Movies

‘Friday the 13th: Part III’ (1982) not quite eye-popping

With “Friday the 13th: Part III” (1982), Jason (played by Richard Brooker this time) enters iconic status as he acquires his trademark hockey mask; from

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‘Lethal Weapon 2’ (1989) jumps into franchise’s stupid phase

It’s a stereotype that action movie franchises start off strong but get stupid as they go along, and if there’s truth to every stereotype, “Lethal

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‘Toxic Avenger’ (1984) incredibly stupid yet endearing

In 1990, I got into “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and eventually learned that the source material was adult-aimed comic books. The same year, the “Toxic

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‘Carriers’ (2009) plays starkly in the coronavirus age

Although not as well-known and epic as the likes of “Contagion” and “Outbreak,” “Carriers” (2009) is a nice little horror-suspenser that explores a pandemic on

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Every David Mamet film, ranked (except ‘The Water Engine’)

From his first writing credit (1981’s adaptation of “The Postman Always Rings Twice”) through his most recent writer-director gig (the 2013 TV movie “Phil Spector”),

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‘Friday the 13th: Part 2’ (1981) is rushed, disposable

The first “Friday the 13th” (1980) is a trope codifier for the lake-cabin slasher flick, and by definition, trope codifiers lead to a lot of

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‘Birds of Prey’ is hard to take seriously

“Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” plays like a throw-it-at-the-wall experiment, but an earnest one. This eighth DC Extended Universe

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‘Contagion’ (2011) looks at the process of a pandemic

Whereas “Outbreak” (1995) gets comparatively cartoonish as it wrings drama from a viral pandemic, “Contagion” (2011) – its main competition for “most famous outbreak movie”

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‘Train to Busan’ (2016) is a first-class zombie tear-jerker

The idea of zombie fiction featuring great character development and performances was old hat by the time of “Train to Busan” (2016); the Tens were

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‘12 Monkeys’ (1995) is a stylish, confusing take on time travel

The coronavirus of 2020 is pretty scary, but it’s nothing compared to what theaters scared up in 1995. In addition to “Outbreak,” that year gave

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