My kids have seen all the Star Wars movies multiple times, but I’d held off showing them Mel Brooks’ 1987 comedy spoof Spaceballs for reasons I try to explain in this week’s Film After 11 podcast episode. I still have a little regret about spoiling an important scene from Alien before either of my boys… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Spaceballs (1987)
A heist thriller starring Steve McQueen near the height of his career, directed by Sam Peckinpah, and scripted by Walter Hill, based on a book by crime novelist Jim Thompson, The Getaway surely sounds like a can’t-lose combination of talent. Critics of the day felt otherwise, but audiences ate it up, making the film one… Read More Can’t Trust a Thing These Days | The Getaway (1972) Blu-ray
I let my son Joseph pick the movie he wanted to see for our Film After 11 podcast this week, so long as the title began with the letter “R.” He chose well with Rocky, Sylvester Stallone’s ever-popular boxing drama and surprise Best Picture Oscar winner (beating out All the President’s Men, Network, and Taxi… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Rocky (1976)
Con artists, and specifically con men, are a subject of much fascination for David Mamet, the acclaimed playwright behind Pulitzer-winning drama Glengarry Glen Ross. That 1983 play (and its subsequent 1992 movie adaptation) depicted conniving real estate agents trying to sucker unwitting clients into buying worthless property by any means necessary, not the least of… Read More Don’t Trust Nobody | House of Games (1987) Criterion Collection Blu-ray
The letter “Q” left me in quite a quandary this week, as I struggled to find an appropriate movie to watch with my son for our alphabetical marathon in the Film After 11 podcast. While I quizzically pondered this question, I quickly found that the 2008 James Bond adventure Quantum of Solace would qualify. Thomas… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Quantum of Solace (2008)
Like countless fictional films about the making of other fictional films (Day for Night, The Player, etc.), French director Olivier Assayas’ 1996 comedy (?) Irma Vep attempts to blur some sort of line between fantasy and reality. However, this one begs a particularly frustrating question: Can a movie really be a satire of pretentious French… Read More Pretentious French Movies About Pretentious French Movies Are Still Pretentious | Irma Vep (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray
Unlike some recent episodes where I’ve struggled to pick appropriate movies to watch for our Film After 11 podcast’s run through the alphabet this year, I knew exactly where I wanted to go for the letter “P.” This week, my son Joseph sits down for Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper’s 1982 haunted house thrill ride… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Poltergeist (1982)
During an early scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a Medieval peasant woman digging in a pool of mud calls up to her son (Michael Palin), “Dennis, there’s some lovely filth down here!” Wallowing in filth is the best either of them can hope for, and is likely better than their current circumstances.… Read More You’ll Get Your Rags All Dirty | Jabberwocky (1977) Criterion Collection Blu-ray
Having saddled myself with the arbitrary gimmick of choosing titles for the Film After 11 podcast this year in alphabetical order, I find myself struggling with the “O” this week. Most of the movies I own beginning with that letter are either inappropriate for a 12-year-old or just not something he’d enjoy. I wound up… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
The movie that won Jane Fonda her first acting Oscar, Klute deserves equal credit for director Alan J. Pakula, master of the 1970s paranoid conspiracy thriller. If not a conspiracy story, per se (though a little bit so), Klute is certainly rife with paranoia, and Pakula subverts the thriller genre in unexpected and remarkably effective… Read More The Sin, the Glitter, the Wickedness | Klute (1971) Blu-ray
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