One thing I’ve always liked about Stanley Kubrick’s movies is how they grow on you after repeated viewings. Only, I didn’t like Spartacus, but I understand there were problems between Kubrick and Kirk Douglas which caused Kubrick to leave Hollywood and live the rest of his life in England. Kubrick loved chess so much thatContinue reading “‘Eyes Wide Shut’ 25 Years Later Still Divides Kubrick’s Fans”
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Doesn’t Produce The Same Magic As Original
The first Beetlejuice was a rare lightning in a bottle movie that came out at the right time and appealed to mass audiences. The mixture of madness, macabre and musical numbers made the movie a surprise hit which was helped with Michael Keaton’s madcap performance. Keaton only has 17 minutes of screen time in theContinue reading “‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Doesn’t Produce The Same Magic As Original”
‘Speak No Evil’ Offers No Originality
Speak No Evil is your basic people meet other people while vacationing only to discover they may be weird and even malicious in their nature. This was done with a nice cleverness and twist with the 2009 movie A Perfect Getaway. This movie is a remake of the Danish movie also titled Speak No Evil.Continue reading “‘Speak No Evil’ Offers No Originality”
Justice For Todd And Margo
I have a question to ask you – What exactly did Todd and Margo Chester do in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to do be villainized and suffer the burnt of Clark Griswold’s mayhem? I’ll wait. Can’t think of anything, can you? When we first see Todd and Margo (Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus), they areContinue reading “Justice For Todd And Margo”
‘Nutcrackers’ Is Unadulterated Pap
By now as we put a close on 2024, it should be evident that streaming services have become the dumping grounds for bad movies. Usually, studios did this in January. But why wait until the new year when you can just dump it on a streaming service and get the write off for the nextContinue reading “‘Nutcrackers’ Is Unadulterated Pap”
‘Runaway’ Stumbled 40 Years Ago, But The Future Is Now
The question of what came first – the chicken or the egg can apply to many science-fiction movies. Did people read Jules Verne and become inspired to make submarines and spaceships or was Verne just expanding on what others were designing? Submersibles date back 300 years before Verne wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. WhatContinue reading “‘Runaway’ Stumbled 40 Years Ago, But The Future Is Now”
‘Hot Frosty’ Dunks Holiday RomComs In Subtle Silly Satire
Hot Frosty is one of those movies where you can’t fathom if it’s intended to be taken seriously or meant as a parody of the Hallmark Christmas holiday movie genre. It’s set in one of those towns that really look densely populated but have enough of an infrastructure to have a lot of amenities. TheyContinue reading “‘Hot Frosty’ Dunks Holiday RomComs In Subtle Silly Satire”
I Was Bored And You Won’t ‘Smile 2’ About Cliched Horror Sequel
Smile 2 could’ve very easily been called Scream if that title hadn’t already been used in a different horror franchise. The first Smile had a great marketing campaign behind it that would’ve made William Castle happy as people were featured in vantage points at sporting events holding a creepy smile. And the movie was aContinue reading “I Was Bored And You Won’t ‘Smile 2’ About Cliched Horror Sequel”
‘The Terminator’ Turns 40
A movie like The Terminator could’ve easily been a huge disaster. It featured an Austrian bodybuilder whose accent wasn’t the right tone for actors of the era. The “hero” dies at the end. And the main character is a young actress who was in that Children of the Corn movie. Oh, the director was alsoContinue reading “‘The Terminator’ Turns 40”
‘Trap’ Can’t Beat Filmmaker’s Bum Rap
The first half or so of Trap reminds me of what Alfred Hitchcock would do in showing us a bad guy racing against time to prevent or retrieve something. In his 1972 movie Frenzy, Barry Foster playing a serial killer finds himself in the back of a potato truck trying to retrieve a tie pinContinue reading “‘Trap’ Can’t Beat Filmmaker’s Bum Rap”
Zane Says 