“I could see how that would be a little unnerving,” author John Langan says with a laugh, upon hearing that I had just watched the film Lights Out—about a creature who lives in darkness—at a theater where I was the one and only person, sitting in the dark. “This was probably not the best film to…

“I tried really hard to hate it.” So admits magician Christian Cagigal about Now You See Me 2, the rambunctious sequel to 2013’s sneaker-punch hit Now You See Me. The story of four bank-robbing Las Vegas magicians called the Four Horsemen (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher), the movie was embraced by audiences but criticized…

“I’ve seen every one of the Universal Frankenstein movies,” declares lifelong horror fan Ross Lockhart, publisher and editor-in-chief of the North Bay’s award-winning book publishing company, Word Horde. “And I’ve seen most of the Hammer Pictures Frankenstein movies. But I’ve deliberately skipped things like that recent one, the thing with Harry Potter as Igor.” “That would be Victor Frankenstein, with…

“Being hit by a superhero has got to hurt—and it’s definitely going to make a big sound on contact,” notes fight choreographer Zoe Swenson-Graham, striding past a cardboard lobby display featuring a massive Captain America preparing to be wailed upon by a large, metallic Iron Man. Then she adds, “Being hit by Captain America, though,…

“There are certain movies that are essential viewing for any true American baseball fan,” says acclaimed sports journalist and radio host Brian Murphy. “In fact, I would say that’s true, not just for American baseball fans, but for any American, period. If you are an American, and you have not seen certain baseball films, you…

I’m always wiped out after watching a Zack Snyder movie,” says Andrew Farago, raising his voice slightly to be heard above the booming end-credit music of Zack Snyder’s 150-minute comic-book extravaganza Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As roughly 10,000 names scroll up the screen, we duck out early, having confirmed that there is no post-film…

“Sad but true, there is no more wild left in the world,” says Joe Fitting, deputy director of the San Francisco Zoo. “It’s true. There is no real wild place left on the planet. It’s all shared space now. Zootopia, this crazy Disney movie, it shows all of the different animals sharing the same city, the…

“Better than the Super Bowl.” That hyperbolic declaration appeared the morning of February 28, on the Facebook page of local film fan, actor and blogger Peter Warden. It was the morning of the Oscars, and after a “friend” noted that for Warden, the Oscars were very likely as exciting as the Super Bowl, Warden affirmed that,…

“What I want audiences to take away from The Danish Girl is the fact that this, above all else, was a great love story.” The remarkably soft-spoken Tom Hooper, British director of numerous award-winning movies including Les Miserables and The King’s Speech, is addressing a roomful of reporters and photographers on the opening night of the Mill Valley Film Festival, where…

“Happy New Year,” says Daedalus Howell, author and journalist, toasting with a glass of his favorite, delicious red wine. “I’ve really been looking forward to talking about Spotlight, ever since I first saw it in November.” Howell, a Petaluma native, has spent years in Hollywood (his IMDB profile is crammed with short films bearing unusual names), followed…