What movie beginning with the letter “U” could my son and I watch for this week’s installment of the Film After 11 alphabetical marathon? Unforgiven? Good movie, but rated R. U-571? Meh. While we could talk about it being complete historical BS, it’s pretty mediocre and I’d rather watch a better submarine movie instead. The… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | UHF (1989)
Long before it became a respected cult item and a franchise-starter that would launch sequels, reboots, and a pretty darn good TV series too, The Evil Dead was just a gory splatterfest made for no money by an ambitious kid (barely 20-years-old when he shot it!) and his pals out at a little cabin in… Read More Not Another Peep, Time to Go to Sleep | The Evil Dead (1981) 4K Ultra HD
As the Film After 11 podcast hits the letter “T” in this year’s alphabetical marathon, my son Joseph specially requested a visit to Titanic, James Cameron’s monster blockbuster hit about the most famous shipwreck of all time. I was a little shocked that he wanted to watch a three-and-a-quarter-hour movie and expected him to get… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Titanic (1997)
By the early 1970s, filmmaker Peter Yates was likely best known for directing the Steve McQueen star vehicle (pun intended) Bullitt, which had been a huge box office hit in 1968. His subsequent few films, unfortunately, failed to capitalize much on that success. Returning to the crime genre, Yates made two heist thrillers back-to-back between… Read More No Honor Among Thieves | The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) Criterion Collection Blu-ray
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
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