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2.5/4
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Gator
(1976)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The Kentucky fried humor doesn’t usually work, but country music star Jerry Reed is surprisingly good as the particularly sleazy villain.
Posted Dec 10, 2023
|
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2.5/4
|
White Lightning
(1973)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Standard yahoo fare marginally elevated by good performances and a certain sense of devil-may-care style.
Posted Dec 10, 2023
|
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3/4
|
The Unknown Country
(2022)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A quietly effective drama anchored by a superlative lead performance.
Posted Dec 10, 2023
|
|
2.5/4
|
Rapa Nui
(1994)
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Matt Brunson
|
Rapa-Nui is part Romeo and Juliet, part X-Treme Sports, part “save the planet,” part historical record, and wholly silly.
Posted Dec 10, 2023
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3.5/4
|
My Mother's Castle
(1990)
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Matt Brunson
|
Lovely and delicate.
Posted Dec 10, 2023
|
|
3.5/4
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My Father's Glory
(1990)
|
Matt Brunson
|
I defy anyone to watch this enchanting first film and not want to return to this world (via My Mother's Castle) right away.
Posted Dec 10, 2023
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3/4
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The Three Ages
(1923)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Anticipates Mel Brooks’ hilarious History of the World: Part I in a few ways (not to mention some Marx Brothers tomfoolery).
Posted Dec 10, 2023
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1/4
|
Police Academy: Mission to Moscow
(1994)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Awful.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
|
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1/4
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Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
(1989)
|
Matt Brunson
|
With Police Academy 6, the series decided to skip bottom-of-the-barrel status and immediately burrow beneath the barrel.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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1.5/4
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Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach
(1988)
|
Matt Brunson
|
One of the series’ worst characters is Carl Proctor -- the filmmakers somehow thought it was a good idea to increase his role with each passing picture, so this one goes all-out with his imbecilic antics.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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1.5/4
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Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
(1987)
|
Matt Brunson
|
It’s the same-old same-old, only somehow slightly worse.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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|
1.5/4
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Police Academy 3: Back in Training
(1986)
|
Matt Brunson
|
It’s the only film series in which the characters somehow manage to become even less developed with each passing entry.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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2/4
|
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
(1985)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The real story is the arrival of Bobcat Goldthwait to the series.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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2/4
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Police Academy
(1984)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The movie isn’t really much funnier than its sorry sequels, but it’s the best of the bunch simply by virtue of being fresh (or as fresh as this moldy premise can get).
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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3.5/4
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The Fugitive
(1993)
|
Matt Brunson
|
This contains enough suspenseful set-pieces, clever red herrings, and spectacular stuntwork to satisfy most thriller aficionados. Yet what really makes the movie work are the performances by the two leads.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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3/4
|
The Equalizer
(2014)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The Equalizer is about as subtle as a pneumatic stapler shot to the temple. But who wants subtlety when one can bask in the glory of Denzel obliterating remorseless degenerates left and right?
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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3/4
|
Stalag 17
(1953)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The drama survives intact but the humor proves to be a serious drag.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
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|
2.5/4
|
The Scarlet Letter
(1934)
|
Matt Brunson
|
It's less Hawthorne and more Hollywood Production Code.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
|
|
1.5/4
|
In Love and War
(1996)
|
Matt Brunson
|
All’s poor in In Love and War.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
|
|
2.5/4
|
The Equalizer 3
(2023)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A definite improvement over the previous picture.
Posted Nov 25, 2023
|
|
1.5/4
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Fled
(1996)
|
Matt Brunson
|
My fondest memory involving Fled isn’t on the screen; instead, it was the moment on Siskel & Ebert when Roger stated, “I guess it sort of holds your attention while it’s happening. I mean, something is moving on the screen, so you look to see what it is.”
Posted Nov 19, 2023
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3.5/4
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Witness
(1985)
|
Matt Brunson
|
An exceptionally fine film.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Dance, Fools, Dance
(1931)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A frenetic pre-Code drama.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
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|
3/4
|
Texasville
(1990)
|
Matt Brunson
|
While not in the same class as its peerless predecessor, it’s an interesting and entertaining follow-up.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
|
|
4/4
|
Terms of Endearment
(1983)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A genuine heart-warmer and true heartbreaker.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
|
|
2.5/4
|
Rudy
(1993)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A likable if rather bland underdog tale, with director David Anspaugh and screenwriter Angelo Pizzo (who both scored with 1986’s meatier Hoosiers) dutifully checking off the boxes inherent in such Americana fare.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
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|
3/4
|
Passion
(2008)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Gender stereotypes, acknowledgement of self-worth, and resistance to the demands of adulthood are some of the issues examined in this thoughtful drama.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Contempt
(1963)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Trust Jean-Luc Godard to make a big-budget movie meant to be more mainstream than his usual fare and then turn it into a look at the raging battle between art and commerce.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
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3/4
|
Before Night Falls
(2000)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Before Night Falls places its themes of sexual tolerance and freedom of expression in a context that interestingly emphasizes the activities themselves without ever muting the underlying messages.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
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|
2/4
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Backdraft
(1991)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A hoary melodrama in which the clichés are more plentiful than the flames.
