Skip It The Film: With advancements in technology and the perseverance of immersive entertainment (videogames, live-action role-playing), Michael Crichton's idea for Westworld — realistic environments populated with lifelike robots designed for rules-free chaos for those with the financial means — seems closer to feasible in our not-so-distant future than depicted in the '70s sci-fi classic …
Recommended THE FILM: Hollywood has long dramatized the lives of unremarkable men with ease, but often stumbles when retelling the story of someone truly exceptional. Filming the life of Louis “Louie” Zamperini is no easy task. The former United States Olympian survived a plane crash in World War II, only to be stranded on a raft for 47 days before he was sent to a Japanese internment camp …
Highly Recommended Reviewed by Glenn Erickson When I die and they lay me to rest / Gonna go to the place that's the best When I lay me down to die / Goin' up to the spirit in the sky. I can't believe that it's been 25 years since I watched a cohort back at the trailer boutique Film Impressions put together the great trailer for this Orion Pictures gem.
Recommended Its title suggests a film noir, but in fact Stranger at My Door (1956) is a Western drama with religious overtones, a very offbeat film for B-movie studio Republic Pictures, which specialized in far more routine oaters. It's a strange movie, on one hand filmed in Republic's usual flat style for the most part, and the religious aspects are heavy-handed, annoying, and at times …
Recommended THE FILM: After getting shot by a Richard Nixon-masked bank robber during a heist, LAPD officer Dennis Meechum (Brian Dennehy) turns his account of the events into a bestselling novel. Years later, Meechum is a successful detective looking for a hit follow-up novel but lacking inspiration
Recommended NOTE: The photos accompanying this review are taken from various internet sources and do not represent the quality of the Blu-ray under review. The Movie: The 1967 folk song “The Alice's Restaurant Massacree” is essentially a shaggy-dog story set to ragtime guitar, in which singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie recounts his run-in with small-town law over illegally dumping a bunch of post …
Recommended Without a Clue (1988), a comedy suggesting Dr. Watson was the real brains behind Sherlock Holmes's crime-solving, should be totally delightful but just isn't. The picture has everything going for it: a strong cast, handsome production values, a score by Henry Mancini, and a screenplay written by Holmes experts with obvious affection.
Highly Recommended The Movie: Chris Rock joined the upper echelons of the stand-up comedy game nearly twenty years ago, and even though he hasn't released an hour-long special in seven years, it's that work onstage that defines his career.
Highly Recommended “When I start out to make a fool of myself there's very little can stop me.” – Michael O'Hara I've seen Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai (1947) five or six times through the years, and still half the time I don't know what the hell is going on. Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep (1946) is a model of comprehensive linear storytelling by comparison. The Lady from Shanghai isn't …