As Halloween approaches, it’s time to start watching scary movies with my kids. Because my sons are both 11, however, I won’t start them with anything too strong, at least not right away. For our Film at 11 podcast this week, Thomas and I sit down with The Monster Squad, director Fred Dekker and writer… Read More Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 33 | The Monster Squad (1987)
Likely best known in film appreciation circles as the feature directing debut for Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life), Badlands is both one of Malick’s shortest movies and seemingly his most straightforward. A lovers-on-the-run crime tale inspired by the real-life Charles Starkweather murder spree of the late 1950s, the film no… Read More Nobody’s Comin’ Out of This Thing Happy | Badlands (1973) Criterion Collection Blu-ray
Disaster in space seems to be a theme we’re working through in the Film at 11 podcast at the moment, at least in recent episodes with my son Joseph. Moving on from Apollo 13, this week we tackle Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the sci-fi bestseller The Martian, in which Matt Damon plays an astronaut stranded… Read More Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 32 | The Martian (2015)
Released very early in 1950 as one of the first new American films of that decade, the noir thriller Gun Crazy wasn’t regarded as a piece of art worthy of much distinction, at least not at first. Upon its arrival, notable critics of the day dismissed it as just another B-movie, a trashy crime picture… Read More Fine Shot You Are | Gun Crazy (1950) Blu-ray
What happens when you ask an 11-year-old who knows absolutely nothing about Star Trek – who’s never seen a single TV episode, much less any of the movies – to jump directly into Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? A little confusion is expected, but my son Thomas kept up with the film well… Read More Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 31 | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Hollywood legend Robert Redford made a great many films, both in front of and behind the camera, that will long be regarded as classics, and some others that were under-appreciated in their time (plus a few duds here and there as well, let’s be honest). As fans rush to rewatch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance… Read More Afghanistan Banana Stand | The Hot Rock (1972) Blu-ray
For this week’s edition of the Film at 11 podcast, I not only introduce one of my sons to Apollo 13 as the movie celebrates its 30th anniversary, I also force myself to rewatch and re-evaluate a picture I think I judged unnecessarily harshly in the past. I’ve long found myself out of step with… Read More Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 30 | Apollo 13 (1995)
Three years before his pop culture breakthrough role in Twin Peaks, Kyle MacLachlan got his first practice at playing a weirdo FBI agent in the sci-fi thriller The Hidden. While the film wasn’t much of a box office smash at the time, it went on to become a cult item, especially among fans of the… Read More Explanation’s Not Gonna Help You | The Hidden (1987) Blu-ray
I think I may have gone too far in our Film at 11 podcast this week. I have, on more than a few occasions already, subjected my son Thomas to movies of dubious artistic merit. He’s usually a good sport about that. After watching Michael Bay’s Armageddon, however, the kid looked downright exhausted by the… Read More Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 29 | Armageddon (1998)
Released in 1984, This Is Spinal Tap was by no means the first so-called mockumentary film, nor even the first about a fictional music band. (For one, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash predates it by several years.) However, even though not a huge financial hit during its original theatrical release, Spinal Tap grew… Read More You Know Where You Stand in a Hell Hole | This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
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