weekend watchlist: an all man-(and woman)-versus-beast(s), all both-sides-of-the-pond special
In honor of the silly glory that is Idris Elba punching a lion in Beast. (First published September 4th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Val Kilmer
Top Gun: Maverick movie review: we’re well into the danger zone
With its melancholy regret and bittersweet nostalgia, this is far superior to the 1986 blockbuster. But as the sun goes down on American imperialism here, the last-gasp celebration of it unsettles.
classic film virgin: Top Gun (1986)
Cold War propaganda that is weirdly apolitical. Sunny, breezy homoeroticism that is surely unintentional. What a hoot this is! Mostly not in a good way, but its impact on pop culture cannot be denied.
The Snowman movie review: winter blunderland
A clichéd loose-cannon cop is on a case of murdered women in faux Norway. And it’s not even a decent procedural. Sexist, pointless, thoroughly awful.
MacGruber (review)
Dont believe the haterz man! MacGruber is freakin awesome!
trailer break: ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans’
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… Sometimes… good cops go bad. Beautiful: “What are these iguanas doing on my coffee table?” –Nicolas Cage. “There ain’t no iguanas.” –Val Kilmer. And: “Shoot him again — his soul is still dancing.” –Nicolas Cage. I think I’ve got some entries in the year’s worst dialogue… or … more…
the oh-no! DVD of the week: ‘Columbus Day’
This may be a perfectly acceptable movie, but the title leads me to doubt. Columbus Day? You don’t name a movie after a holiday unless you’re trying to glom onto that holiday’s mojo. Hence, we get a lot of movies about Christmas — that’s a holiday with mucho mojo. It’s why we don’t really see … more…
dream cast: hypothetical ‘Real Genius’ movie
It’s Thursday, so it’s time to remake an 80s classic TV show or movie with an all-new cast. This week: Real Genius, the 1985 comedy about science geeks, college life, and the military-industrial complex. (This Dream Cast was suggested by reader John. If you have a suggestion for an 80s TV show or movie we … more…
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (review)
It’s something close to a stroke of genius that once-wunderkind screenwriter Shane Black sought out Robert Downey Jr. to star in his directorial debut. Not because Downey is so achingly sublime an actor and so funkily charismatic a screen presence that it near to makes you want to weep with despair at what brilliance we’ve missed from him over the years during which he wasn’t able to keep his shit together — though he certainly does give us one of the most deliciously shivery-great performances so far this year in *Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.*
Entourage: The Complete First Season (review)
It’s very easy to puncture the self-importance of Hollywood types, and this HBO original series never fails to take that easy route, though it cloaks itself in a veneer of intelligence and insight. Vince Chase is the hottest thing to hit the movies since Johnny Depp, but Adrian Grenier (Hart’s War) fails to make us … more…
