This is a legal-thriller from one of my favorite underrated directors: Peter Hyams. Hyams made some fabulous films in the 1980’s. The Star Chamber was one of his earlier films and you can already see his keen eye developing. He also co-wrote the screenplay.

The film stars Michael Douglas as a young judge who encounters a series of trials where the criminals get off on technicalities so he and his fellow judges decide to take the law into their own hands. It grapples with some really interesting ideas of what justice is, who should decide, and what’s right and what’s lawful. Douglas is great as always. The supporting work by Hal Holbrook is excellent as well. The first 3/4’s are really outstanding, great tension, conflict, thought-provoking scenes. Where things go a bit off the rails is in the final act where a lot of the set up is discarded for some trumped up action chase that doesn’t fit at all with the plot or the tone. Despite that misstep, it’s a great little thriller and worth seeing.

This is Steven Spielberg’s first studio film. It was actually a made-for-TV-movie but turned out to be so well made and popular, that the studio called Spielberg back for a few more days of reshoots to pad the running time and then a longer cut was released into theaters.

I love how stripped down this film is. It’s entire focus is on one man vs. a killer truck driver. We never actually see the truck driver and I loved that about the film. Dennis Weaver plays the main character to perfection. Although I’ve heard Spielberg just calls this “High Noon on wheels” (and it’s great just as that), there is some subtext (whether meant or not) that is quite interesting as well, a man running from his fears (fear embodied by the truck itself) and finally facing them.

The cinematography is so much better than you’d expect for a TV movie. Even at this young age, Spielberg was showing his absolute command of the camera. If you’ve never seen this, it’s a real treat.

This is a underwater horror movie made in 1989, the same year that other underwater movies (a little mini-genre) The Abyss (1989) and Leviathan (1989) both debuted as well. Both The Abyss and Leviathan are superior to Deepstar Six but that’s not to say that Deepstar is terrible. There are actually some fun moments, scenes, and characters in this.

Deepstar was directed by the same guy that directed the first Friday the 13th film, so that should give you an idea of how he likes to handle his characters (pretty cliched) but where Deepstar really succeeds is once the horror kicks in. The film gets immensely better in the last half. There are some surprisingly intense scenes. Also, without giving too much away though, there is a scene at the end that is a direct copy of what he did at the end of Friday the 13th which is pretty funny.

The creature effects in this are excellent. Really impressive, especially for a B-movie. Awesome practical effects and some of the inventive violence really stands out as well. The film is better than I expected. If you liked The Abyss or Leviathan, you’ll probably enjoy this also (though not as much).

One of the most amazingly inept science fiction stories ever put on film and yet, so hilariously enjoyable. This film is a Roger Corman production so… yep. You’ve got David Hasselhoff as a space prince squaring off in laser-sword battles with stop-motion robots, Marjoe Gortner wearing what amounts to a bathing suit as she battles aliens and amazonian-planet evil women, and Christopher Plummer looking like he’s not sure how his agent got him wrapped up in this disaster of a film.

This is the film that supposedly prompted Corman to go forward with Battle Beyond the Stars and if you think that looked pretty low budget, just check out the n0-budget Italian special effects in Starcrash. Scenes begin and end in seemingly random places, the music is way over-the-top for what’s being shown, there are Clash of the Titans-style monster battles, and an absolutely bizarre ending that fits right in with the rest of the film (ie: it makes no sense). So much fun though if you love “awfully” great movies.

Michael Douglas says that Falling Down is his favorite role and I wholeheartedly agree, it’s my favorite of his as well. It’s been a long time since I saw it (remember absolutely loving it in the theater) but it’s just as good as the first time I saw it. I’m still in awe that this was made by the same director that made the atrocious Batman & Robin (1997). This film certainly makes up for that mistake and then some.

The script is so smart but extremely edgy. I heard all the studios turned it down until Douglas read it and pushed it hard to get made. I can see why studios would be scared because it’s unabashedly aggressive and challenging material. The other great part of this film is Robert Duvall’s performance which is just stunning. He’s a national treasure. So many great roles.

