‘Pet Sematary’ should have remained dead

Church the cat in Pet Sematary

“Fate is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.” – Publilius Syrus

Pet Sematary 2019 is essentially the novel and/or 1989 film buried in the cursed grounds of the plot and resurrected in the same manner: starts off seeming the same but a little off, then turns bad and wants to do you harm. Rotten and needlessly nihilistic, this version is ironic proof of its own message that sometimes it’s best to let the dead stay dead.

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'Three Identical Strangers'

‘Three Identical Strangers’ is one of a kind

'Three Identical Strangers'
‘Three Identical Strangers’

“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.” – Isaac Asimov

Whenever one learns of an inspirational news story, that initial presentation is as far as they’ll ever hear about it. But for the people involved, life goes on. Sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. Such is the case with Three Identical Strangers, a fascinating look at a set of triplets who never knew about each other until they were older and the effects that revelation had on them.

When Bobby Shafran reached college, he was greeted by people who seemed to know him. He, however, was completely unfamiliar with them, wondering how he could’ve met them and why they addressed him by a different name. One of these people had a suspicion as to the situation after Bobby revealed he was adopted and put him in touch with Eddy Gallant, an identical brother who was separated at birth and adopted into a different family. When the story was reported on, David Kellman (also an adoptee) noted his own similarities to them and promptly made contact. Turns out, these three are in fact triplets.

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'Teen Titans GO! To The Movies'

‘Teen Titans Go! To the Movies’ is kid-friendly superhero skewering

'Teen Titans GO! To The Movies'
‘Teen Titans GO! To The Movies’

“The superhero movie wave doesn’t really seem to be ending. In fact, it’s more like a superhero movie rising tide that has now formed a permanent lake on top of the film industry.” – Bob Chipman

How the superhero movie trend began can be debatable (put me down on the side of Blade being the starter), but at this point it can’t be denied that it’s going strong with no end in sight. It was only a matter of time then that the lighthearted entries would make them a focal point of the plot.

While not on the level of The Lego Batman MovieTeen Titans Go! To the Movies provides a fun enough time for kids and has a few things in store for adults.

The Teen Titans team – consisting of Robin (Scott Menville), Starfire (Hynden Walch), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong), and Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) – operates in the shadow of more prestigious groups like the Justice League and doesn’t feel like they get the credit and recognition they deserve. This becomes more clear to Robin when not only are they not invited to the premiere of the latest Batman film when all other superheroes are, the trailers for upcoming movie spinoffs are about everything but him.

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Fred Rogers is at the center of the new documentary, 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?'

‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ captures the magic of Fred Rogers

Fred Rogers is at the center of the new documentary, 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?'
Fred Rogers is at the center of the new documentary, ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’

“What we do for ourselves alone dies with us; what we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” – Albert Pike

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood now that Won’t You Be My Neighbor? has come to its theaters. A powerful work with profound emotional impact, this documentary is an informative picture of show business, a touching tribute to its subject, and a needed reminder of what a strong force kindness can be for change in the world.

Fred Rogers (1928-2003) started out as a Pittsburgh-based minister who saw the direction of his life change when the medium of television came to prominence. Right away, Rogers recognized the potential it had for shaping the minds of the public and knew that someone needed to use it for good. Success with local access programming parlayed into Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the beloved children’s show on which Rogers was the chief creative mind behind as well as onscreen host and puppeteer.

Interviewed are family, friends, castmates, and crew, who all provide great insight regarding both the show and the real man. It would seem that yes, when the cameras stopped rolling, he really was the same friendly and caring figure. All attest that he was a wonderful, sincere person who believed wholeheartedly in his messages. To that end various archive footage is shown, from commencement speeches and other public appearances to his testimony to the U.S. government for saving PBS funding.

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Karen Black

Remembering Karen Black

Karen Black, veteran and Academy Award-nominated actress who has been in roughly 200 works, passed away after battling ampullary cancer last month. She was 74.