As I sit here after watching A Quiet Place, struggling to write an introductory paragraph that will find an angle into the film, it strikes me as rather ironic, or perhaps just fitting, that a movie with almost no dialogue would leave me with little to say about it. I don’t mean to imply that… Read More Stay Silent, Stay Alive | A Quiet Place (2018) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
In an act of great parenting, I thought it would be a swell idea to instill a fear of spiders into my son Joseph by making him watch the 1990 horror comedy Arachnophobia. Did it work? As you’ll see in this week’s episode of the Film After 11 podcast, not really. Did I actually expect… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Arachnophobia (1990)
I hadn’t watched Jackie Chan’s “Police Story Trilogy” in so long that I’d forgotten the franchise also had a fourth entry (First Strike), a Michelle Yeoh spinoff (Supercop 2), and at least two movies described as reboots but in which Chan plays unrelated characters who also happen to be police. During most of that time… Read More What We Need Is a Super Cop! | Police Story III (1992) 4K Ultra HD
I’m genuinely excited for the latest episode of the Film After 11 podcast, because this week I get to introduce my son Thomas to the cinematic wonder that is Jackie Chan at his prime, in 1985’s Police Story. I don’t think the kid had any idea what to expect, and had never seen a real… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Jackie Chan’s Police Story (1985)
Despite its notorious last-act scene in which James Bond, legendary secret agent 007, dresses in a clown costume while once again saving the world, 1983’s Octopussy is neither the worst nor certainly not the best movie in the Bond franchise. Honestly, it’s not even the worst of the Roger Moore era. It is, however, perhaps… Read More The Tip of the Tentacle | Octopussy (1983) Blu-ray
Easily the most famous and perhaps the greatest “inspirational teacher” movie of all time, Dead Poets Society is a seminal piece of filmmaking that teenagers and young adults have strongly responded to for decades, and that those like myself in middle age still have great affection for. However, is 12-years-old too young to appreciate it?… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Dead Poets Society (1989)
Does everything need to be a multiverse now, even James Bond? Given that the Bond movies are not strictly science fiction (a lot of crazy gadgets and the ending of Moonraker excepted, of course), I wouldn’t normally think of the franchise falling into the multiverse trope that has taken over so much of popular culture… Read More It’s Just a Number | No Time to Die (2021) 4K Ultra HD
I occasionally have a perverse compulsion to torture my poor son Thomas during our Film After 11 podcast. Knowing how little patience he has for science fiction and big special effects movies from the late 1970s or early 1980s (outside of Star Wars, of course), I subjected him this week to Moonraker, special agent James… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Moonraker (1979)
Despite its sci-fi trappings and high-concept premise, the 2009 drama Moon is primarily an understated character piece about isolation, personal identity, and the dehumanizing oppression of unchecked corporate greed. Unlike most science fiction cinema these days, the film has no action scenes and no suspense-filled set-pieces of note. Mostly, it’s a one-man showcase for character… Read More Where Are We Now? | Moon (2009) Blu-ray
To be honest about it, I was at a loss in choosing a movie to watch for the Film After 11 podcast this week. I had a few conflicting ideas, but none I was ready to do. My son Joseph, who’s a big Indiana Jones fan, requested the fourth movie in that series, the divisive… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
