I realize I saw awesome too much. To me, many things are awesome, at least in the moment. Later the experience fades and I can compare the awesome moment with many other moments, and awesome fades to average. The latest Bond movie, for instance. We walked out of the theater, to a nearby restaurant,...
There’s a movie in my head. I built it out of trailers for Max Payne. It has powerful, scary villains, a tortured hero, and the eternal, supernatural struggle between good and evil. It is laden with Norse mythology, and punctuated with intense set pieces that include guns and explosions and Valkyrie. It could be...
The first time I really remember being outraged at The Academy was 1991. That was the year that Dances with Wolves beat Goodfellas for Best Picture. I was talking to a friend about The Departed the other day. That movie seemed too convoluted, too soupy, for my taste. They gave Scorcese his Best Picture...
I have a friend who loves westerns. I love westerns. Unforgiven is one of my all time favorite movies from any genre. And 3:10 to Yuma was great as well. The one thing I really don’t like is romantic comedy. I will, at some point, write an essay on why I don’t. I also...
How come expectations are such an integral part of how we enjoy movies? Not just good or bad, but also type, genre, tone. We know who’s in the movie, we think we know the genre, maybe we know the story. Maybe we’ve scene trailers and think we’ve got it pretty much down. Eagle Eye...
It always annoys when my friends say something like: “I could have told you that,” after I report that some movie really sucked. No, no you couldn’t have told me that. Sure, the Mummy III: Tomb of Jet Li Phoning It In looked bad. There were many warning signs. But these friends would have...
Like Donnie Darko, Boondock Saints seems to receive affection, adoration, even passion far in excess of any value in the movie itself. I’d heard about Boondock Saints from many sources, compelling me to not only put in my Netflix list, but move it up near the top. It’s based on a graphic novel, and...
Uwe Boll is, possibly, the worst director, ever. Worse, he has attacked one of my other loves, video-games in his ridiculous attempts to adapt a number of classic videogame franchises for the big screen. The primary crimes against video games, against movies, and against humanity itself include: Alone in the Dark (ridiculous) House of...
Why am I writing this blog? It’s not as if there aren’t enough reviews our there, or that Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t do a pretty good job of aggregating all those opinions into something you can use. But people often ask my opinion about movies, and I find myself explaining. And sometimes, with movies like...
Skipping Twilight: When Genres Collide
My least favorite genre is the romantic comedy. Or even worse, the teen love romantic comedy. Actually, teen love is even worse when it’s not funny. On the other hand, I love vampire movies. The blog, Snarkerati, listed the 70 top vampire movies of all time. The list is great because it takes a...
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