The Best Of The Rest Of Film: 2021

Has it only been a year? The Academy Awards were held on April 25 last year, reducing the eligibility window for 2021 movies to ten months. Many people stayed away from theaters for long stretches of 2021 — I didn’t make it back to cinemas until July — but that didn’t stop a barrage of […]

Top Ten Films: 2021

I’m worried. I’m sure you are, too. It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years to be a film fan (along with everything else). 2019 was a stronger-than-average year at the movies, with sprawling, hearty, career-capping epics from major auteurs like Scorsese (The Irishman) and Tarantino (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), ambitious, adult-oriented big screen […]

He Said, He Said (& What She Tried To Say): ‘The Last Duel’

What we know of history has been written almost exclusively by men, especially when you go as far back as the Middle Ages. Every man who ever made a record of the past had his biases, and if you multiply that by the thousands of men who’ve had their say over time, you have to […]

“Glitter In The Dark” (#25)

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time. Like tears in rain. Time to die.”

“Game Over, Man” (#17)

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

Top Ten Films: 2001

This is it. This is my final retroactive Top 10 list, because it is my first.

Intelligent Life: Science Rules In ‘The Martian’

The Martian shouldn’t feel like such a treasure, and maybe twenty years ago, it wouldn’t have. Its closest cousin, Apollo 13, was nominated for Best Picture in 1995, back when feel-good movies could still dominate both the box office and awards season — which is not to say that they always did, but feel-good guys […]

‘Prometheus’ Versus Them: It’s Ridley’s Believe-It-Or-Not!

In space, no one can hear you say… “Hmmm…” That could very well be the tagline for Ridley Scott’s new “is it a prequel to Alien or what?”, and the answer — spoiler alert! — is yes, definitely. There was never any question that the film was aping Alien in its trailer, not to mention […]

Trailer Trash: Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’

It’s been a spell since Ridley Scott directed anything to make us really stand up and take notice, but you gotta love the guy. Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise… and, of course, Alien.