I’ve seen this quite a few times before but it honestly never gets old. Roddy Piper is at his B-movie best in this. Keith David is excellent (wish his role was bigger – he would have been great as the lead in a different universe).

The scene where Piper first puts on the glasses is so well done, so intriguing, so iconic still. The whole thing feels like a giant Twilight Zone episode (that’s a good thing). But what truly makes this film stand the test of time is its socio-political commentary. Reacting to the excesses to the 80’s and Carpenter’s perceived evils of the Regan administration elevates this Sci-Fi tale to something important. They don’t make them like they used to.

The 2nd book (Dune Messiah) in the Dune series is by far the most political with intrigues and lots of scheming/plotting while Paul’s kingdom continues its growth and preparation for fall. It’s an interesting book but not exactly action-packed and for many (not me), it’s one of the least favorite of the series (I love it actually). Children of Dune (book 3) on the other hand is intense, action-packed, and has much of the pay-off’s set up in Messiah.

So watching the Children of Dune miniseries movie (almost 5 hours long) was curious because the miniseries doesn’t cover much of Children of Dune at all instead focusing on Messiah’s politics and set-up’s. Consequently, we get a film that has better acting, better dialogue, better costumes, and a stronger script but fails to capture the interest of the previous Dune miniseries because beyond a lot of talking and some scheming, not a lot happens. There’s a giant portion of the film devoted to setting up the “golden path” for Leto II but the audience is never told what it actually is or why it is so hard / so important.

I enjoyed the film but a lot of that is because I’ve read the books (and love them). Much of the film runs on the fumes of goodwill from the book fans. So if you’ve read the books, check this out. If not, you probably won’t appreciate it as much.

This was pretty fun actually. I have no idea how this film ended up being the 3rd highest grossing of all time (in 2015 numbers). I’d venture to say this is the best of the Jurassic Park sequels. In a lot of ways, this film ignores The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 and seems to be more of a direct sequel reboot to the original film. There are tons of callbacks and fan-nods to the first and the story virtually follows the exact same beats.

Chris Pratt is his usual charismatic self and Bryce Howard does a good job as the female lead (I consistently like her acting and screen presence). I didn’t have any problems with the whole “high-heels controversy” regarding her. She got some fun character moments and was truly heroic by the end.

I don’t know where they go with the premise for the inevitable sequel. It’s going to have to get mighty ridiculous to keep moving along but this was a fun, nostalgic sequel.

As most reviewers are saying, taking the stakes way down (from saving the world to breaking into an office building) greatly helps this film succeed. The story is pretty bland, essentially setting up a heist movie (which we’ve seen done much better countless times before) but the witty cast really elevates the whole film to something enjoyable.

Paul Rudd works perfectly as Ant-Man and it’s so great to see Michael Douglas back in a mainstream film (even if his character is stuck spouting exposition for most of his lines). Evangeline Lilly is much better than she was in the Hobbit here, becoming quite a likable and interesting character. It’s unfortunate that Marvel had to go back to the tired plot line of bad guy in suit vs. good guy in a suit. I can’t help but think there were so many better ways to tell this origin story but overall I had a lot of fun with this and am excited to see what they do with Paul Rudd as part of the Avengers longer term.

I have a vague memory that I think I may have watched this when it debuted on SyFy channel back in 2000 but besides a few images, I have no memory of the film. When a film makes that little of an impact, that’s usually a bad sign but it’s been so long, I wanted to watch this and see how it holds up 15 years later.

It’s interesting because compared to David Lynch’s Dune, this film follows the book much closer and yet doesn’t work as well. Lynch’s film is so visionary (however flawed) and intensely compelling that this low-budget SyFy presentation feels lesser in nearly every moment. From bad acting, improperly directed actors, and just over-acting in general to the horribly dated CG backgrounds & sets, there’s not a lot to like here anymore. The costume design is particularly horrible. Ironically, some of the best moments are actually direct copies of Lynch’s Dune.

Only recommended for Frank Herbert’s Dune fans.

