Maybe it’s just harder than ever anymore to come up with anything scary. People have seen so much horror in the movies and so much worse in real life that thinking up something new must be a chore. At least,…

In the years immediately following the end of World War 2, the world stood in shock as it learned of the enormity of the Holocaust. The horror of this genocide, along with the spectacle of the Nuremberg trials, understandably eclipsed…

I love a good, scary ghost story. Unfortunately, “Darkness” is nothing like a good, scary ghost story. A good ghost story or haunted house story would be something like “The Uninvited” (1944), “The Haunting” (1963), “The Legend of Hell House”…

I had never heard of this movie, but it turns out that “Electra Glide in Blue” is the flip-side of “Easy Rider.” Instead of hippies on hogs searching for the real America, it’s biker cops patrolling the American wilderness looking…

This 1938 film release is the epitome of the Warner Bros. gangster-movie style. The story is hackneyed and the characters are stereotyped, but under the sure hand of Michael Curtiz (“Captain Blood,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” “The Adventures…

Mild-mannered and thoughtful, Kevin Vigilante is an idealist who believes that actions speak louder than words. He doesn’t believe that everyone who disagrees with him or his party is a traitor who hates America, God, mom, and apple pie. He…

“When I get in a tight spot, I shoot my way out of it, why sure. Shoot first and argue afterwards. You know, this game ain’t for guys that’s soft.” –Edward G. Robinson, “Little Caesar” By the 1930s most of…

After the enormous success of Disney’s animated “Aladdin” in 1992, I suppose it was inevitable that the studio would follow it up with sequels. I mean, almost every other studio did sequels. Why not Disney. And like so many of…

Released in France as “Leon” and in the U.S. as “The Professional,” Luc Besson’s stylish film about a hit man and the young girl he trains is now available in a two-disc “deluxe edition” which combines the titles and offers…

Thoughts from John: The best way to describe the 2002 crime thriller “Infernal Affairs” (“Wu Jian Dao”) might be to suggest that it’s Hong Kong’s answer to Hollywood’s “Heat.” Both films are psychological dramas with some elements of action, rather…