John Hansen

Final Girl

This time, the ‘Final Girl’ (2015) is fully prepared

Frightening Friday (Movie review): Abigail Breslin won’t be confused with Sylvester Stallone, but Shields constructs a sturdily stylized world.

The Package

‘The Package’ (1989) theorizes a thrilling end to the Cold War

Throwback Thursday (Movie review): The complex plot might drive off some, but Hackman and Jones make this a stealth alternate Christmas offering.

Daredevil Born Again Season 1

‘Daredevil’ gets ‘Born Again,’ and he’s not overly Disney-fied

TV review: The lessened fight-choreography budget is a shame, but a lot of what we liked about the Netflix series gets resurrected.

Hitchcock rankings

A century of suspense: All 52 Alfred Hitchcock films, ranked

Movie list: One hundred years after his first silent film, we rank the cinematic catalog of the Master of Suspense.

Sun Down Motel

YA-style mystery ‘Sun Down Motel’ (2020) floats off like a ghost

Book club book report: Simone St. James doesn’t do enough to make two narrators and time periods distinct in this supernatural-tinged yarn.

Final Girls

‘Final Girls’ (2015) makes fun of old tropes, unfortunately shepherds new one

Frightening Friday (Movie review): This slasher satire ostensibly goes to 1986, but it can’t escape the 21st century’s flattened effect.

Blues Brothers

‘Blues Brothers’ (1980) is an absurdly bombastic crowd-pleaser

Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Landis, Aykroyd and Belushi aim to be the comedy kings, and they hit their target with a rocket launcher rather than an arrow.

The Hallmarked Man

‘Hallmarked Man’: For the love of mystery, and for the love of love

Book review: The case is almost too complex. But thanks to an omniscient narrator, the romance is deceptively simple in Rowling’s eighth Strike novel.

The Fly

‘The Fly’ (1986) is a classic fairy tale … in reverse and inside out

Frightening Friday (Movie review): Just because Cronenberg’s film is many people’s introduction to body horror doesn’t mean he eases you into the subgenre.

Poseidon Adventure

‘Poseidon Adventure’ (1972): When playing follow-the-leader, pick wisely

Throwback Thursday (Movie review): The Gene Hackman-starring, Irwin Allen-produced film influenced the next wave of ocean-based disaster movies.