Category: film
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Perfect Movies: Dazed and Confused
Nostalgia is a powerful force. The sentimental longing for the past as it connects to personal and positive memories is the kind of feeling that, when brought up in conversation, makes older people unbearable to younger generations. Meanwhile, those who have gained a certain experience in life know that the callous youth that reject their nostalgic […]
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Cult Classics: Grindhouse
The lurid exploitation films of the 60s, 70s, and 80s gave cheap thrills to filmgoing audiences looking to make out in the back seats of the theater or their cars, see a few gross kill-shots and grungy effects, or else enjoy the well-tread tropes and hackneyed cinematography that these films promised. Their enjoyment by cinephiles […]
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Perfect Movies: American Psycho
“You like Huey Lewis & The News?” I sure do, and Patrick Bateman makes a great argument for the strengths of their 1983 breakthrough album, Sports. It would be a great moment in any retro film for the main character to espouse his love of mainstream contemporary music, but becoming a counterpoint to the action […]
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Cult Classics: Big Trouble in Little China
“You know what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like this?” “Who?” “Jack Burton. Me!” Jack Burton and his truck, The Pork Chop Express, barrel into San Francisco’s Chinatown with a delivery while he gives a monologue over the CB airwaves that summarizes his character and general attitude: “When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac […]
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Totally 80’s: Kids Movies!
My folks took my sisters and I to the movies frequently when I was a kid, and I was lucky enough to see some great films in the theaters as a result, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, and Back to the Future, Part II. Besides this, since my dad was such a film […]
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Awesome Garbage: Cool as Ice
At one point in the history of America-specifically the beautiful, stupid early 1990s-there was an awkward transition in pop culture when rap music was something on the verge of being a legitimate genre and something entertainers aped to seem hip without actually working too hard at making their rap good or authentic. While Will Smith […]
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Perfect Movies: Blazing Saddles
There are great films that change the landscape of cinema: your Citizen Kanes and Godfathers and Days of Heavens and such and such. Then you have films that are moving depictions of the human condition and of overcoming adversity to find one’s place in the world: The Color Purple, for example, and another film I’m […]
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Cult Classics: Fateful Findings
Why do we like terrible movies? Not just bad or mediocre movies-those are depressingly common and a distressing amount are released each year from major and independent studios alike. Those are then shuffled off into the catacombs of daytime airings on Showtime and the dregs of streaming services, never reaching over two stars in their […]
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Perfect Movies: The Endless Summer
Every movie needs a goal for its heroes to work towards–a holy grail or treasure they seek. In romances, it’s love; in action movies, it’s defeating an enemy; in comedies it’s winning over an adversary. In The Endless Summer, it’s the perfect wave. Along their journey, our intrepid heroes Mike Hynson and Robert August find […]
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Perfect Movies: Terrence Malick’s First 5 Films
Terrence Malick is one of the most interesting directors of both the 20th and 21st century. For decades known as a reclusive auteur who rarely made a film–and when he did they were universally hailed for their meditative tone and brilliant cinematography–Malick abruptly broke away from the rarity of his releases and within the past […]
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Awesome Garbage: Mac and Me
True story: I saw Mac and Me in theaters when I was 6 years old. I was visiting my grandparents in Virginia Beach and spending the day with my grandma, mom, and sisters, and since everything else out in the theater was definitely not kid-friendly (the weekend it opened, August 12, 1988, here were the […]
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Cult Classics: Better Off Dead
Lane Meyer wishes he were dead. He tries over and over – self-immolation, carbon monoxide poisoning, jumping from a bridge, even hanging. But like most things in his life, it never quite goes his way. Did I mention this is a major plot point in an 80’s teen comedy? Better Off Dead isn’t just another […]
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