Movie Reviews
Film and television reviewed the way I’d want to read them — with a rating that means something, an honest accounting of what works and what doesn’t, and craft notes for writers who want to understand how the machinery operates.
Each review includes a craft notes section for writers — specific observations about structure, character, world-building, and what the film does that you can actually use. Not theory. Technique you can steal.
Fantasy (28)
May 16, 2026Artemis Fowl (2020)
Kenneth Branagh's 2020 Disney+ Eoin Colfer adaptation. Substantial production failure where multiple compounding decisions destroyed the source material.
May 18, 2026Click (2006)
2006 Frank Coraci comedy with Adam Sandler as a workaholic who gets a magic remote that fast-forwards through his life.
May 15, 2026Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Conan the Barbarian is one of the strangest mainstream studio films of the 1980s. John Milius directed and co-wrote with Oliver Stone. Arnold...
May 15, 2026Constantine (2005)
Constantine is a better film than its reputation suggests. Francis Lawrence directed in his feature debut. Keanu Reeves plays John Constantine, the...
May 17, 2026Cool World (1992)
Bakshi's 1992 live-action-animation noir. Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne. The disastrous attempted Who Framed Roger Rabbit follow-up. Notable mainly as a cautionary tale.
May 15, 2026Dragonheart (1996)
Dragonheart is the film with the best dragon performance in cinema history and a thoroughly average everything else around it. Rob Cohen directed. Dennis...
May 15, 2026Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Honor Among Thieves is the rare studio fantasy film that knows what it is and commits to it without apology. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley...
May 15, 2026Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Game of Thrones is the single best argument in the history of television for finishing your source material before you start the show. David Benioff and...
May 15, 2026Gremlins (1984)
Gremlins is a Christmas horror comedy disguised as a family film. Joe Dante directed it. Steven Spielberg produced it through Amblin Entertainment. Chris...
May 15, 2026Highlander (1986)
Highlander is one of the strangest mainstream studio films of the 1980s and one of the most influential fantasy films of the decade. Russell Mulcahy...
May 15, 2026Labyrinth (1986)
Labyrinth is the strangest mainstream studio film of 1986 and the last great Jim Henson production. Henson directed it. Terry Jones, of Monty Python...
May 17, 2026Meet Joe Black (1998)
Brest's 1998 three-hour fantasy drama. Pitt as Death taking a vacation, Hopkins as the dying man hosting him. Critics hated it. The film has aged better than expected.
May 15, 2026Merlin (1998)
Merlin is the NBC miniseries that retold the Arthurian legend from the wizard's perspective. Steve Barron directed it. Sam Neill plays Merlin. Helena...
May 16, 2026Michael (1996)
Nora Ephron's 1996 angel comedy with John Travolta. Gentle commercial work that uses spiritual material as premise rather than substantial engagement.
May 14, 2026Morgan (2016) — Review
Luke Scott's directorial debut with Kate Mara and Anya Taylor-Joy. The Paul Giamatti interrogation scene is the reason to watch. Morgan at 6.5/10.
May 15, 2026Mortal (2019) — Review
Mortal is what a superhero origin story looks like when the director comes from Norwegian horror cinema rather than from American comic book adaptation. André Øvredal directed Trollhunter in 2010 and The Autopsy of Jane Doe in 2016. Both films treat supernatural material as if it were happening in...
May 14, 2026Mortal (2019) — Review
André Øvredal's Norwegian superhero film with Nat Wolff. The best Thor origin story ever filmed, and Thor is never named. Mortal at 9/10.
May 17, 2026Orpheus (1950)
Cocteau's 1950 mythology drama. Marais as the poet, Casarès as Death. The mirror as the boundary between worlds. The high mark of poetic French cinema.
May 15, 2026Pinocchio (Garrone, 2019) — Review
Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio is the most faithful screen adaptation of Carlo Collodi's 1883 source novel ever produced. The Italian film was released in December 2019. It grossed approximately twenty-three million dollars worldwide on a production budget of approximately fifteen million dollars. The...
Mar 20, 2026Rings of Power — Review
That's the full viewing history. I've since watched clips, read extensive commentary, and confirmed what those twenty minutes told me: the writers don't understand Tolkien's characters, and the…
May 13, 2026Sucker Punch (2011) — Review
Zack Snyder's nested-reality female ensemble. Combat fantasy short stories with common thread. Loved across viewings. Ending sucked. 8/10.
May 15, 2026The Jumanji Franchise (1995 / 2017 / 2019) — Review
The Jumanji franchise consists of three substantial feature productions across approximately twenty-four years. The 1995 original directed by Joe Johnston established the property as substantial supernatural adventure cinema starring Robin Williams. The 2017 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle directed...
May 18, 2026The Last Witch Hunter (2015)
2015 Breck Eisner fantasy action with Vin Diesel as an immortal witch hunter protecting modern New York from witches.
Mar 20, 2026The Lord of the Rings — Review
I walked into a Pickwick bookstore in 1969 at eight years old and saw the big red single-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings on the shelf. My parents didn't think I'd actually read it. I read it…
May 15, 2026The NeverEnding Story (1984)
The NeverEnding Story is the rare children's film that takes children seriously as readers. Wolfgang Petersen directed it. The script is based on Michael...
May 15, 2026The Princess Bride (1987) — Review
The Princess Bride is one of the most quoted films in American popular culture and one of the most enduring family films of the past forty years. Rob Reiner directed. William Goldman wrote the screenplay from his own 1973 novel. The film was released in September 1987. It grossed approximately...
May 15, 2026The Prophecy (1995) — Review
The Prophecy is one of the most underappreciated theological horror films of the 1990s and one of Christopher Walken's most committed performances. The film was released in September 1995. It grossed approximately sixteen million dollars in its initial theatrical release on a production budget of...
May 15, 2026The Prophecy Franchise (1995-2005) — Review
The Prophecy is one of the most underappreciated theological horror franchises in American cinema. The original 1995 film delivered Christopher Walken's career-defining performance as the rebel angel Gabriel. Four sequels followed across the next decade. The franchise represents one of the...