Hollywood; the name alone immediately conjures up images of the cinematic glamour that the world's largest film industry has created for over a century now, and no other time is more synonymous with that glamour than the Classical era, when the blockbusters were larger than life itself (and in Technicolor!), the world's biggest stars were being sold to the public with an assembly line-efficiency, and the towering, monolithic studio system reigned supreme, and without question.

However, beneath this paper- thin…

The grainy crackle of two vintage, late 60's studio logos set the retro-stage, before the soothing sounds of Three Dog Night's "Easy To Be Hard" begins to play against the spectacular sight of the San Francisco skyline on the 4th Of July, 1969, as the fireworks illuminate the looming silhouette of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a young surburban couple head out on an impromptu date to their local lover's lane, creating a seemingly perfect portrait of vintage, picket-fenced Americana.…

One of the toughest tasks ever for a young director must be coming to a series that, was not only started by another filmmaker, but began with what is one of the most iconic genre movies ever, and having to make a sequel that not only expands on its story & mythology without turning into ridiculous fanfiction (*cough Alien: Resurrection cough*), but also taking the young series in an entirely new direction, to the point where it goes into a completely…

I finally just watched this, and I definitely didn't like it on the whole. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think it was BAD or anything, just very disappointing in comparison to my expectations. There were good aspects, of course; the intense performances, creepy cinematography, and lovingly detailed production design were all quite good on their own, it's just in the overall tone and execution that the film struggles, as we go from a slightly problematic but still relatively promising…