Halfway through Stranger Things Season Three, I was afraid it was going to be my least favorite season so far. There was a lot of slime, and a few times, I thought to myself “eewww.” However, by the time I was finished with it, I realized it was my favorite season so far. I hope the Game of Thrones writers were watching because this was a bittersweet ending that worked. As a Xennial born in the early 1980s, some of the pop culture references of Stranger Things are probably lost on me. Yet I caught on to a handful of the nostalgic references, specifically The Karate Kid, Madonna’s “Material Girl,” the Back to the Future movies, and, most of all, Dustin’s song breakout of “The Neverending Stor

The career of Richard Gere has seen him blossom from mega hunk in films like Looking for Mr. Goodbar and American Gigolo to serious actor in the iconic An Officer and a Gentleman to bankable box office romantic lead in Pretty Woman to bonafide triple threat in his Golden Globe winning performance as Billy Flynn in 2002’s Chicago. His good looks may have earned him his initial attention and early success but his undeniable acting talent and ability to emotionally transform himself into an array of memorable characters has been the key to his longevity. Just think, the same actor that was perfectly cast in the lead of American Gigolo found himself almost two decades later believably playing Di

Title: Under the Silver Lake Genre: Mystery/Noir/Comedy Stars: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace, Riki Lindhome, Grace Van Patten, Callie Hernandez, and Jimmi Simpson Director: David Robert Mitchell Bias: I tend to have more patience for inscrutable films than some. Grade: C+ In a Nutshell: Sam (Garfield) is a young man who's a bit adrift in life. No discernable job, months behind on his rent, a seemingly semi-regular hook-up relationship with an actress (Lindhome), and not much else going on. What he does seem vaguely consumed by is a voyeuristic preoccupation with two of the women who live in his building - an aging hippie who spends most of her time caring for her parrots while

Hard to believe but Laurence Fishburne got his start as a 12-year-old on the soap opera One Life to Live. That role caught the eye of director Francis Ford Coppola who cast the then 14-year-old in Apocalypse Now. Fishburne spent two years on that troubled production and the result was a significant contribution to American Cinema. In a film full of iconic moments, Fishburne garnered worldwide attention dancing to The Rolling Stones “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” on a riverboat that was escorting Martin Sheen’s Captain Willard down river. Laurence Fishburne has enjoyed a long and storied career in film and TV and while it has only earned him one Academy Award nomination (What’s Love Got to Do

With every passing year, I decry the current state of cinema – hence a weekly blog about what you may have missed from the past. And yet, I still have enough hope to head to the movies whenever I can, and that hope is often rewarded. Here is the best of what I seen so far in 2019: 1. Booksmart Think Superbad, but with female leads... and LBGTQ friendly... and people of color... and more poignant... and funnier... on second thought... Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut is an absolute gem about a pair of overachievers (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever in star-making performances) looking for one last hurrah the night before graduation. I will not spoil any further surprises. See Booksmart ASAP

As a lifelong aficionado of action films, I always get excited when something new and daring comes along. In the 80’s it was the birth of the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard series, films that became progressively cartoonish but still brought much needed energy and humor to a stale genre. In the 90’s it was the discovery of the breathtakingly beautiful work of director John Woo, who turned gun fights into an artistic landscape with plenty of two-gun wielding heroes and slow-motion shots of pigeons. More recently, the successful John Wick trilogy has fascinated a whole new generation of fans with an emphasis on long takes, skillful choreography, and stunt people who should earn gold medals. When I

Welcome to Sci-Fi Saturday, a column that is devoted to all things science fiction: film, television, comics, novels, video games, and local Metro Detroit events. If there is a topic you'd like to see covered in an upcoming column, email us at kinoclub313wsu@gmail.com! I've returned from my long, unplanned hiatus and ready to jump back into my trek through the stars. I've been watching ahead a bit, but this week I'm just going to focus on the tail end of season 1 and first five episodes of season 2. Season 1, Episode 27: "The Alternative Factor" I know Lazarus was resurrected, but that beard should have stayed dead. I'm not sure that I have the cognitive capacity to explain the loopy-ass plo

[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME AND SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME] Title: Spider-Man: Far From Home Genre: Superhero/Action/Teen Comedy Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhall, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Samuel L. Jackson, and Cobie Smulders Director: Jon Watts Bias: I generally find the MCU movies to have a consistently high quality, and I've grown up reading Marvel comics Grade: B+ In a Nutshell: In the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, Peter Parker just wants to go on his class trip to Europe, declare his love for MJ, and adjust to the changes that have occurred in his life. When a series of attacks by creatures called the Elementals disrupt those plans, Peter is recr

I greatly looked forward to Season 2 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I watched a couple of episodes of the original Sabrina that was popular when I was a teenager, but they were too light for my taste. As a fan of the Riverdale series and universe, I was excited to see that this storyline took place in the neighboring town of Greendale. I also appreciate the same edginess that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and his creative team bring to the Riverdale series, a modern-day retelling of the Archie comics. I thought this season started off slow. There was the budding storyline of Theo further exploring his gender identity, but that plot line seemed rushed and would have been more effective if ca

I grew up at McDonald’s. What red-blooded American child from suburbia didn’t? Every trip was a treat or a gift be it celebrating a special occasion or just giving my hard-working mother a night off from having to cook. The food was delicious, reasonably priced and incredibly unhealthy. I wouldn’t learn of the true evils of McDonald’s until Morgan Spurlock’s eye-opening documentary Super Size Me. But regardless, McDonald’s is an institution and it’s hard to imagine growing up in the USA without it. 2016’s The Founder gives us the true and unvarnished story of how Ray Kroc brought “McDonald’s” to the American people, after he stole the idea and all of it’s accompanying arcana and innovations