“What is the ocean,” a character toward the end of Cloud Atlas replies to the charge that he is about to waste his life on a cause that can’t make a difference, “but millions of drops of water?”  It is this idea more than anything else – the interconnectivity that makes life greater than the […]

We’ve explored The Good. The Bad. Now it’s time to look at The Contentious: the top 5 sequels for inspiring shocked looks and cries of “What?!” when hearing someone else’s opinion about it. 5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  Why people hate it: The original Terminator was a water-tight science-fiction action movie.  The sequel throws out […]

And now, part 2 of The Bad, in our sequels rundown, The Good, The Bad, and The Contentious.  If you missed The Good, it’s here, if you missed numbers 10-6 of The Bad, it’s here. 5. The Hangover, part II.  Sequels sometimes use the follow-up to branch beyond the original – try something new, build […]

(Yesterday began our analysis of some of the best movie sequels of all time.  You might want to start there, if you missed it, for the explanation and number 10-6.) And numbers 5-1? 5. Gremlins 2: The New Batch.   Gremlins was great.  It was creepy, funny and fun.  Gremlins 2 completely derails the first film […]

Sequels.  Much maligned and mocked.  Yet some of the best films ever made have been sequels.  Also some of the worst, laziest pieces of crap ever put to celluloid.  But those are for later.  Today we begin a look at sequels in three categories: the good, the bad, and the contentious, and we begin with […]

*For Your (Re)Consideration is periodic feature in which I/we re-visit some piece of art that is universally adored or hated or forgotten or some mix thereof to look at the hype versus the reality.* There are basically two kinds of people when it comes to the HBO series The Wire: There are the people who […]

Highlights from this weekend’s movie theater showings: Topping the box office this weekend was Think Like A Man, which is apparently a movie that’s out right now.  It was also number one last weekend. Huh. An impressive number of people turned out to see Avengers, only to realize that it opens next weekend, and then […]

Why is Pulp Fiction just so, so great? I realize you can’t answer until after the fact, but it’s really not a rhetorical question.  It’s a question that needs answering because Pulp Fiction is great; it was great when it came out, and continues to be great, viewing it now… 10… 12… 15… OH MY GOD, […]