The Exorcist: Believer (2023) - Movie Review

Even as someone who, when all is said and done, really liked the recent Halloween trilogy, I was still sceptical about David Gordon Green’s next choice for a horror franchise that needed a fresh start. While the Exorcist series hasn’t been through quite as much turbulence as the latter days of the Halloween franchise, it has developed some highly divisive features (both Exorcist II and III have garnered cult statuses over the years, in comparison to the still-universally beloved original), and as I’ve been making a habit of saying this past year, modern exorcism films are starting to back themselves into a corner. The Conjuring craze has led to some particularly unnecessary features, both in and out of its actual continuity, and 2023 marked the year when it felt like I had somewhat lost faith in this sub-genre.

Basically, not only is this going to have to be a saving throw for the larger franchise, it’s also gonna have to save its entire sector of horror cinema. No pressure or anything.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) - Movie Review

In response to the myriad of fan theories about the secret meanings behind the Beatles’ music (backmasking, “Paul is dead”, that kind of shit), John Lennon wrote the song Glass Onion, which would be included on the group’s self-titled White Album. It’s basically a troll set to music, referencing other Beatles songs to give fuel to the people who think that they intentionally put in all these cryptic messages in their art... when in reality, it meant pretty much fuck-all. Many layers, but all of them see-through right down to the core: a glass onion.

Harriet (2020) - Movie Review

Religion is a neutral ideal. Over the lifetime of this blog, I have been finding myself leaning further and further away from the staunchly atheist views I held as a teenager; hell, for all intents and purpose, film is my religion, and my position as an ordained Dudeist, for me at least, is an extension of that mindset. Not that I’ve just stopped noticing religion wielded as a cudgel to serve its own ends; I’ve reviewed quite a few examples of that in action, and I wasn’t up for that shit then or now. What I mean with that first sentence is that I don’t inherently see people with religious ideals as a bad thing; it all comes down to the results aimed for and gained through those ideals, same as any other. And honestly, it’s through that lens that this film in particular interests me.