My father and I once checked into a fleabag hotel in New York, where the many cigarette burns on the carpet crunched when you stepped on them. The room smelled of sweat and coins. There was also a crew of French construction workers who worked right outside our window, where they yelled at one another while […]
Summer 2014 Movie Preview
It’s been 25 years since the landmark Summer of Sequels swept America. The movie season of May-September 1989 had a then-record eight sequels in theaters (including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and created lines that famously stretched far outside the theaters. Most memorably, Bat-Mania took over the world, as Tim Burton’s Batman set the standard […]
FURIOUS 7: New Movie Review for Fast and Furious 7 Sequel
At last, we finally get to see how the filmmakers of Furious 7 completed their film. As most everyone knows, this is the sequel that suffered the death of its Fast and Furious star, the charming Paul Walker. Rather than shut the production down, or rework the film to have Walker’s character killed off or […]
2015 Summer Movie Preview
One of the biggest summer movie seasons in memory is about to unspool. Of course, the report from last year wasn’t encouraging. Despite the blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy, box office was down and the movies were mostly a bust. But this year, the long line of blockbusters-to-be–even the sequels and remakes–are more promising and diverse than […]
TERMINATOR GENISYS New Movie Review
A 31-year-old franchise returns with bold new upgrades, only some of which hit their mark. In Terminator Genisys, the fifth film in the series, John Connor (now played by Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (played this time by Jai Courtney) to the past. Once Reese arrives in 1984, he finds his mission has changed, as […]
Best of the Wurst – The Best Films of 2015
It’s the end of the year, and that means another installment of the Best of the Wurst–what I thought were the best films of 2015. Enjoy! Love & Mercy I fell hard for this Brian Wilson rock and roll bio the first time I saw it, at the opening night of last summer’s Maui Film […]
RAMPAGE New Movie Review
Early into Peter Berg’s still-fantastic 2003 action/comedy The Rundown, Dwayne Johnson walks into a bar (stop me if you’ve heard this one) and bumps into Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ah-Nuld taps Johnson on the shoulder, says, “Have fun in there” and literally walks out of Johnson’s movie. The moment is a symbolic gesture on Schwarzenegger’s part, as […]