“Game Over, Man” (#17)

“We’d better get back, ’cause it’ll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night… mostly.”

“She Saved The World A Lot” (#12)

“No weapons… no friends… no hope. Take all that away, and what’s left?” “Me.”

“We Got Cows!” (#1)

Hold on to something! The When We Were Young podcast’s pilot episode glances back at everyone’s favorite cow-tossing summer blockbuster, Twister, to see if the windiest divorce drama of all time holds up 20 years later.

Top Ten Films: 2005

(A “Then & Now” perspective.) This Top 10 is actually a 20, because sometimes ten just isn’t enough. Actually, it’s because that’s how I wrote it back when it was originally published a decade ago, and if I’m bothering to re-post it I may as well re-post the whole thing, right?

‘Nothing’ Really Matters: Is Joss Whedon Our Shakespeare?

I have yet to see a single blockbuster this summer. No Iron Man, no Gatsby, no Fast & Furious, no Star Trek. It’s not that these movies are totally unappealing, just that there’s always been something more enticing playing on fewer screens. So Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing really shouldn’t feel like such a […]

Not-Oscars 2012: The Year’s Best Performances

(Originally published at JustinPlusSeven on January 10, 2013.) You, dear reader, have the honor of reading this in the future, after the Oscar nominations have been announced. But I am writing from this from the near past, before we know which five contenders are fighting it out in each category. Of course, some are shoo-ins; […]

Top Ten Films: 2012

It’s Oscar time! As usual, the Academy Awards are poised to make some very wrong decisions this year. So as usual, I am prematurely correcting them by releasing my Top Ten of the year. That year is 2012, of course — real film critics release such lists at the end of December or beginning of […]

The Movies That Made Me: Teen Screams

I wasn’t what you’d call a “normal” teenager — if there is such a thing. See, most teens watch a movie like I Know What You Did Last Summer eagerly awaiting the bloody kills, rooting for the bad guy to gruesomely dispatch his sinful adolescent targets. Me? I cried when they died. When asked how […]

‘Avenge’ Of The Nerds: Joss Whedon Saves The World A Lot

Well, I finally have time to write something about The Avengers. But what to say about a movie so massive? Something everybody’s already nattering on about? A film that easily took the record for the best opening weekend of all time? I thought maybe I wouldn’t bother, but considering that it was my most anticipated […]

Five By Five: The Best Of ‘Buffy’ (Part Five)

I remember when I first learned that Buffy The Vampire Slayer was now a TV show. My mom said I might be interested in watching it, and I thought: “Why would anyone watch a show based on that mediocre Kristy Swanson movie? Especially five years later?”

Whose ‘Woods’ These Are, I Think I Know…

First, let’s just get this out of the way — SPOILER WARNING!! (As a rule, I don’t care much about spoilers. I think it’s a misnomer. Does knowing what happens really “spoil” or ruin a movie? I don’t think so. I enjoy things just as much if I already know the ending as if I […]

Five By Five: The Best Of ‘Buffy’ (Part Four)

It’s no secret that Buffy The Vampire Slayer is my favorite television show of all time. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s the best. I admire many other shows. Certainly some are more consistent — Buffy has had a few pretty dismal installments, let’s be honest. Invisible fight scene? Inebriated cave-Buffy? No thank you! But […]