of David Chase, who has recently casted Michael Gandolfini to play the role…

Oscar season has finally arrived! After months of speculation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released their selections for the best of 2018. Take a look at the nominations and let us know in the comments any major surprises or snubs you have! Most notably (and a surprise to some) was that Black Panther received 7 total nominations – including Best Picture! Here are the nominations: Best Picture Black Panther (Disney) Kevin Feige, Producer BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features) Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee, Producers Bohemian Rhapsody Graham King, Producer The Favourite Ceci…

While Netflix has made momentous strides in making original home releases a reality, their releases aren’t always the most inspired films. This has especially been true with their science fiction releases, as films like Mute, The Titan, and Tau have failed to inspire much excitement for the services science fiction offerings. With their latest release IO, I was expecting more of the same, but thankfully the results are surprisingly inspired. IO follows Sam (Margaret Qualley), a young scientist who remains on the dying remains of planet earth to continue her fathers work. When a stranger named Micah (Anthony Mackie) appears, Sam begins to confront the reality of…

M. Night Shyamalan has had a career of meteoric highs and lows, but thankfully it is beginning to trend upwards. While I wasn’t a huge fan of either The Visit or Split, both films were significant improvements over past failures, and they also performed exceptionally well at the box office. With M. Night getting his clout back, he is now delving into one of his long-time passion projects in Glass.  Glass is the conclusion of the Unbreakable trilogy, bringing together supernatural abilities of The Overseer (Bruce Willis) and Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) along with Split star Kevin Wendall Crumb. The three are captured and brought into a psychiatric ward,…

Genre movies are common in today’s cinematic landscape, but many of them fail to stand out. It’s a lot harder to create something that rides the line of being intentionally campy while still trying to maintain quality, with many films never quite living up to the hype of their premise. One of the few genre movies that will likely standout this year is The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot.  With that insane title alone, this film was sure to draw interest from fans of midnight movies and genre efforts. However, RLJE Entertainment has given audiences a first look…