Posted Nov 19, 2023
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|
4/4
|
Duck Soup
(1933)
|
Matt Brunson
|
True movie fans haven’t lived until they’ve caught this outrageous satire.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Nighthawks
(1981)
|
Matt Brunson
|
One of the better Stallone flicks. Besides, where else can one find the screen being shared by the who’s-who gallery of Rocky Balboa, Lando Calrissian, Roy Batty, the Bionic Woman, and the bald lady from the first Star Trek film?
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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3.5/4
|
Horse Feathers
(1932)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Somehow, the boys manage to incorporate a horse-drawn vehicle into a football game.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
3.5/4
|
Monkey Business
(1931)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Watching each one try to pass himself off as Maurice Chevalier is a comic highlight.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Animal Crackers
(1930)
|
Matt Brunson
|
This and The Cocoanuts squeak by on the top-notch comedy quotient.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
3/4
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The Cocoanuts
(1929)
|
Matt Brunson
|
This and Animal Crackers squeak by on the top-notch comedy quotient.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Scrooged
(1988)
|
Matt Brunson
|
It’s the sort of picture where it’s easy to understand the POV of both its fans and its detractors, and I myself have over the decades gone from believing it was slightly underrated to now believing it to be slightly overrated.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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3/4
|
It! The Terror From Beyond Space
(1958)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Despite being produced on a low budget, it’s an effective thriller.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Christopher Strong
(1933)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Although both the film and Gilbert Frankau’s source novel are named after the male character, director Dorothy Arzner, star Katharine Hepburn, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Zoe Akins make it clear that Cynthia Darrington is the central character.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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3/4
|
Carlito's Way
(1993)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Pacino and especially Penn are terrific, and De Palma again masterminds a pair of superb set-pieces.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
|
|
2.5/4
|
A Bullet for Sandoval
(1969)
|
Matt Brunson
|
I prefer the alternate U.S. title: Those Desperate Men Who Smell of Dirt and Death, which sounds like one of those spoofs like Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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|
2/4
|
Black Hawk Down
(2001)
|
Matt Brunson
|
For the most part, the unflagging sound and fury make it impossible to identify with these characters as individuals, since their primary function seems to be to serve as anonymous slabs of American fortitude.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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3/4
|
The Great Gatsby
(1974)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The film was acknowledged as a technical triumph -- it won Oscars for its costume design and Nelson Riddle’s scoring -- yet dismissed on most other counts. Yet I’ve always had a soft spot for this third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age tome.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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4/4
|
National Lampoon's Animal House
(1978)
|
Matt Brunson
|
It's endlessly quotable (“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son”), packed with excellent performances and unique characters, and blessed with a great score that mixes Elmer Bernstein’s orchestral maneuvers with catchy oldies.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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3/4
|
Messiah of Evil
(1975)
|
Matt Brunson
|
This maintains its aura of unease and contains a pair of genuinely creepy sequences.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
|
|
2/4
|
Double Trouble
(1967)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Elvis was insulted that he was forced to record “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” for this film -- honestly, it makes for one of the more pleasurable interludes in this stridently mediocre movie.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
|
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3/4
|
Rock Around the Clock
(1956)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Of course, the story isn’t the story here -- the film’s real value is in the amazing assemblage of various musical outfits performing their hits.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
|
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2/4
|
Meg 2: The Trench
(2023)
|
Matt Brunson
|
The title may suggest that this is a sequel to the 2018 global hit, but its content hints that the makers swiped a fistful of script pages from such deliberately dopey efforts as Sharknado, Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus, and Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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|
1.5/4
|
Mad City
(1997)
|
Matt Brunson
|
A movie so narratively threadbare that its idea of cutting-edge topicality is to have Larry King and Jay Leno pop up as themselves to comment on the proceedings.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
|
|
2.5/4
|
Cujo
(1983)
|
Matt Brunson
|
Director Lewis Teague does what he can in an attempt to maximize tension, but there’s only so much he can do with such a limited setting and such a sparse story.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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