Retrospectives

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 …

In order to return as James Bond for Diamonds Are Forever, Sean Connery demanded that United Artists had to back two movies of his choice. The first of the two was The Offence. Due to poor box office reception, …

Tom Hardy’s movies appeal to a specific subset of theater audiences. Whether it’s Lawless, Warrior, or Venom, he plays the same type of guy. He’s the strong, silent type that everyone either wants to be or wants to be with. …

I’m going to get real personal, real quick: I’ve been having a rough time lately. I wasn’t super amped to watch An Officer and a Gentleman, but I’m glad I did. It was one of the most …

Harrison Ford is the beloved American President, James Marshall, in Air Force One. Glenn Close plays Vice President Kathryn Bennett who uses all her resources to save the president and his family on the titular plane. …

Thomas Newman is my all-time favorite film composer. I love his scores for Cinderella Man, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Road to Perdition. I don’t know a lot about music theory, but I do know that Newman’s scores …

After a recent rewatch of The Amazing Spider-Man, I have decided that, while I think Tom Holland is still the best Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield may be on the same level. The Amazing Spider-Man, which hit the big screen ten …

Thirty years ago, A League of Their Own hit theaters. Starring Geena Davis, Madonna, and Tom Hanks, it told the true story of the AAGBPL, an all-female baseball league that played in the lieu of …

That Touch of Mink is essentially a big euphemism. In the waning days of the Hays Code — the morality guidelines ruling over Hollywood from 1934 to 1968 — That Touch of Mink tiptoed around the rules like …

Living in Gotham City isn’t the best gig in the world. Living in Gotham City with Batman and Robin running around destroying half the city in the name of “justice”? That’s nearly unbearable. It’s like …

The most critical scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan comes very early in the film. It is Admiral James Kirk’s birthday, and he is spending his time in his room surrounded by a collection …

I’m on a Jack Ryan kick lately and nothing satisfies my craving more than Harrison Ford in that role. Patriot Games is the first of two Jack Ryan adventures that Ford embarks on. The second, Clear …

Harrison Ford only starred in two Jack Ryan films — Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger — but he defined the character with those performances. Ryan wasn’t a spring chicken in military intelligence, but he certainly was …

Christopher Nolan’s earlier films were not as big as they should have been. Films like Memento and Insomnia should have had the cultural impact that Inception or The Dark Knight had, but Nolan just hadn’t hit his stride in the public consciousness yet. …

The best stories are universal. Regardless of the period it takes place in, the language, and the culture, there is something or someone for the audience to understand as their own. In 2002, the indie …

Strangely, About a Boy strays from the romance category and embraces a whole catalog of love. The Weitz brothers — Paul and Chris Weitz — don’t limit the film to the romantic side of love, a …

I was in an ideal unbiased position to assess Conan the Barbarian on its 40th anniversary. I somehow hadn’t seen it before now. When I revealed this to a friend he reacted with, “Dear god man, …

Volcanoes are probably my worst fear. I watched Dante’s Peak and was scared, so I don’t know why I was so eager to jump into Volcano. I had no need to worry though, as Volcano was about the most ridiculous …

John Wayne and James Stewart were two of the defining actors of Westerns in the mid-20th century. Movies like The Searchers, Winchester ’73, and, of course, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are still well-received films that are …

The Cabin in the Woods is probably my most-watched film of all time by now. It’s the perfect film for any occasion. There’s so much that makes it rewatchable every year, and as time goes …

This April we “celebrated” the 20th anniversary of the steaming heap of space garbage that is, Jason X. In my opinion, this film is the worst in the Friday the 13th franchise. Jason X was …