“Friday the 13th: Part V” was the best franchise soft reboot that never happened

“Friday the 13th: A New Beginning” is perhaps the most obscure film in the classic “Friday the 13th” series. It does not deserve that fate for three reasons: (1) It contains some of the most interesting characters in the franchise, (2) It includes some of the most creative and viscerally horrifying death scenes and (3) It alone among the “Friday the 13th” sequels works well as a standalone film.... Read Original Article

What a 1992 episode of “Seinfeld” tells us about Trump and Nazism

I can’t stop thinking about a Trump airplane that appears in the beginning of “The Limo,” an episode in Season Three of the classic 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld.”

As the cliché goes, you might miss it if you blink, but it’s there all right. After main character Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) delivers an opening stand up comedy bit, but before we see him get picked up at a New York City airport by his friend George Costanza (Jason Alexander), there is a shot of an airplane with the name “TRUMP” plastered on one side.... Read Original Article

“Saw IV” symbolized everything wrong with the year 2007

Seeing “Saw IV” was a life-changing experience for me, and in all the wrong ways.

For some nerds that movie is “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.” For others it’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” or “Man of Steel.”

You know what I mean. That movie that had you super pumped because it was expected to take a franchise you loved in an exciting new direction.... Read Original Article

“Saw VI” is not “torture porn”; it is peak social justice horror

If you’re a leftist and a fan of no-holds-barred gory horror flicks, there is one movie that you should watch every Halloween: “Saw VI,” one of the best satires of the American healthcare system ever released by a major Hollywood studio in a tentpole franchise. I am convinced it has been overlooked by critics solely because of its supposed status as “torture porn.”... Read Original Article

“The Final Destination” has a brilliant scene of neo-Nazi humiliation and death… but the rest is humdrum

There is a funny thing about the “Final Destination” franchise. If you’re talking about the five films that were released between 2000 and 2011 (I am not familiar with the book series or planned reboots), it is safe to say that you genuinely liked the first film, appreciated the opening act of the second movie and admired the twist ending of the last one, but were unimpressed by everything sandwiched in the middle.... Read Original Article

There is no legitimate way Trump can win Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, the state that I have been proud to call home for more than two decades, is poised to decide the 2020 presidential election… and there is no legitimate way Trump can win this state. Even if he garners the most votes, a Trump victory in Pennsylvania will betray the precious heritage we inherited from William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, David Wilmot, Thaddeus Stevens, Gifford Pinchot and the other great Pennsylvania leaders who came before us.... Read Original Article