Author: Bill Watters

Bill Watters is a child of the late 70s- he walked into a theater to watch Star Wars, and emerged to become a lifelong fan of cinema and television. Spending nearly a decade as a projectionist, he fell into the Silicon Valley dot-com boom and became a codemonkey for a range of game companies. These days he's a frequent speaker, moderator, and panelist at pop-culture events and conventions, as well as a prolific film and television critic and genre news writer. He is also a member critic of both the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. In addition to his writing, he is also a photojournalist and can be found on Getty Images.

80
Review

Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” is not just a film; it is a high-octane, gut-busting experience that brings some fresh air into the MCU at a time when we could use some levity along with our servings of existential dread and gruesome killings. While there is a vast amount of fan service, in a world where your titular character is a foul-mouthed, no-filtered, fourth-wall-breaking killing machine that is all too aware that he’s now playing in the Mouse’s sandbox, it simply works. Writer/Director Shawn Levy (“Free Guy,” “The Night at the Museum,” “Stranger Things”) has threaded that self-referential needle between…

Read More

Back in June, Niantic’s still-going Pokémon GO mobil game asked a serious question. Will you marry me? Well, not ME, and not them, but someone. Specifically, the company was looking for fans to pop the big question during the 2024 festival in Madrid and New York City. Niantic offered to provide a dedicated photographer to capture the perfect shot, special event access, and a gift to “make your heart flutter.” “I love you, I’ve had so much fun playing Pokémon with you, will you marry me?” Neil asked his girlfriend Gillian. With a very excited Pikachu as witness, Gillian answered “Of…

Read More

The act of spraying your preferred perfume has become a ritual in which you both enjoy it in the purest form and as an everyday treat. At the core of this experience lies the central tool – the perfume bottle spray. This is where our favorite scents live, and it is also where we perform the art of applying them. The importance of bulk glass bottles with corks is immense in the creation and distribution of the perfume spray bottles, which showcase the artful and effective fusion of skill and function that is the hallmark of perfume spray bottles. The…

Read More
70
Review

There’s a certain level of irony that there have been any number of films and series that have just been quietly released on Netflix that are among the streamers’ best offerings. “Geek Girl,” a 10-episode series adaptation of Holly Smale”s YA novels, was quietly added on May 30th to nominal fanfare. While I’m a sucker for things like “Next Top Model” (especially the Australian version of the show), and “Project Runway” (at least before Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn left the show), a YA version of a high schooler outsider-turns-fashion industry darling isn’t really something I would click into. I’m…

Read More

MAX’s new short-run documentary “Ren Faire” is a spotlight on the Texas Renaissance Festival’s 86-year old owners’ search for a successor. It’s an interesting narrative that writer/director Lance Oppenheim has cobbled together. For people who are not familiar with the world of Renaissance Faires, the series comes off as a spotlight on various individuals who seem alternatively well-meaning, sycophantic, and desperate – all for the time, attention, and most paramount, the approbation of the owner George Coulam. Or as everyone seems intent on calling him- King George. Full disclosure- I have been affiliated with, performing at, or producing Renaissance Faires…

Read More
80
Review

“Who You Gonna Call?” It’s one of those catchphrases from pop culture that one doesn’t even have to have ever seen the original “Ghostbusters” film to know the response. That film, for the vast majority of those who have seen it, tends to be remembered with a warm fondness. It had a charm to it that not a lot of films have (ironically, Bill Murray tends to be in a recurring theme in that small number of films). Now, a full 40 years later, after three more films and two animated series, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” manages to come the closest…

Read More

In recent decades, there has been the ongoing effort in storytelling to help elevate fantasy-genre Princesses tropes towards saving themselves, rather than relying on a wayward Prince Charming. The results have been very hit-and-miss. Sometimes they are written so unbelievably modern as to be a disservice to the story. Other times it feels like just lip service. And there’s also the challenge that the fantasy genre itself has often struggled to stick the landing. With Netflix’s latest film, “Damsel,” we finally have a fantasy that is a genuinely entertaining and empowering, while at the same time making sense. Millie Bobby…

Read More
This entry is part 7 of 14 in the series Reviews

It’s been nearly two and a half years since writer/director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” released to strong acclaim from both audiences and critics (I gave it one of my highest ratings I’ve given any film in a long while—a 9.5 out of 10). “Dune: Part 2” is mostly worth the wait. “Dune” as a literary series remains one of the classic fiction works of all time, alongside Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation,” and J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” As such, it has long been espoused as one of those “impossible to translate to the screen”…

Read More

We are very sorry to report genre film and television actor Gary Graham has passed away. Familiar to generations of fans, he was known to many as Detective Matthew Sikes on “Alien Nation” the tv series, and as Ambassador Soval on “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Graham’s ex-wife, Susan Levelle, posted the following on Facebook: “It is with deep profound sadness to say that Gary Graham, my ex husband, amazing actor and father of our beautiful only child together, Haylee Graham, has passed away today. We are completely devastated especially our daughter Haley. His wife, Becky was by his side.I met Gary…

Read More