American Violet comes close, even dangerously so, to falling into a pit of melodrama. Gladys (Pamela Tyson) has been kicked out of her government-funded home for taking a plea bargain from a racist DA. Her friend Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), who chooses to fight against the system, sits with Gladys on a swing set.
Gladys is [...]

Camp happens. You can’t create it. What audiences were given in the 1950s, amidst a sea of science fiction classics, were the cheapies. These shoddily tossed together productions promised chills and thrills but never actually delivered. The people behind these films, most infamously Bert I. Gordon and Roger Corman, were more concerned with ticket sales [...]

There are taboos in films, untouchable subjects that directors and writers should avoid. For instance, teenagers at a summer camp may be slashed to pieces by a maniacal killer with no repercussions.
However, senior citizens and children are off limits. The latter is likely why the MPAA threatened Assault on Precinct 13 with the dreaded “X” [...]

Stuck is a bizarre, weird, and gruesome story of a woman who hits a homeless man and leaves him in her car windshield to die. Based on the true story of Chante Mallard who did the same back in 2001, the film does a fine job of creating tension and horror, but then destroys it [...]

There’s something about the practical effects of Johnny 5. That robot grabbed America to the tune of $40 million back in 1986, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s an admirable creation, and perfectly believable. The movie may have aged, but Johnny 5 is timeless.
Short Circuit wastes no time in getting the audience up [...]

Rose Johnny (Jessica Biel) is a single mother. She has a son in a vegetative state at a hospital piling up medical bills. She struggles to make ends meet at a seedy strip club.
Those scenes with Biel and her child are the only effective ones in Powder Blue, an awful melodrama about lonely people living [...]