This film is a powerful social commentary, one of the best films of the 1990’s, and Michael Douglas’s best role. That says it all.

This is a documentary examining the religion of Scientology. Actually, the reference to Scientology being a “religion” is a major point in the documentary, how they fought the IRS, how they attained the religious status, and even questions about whether Scientology even is a religion.

The film shows a large number of interviews with former Scientology members who talk about the reasons they became involved in the church and the reasons they ended up leaving. But there are no interviews with current Scientology members. And therein lies a bit of the problem with this documentary. It is very one-sided against Scientology. Personally, I’ve never met a member of that church so I don’t have any first-hand experience but my gut tells me there might be some redeeming qualities that draw people to the religion. I’m sure there is probably a lot of truth to all of the horrors the former members talk about experiencing in the church but there is virtually no counter-arguments presented in the film so in the end, it all felt very one-sided.

NOTE: the church was reached out to for comment as well as several members but they all declined to talk to the filmmakers so there probably wasn’t much in terms of an alternate point of view that could be presented.

Based on what I know of the church, it seems they are more of a self-help type, psychology group than a specific religion organized around a deity but that’s their right and I’m fine with them believing what they want. If they did illegal things, they should be punished for them. In the end, I’d still like to see an alternate documentary with actual members in good standing with the church to see if there is another side beside the dark one presented here.

This really is a plain and simple homage to Alfred Hitchcock type film. Everything from the femme fatale, conspiracies, and “every man with a psychologic condition” is present here. Even the music was specifically composed to sound like the classic Bernard Herman music used in most of Hitchcock’s most famous films.

Roy Scheider does a great job as always, playing the lead and Janet Margolin turns in a surprisingly strong performance as the tragic love interest. The first 30 minutes are especially great. Awesome set up, tight pacing, intriguing. The 2nd act struggles a bit as the revelations slow way down. Luckily, the final 15 minutes are taut with tension and the ending is absolutely perfect. If you like thrillers like Chinatown or Hitchcock’s Vertigo, you will dig this too.

This was not nearly as terrible as I’d heard it was. The marketing was all off on this. It really has nothing to do with a supernova. The story is more about the discovery of an alien object that turns people evil and super strong. Supposedly, this was a very troubled production. The original director, Walter Hill (who directed classics like 48 Hrs and The Warriors) dropped out because MGM cut his budget in half way through and compromised his vision. The film sat on ice for 2 years while MGM tried to figure out what to do, only later begging Francis Ford Coppola (of all people) to supervise a final cut. The final cut was drastically changed from Hill’s vision but nonetheless retains many of the ideas.

The effects aren’t terrible here either. Some of the sets and ship designs are actually quite brilliant and more unique than your typical run-of-the-mill science fiction B-movie. James Spader comes out the best in this. He’s great in every scene and really elevates the whole thing. Wish he had more screen time. The rest of the cast are mostly passable but nothing great.

This film does have the distinction of having one of the worst robots ever put on screen. The robots in Ice Pirates seem more realistic and better thought-out. The story gets lost about halfway through and never really finds its footing again but I still thought it had enough interesting ideas to keep my attention.

Great classic sci-fi flick that has flown under the radar for too long. This would make an awesome double-feature with The Andromeda Strain (1971). The story follows a brilliant inventor who creates a computer (Colossus) that can think and the U.S. government decides to put the computer in charge of all nuclear weapons (because it isn’t encumbered by human emotions). The Russians have another computer as well and the Russian and U.S. computers start talking together and decide to take over the world.

Colossus ends up becoming power hungry and puts all of mankind in jeopardy. He’s truly terrifying. He and HAL (from 2001) would get along great. The film plays to the Cold War fears of the era but as with all great science fiction, also has lots of things to say about the human condition along the way. The ending is especially powerful and thought-provoking.