Aliens (1986)

Aliens (1986) – Sequels suck, or so they say. I personally believe that blanket statements are always wrong. ALWAYS. (See what I did there?) Obviously, everyone can come up with exceptions to the “sequels suck” rule. The Godfather Part II won the Academy Award for Best Picture and is considered by many (yours truly included) … Continue reading

Batman Returns (1992)

Batman Returns (1992) – In recent reviews of Tim Burton movies, I’ve written about the difference between Burton the auteur and Burton the director-for-hire. Whichever one is working, his movies have a great signature look but Burton the auteur creates movies that have a level of depth. Burton-for-hire is just kind of phoning it in. Burton … Continue reading

An Open Letter to James Cameron

The following article was originally published on 12ftdwende.com on 19 March 2010. Dear Mr. Cameron, Firstly: big fan. Seen most of your movies (have yet to track down Piranha II: The Spawning, but will most definitely get around to it) and have enjoyed all I have seen. I know I am a lowly community college … Continue reading

The Thing (2011)

The Thing (2011) – John Carpenter’s 1982 thriller The Thing is one of my all-time favorite movies. That means I have a pretty strong bias and a natural predisposition to hate this movie. By comparison, it is nothing but a pale imitation. The suspense of Carpenter’s film (or Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby’s 1951 The … Continue reading

Predator (1987)

Predator (1987) — Just before going on to direct the gold standard of all action movies (Die Hard) John McTiernan gave us this rumble in the jungle.  This film starts out as a “men on a mission” story and then gradually transitions to the alien horror subgenre.  Arnold Schwarzenegger does what he does best in … Continue reading