Retrospectives

After acting in Star Wars, Hayden Christensen never really broke out of that mold. Outside of the space adventures, most people would be hard-pressed to name another Hayden Christensen movie. May I present to you Shattered Glass, an example …

Rumble Fish is based on the S.E. Hinton novel of the same name. Like S.E. Hinton’s other novel The Outsiders, it also focuses on young men in gangs and the relationships they build at a pivotal time in …

A super-cop is resurrected to fight a growing threat in a futuristic society. Here’s the question: am I talking about Demolition Man or Robocop? Trick question: I’m talking about both of them today. Both are ridiculously fun …

Pieces is a gory, ridiculous horror movie from 1983. We don’t really get to know any of the characters well enough to care about them. The plot is all over the place. However, the kills and …

It’s hard not to sympathize with Hugh Jackman’s character in Prisoners. He’s a devoted father who just lost his young daughter. There’s no trace of her anywhere and the one suspect in custody isn’t talking. It’s enough …

Rounders is about a poker genius, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), on a mission to regain the money he lost to Russian gangster, Teddy “KGB” (John Malkovich). The games are all about subtlety and attention to detail. …

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints tries hard to be a good historical crime drama, but falls flat trying to hit all the right plot points. It had romance, tension, forbidden love, crime, guns, and an attractive young couple …

You’ll never feel more confused about a hero than you will about the Stranger of High Plains Drifter. He’s a vile man who rapes women, kills men, and sneers at everyone he sees. He’d be the villain …

The Fugitive is a phenomenal action film starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. It follows Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford), who has been falsely accused of murdering his wife. After escaping from prison in a freak …

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was supposedly so bad that Sean Connery retired after making it. After watching it, I can’t blame him. It’s a ridiculous adventure with no real stakes and it was over before …

For a film made in 1943, For Whom the Bell Tolls is relatively progressive in how it treats its film characters. However, the sexism of the time period still leaks into the story. Even though our main …

28 Days Later shows the zombie apocalypse is all about survival. You need to have food, shelter, and weapons. You also need painkillers, sedatives/sleeping pills, food you don’t have to cook, and gasoline, among other …

The Great Escape is based on the 1950 novel of the same name, which is based on true events. Of course, every historical movie based on a true story takes its creative liberties for cinematic …

George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez have a lot of movies in the running for hottest ever made, but Out of Sight beats them all. Never has a movie been sexier. The cast is extremely attractive — everyone …

Only God Forgives reminds me of a teenager who gets really into poetry and thinks they’re really deep but in reality are the most annoying person to be around. Nicolas Winding Refn was really going for …

The Room  and I I’m no stranger to Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. Like many people, I first became aware of its existence when caught in the orbit of The Disaster Artist in 2017. This was the first …

Hud stars Paul Newman as the drunken, bawdy son of a cattle rancher. His nephew, Lonnie (Brandon deWilde), learns a lot about what kind of man he wants to be and doesn’t want to be from …

Last Action Hero is a movie within a movie. Our main character, Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien), is a big action movie fan and sees all the new Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) films that come out. He …

As much as the internet tries to convince me that Nicolas Cage is a good actor in an ironic way, his filmography shows his true talent. Valley Girl was an early indicator of the kind of exciting …

If you didn’t know before you sat down to watch Fear and Desire, you would probably never guess that it was a Stanley Kubrick film. It doesn’t have the same trademarks that some of his later films …

Derek Cianfrance weaves an intricate tale with The Place Beyond the Pines. The story follows how the crime of one person can ring throughout a family through generations. Luke (Ryan Gosling) commits a crime that Avery (Bradley …

Child actors have to hit a high bar for me to laud their performance. I find that a lot of performances from young actors tend to disappoint me because they haven’t yet found their voice …

Alfred Hitchcock is one of, if not the greatest, directors of all time. He really hit his stride in the late 1950s and early 1960s, churning out hits like Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and The Birds. However, even …

I first read The Outsiders when I was about nine years old in elementary school. Ever since then, it has been one of my favorite books. Soon after reading it for the first time, I watched the …

I had high hopes for Side Effects when I began the film. As someone who suffers from depression, I was hoping to relate to Rooney Mara’s character, Emily Taylor, who also seemed to be suffering from it. …

Soylent Green is one of the most iconic dystopian films of the 1970s. Who can forget the twist ending with Charlton Heston’s screaming the truth to the surrounding people? Of course, Heston is the star of …

One of Michael Douglas’s best roles is as D-Fens in Falling Down. He has the charisma and devil-may-care attitude that attracts people. When the movie came out in 1993, he was right in his prime with Fatal Attraction and Basic …

The King of Comedy features Rupert Pupkin’s (Robert De Niro) story of his love for Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis), a late night talk show host. Pupkin’s love, however, borders on obsession and leads to a slew …

She Done Him Wrong is one of Cary Grant’s first memorable films and one of Mae West’s most famous. Despite premiering over 90 years ago, its story is still entertaining for the modern audience. One of …

The Hook is a lesser-known war film concerning the end of the Korean War. It details the story of three soldiers forced with the difficult decision to execute a prisoner of war that fell into their …