|Ryan Sanderson| The Last Detail is a film of contrasts. It’s a film about everything, in which almost nothing happens—a beautiful, very funny work of art composed of some of the ugliest, most depressing imagery you’ll ever see in a major studio film. It’s an improvisational-feeling actor’s showcase… Continue reading
|Jackson Stern| We like to imagine that, when faced with prospects of injustice, repression, and hypocrisy from those in the highest of towers, we’d stand tall and together. We’d overthrow our oppressors by bashing them or, better yet, outsmarting them at their own cruel game… Continue reading
|John Costello| Although All Through the Night is primarily a comedy about small-time New York racketeers who become entangled in a spy ring working for the Nazi regime, the slapstick characters take moral positions for community, empathy, and democracy. The movie gives insights… Continue reading
|Dan Howard| Adventure. Excitement. A jedi may crave not these things, but a former Ewok-turned-sorcerer just might. After Return of the Jedi delivered a triumphant finale to the Star Wars trilogy in 1983, George Lucas was not only focusing on a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark… Continue reading
|MH Rowe| If you’re going to do something really stupid, it’s not a bad idea to be beautiful. Maybe that’s how Val Kilmer ended up in Top Secret! (1984), which is both his film debut and a spoof of spy stories, resistance thrillers, and, for some reason, Elvis Presley. Top Secret!… Continue reading
|Allison Vincent| I want to start by making it clear that I love all of these movies. They are core memories for me as a kid partly because they scared the hell out of me, but mostly because, despite losing nights of sleep, they enthralled me. They are full of rich storylines, characters, themes, and… Continue reading
|Dylan Hawthorn| The concept of melodrama has a bad reputation. If I described my sister’s behavior during a conflict as melodramatic, I am suggesting that her reaction is over-the-top and should be dismissed. Furthermore, there’s a reason my brain jumped to citing a… Continue reading
|Malcolm Cooke| For the past few months or so my father has been digging a very large hole in his backyard. It started with some error in the installation of a rain garden I always struggle to comprehend the details of. The contractor said a previous hole that was filled needed to… Continue reading
|Nate Logsdon| Donald Trump sees himself in The Fountainhead. “It relates to business and beauty and life and inner emotions,”1 he explained in 2016, avowing an interest in the writings of Ayn Rand widely shared among conservatives though dubious in his own case considering his notorious… Continue reading
|Patrick Clifford| Requiem for a Heavyweight is a tightly scripted, expertly acted film that centers around the career-ending knockout of a boxer. It is worth noting that a requiem is defined as a service or composition in honor of the dead. The film opens by putting us in… Continue reading
