Pee-wee's Big Adventure Is A Wacky & Hysterical Romp

It's old hat to describe a film as like a child playing with their toys, but that truly is what Pee-wee's Big Adventure feels like at times as its titular lead character gets into all sorts of antics without much care for how or why they're happening. It's all a bunch of reckless lunacy that would make Bugs Bunny proud and like so many of those Bugs Bunny cartoons, the antics of Pee-wee Herman are utterly hilarious. Serving as the directorial debut for Tim Burton, Pee-wee's Big Adventure is an outlandish hoot that managed to turn a total Pee-wee Herman newbie like myself into a total convert, I can totally see why this character is so widely beloved now.

Milk Is A Stirring Examination of An Everyday Human Being Who Became An Important Historical Figure

The 2000s were a tragically sparse decade for high-profile queer cinema. Whereas the 1990's contained a surprisingly steady stream of mainstream pieces of filmmaking with queer protagonists, such films had been relegated solely to arthouse cinemas in the first decade of the 21st century. Even after Brokeback Mountain scored widespread acclaim and a robust domestic box office haul in 2005, it'd be another three years before another film with a queer protagonist managed to get a wide enough release to make over $1 million domestically. That movie would end up being Milk, a Gus Van Sant directorial effort that turned out to be one of the most acclaimed features in the man's career.

Good Will Hunting's Best Moments Come From How It Drums Up Pathos And Robin Williams

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are regular fixtures of American cinema now, but twenty-one years ago, they were lesser-known individuals who first leaped onto people's radars with the highly acclaimed Good Will Hunting, easily the most financially successful movie Gus Van Sant has ever had in his nearly thirty years of directing feature films. The two got to write and star in this project which ended up scoring them both a Best Original Screenplay Oscar when they were just in their mid-20's. That's all mighty impressive, but massive box office and major Oscar wins do not a great movie make (right A Beautiful Mind?), but thankfully, Good Will Hunting is still a fine motion picture even when separated from all those pieces of hype.