Two Cinematic Classics: A Throwdown

I don’t know about you, but the byproducts of COVID-19 isolation—soul-crushing ennui, crippling depression, nightmares in which Mike Pence calls me “mother” before sneezing in my face—has made the thought of writing a movie blogpost about as appealing as a nasopharyngeal swab.

 

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And You Thought COVID-19 Was Bad? (Pt. 3)

Wrapping up our series on biological disaster flicks, we officially plow into the side of a mountain with a movie so bad, it’s good.

Full disclosure: this film was “Made for TV” (ABC-TV as it happens). And while a certain demographic may shrug at the news (after all, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad were “Made for TV”!), those of us old enough to have survived

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And You Thought COVID-19 Was Bad? (Pt. 2)

The Andromeda Strain (1971; Dir. Robert Wise)

Quick Synopsis—A U.S. satellite crashes the desert outside a small town in New Mexico. When a recovery team sent to retrieve the device abruptly stops transmitting, concerned government officials activate “Wildfire,”

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And You Thought COVID-19 Was Bad? (Pt. 1)

In 1944, in an attempt to bolster a British morale deflated by hardship both home and abroad, Sir Lawrence Olivier co-adapted, directed and starred in Shakespeare’s Henry V, a bit of altruism (narcissism?) that not only went over big with critics and the general public, but also garnered him a special Academy Award. Mission accomplished!

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The Unexpected Lethality of Household Items: A Jason Bourne Tutorial

You ever found yourself surveying the accumulation of detritus that is your abode, thinking: Christ, what a shit-show? And pledging to yourself that, come the weekend, all that bric-a-brac, all those bits and bobs, all that knick-knackery, will be donated to the Salvation Army so…help…you…God!

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Transformational Cinema: Joe Namath in C.C. and Company

There are precious few times that one enters the darkness of a cinema only to emerge a few hours later transformed into a better human, one who has glimpsed the human condition as never before and, as such, achieved a certain enlightenment or—dare I say?—grace.

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Hot Tub Time Machine Review as Written by Donald J. Trump During Early Morning Tweetstorm

 45th President of the United States of America, Mr. Donald J. Trump Continue reading

B-Movie Cult Classics Unearthed Watching Late-Night HBO in College (Pt. 9)

There’s little doubt a mention in B-Movie Cult Classics Unearthed Watching Late-Night HBO in College™, the CFS’s ongoing examination of eminently watchable if sometimes mediocre (or flat-out bad) cinematic curiosities, is coveted by filmmakers beyond all else, Oscar/Palme d’Or be damned.

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Cinematography & Editing: Unique Insights into Two Critical Cinematic Arts

As revealed by my admission that the first laserdisc (RIP) I ever purchased was the documentary Visions of Light, anyone who reads this blog knows that I’m a nerd for the art of cinematography.

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Hidden/Forgotten Gem: Margin Call

This’ll be short and sweet, neither of which come easy to me.

I stumbled across Margin Call on HBO one evening a couple years after it was released (2011) to critical acclaim but, sadly, middling box office.

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