DIERY (2020) Starring Claudia Maree Mailer, Thomas Q. Jones, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Danielle Guldin, Ciaran Byrne, Philip Alexander, Nick Mathews, Jim Turner, Samantha Strelitz, Brendan Robinson, Chase Coleman, James Sutorius, Jocelyn Jones, Donovan Patton, Samantha Watkins, Kayvon Esmaili, Rae Ritke, Gina Briganti and John Buffalo Mailer. Screenplay by John Buffalo Mailer. Directed by Jennifer Gelfer. Distributed by Mailer Tuchman Media. 100 minutes. Not Rated. DieRy is certa

Claudia Maree Mailer Live and Let DieRy By Jay S. Jacobs When you were young, and your heart was an open book… That line is not merely the opening line to the old Paul McCartney song that was used for this article’s punny headline, it also rather fittingly describes the character of Marie in the psychological thriller DieRy, the first feature leading role by actress Claudia Maree Mailer. The film was written by her husband, producer John Buffalo Mailer. Marie is a beautiful y

7500 (2020) Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Omid Memar, Aylin Tezel, Carlo Kitzlinger, Murathan Muslu, Paul Wollin, Pasar Hariky, Hicham Sebiai, Aurélie Thépaut, Cornel Nußbaum, Denis Schmidt, Christoph Wielinger, Max Schimmelpfennig, Anna Suk, Mario Klishies and Simon Schwarz. Screenplay by Patrick Vollrath and Senad Halilbasic. Directed by Patrick Vollrath. Distributed by Amazon Studios. 92 minutes. Not Rated. There is a horribly unsettling sense of paranoid claustrophobia t

Otmara Marrero Breaks Out in the Sultry Breakup Drama Clementine By Jay S. Jacobs The devastation of a sudden breakup – that feeling that you have found the person who may complete you, only to have it suddenly ripped away from you and you realize that the other person has already moved on – that is a feeling most people have experienced at least once in their lives. This vulnerable point in many people’s existence is the starting off point in the intriguing new dramatic thri

Angel of Mine ANGEL OF MINE (2019) Starring Noomi Rapace, Yvonne Strahovski, Luke Evans, Finn Little, Annika Whiteley, Richard Roxburgh, Indi Serafin, Rob Collins, Rachel Gordon, Emily Gruhl, Tracy Mann, Mirko Grillini, Ayeshah Rose, Pip Miller, Vivienne Perry, Rebecca Bower, Irene Chen, Genevieve Salinas and Audrey Salinas. Screenplay by Luke Davies and David Regal. Directed by Kim Farrant. Distributed by Lionsgate. 98 minutes. Rated R. Angel of Mine stakes out an uncomforta

Don’t Let Go DON’T LET GO (2019) Starring David Oyelowo, Storm Reid, Byron Mann, Mykelti Williamson, Alfred Molina, Brian Tyree Henry, Shinelle Azoroh, Daniel R. Lawson and Omar Leyva. Screenplay by Jacob Aaron Estes. Directed by Jacob Aaron Estes. Distributed by BH Tilt. 107 minutes. Rated R. In 2006, a now mostly forgotten little time-travel romance really struck my fancy. It was called The Lake House. (I know it got rather mixed reviews, but I just loved it.) It had a very

Every Time I Die EVERY TIME I DIE (2019) Starring Drew Fonteiro, Marc Menchaca, Michelle Macedo, Tyler Dash White, Melissa Macedo, Kenneth Moronta, Frankie Hinton, Paul Megna, Lia Johnson, Andrea Leigh, Erica Camarano, Eleah Burman, Sara Harman, Kevin D. Benton, Nikee Warren, Alison Linkov and Maera Daniel Hagage. Screenplay by Gal Katzir & Robi Michael. Directed by Robi Michael. Distributed by Gravitas Ventures. 98 minutes. Not Rated. One of the nice things about writing abo

My Son MY SON (MON GARCON) (2017) Starring Guillaume Canet, Melanie Laurent, Olivier de Benoist, Antoine Hamel, Mohamed Brikat, Lino Papa, Marc Robert, Pierre Langlois, Tristan Pagès, Christophe Rossignon, Pierre Desmaret, Ronnie Avenel, Dominique Plaideau and the voice of Vanessa Desmaret. Screenplay by Christian Carion and Laure Irrmann. Directed by Christian Carion. Distributed by Cohen Media Group. 85 minutes. Not Rated. My Son is a pretty stark reminder of the difference

Breaking In BREAKING IN (2018) Starring Gabrielle Union, Ajiona Alexus, Seth Carr, Billy Burke, Jason George, Richard Cabral, Levi Meaden, Damien Leake, Mark Furze and Christa Miller. Screenplay by Ryan Engle. Directed by James McTeigue. Distributed by Universal Pictures. 88 minutes. Rated PG-13. The tag line of Breaking In is “Payback is a mother,” and that tells you pretty much all you need to know about the film. A 30-something middle class urban mom goes to clear out her

