Before I begin the review, I need to explain something. Friendship is a strange thing. I’ve got a good friend named Devila.* We’ve known each other since high school. She’s been there for me through ups and downs and is one of the most fundamentally decent people I’ve ever met. I sincerely love her like a sister. And yet, considering that we have this friendship that spans decades, she still made me see the breathtakingly dumb Insurgent. Insurgent is the second film in the Divergent series inspired by the YA novels of Veronica Roth. The books seem to be a fairly obvious... Read More

From 1978 to 1990, Andrei Chikatilo murdered at least 52 women and children in Soviet Russia. Putting aside the grim fact that it’s fiendishly difficult to capture a serial killer under any circumstances, Chikatilo enjoyed a unique advantage. It was widely believed in Soviet circles that murder in general, and serial murder in particular, was a uniquely Western phenomenon that couldn’t possibly occur in the USSR. Blinded by ideology, investigators instead persecuted innocent homosexuals, believing homosexuality to be a dangerous mental illness. Good thing nothing like that ever happens... Read More

According to the dictionary, one of the definitions of the word “superfluous” is, “unnecessary or needless.” I mention that just to give you guys a heads up. This entire review is superfluous. I will put irresponsible amounts of money down betting that you’ve already made up your mind if you’re going to see Furious 7. Odds are nothing I write will sway you one way or the other. Is it causing me to undergo an existential crisis? Yes. But I knew the risks when I took the job, dammit. But wait! Before you think I’m going to start mercilessly ragging on Furious... Read More

The year 1971 started off badly for the Northern Ireland city of Belfast, when the Irish Republican Army tarred and feathered several men. 3 riots broke out later that month in various neighborhoods in the city. In February, a British soldier had been killed by the IRA and two civilians were killed by British troops. That’s just the beginning of the year, and things would get far worse. French director Yann Demange’s first film, ’71, is set at Ground Zero of the Irish Troubles. It’s a film that’s incredibly self-assured and extremely impressive. It’s also... Read More