It is not often that a modern film about teenagers avoids turning them into cliches. Even more rare is the film that doesn’t talk down to its audience.

It is refreshing to see a film such as Joel Soisson’s “My Best Worst Adventure,” a sweet coming-of-age story in which Jenny, a young woman, is sent to Thailand to stay with her grandmother after her mother

With a nod to the dreamlike opening to Paul Brickman’s 1983 classic “Risky Business,” writer/director Scott Boswell’s “A Wake,” opens (and ends) with an ambient melancholy led by a moody score from Tim Halo.

After the death of a teenager, his family struggles with the emotions of loss that come with his passing. Their family dynamic has been shattered, yet we find out

Matthew Berkowitz’s “The Madness Inside Me” takes the clarity of the need for revenge and twists it into a sexually-charged thriller of self-discovery and psychological manipulation. 

Madison (an extremely good Merrin Dungey) is almost overly dedicated to her job. A Forensic Psychologist, Madison sometimes goes too deep into the minds of the case studies she takes on. In his short opening scenes, her

Cinema needs more women filmmakers, more films created by people of color.

Horror cinema needs to be much more creative.

Director Nia DaCosta takes care of each of these issues with her strikingly excellent direct sequel to 1992’s “Candyman,” which stands (in this critic’s opinion) as the finest cinematic translation of Clive Barker’s work. The original film was based on Barker’s short

In 2012, Guy Pearce started in the sci-fi film “Lockout,” The actor played a man who was going to prison but is offered his freedom if he rescued POTUS’s daughter who had been kidnapped by inmates of a prison. (Sound familiar?)

Director John Carpenter thought so and successfully sued the screenwriter (filmmaker Luc Besson)

There seems to be a wave of hatred against the films of M. Night Shyamalan. Armchair internet wannabe critics love to trash his work these days. This is completely unfair.

While it may seem that his ability to make a great film is behind him, Shyamalan has only truly stumbled once or twice. Save for his two director-for-hire studio films “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth”

The world has been thrust into darkness. Inside a house, gloved hands fumble around, searching for sustenance. A masked young man enters a bedroom, and in a sharp cut, he sees two dead and diseased bodies. We smash cut to the daytime on a sunny, open road as the man travels by bike in a quiet and seemingly lifeless world.

“After the End”, is a film about isolation