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First Man / Free Solo
Our audio equipment failed us in October, but we’re back and better than ever. Welcome to our first double feature podcast! That’s right, this month you get two movies for the price of one. Starting things off is First Man. After launching two masterpieces into the universe with Whiplash and La La Land, director Damien…
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American Made / Battle of the Sexes / Stronger
Welcome to another edition of Mini-Review Roundup where we present smaller reviews of several movies at once. Up this month: American Made, Battle of the Sexes, and Stronger. American Made Scientology may be a made-up religion, but they’ve clearly found the cure for aging. Tom Cruise hasn’t had a birthday in 30 years.…
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Tower
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I Am Not a Serial Killer
The core protagonist here John Wayne Cleaver was definitely born with a serial killer’s name, and is brilliantly played by young Max Records (who also filled the shoes of the growing adolescent in Spike Jonze’s 2009 adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are). As seen in the film, being born with certain tendencies doesn’t chain…
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Life, Animated
Almost everyone has a history with Disney animated movies, especially those of us who profess to be film junkies. We weren’t taking the likes of Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorcese as children. Instead, we were covering our faces with blankets as Bambi and his mother ran from hunters or when Scar pushed Mufasa into a…
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Strength in Weakness: The Trials of Humphrey Bogart
Ever hear a story about someone famous that talks about their limitations or past failures and makes you feel better about being you? I remember hearing that Albert Einstein had failed math in school as a kid. That encouraged me to work hard academically and stop worrying about not making it. Too bad the story…
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The Nice Guys
Shane Black is the king of buddy action movies. He sold the screenplay to Lethal Weapon at age 22. In 1996, Black scored a then-record-breaking payday of $4 million for The Long Kiss Goodnight. The sale made him enemies, and he disappeared from Hollywood for nine years. Then in 2005, Black returned not just as…
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Is Indiana Jones a Hero?
There were three fictional characters I wanted to be when I was young: Fox Mulder, Han Solo, and Indiana Jones. They were everything I wasn’t — cool and confident, always up for adventure, and irresistible to the ladies. Mulder and Solo faded with time, but Jones stuck with me. He wasn’t an outcast like Mulder…
