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
Mellisa McCarthy is my wife’s favorite current actress. Her movies are a guilty pleasure for her as much as old Adam Sandler movies were for me back in the day. It’s the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, maybe not good for you, but good nonetheless. I am hit and miss with her movies. I find her shtick to be about as one note as your … Continue reading Spy Review
Watching this film is like going to a high school reunion and getting cornered by that guy who was the class clown twenty years ago, and discovering he has not changed his clothes, or bothered to learn any new material in the intervening decades. You find you are amused just by their appearance and the nostalgia factor for a bit, but you quickly make an … Continue reading Dumb and Dumber To Review
Hey, North Korea, you really could have saved yourself a lot of time and trouble and just let this one pass. It likely would have fizzled out based on its’ own merit rather than having the help of an entire news cycle controversy to drive up sales. James Franco and Seth Rogen belong in better movies than the likes of this. They’re both fine actors, … Continue reading The Interview Review
Let’s be honest here. You weren’t expecting this movie to be good, and neither was I. At best we were all hoping perhaps it would be passably entertaining in that way that certain movies that you watch on basic cable at two in the morning can sometimes tend to be. But alas, no. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 could be used by John Cusack’s agent … Continue reading Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Review
This movie is like the Goodfellas of porn. I saw Boogie Nights at an age I most certainly should not have seen anything of the type, but it has stuck with me years later for reasons that have jack shit to do with nudity or porn. For me this movie isn’t so much about the porn industry as it is about the era of excess … Continue reading Boogie Nights Review
Probably about a third of all modern comedies can trace their spiritual ancestry back to Animal House. This was one of my favorites growing up, but I worried how it would hold up now, and surprisingly, it flowed nearly as well as it did all those years ago. John Belushi is still a pure force of nature as Bluto Blutarsky, and he steals the movie … Continue reading Animal House Review
This is an overlooked movie in John Hughes series of Chicago based comedies, but one that is near and dear to yours truly’s cantankerous old ticker. Macaulay Culkin had a remarkable childhood film career, and by all accounts, a disastrous childhood. Aside from his two very successful featured roles in the Home Alone movies, I believe this movie to be his best work. Much of … Continue reading Uncle Buck Review
Tom Hanks is one of the biggest box office stars of all time, so it is usually worth taking note of which of his movies don’t become huge smash hits. A month or so back I reviewed such a movie with Larry Crowne, and here today we have another in The Terminal. This movie has Hanks playing a man from the fictional nation of Krakozhia … Continue reading The Terminal Review
Titanquisitor 