This movie is to a dull suburbanite family existence, what Office Space was for a dull corporate office job—a fascinating glimpse at what it may be like to escape, with a reminder of the cost one would have to pay. People often forget that “American Beauty” is a comedy, because of how dark and deep it is willing to go, but it is, and at … Continue reading American Beauty Review
This review contains spoilers. SPOILERS I SAY! If you haven’t seen it, just move it along here folks. Now, onto business. Cast Away is a great movie that could have been an even better movie, in my opinion, if they lopped off more from both the beginning and closing sections of the movie. Tom Hanks plays a UPS man who is every Tom Hanks cliché … Continue reading Cast Away Review
Gangs of New York represents the kind of old school cinematic excess such as Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments, with massive sets and thousands of extras, but with a modern arsenal of special effects to give it a little extra oomph. Daniel Day Lewis plays Bill the Butcher, the old school gangster kingpin of New York in the 1860s. Lewis plays Bill as a … Continue reading Gangs of New York Review
Road House is one of the best lousy movies of all time. It can be enjoyed on many levels too, such as the “Plan 9 From Outer Space” laugh yourself silly at how lousy it is level, the standard “turn off your brain” action movie level, a time capsule of goofy 1980s clothing and hairstyles level, and even a pseudo philosophical level too! That’s more … Continue reading Road House Review
Cop Land is a film that could have easily been a long mini-series with all its got going on in the plot. Garrison, New Jersey in this movie is a town populated entirely by NY city cops. It’s a nice quiet little community, as you would expect, and mortgages are quite reasonable; plus it sure as hell beats living in the same dump they all … Continue reading Cop Land Review
David Wagner (Tobey Maquire) seems like the kind of teenager I used to be back in the 90s, that being a teenager obsessed with the past and especially the culture of bygone eras, in his case the 1950s, opting to spend hours in front of the TV watching old reruns instead of engaging in the shallow culture he finds outside. Only instead of Andy Griffith … Continue reading Pleasantville Review
What a strange and wonderful movie! And also, a movie that is sadly quite overlooked in the careers of both lead actors. Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), is a self-centered, Manhattan shock jock in the vein of Howard Stern mixed in with a little bit of Rush Limbaugh. At least that’s the persona he puts on when on the air; at home in his luxurious high … Continue reading The Fisher King Review
The worst thing about The Color of Money is that it is a sequel to The Hustler (for trivia buffs, also the first movie I ever reviewed on this site) and of course, it does not live up the heights set by that level of a classic. Almost no film could. That said, if one can view this movie without thinking of the former, which … Continue reading The Color of Money Review
Barton Fink is one of my favorite lesser known Coen brothers movie. In it John Turturro plays a brilliant stage writer for Broadway (from whom the movie gets its name) who gets lured to Hollywood in the 1940s to write screenplays for big studios. Turturro is perfectly at home as the naïve, paranoid stereotypical writer caricature who would prefer to write reality based social commentary … Continue reading Barton Fink Review
Spaghetti westerns might have just as easily been called Sergio westerns—as the three greatest directors of the genre all shared that same first name. Everyone knows Leone was the first, but probably at this point only real history/movie nerds know the other two–Sollima and Corbucci. Sergio Corbucci directed this classic Pasta Western back in 1966. The story is yet another play on Yojimbo, with a … Continue reading Django Review
Titanquisitor 