Bakeneko ends up being a pretty interesting collision of competing impulses. After the table-setting prologue, the film settles into a samurai slice-em-up about a young nobleman fighting with his lecherous feudal lord to protect the love of his life from becoming an unwilling concubine. The swordplay is solid, and there's even a great scene where the protagonist cleverly moves a fight to a canal that forces his opponents to come at him one at a time.

But once the young…

The AI scandal surrounding Granta and the Commonwealth Prize has made for an interesting backdrop to Nobody 2. For those out of the loop, a prominent literary prize and journal have come under fire recently from readers accusing several of their awardees of turning in AI-written stories. The work garnering the most attention is Jamir Nazir's "The Serpent in the Grove." The short story boasts a writing style that can be described as florid but vague, in a manner suggestive…

I awake in the middle of the night to find Walt Disney in my room, squatting naked and bestial in the corner. A feast is laid out before him on the floor, culinary delicacies of every kind: roast meats piping hot from the oven; elaborate pastries with tender, flakey crusts; a garden of fresh fruits and vegetables prepared with the utmost care. He stuffs his face greedily, shoveling it into his masticating jaws.

On the floor nearby kneels John Favreau,…

The audience I watched this with during the Friday, 10pm showing was small but lively. It's been a really long time since I've seen a first-run horror movie in a theater, and I had forgotten the additional dimension that added to the experience, the surprised screams at the jump scares and the laughter that followed. My friend and I cackled like madmen over the film's conclusion, an irrepressible reaction that was certainly juiced by the mood in the room itself.…