“Sinners” is Coogler’s best yet (and that’s saying quite a lot)

“You keep dancin’ with the devil? One day he gonna follow you home.”

Story: It’s 1932, deep in Jim Crow Mississippi, and guitar player Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore has had one hell of a night at the opening of Club Juke. Emphasis on hell. Wanna hear about it? Here it goes. [All apologies to “In Living Color” and En Vogue…]

Genre I’d put it in: Historical Horrors
Release Date: 2025
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original, but you’ll get a whiff of homage to stuff by Tarantino and Rodriguez as things progress.

Gotta say: I thought about keeping a few spoilers intact in this review. And while I will do just that, there’s one that I can’t seem to avoid; Sinners is a gloriously depraved, absolutely fantastic horror film that’ll knock your socks off. There, I said it. Big ol’ horror film. Huge. And if you’re a horrorhound, you’ll wanna see it. Heck, if you’re able to handle anime levels of blood gush, or just wanna go see something that’s gonna suck you in completely? Go see it. Like, buy your tickets now.

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“Drop” had made me feel safe being an Android girly

“It’s just a date.”

Story: Violet has decided to get back into the dating scene after a long absence. That long absence being surviving DV, the “suspicious” death of her husband, and trying to make life better for her young son. Her date Henry seems like the perfect guy, but it’s the 21st Century, so cellphones gotta wreck everything. Or maybe it’s just the mysterious killer that keeps AirDropping Violet messages that threaten her son if she doesn’t play along. Immediately. And you thought dating was rough.

Genre I’d put it in: Stress-fests That Get Really Fun During Act 3
Release Date: 2025
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: OG, though there are vibes that hark back to other stressy action flicks like Red Eye and Phone Booth.

Gotta say: Before I get into anything, I need to post up a big ol’ TRIGGER WARNING for DV. The opening scene of Drop is an intense, no-holds-barred moment of terror for a bloody, beaten Violet and her menacing husband. Director Christopher Langdon and star Meghann Fahy do an incredible job selling this moment, and it might be too much for some survivors of DV. Now, with that out of the way? Drop is a complete stress-fest of a film for the first three quarters of the story, and fans of this genre will find much to love here. For folks who aren’t really down with “oh noes what’s coming” stories? You still may have some fun if you stick around. And you should. Hear me out.

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The YouTubes – “Honest Trailers | Severance”

When you need a star who looks like he’s lost the will to live? You call Adam Scott.

As a former HR specialist? Boy howdy, the screaming I scream during every episode of this incredible, crazy, mixed up show. And now Honest Trailers has nailed how we all feel…watching this show. Whoa.

Excellent work, Screen Junkies. Egg party for the whole team!

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In Queue Review – “The Twister: Caught in the Storm”

“We called ourselves the Class of the Apocalypse. Most people thought that was ridiculous.”

Story: A documentarian looks at the devastating mile-wide EF-5 tornado that touched down in Joplin, Missouri on May 22nd, 2011, focusing on several stories, including the graduating class of Joplin High School, a group of storm-chasers, and a young man who came to Joplin to learn about storms. Everyone got much more than they bargained for.


Genre I’d put it in: Disaster Documentaries
Release Date: 2025
Where I Watched: Netflix

Gist: I love disaster movies. All the make-believe feels over-the-top and crazy, the devastation something that could only happen via CGI and excellent cinematography. Ah, the privileged life of a gal born and raised on the East Coast, whose experience with tornadoes begins and ends with an EF-2 back when I was a kid. We hopped into the car to see the (very) few houses that had had parts of their roofs torn off. But here in Storm, the devastation that happened to Joplin was on a level that I could have never imagined, or comprehend.

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza – “Drop”!

I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while now… Synopsis!

First dates are nerve-wracking enough. Going on a first date while an unnamed, unseen troll pings you personal memes that escalate from annoying to homicidal? Blood-chilling.


Director Christopher Landon returns to the thriller genre with the playful, keep-you-guessing intensity he perfected in the Happy Death Day films with this of-the-moment whodunnit where everyone in the vicinity is a suspect . . . or victim.

Ready? Let’s go!

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“How Deep is Your Love” – a beautiful documentary about little known animals, and their biggest thread (Hint: it’s us.)

“Isn’t it strange, to name a planet Earth. When 70% of it is covered in water.”

Story: A look at our oceans, especially the deep sea, and all the creatures we don’t even know. As countries push forward with deep sea mining, how many of these creatures will we lose? An intrepid group of marine scientists try their best to discover, research, and name as many of these animals as possible. Because tomorrow may be too late.

Genre I’d put it in: Fascinating Natural World Documentaries
Release Date: 2025
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original!

Gotta say: When most girls were dreaming of horses or tiaras, my weird self was dreaming of becoming an ichthyologist. Forcing my parents to go to fish hatcheries, aquariums, and seashores, reading up on weird marine biology books from book sales. Good times. I say all this to drive home the point that I am an incredible nerd. (Surprise.) I eat up science goodness. Which, obviously, led me to becoming a movie reviewer. Obviously. All this to say, I absolutely ate up every single moment of Love, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in what goes on in the deep dark parts of our oceans will do exactly the same.

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza – “Novocaine”!

Ready to leave the 2024 movies behind, and truly dig into 2025? Synopsis!

When the girl of his dreams (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped, everyman Nate (Jack Quaid) turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected strength in his fight to get her back.

Ready? Let’s go!

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In Queue Review – “Dark Match”!

“Five deaths in the ring. That is the thing.”

Genre: Wrestling Horror
Release Date: 2025
Where I Watched: Shudder

Gist: It’s 1988. In the world of small-time wrestling league SAW, heel Miss Behave (aka Nick) wants to make it big, and that means becoming a face. When SAW gets a chance to put on a show at a “dark”  (untelevised) match out in the middle of nowhere, she thinks she’s got her chance. SAW’s manager Spencer thinks this is gonna be a huge payday. Nick’s off/on boyfriend “Mean” Joe Lean thinks it’s too good to be true. Only one of these characters is correct. Spoiler: it’s Joe.

Gotta say: I love a good grindhouse cinema homage. And when a film starts things off with blasting Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell”? I get amped. But Match takes a promising idea and doesn’t know what to do with it. Ideas are squandered, subplots sputter out, and characters are more brief suggestions trotted out so they can fall into the meat-grinder. That meat grinder is pretty cool though. So there’s that?

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza – “You’re Cordially Invited”!

Ooh! It’s a title that’s also my main reason for posting! Synopsis!

When two weddings are accidentally booked on the same day at the same venue, each bridal party is challenged with preserving their family’s special moment while making the most of the unanticipated tight quarters. In a hilarious battle of determination and grit, the father of the bride (Will Ferrell) and sister of the other bride (Reese Witherspoon) chaotically go head-to-head as they stop at nothing to uphold an unforgettable celebration for their loved ones.

Ready? Let’s go!

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza – “Wolf Man”!

Ready to howl? Synopsis!

Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Emmy winner Julia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma).

But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.

Ready? Let’s go!

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