The 24 Best Video Games of 2024
PopMatters’ 24 Best Video Games of 2024 highlight achievements in game design and the risks creators take to lure gamers into the magic circle.
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The 24 Best Video Games of 2024
PopMatters’ 24 Best Video Games of 2024 highlight achievements in game design and the risks creators take to lure gamers into the magic circle.
Phoenix Springs’ Journey to Nowhere Is Worth It
Phoenix Springs‘ streamlined gameplay and inventive point-and-click adventure has the pacing of an art-house psychological drama.
Teen Horror Film ‘Cuckoo’ Is a Deliriously Fun Mess
For his teen horror film Cuckoo, director Tilman Singer tries to tame his wild and creative imagination into something more commercially friendly, with mixed results.
Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs
The family is the source of neurosis, and any hint of an allegedly happy ending in these three film-noirs must happen over someone’s dead body.
Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’
For compelling and worrisome reasons, crime sells in our TV entertainment. The Responder, Shardlake, and Eric feed our brutal compulsion in varying ways.
‘Sugar’ Is an Intoxicating Celebration of Classic Hollywood
Crime thriller Sugar, starring Colin Farrell, is an intoxicating celebration of Classic Hollywood that will keep you guessing about what’s really going on.
Inspector Maigret Mysteries Made in Occupied France
There’s no war going on in these subversive Inspector Maigret whodunits from occupied France, but there’s a lot more murder and paranoia than in the era’s newspapers.
‘True Detective: Night Country’ Finds Comfort in Darkness
At the edge of civilization where True Detective: Night Country is set there is no promise of salvation, only carnal vengeance and some comfort in the darkness.
Fantasy Made Reality in William Oldroyd’s Adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s ‘Eileen’
William Oldroyd and Thomasin McKenzie discuss sympathising with a young woman caught between fantasy and reality in the adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen.
‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ Delivers a Fatal Dose of Poe
Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher delivers a fatal potion of Poe-haunted, nightmarish doom that brings us to our knees before the conqueror worm.
The Historical-Reflective in Hitchcock’s ‘The Lady Vanishes’
Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes depicts a variety of cultural deaths as they were happening. No small feat for a light comedy with sex-farce undertones.
Actor Aidan Gillen on His Role in Noir Love Letter to Dublin, ‘Barber’
Irish actor Aidan Gillen talks about his lead role, and the freedom given to him to define his character, in Fintan Connolly’s Dublin-set modern noir, Barber.