Top Ten Films of 2020

December 31, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Lists, Most Popular Tagged Another Round, Best of the Year, Dinner in America, First Cow, Kajillionaire, New Order, Palm Springs, Possessor, Soul, The Invisible Man, The Painter and the Thief, Top Ten Leave a comment

Even though the theaters were closed for the vast majority of 2020 (at least where I live), I still managed to see nearly as many new releases this year as I did last year. In fact, I only saw five less, despite taking a six-month break from reviewing film. A small silver lining in all the nightmarishness of the year that would not end. Though it concluded rather…inconspicuously, 2020 started with a bang with my attending Sundance Film Festival (for the fifth time) and looking forward to an exciting year of personal and professional growth. Welp, that mostly ended in the gutter but here I am knocking out a Top Ten list because I know it is my sacred duty as a reviewer of film to produce such an annual list so produce I shall. Read More

Believing Women and The Power of ‘THE INVISIBLE MAN’

February 26, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Aldis Hodge, Elisabeth Moss, Harriet Dyer, Horror, Leigh Whannell, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Storm Reid, The Invisible Man 1 Comment

The idiom of the wolf in sheep’s clothing is a particularly terrifying one. By virtue of his unassuming appearance, the predator becomes non-threatening. He can hide in plain sight and hunt with all the privilege of inconspicuousness. If looks could kill. The only thing worse than a predator in sheep’s skin is one with no skin at all. Those who lurk not in the shadows, but in the light of the lord. Luring the unsuspecting into their hidden traps. Predators do live among us but thankfully they are visible. With visibility comes consequence, accountability. The hunters have to at least make an effort to conceal their predatory behavior. We can, at the very least, see their fangs. And we can fight back. Read More

‘THE INVISIBLE MAN’ Stalks Elisabeth Moss in Trailer for Blumhouse Redux

November 7, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man Leave a comment

The Invisible Man is among my favorite of the Universal Monster classic movies. There’s something about a man’s sanity disappearing alongside his physical body that speaks to something very real and very dangerous. Led by Claude Rains’ sinister turn as the titular villain and James Whales’ boundary-pushing direction, it remains one of the might terrifying things to come out of the 1930s. Which makes it all the most shocking that the property has not been touched for over 90 years. Read More