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Luke Y. Thompson

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Bill Paxton's Offhand Mastery Powers on-the-Run Thriller Mean Dreams

By Luke Y. Thompson
Mar 15, 2017

Even if it were not for the fact that Mean Dreams has become Bill Paxton's penultimate picture, Nathan Morlando's thriller would be worth recommending entirely on its own merits. Start with cinematographer Steve Cosens (The Tracey Fragments), who uses sharp focus and the occasional faded Polaroid-style filter to lovingly caress...
Say Hello to The Bye Bye Man, a Not-Bad Twist on Candyman

By Luke Y. Thompson
Jan 18, 2017

Maybe it's a just a sign of the Blumhouse-era horror-movie world we find ourselves in, but there's something refreshing about a scare flick that (a) actually shows you its monster occasionally and (b) gives you a definite reason to be afraid of it. Hiding things in shadows to enhance audience...
Wolf Creek Became a First-Rate Horror Series Only When It Made the Jump to TV

By Luke Y. Thompson
Oct 26, 2016

It's rare for a franchise, especially in the horror genre, to actually get better as it progresses — doubly so if the final part of said progression is a TV series. Yet in six-part miniseries form, currently airing on the you-didn't-know-you-had-it Pop network following a broadcast in Australia earlier this...
The Day the Earth Stood Still Remake Misses the Point, and That’s a Klaatu Barada No-No

By Luke Y. Thompson
Dec 11, 2008

Flying saucers just aren't that scary anymore. Especially after Ed Wood and Mars Attacks, it's hard to take a threat from a giant Frisbee all that seriously. So what's an update of the iconic 1951 sci-fi flick, The Day the Earth Stood Still, to do? In an extremely bold move,...
Drillbit Taylor needed Ferrell, Sandler, even Lawrence — not Wilson

By Luke Y. Thompson
Mar 20, 2008

Rare is the star vehicle that is as poorly matched to its star as Drillbit Taylor, which casts Owen Wilson as a homeless Army deserter and con man, able to fool people into believing he's both a substitute teacher and a master of hand-to-hand combat. It's a part that requires...

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