“Oxygen’s relevance strikes like lightning in a year when time is measured less by Earth’s tilt and more by first wave, second wave, red phase, yellow phase; not by time passing daily, but by how much danger remains in the room.”
“Many ‘Starfish’ reviews pick up on the film’s unmistakable exploration of grief, but just as many neglect to mention the other half of White’s semi-autobiographical work and its reckoning with guilt and regret.”
“That Cornish has managed to make two films that can easily be viewed as thoughtful ruminations on the state of Britain in the centre of two national crises should be applauded.”
“Where DC trades in grim realism and Marvel does the whole snarky, joke-a-minute thing, the Shyamalanverse is a flavor all its own, a world where superheroes exist, but they don’t wear capes and their lives are usually pretty awful.”
“Yes, the alien scenes in ‘Signs’ remain startling and scary 17 years later, but it’s the film’s depiction of what happens to people who lose faith that truly resonates and terrifies.”
“As a recurring visual motif in ‘Unbreakable’ illustrates, sometimes all it takes to do something new is by turning things upside down and gaining a different perspective.”
“To use a gaming term, it’s got replay value, but it might leave those looking for a cohesive, more-traditional narrative choosing a different path.”
“‘The Faculty’ adds a wrinkle to its parasitic creature that sets it apart from most alien assimilation stories, one that is closely tied with the film’s setting and teenage viewpoint.”
“Even when too much stuff is being thrown at the screen, it’s hard not to admire ‘Peripheral’ for trying.”
“Ultimately, the endurance of Finney’s story and the concept of ‘pod people’ can be attributed to the fact that it’s not a metaphor for any one fear, but rather dozens.”
“The ‘Predator’ franchise is a repository of the fears that plague the powerful. The context changes, but the fear persists — the fear that the conqueror may one day become the conquered.”
“Unlike its modern genre contemporaries, ‘Deep Blue Sea’ takes itself seriously, creating genuine fear and tension from the characters’ perilous situation.”
“Imhotep, like the Monster, has come from the dead, and this informs the ways in which he relates to the living. More importantly, it impacts the ways in which he relates to death and mortality.”
“As ‘Blade Runner 2049’ suggests, perhaps the way forward into a future of possibility is through a deeper investigation of the past’s secrets.”
In the Vague Visages Writers’ Room on Facebook, freelancers were asked to comment about their favorite Halloween flicks.
“If time has the power to render every structure and memory as null, then here are the moments that define humanity; here are the moments that we hope to remember.”
“Communication — or the lack thereof — is key to ‘Black Moon.’”
“‘Downsizing’ thinks it has big ideas, but artistically and intellectually, it’s as small as its protagonists.”
“Her power lies in her opaqueness.”
“Heavy-handed “meta” moments make the allusions worthless, and superhero films will keep hitting a glass ceiling until they can start creating their own cinematic mythology.”
