Home — Crooked Marquee

Review: <i>The Rest of Us</i> — Josh Bell

Review: The Rest of Us

Jan 28th, 2020

If nothing else, the low-key Canadian drama The Rest of Us makes a surprisingly strong case for Heather Graham as a dramatic actor. Graham is...

Review: John Henry

Jan 21st, 2020

Despite his imposing physical presence, former football player Terry Crews has spent the majority of his acting career in comedic roles, where his...

Review: Get Gone

Jan 21st, 2020

Apparently starring in terrible VOD genre movies is becoming a family business, because both Nicolas Cage’s son and his nephew show up in Get...

Review: The Wave

Jan 14th, 2020

The opening scene of Gille Klabin’s The Wave promises an edgy head-trip of a movie, as main character Frank (Justin Long) describes a drug...

Review: <i>Disturbing the Peace</i> — Josh Bell

Review: Disturbing the Peace

Jan 14th, 2020

No matter how hard they work, Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis, and John Travolta can only star in so many direct-to-VOD thrillers a year, so someone has...

Review: <i>Three Christs</i> — Josh Bell

Review: Three Christs

Jan 7th, 2020

It sounds like the set-up for a bad joke: Three Jesus Christs walk into a mental hospital, each claiming to be the real thing. But there’s nothing...

Josh Bell Says Don't Forget: <i>Fast Color</i> — Josh Bell

Josh Bell Says Don't Forget: Fast Color

Dec 23rd, 2019

The dominance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has essentially crowded out the kind of smaller-scale, diverse superhero stories that are more common...

Josh Bell Says Don't Forget: <i>Sweetheart</i> — Josh Bell

Josh Bell Says Don't Forget: Sweetheart

Dec 23rd, 2019

J.D. Dillard’s fascinating survival horror movie Sweetheart premiered at Sundance and was produced by the genre specialists at Blumhouse, who’ve...

Review: <i>Hell on the Border</i> — Josh Bell

Review: Hell on the Border

Dec 17th, 2019

A title card at the beginning of writer-director Wes Miller’s Western Hell on the Border laments the erasure of the black cowboy from popular...

Review: <i>Beyond the Law</i> — Josh Bell

Review: Beyond the Law

Dec 7th, 2019

Back in 2001, fading action star Steven Seagal starred with rapper DMX in Exit Wounds, one of the last Seagal movies to get a wide theatrical...

The McG-enius of <i>Charlie's Angels</i> — Josh Bell

The McG-enius of Charlie's Angels

Nov 13th, 2019

“Another movie from an old TV show,” sighs a character at the beginning of 2000’s Charlie’s Angels when confronted with the fictional T.J....

Review: Primal

Nov 8th, 2019

The one advantage of Nicolas Cage starring in approximately 87 straight-to-video movies a year for the past decade is that he sometimes adds a bit...

<i>Cluny Brown</i>, <i>Downton Abbey</i>, and the British Class System — Josh Bell

Cluny Brown, Downton Abbey, and the British Class System

Sep 30th, 2019

“It’s 1927. We’re modern folk!” Lady Edith’s husband Bertie (Harry Hadden-Paton) declares in Downton Abbey when he and his wife (Laura...

<i>Rock 'n' Roll High School</i> and Female Friends, 40 Years Later — Josh Bell

Rock 'n' Roll High School and Female Friends, 40 Years Later

Aug 1st, 2019

Being a teenager is tough, but it’s also thrilling, and the best teen movies capture the angst and the exuberance of adolescence in equal measure....

Palm Springs Film Fest Report: Risky Business

Jan 16th, 2019

Although it caters to a large community of retirees, the Palm Springs International Film Festival still features its share of daring selections, on a...