80s movies
Movie Review: Alien — Covenant
4 stars out of 5 I’ve had so much weird stuff come out of my abdomen in the past many months, it felt like I was starring in my own personal Alien sequel. But my interest in the actual series was re-sparked this winter when my friend Patrick rented Prometheus. It was much better than […]
Movie Review: The Nice Guys
3 stars out of 5 Ah, OK, it all makes sense now: Director/co-writer Shane Black wrote the original Lethal Weapon. Because this is totally, totally the Lethal Weapon formula: mismatched buddies fightin’ crime and crackin’ wise. It’s 1977 in Los Angeles. The movie tries a little too hard to tell us “hey it’s 1977!” (The […]
Movie Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4 stars out of 5 I was 8 years old when the original Star Wars came out and like everybody else I knew, I was all in. Poster on my bedroom wall, action figures, comic books. I loved trying to draw R2-D2. My dad took me into San Francisco one day to meet Darth Vader, […]
Movie Review: Creed
3.5 stars out of 5 So, there’s this new installment in a long-running movie series, started in the ’70s, good vs. evil, iconic music. But people are especially psyched for this one because it consciously connects back to the “classic era.” Of course, I am referring to Creed, the latest chapter in the Rocky saga. […]
Movie Review: Vacation
2 stars out of 5 Timing, as they say, is everything. On Tuesday, I wanted to go to the movies at my local theater. First choice, the new Mission: Impossible. Second choice, Southpaw. Alas, the starting times didn’t jibe with my schedule, so I was forced to choose door No. 3: Vacation. Now, I sensed […]
Movie Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
3 stars out of 5 For recent vintage coming-of-age movies set in Pittsburgh, Adventureland (2009) is—in my not-so-humble opinion—far and away the best. Coming in second: 2012’s The Perks of Being of a Wallflower. Taking the bronze from the Iron City? Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. In a nutshell, our teenage protagonist befriends […]
Movie Review: Aloha
3.5 stars out of 5 Cameron Crowe had a hell of a run early in his directorial career: Say Anything…, Singles, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous. Since then, he’s still out there trying, doing decent work, but hasn’t quite reached the same heights: Vanilla Sky (compelling), Elizabethtown (underrated), We Bought a Zoo (didn’t see it, but […]
Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road
4 stars out of 5 I have very vague recollections of the original batch of Mad Max films. The Road Warrior, I’m pretty sure I saw on home video. And then I think we rented Mad Max after the fact? Yet all I remember is dust and cars and angry Australians. I definitely didn’t see […]
Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel
4 stars out of 5 You know I’m a big Wes Anderson fan, right? Since I’ve been ranking movies on here, The Fantastic Mr. Fox was my No. 5 film of 2009, and I thought Moonrise Kingdom was 2012’s best movie. Oh, and Rushmore is one of my all-time favorites. So let’s say that I […]
Thank You, Siskel & Ebert
It must’ve been 4th grade. Mr. Skadden asked the class if we watched anything on PBS. Ooh, me. I watch Sneak Previews. I recall being the only one who chimed in with that response. (I was already a bit of an oddball.) And I have no idea why I was watching. Basically all of I […]
Jack Silbert, curator