Hereditary HEREDITARY (2018) Starring Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, Milly Shapiro, Mallory Bechtel, Zachary Arthur, Mark Blockovich, Jake Brown, Gabriel Monroe Eckert, John Forker, Gerry Garcia, Austin R. Grant, Rachelle Hardy, Brock Mckinney, Marilyn Miller, Jason Miyagi, Shane Morrisun, A.J. Moss, Heidi Méndez, Jarrod Phillips, Georgia Puckett, BriAnn Rachele, Travis Sanchez and Lorenzo Silva. Screenplay by Ari Aster. Directed by Ari Aster. Distributed

A Quiet Place A QUIET PLACE (2018) Starring Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds, Leon Russom, Cade Woodward and Doris McCarthy. Screenplay by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski. Directed by John Krasinski. Distributed by Paramount Pictures. 90 minutes. Rated PG-13. I must admit, in recent years I’ve pretty much had my fill of post-apocalyptic thrillers. Last summer, when I reviewed It Comes at Night, I suggested that they put a moratorium on the wh

Unsane UNSANE (2018) Starring Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, Amy Irving, Sarah Stiles, Marc Kudisch, Colin Woodell, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Lynda Mauze, Zach Cherry, Polly McKie, Raúl Castillo, Mike Mihm, Robert Kelly, Natalie Gold, Sol M. Crespo, Will Brill, Steven Maier, Matthew R. Staley, Matt Mancini, Emily Happe and Matt Damon. Screenplay by Jonathan Bernstein & James Greer. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Distributed by Bleecker Street

Gemini GEMINI (2017) Starring Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz, John Cho, Ricki Lake, Greta Lee, Michelle Forbes, Nelson Franklin, Reeve Carney, Jessica Parker Kennedy, James Ransone, Todd Louiso, Marianne Rendon, Gabriela Flores, Abraham Lim, Ted Stavros, Levy Tran, Naby Dakhli, Ray Reynaga and Chad Hartigan. Screenplay by Aaron Katz. Directed by Aaron Katz. Distributed by Rough House Pictures. 93 minutes. Not Rated. Screened at the 2017 Philadelphia Film Festival. In Aaron Katz’s Ge

Fall Out Boy – The Boys of Zummer Tour (Live in Chicago) FALL OUT BOY – THE BOYS OF ZUMMER TOUR: LIVE IN CHICAGO (2016) Featuring Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley. Directed by Jim Yukich. Distributed by Eagle Vision.  80 minutes.  Not Rated. Fall Out Boy have changed a lot with the times over the decade and a half or so that they’ve mostly been together (this is including the two-three year hiatus they took in the early 2010s).  They rocketed to fame in

Elle ELLE (2016) Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling, Jonas Bloquet, Virginie Efira, Christian Berkel and Judith Magre. Screenplay by David Birke. Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.  131 minutes.  Rated R. A couple of decades ago it looked like Dutch director Paul Verhoeven was going to be one of the defining directors on the Hollywood scene.  His sharp eye and stylish camera sense from his early films Spe

Adam F. Goldberg Adam F. Goldberg Growing Up With The Goldbergs by Jay S. Jacobs As a website based in the suburban town of Jenkintown, PA, we here at PopEntertainment.com had gotten used to people outside of the area not knowing exactly where we were.  Sometimes we’d go the simple route and just explain that it is a suburb of Philadelphia.  Sometimes we’d bring up local fun facts, like pointing out that movie star Bradley Cooper grew up a few blocks away from our offices. No

The Gift THE GIFT (2015) Starring Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, Rebecca Hall, Busy Philipps, David Denman, Allison Tolman, Katie Aselton, Susan May Pratt, Wendell Pierce, Beau Knapp, Tim Griffin, Nash Edgerton and P.J. Byrne. Screenplay by Joel Edgerton. Directed by Joel Edgerton. Distributed by STX Entertainment.  108 minutes.  Rated R. There is one basic truth that has been unquestionably true for many, many generations: there are very few things that can be more hurtful an

Dark Places DARK PLACES  (2015) Starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Corey Stoll, Tye Sheridan, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sterling Jerins, Andrea Roth, Sean Bridgers, J. LaRose, Jennifer Pierce Mathus, Shannon Kook, Drea de Matteo, Addy Miller, Dan Hewitt, Natalie Precht, Madison McGuire and Sterling Jerins. Screenplay by Gilles Paquet-Brenner. Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner. Distributed by A24 Pictures.  113 minutes.  Rated R. When former Entertainment

A Walk Among the Tombstones A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES (2014) Starring Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Brian “Astro” Bradley, David Harbour, Adam Davis Thompson, Boyd Holbrook, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Sebastian Roche, Mark Consuelos, Danielle Rose Russell, Laura Birn, Marielle Heller, Liana De Laurent, Whitney Able and Razane Jammal. Screenplay by Scott Frank. Directed by Scott Frank. Distributed by Universal Pictures.  110 minutes.  Rated R. We’re about six years now into the rein

David Paich of Toto David Paich of Toto Whispers of Some Quiet Conversation by Jay S. Jacobs 36 years is a huge chunk of anyone’s life, particularly if you are just about to turn 60 at the end of the upcoming month.  Keyboardist David Paich was in his mid-twenties when he hooked up with a bunch of high school friends to create the session musician super-group Toto, including guitarist Steve Lukather and brothers keyboardist Steve Porcaro, drummer Jeff Porcaro and bassist Mike