Thriller/Mystery/Horror, 97 Minutes, 2013
[Personal Note: my wife and I finished this movie and, as you’ll see, enjoyed it thoroughly. I began writing the review and, a short while later, learned that Anton Yelchin had died. Considering the subject matter of the film, this created some eerie sensations to say the least. He was a damn good actor and seemed like a damn fine human.]
Mystery/Drama, 86 Minutes, 2009
The trailer for this begins “In a world…”, so you know it’s going to be something different! Or at least a different version of something you’ve seen before. Or maybe something exactly the same as what you’ve seen before, but with a different paint job.
This is that last one.
“The Sisterhood of Night” on IMDB
Drama/Mystery, 104 Minutes, 2014
Before I begin, an admission: I had no interest in seeing this. At all. I gave it a glance and dismissed it as another brooding, tween, After School Special melodrama. Somebody would offer somebody else drugs, they’d just say no. Somebody else would cry and so forth and so on. I am, however, married, and this film was shot in my lovely bride’s hometown at her former high school.
So, guess who got to watch “The Sisterhood of Night”?
“The Cobblestone Corridor” on IMDB
Crime/Mystery, 25 Minutes, 2015
[This review was completed at the request of the filmmaker. No other consideration was given.]
Written, Directed, Produced, Edited and Starring Erik C. Bloomquist [IMDB], this is an enjoyable experiment in genre storytelling. Set in a posh New England prep school (thus the “cobblestones”) it follows Archer, the hard-boiled, no-nonsense editor of the school newspaper in his single-minded pursuit of the truth.
Crime/Mystery, 115 Minutes, 2013
I like magic. Good magic, that is. I have an appreciation for the craft, science, dedication and sheer, brazen chutzpah that it takes to do magic well. Magicians spend nearly unbelievable amounts of time perfecting what most people would consider meaningless skills. Which is exactly why they get away with so much: people can’t believe anybody would spend so much time for apparently so little return.
Drama/Mystery, 100 Minutes, 2010
Written, directed and produced by Gary Wheeler [IMDB], a man who’s catalog is filled with made-for-TV, faith-affirming, saccharine dramas this movie is, perhaps not surprisingly, a made-for-TV, faith-affirming, saccharine drama. The Christian message isn’t quite overbearing, but it’s also far from subtle.
“The Adjustment Bureau” on IMDB
Sci-fi, 106 Minutes, 2011
First, this was very good. The acting, the pacing, the script – all very good. Matt Damon [IMDB] is as likable as ever, Emily Blunt [IMDB] is insanely hot and who doesn’t like to see John Slattery [IMDB] wandering around? Do not let the following prevent you from seeing this film!
I’m going to spoil quite a bit of this movie. Starting… now.
“Texas Killing Fields” on IMDB
Crime Thriller, 105 Minutes, 2011
I have to admit I’d never heard of this movie before. My wife started it before I came into the room and when I saw the title I assumed “B-grade horror”. Then when I started seeing the cast I thought, “Hey – this is an actual real movie!” And indeed it was – A-list actors and everything!
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” on IMDB
Action/Mystery, 129 Minutes, 2011
Being a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes I was incredibly worried about the first film but happily surprised by the result. While it added an action-movie physicality to the characters it lost none of the cleverness and brains-over-brawn mentality that makes the character so beloved by skeptics and mystery lovers everywhere (who, if I may speak for the group, hate nothing more than a simplistic “it’s magic” answer to a mystery). The movies have happily stayed grounded in reality exactly where they belong.
“Metropia” on IMDB
“Now You See Me” on IMDB 
