Joe Dante's Matinee Puts On One Heck of a Show

Joe Dante loves movies. Now, you have to love this artform to get into the field of making movies. But even by that standard, Joe Dante really really really loves movies. His features aren't just full of references to older films. Dante loves to pay homage to the very act of watching films themselves! Sometimes, this happens in more subtle ways, like the Gremlins watching Snow White in a theater in Gremlins. Other times, like the Gremlins overtaking a projector in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, these homages are the sole focus of a scene. Dante's love for movie-watching, as well as his filmmaking skills, reached new heights with the 1993 film Matinee.

Take An Amiable Trip To Texas With David Byrne In True Stories

I've managed to review a bunch of low-key movies lately but none of them are as laidback as David Byrne's True Stories. The lone feature film directorial effort from Byrne, who is most famous for being a founding member of Talking Heads, explores the lives of the inhabitants of a small Texas town by the name of Virgil with all the urgency of a tranquil Sunday stroll. Such a style of pacing is a perfect fit for Byrne, who, in the role of The Narrator, wants the viewer to have time to soak in all the finer details of this town and its inhabitants. This characters fascination with Virgil, Texas results in a delightfully unique entry in the canon of Texas cinema.

Despite Lots of Potential and A Great Cast, Captive State Is An Underwhelming Attempt At Sci-Fi Social Commentary

At one point in time, Captive State was one of my most anticipated movies of Summer 2018! Yes, in a dark era before I knew what Monster Factory or Lil' Nas X was, Captive State was slated for an August 17, 2018 theatrical release and I was eagerly awaiting this new directorial effort from Rupert Wyatt given how much I adored his 2011 feature Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But then Focus Features delayed the title for March 2019 where it came and went so quickly at the domestic box office that I never got a chance to see it in theaters. Finally seeing it now, alas, Captive State turns out to be a movie so messy that it would have been a dissapointment even if I had never heard of it before prior to watching it.

John Turturro, The Coen Brothers And Especially John Goodman Are All In Top-Notch Form In Barton Fink

One of the most realistic depictions I've ever seen of being a writer came from, of all places, a SpongeBob SquarePants episode entitled Procrastination depicting the shows titular lead character trying to get an essay about red lights done for his boating class. What constantly gets in his way is his own inability to concentrate, SpongeBob keeps on finding new reasons for him to delay doing his essay, whether it's doing stretches or cleaning his kitchen until it's all shiny and chrome. It's a brilliantly funny episode in and of itself (so many of those classic SpongeBob episodes are) but it especially resonates with me as an accurate depiction of how hard it can be to focus on actually getting writing done.

Remember That 1994 Movie Adaptation of The Flintstones? Probably Not And There's A Good Reason For That

The fifth biggest movie of 1994 was The Flinstones, a live-action adaptation of the animated TV show of the same name. Only four movies (Forrest Gump, The Lion King, True Lies and The Santa Clause) managed to make more cash than this Brian Levant directed project, yet today, The Flintstones has basically faded away from the pop culture landscape. Some of that can be attributed to how its cartoon source material has not been as heavily utilized as a source for merchandise and direct-to-video follow-up's as fellow Hanna-Barbera toons Scooby-Doo or Tom & Jerry, but it can also be chalked up to the fact that The Flintstones is just thoroughly forgettable fare.

The Visuals In Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets Are Glorious But Why Did They Have To Be In Service Of Such A Clunky Story?

Twenty years after The Fifth Element premiered to initially mixed reviews and then a massive cult following, Luc Besson has returned to the world of gonzo science-fiction, this time adapting the late 1960's French comic by Jean-Claude Mezieres that Besson loved as a kid and managed to serve as an inspiration for his own The Fifth Element as well as plenty of other high-profile science-fiction projects. Fifty years after that comic originally premiered, it's gotten its own big-budget French movie (though the dialogue is entirely English save for extra-terrestrial languages), one that attempts to replicate the artistic success of The Fifth Element.

70's Tinged Monster Mayhem Turns Out To Be A Lot Of Fun In Kong: Skull Island

Far too often, remakes and reboots find themselves being merely repeats of the original films they're attempting to remake and/or reboot, to the point where you're left wondering "Why did they even remake this? Couldn't I have just stayed home and watch the original movie instead?" Thankfully, the newest King Kong adventure, Kong: Skull Island, avoids being just a rehash of well-known moments from past Kong movies. No Empire State Building, dinosaurs, movie crew or "Twas beauty that killed the beast" to be found here, much to my personal happiness. Instead, we get an all-new period setting, story and group of characters to follow, though they do retain the loveable nature of Kong himself, of course.

10 Cloverfield Lane Review

"Monsters Come In Many Forms", so says the poster for 10 Cloverfield Lane, a not so subtle nod to the film's spiritual predecessor Cloverfield. No Kaiju or even direct connections to that 2008 Matt Reeves production can be found here, but a foreboding atmosphere can be found in this new movie that's just as terrifying as any big city-destroying monster. The basic premise of 10 Cloverfield Lane emerges from one simple thought; what if you were trapped in a doomsday bunker with an untrustworthy and heretofore unknown individual?

Trumbo Review

Trumbo strikes me as a movie that could have been far better with a little bit of consolidation. Any individual portion of the life of Mr. Dalton Trumbo (here portrayed by Bryan Cranston) that's depicted in this film would made fine fodder for an entire motion picture unto itself. Crammed against the weight of trying to depict an entire decade of his existence, well, it doesn't work nearly as well as it should, despite a super game cast.

The Big Lebowski Review (Classic Write-Up)

Dude, Where's My Car...And The Money...And My Tapes

Narration is a common element found in cinema that's frequently utilized for numerous purposes. Perhaps the goal of the narration is to set up the tone of the motion picture, or to deliver exposition or even just to set up a joke. The Big Lewboski uses narration as a way to accomplish that first objective, with Sam Elliots distinctive vocals describing the landscape of  Los Angeles and the films main character, The Dude (Jeff Bridges), though eventually his narration disintegrates into him losing his train of thought.