While I don’t agree with pundits who are championing Inside Out as Pixar’s greatest film, I did love it and thought it was definitely a return to form for Pixar. The ideas on display were visually arresting, the story had a great theme and strong character arc, and the ending was powerful.

Richard Kind absolutely stole the show with his voice talent as Bing Bong. Who knew an imaginary elephant could be my favorite character out of the all the clever creatures? Some of the other voice talents were honestly a little bit generic and more of a letdown for me. Not terrible but just kind of uninspired. A few of the jokes fell flatter than they should have as well.

Despite these small gripes, Inside Out is great and absolutely worth your time.

I haven’t seen this since it debuted in theaters. Amazingly, many of the iconic scenes have stuck with me all these years later and I was pleasantly surprised to see (especially the second half) holds up very well.

Matthew Broderick is his usual charismatic self (sheesh, I mean he’s freakin Ferris Bueller). I particularly liked a scene where Broderick has to escape his cell and uses practical hacking to do so. Great way to show his early hacking skills. Ally Sheedy doesn’t come off as very believable but was probably fine for the era. Barry Corbin gets some of the best lines as the tobacco chewing General Beringer.

Though the message is heavy handed, it still resonates and the computer game twists are cleverly executed. Recommended if you haven’t seen it in a while.

This is the 5th film in the series and the cracks are really showing. Genisys starts out promising with an interesting trip back to the original film but with a twist. All of these early scenes at least keep your attention but once Jai Courtney becomes the focus of the story, things get truly disastrous.

I can’t express enough how awful Jai Courtney is in this film. His acting is a pale comparison of Michael Biehn’s original iconic role as Reese. And I’m sorry to say but Emilia Clarke doesn’t work here either. She isn’t terrible in the way Courtney (and at least has a little charisma unlike him) but none of what she does clicks. There’s zero chemistry between them and about half way through, you realize their scenes feel more like a high school play pretending to act in a Terminator movie.

Schwarzenegger comes out looking the best here but with a script so poorly conceived, he should have known better and told the writers to go back to the drawing board. My favorite was probably JK Simmons show gets a pitifully small role but makes gold out of every minute of it. I also didn’t hate Jason Clarke. The script is the real problem here with cringe-inducing throughout. Let’s hope the next installment (international box office saved this film and guaranteed a sequel) will spend more time on story.

The original Terminator film from 1984 is yet another reason I contend that 1984 was the single best year in film history. Recently, The Terminator went through an intensive remastering and restoration process and was screened at Cinemark theaters across the country. Of course, I had to go and it was absolutely worth it.

There’s so many classic lines including “I’ll be back” which Arnold is still using as an in-joke on most of his movies today. But what really shines here is the great pacing and direction. Even at this young age, James Cameron is already showing why he’s one of the masters of the modern blockbuster. With a low budget, he makes this film look stellar. It doesn’t hurt that Michael Beihn is giving 110% as Reese, chewing scenery every step of the way. Some of the stop motion special effects are obviously very dated but the practical effects are still stunning and hold up even to this day. If you haven’t watched The Terminator in a while, it’s worth firing up again. You won’t be disappointed.

I can’t tell you how much I love the actor Stephen Tobolowsky. Not only did he steal the show from Bill Murray in Groundhog Day (playing Ned Ryerson, the most annoying Life Insurance agent ever) but he’s got more acting credits than Tom Cruise. That being said, when you mention his name, most people have no idea who you are talking about but if you show them a picture, they realize Stephen’s been in countless films they’ve seen.

Not only is he a great actor but he’s an amazing storyteller. That’s what The Primary Instinct is all about. For many years now, Stephen has been doing a popular Podcast, telling stories about life and his career. What really sets his stories apart is the transcendental messages he’s able to glean from the sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking experiences he tells about. This all culminated in a film that was put together last year, where Stephen told some of his stories live in front of an audience and it was filmed for the documentary The Primary Instinct.

I loved every minute of this. It was fun to not only hear these stories but see Stephen doing them live and of course, the messages and thought-provoking moments shined through as they always do with his stories. Highly recommended.