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Pauline Kael once called the gulf between E.T. and Poltergeist a testament to the confounding ability for one man, Steven Spielberg, to produce one enduring masterpiece and one miserable failure in the space of a year—and God forever damn her for not realizing that Poltergeist is, if anything, a more harrowing portrait of the nuclear family on the verge of dissipation, but I digress. Apparently, she hadn’t seen Mel Brooks’s 1974 one-two punch.

Young Frankenstein is so loving and charmingly goofy in spoofing one of Hollywood’s most successful early genres (the Universal monster movies of the 1930s) that it winds up as much a tribute as it is a parody. But Blazing Saddles, a burlesque about a western town standing in the way of the railroad expansion and the Black sheriff sent to discourage its citizens from deserting, is a limp, shapeless mess of a film...

A Louisiana police officer is facing charges for the death of two teenagers who were killed when he hit a car during a high-speed pursuit on New Year’s Eve.

David Cauthron was charged Sunday with two counts of negligent homicide for the deaths of Maggie Dunn, 17, and Caroline Gill, 16. Maggie was a junior in high school and Caroline was a sophomore. The girls were on the cheerleading team together. Maggie’s brother, Liam Dunn, was also critically injured during the crash.

“The cop has a lot of questions to answer pertaining to his speed and sheer negligence,” district attorney Tony Clayton said. “The public can rest assured, we will follow the facts.”

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The deadly chase was initiated in Baton Rouge after Tyquel Zanders was suspected of stealing the car of a family member. Zanders reportedly took part in a home invasion...

There are a lot of problems with Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. A lot a lot. That doesn’t mean it’s completely without its merits, however: Ben Affleck’s new Batman – the Batfleck, if you will – is a far cry from Christian Bale’s wounded street fighter, and while this version of the character might hardly be faithful to the comics, the Batfleck is still one of the few aces that Batman V Superman has up its sleeve.

Snyder’s movie is, as Liam Dunn put it for Pop Optiq, a “decent Batman film with a Superman problem.” The Superman side of the movie may be lacking (and then some), but the ingredients for a solid Batman movie are there.

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The question is, though, how those elements stack up against the Caped Crusader’s previous cinematic outing, and arguably his...

What would seem the perfect project for tough-guy director Robert Aldrich still commands a high reputation with some. Ambitious top-dog hobo Lee Marvin squares off against Ernest Borgnine's nearly demonic railroad conductor who routinely murders bums that dare to hitch a ride. The mayhem culminates in a battle on a moving flat car, between Ernie's log chain and Lee's fire ax. But the poetic dialogue and allegorical pretension may be more lethal. Emperor of the North Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120 min. / Ship Date September 8, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, Charles Tyner, Malcolm Atterbury, Simon Oakland, Harry Caesar, Hal Baylor, Matt Clark, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Di Reda, Liam Dunn, Diane Dye, Robert Foulk, Sid Haig, Vic Tayback, Dave Willock, Lance Henricksen. Cinematography Joseph Biroc Art Direction Jack Martin Smith Film Editor Michael Luciano Original Music Frank De Vol...

Picking the best movies that come out in any given year is no easy feat. With over 800 movies released theatrically, there’s plenty to digest. As we reach the halfway point of the year, we decided to publish a list of our favourite movies thus far, in hopes that our readers can catch up on some of the films they might have missed out on. Below, you shall find the list of the top 30 films of 2015 to date, a list that ranges from independent horror films to documentary to foreign films and so much more. Here’s is part two of our three part list.

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20. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Eccentrically layered yet simple in plot, the Swedish adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s novel does a fine job in balancing satire with tenderness. Telling the story of Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson), a 100-year-old explosive enthusiast...

San Andreas

Written by Carlton Cuse

Directed by Brad Peyton

USA, 2015

San Andreas is not a good movie. Let’s get this out of the way right up front. It is a colossal pile of total garbage. It is also a lot of fun. The filmmakers throw so much wholesale destruction at the audience it produces a giddy thrill every time skyscrapers fall like dominoes or the Golden Gate Bridge is destroyed by a tsunami. However, amidst the explosions and set pieces there is a woefully predictable and hilarious plot which is lousy with hackneyed dialogue, clichéd characters and old fashioned heteronormative gender roles.

Ray (Dwayne Johnson) is a fire and rescue helicopter pilot estranged from his wife Emma (Carla Gugino) and his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario). A mega-earthquake hits California’s San Andreas Fault which takes down Los Angeles, and after a daring escape from a collapsing skyscraper, Ray...

Ever since Samuel L. Jackson waltzed into Tony Stark’s not-so-humble abode in the post-credits scene for Iron Man, the McU has become synonymous with easter eggs as Marvel builds upon this most unprecedented shared universe. It’s a trait that has only evolved in the years since Nick Fury first teased the Avengers Initiative back in 2008, and with no less than 11 feature films slated for release across the next four years, we can only expect the company to double down on its grand, interwoven narrative.

Now, with Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting theaters across Europe and other Pal regions and Ant-Man set to conclude Marvel’s Phase Two in July, the long-discussed transition to Phase Three – a transition that will introduce moviegoers to Doctor Strange, Black Panther and, crucially, Spider-Man among others – is almost upon us.

What delightful teases has Marvel served up in Age of Ultron to seed this evolution?...

If revenge is a dish best served cold, Ex Machina is glacial.

The sci-fi flick follows Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a cog in the wheel at a tech company, who is invited by his reclusive boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac) to visit his estate and meet Ava (Alicia Vikander), the android he’s created. His plan is for Caleb to determine whether Ava is self-aware. Needless to say, the plan does not go off without a hitch and as a sense of isolation and claustrophobia set in, the film takes us to a place that is engrossing yet very uncomfortable.

It’s worth noting that writer/director Alex Garland began his career as a novelist and screenwriter, as there are endless literary parallels and quotable exchanges. With the script being the film’s prime strength, the rest falls into place with ease, including impressive, theater-like turns from its cast.

In his review of the film,...

Every decade has their cinematic science fiction obsessions which speak to its concerns of the age; in the 1950s films such as Earth vs. The Flying Saucers and Them! capitalised on fears of alien invasion and nuclear proliferation. In the 1960s films like Barbarella and Ikarie Xb-1 captured the hopes and dangers of space exploration while in the 1970s Silent Running and A Boy and His Dog showed a growing concern for the environment and a mistrust of governments resulting in dystopian futures. Then in the 1980s it was the exploration of inner space with the boundaries of the human mind and body being crossed and redrawn with films like Altered States and the cinema of David Cronenberg. The 1990s ushered in an obsession with apocalyptic imagery and alternate realities with Dark City and The Thirteenth Floor amongst many others.

Through these decades of cinematic science fiction, the concept of...

Straight from the their secret headquarters in the pulsing heart of London and onto your computer/phone/generic MP3 device, Episode 11 of The Tea & Crumpet Filmcast is ready to be unleashed.

This week, your hosts Dominic Mill and Liam Dunn are joined by ever-present regular David James (London City Nights) and Heidi Blackaby. Putting their various, movie-addled minds together, the gang take on another hefty week of film reviews.

Up on the chopping block are Benedict Cumberbatch’s Oscar contender The Imitation Game, The Drop (featuring one last performance from the mighty James Gandolfini), James Brown biopic Get On Up and the emotionally charged Roger Ebert biopic Life Itself (Dom tried really, really hard not to cry whilst talking about it this time).

Check it out below, and enjoy!

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