Letterboxd — Your life in film

Just the latest of many rewatches only confirms the status of "The Shining" as a film classic. The many layers of meaning and mystery make it one of the select few movies that can be studied, discussed, and viewed again and again.

Objectively as a film it isn't flawless. No film is. As iconic and great as Jack Nicholson's performance is, at times it's clearly meant to be funny and over the top. For some viewers, that can distract from…

I admit that "Sucker Punch" is a strange mixture of genres, juxtaposing chick flick empowerment melodrama with over the top fantasy action. It's not for everyone's taste. But for me, as another reviewer said "there are just too many things about this film that I'm genetically predisposed to like."

It should be acknowledged that there are many people of my age and background, who should in theory like "Sucker Punch" actually hated it with a passion and wouldn't hesitate to…

Whereas the original "Speed Racer" cartoon was absurdly static for a show about a race car driver, the live action version is frentic and overloaded with multi-colored blurs of speed. It's like ramming your
face into a Christmas tree for two solid hours... and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Personally, I loved the over the top visual style, but I found much to like about the story and direction as well.
Separate scenes where Speed talks with…

It's impressive that director John Carpenter has made two of the top horror movies. Along with "Halloween", his remake of "The Thing" stands near the top of the genre. While it may seem fairly dated now, it should be remembered that "The Thing" was cutting edge special effects at the time and was really pushing the envelope when it came to gore. No one had ever seen a film quite like it.

The pacing is excellent and the casting is…

Just a great, straight ahead story of suspense. For a 1971 TV movie, it's very well made and tremendously entertaining. While it's dated and low budget, it still holds up. So many thrillers are over plotted these days, with tons of backstory, exposition, and implausible twists thrown in for no good reason. A movie like "Duel" feels so refreshing in its directness. Give credit to the legendary writer Richard Matheson for his script. I had seen "Duel" several times before,…

A solid and entertaining show all around, and if it really is the last Led Zeppelin concert (which is very likely), they can say that they went out on a high note. Production, camera work, and editing is nice and mostly unobtrusive. If Robert Plant has lost some of his upper vocal range, he makes up for it in nuance. Jimmy Page still seems in control and confident on guitar, belting out classic riffs and solos with ease. John Paul…

One of my favorite films of all time, "American Pop" is the story of a long line of fathers and sons and their involvement in American popular music throughout the decades. The downsides are that the female characters are paper thin and barely there, and Bob Seger is purported to be the pinnacle of American rock music, but otherwise I think it's a really great movie that deserves to be seen and remembered. The rotoscoping really captures movement and emotion…

I quite enjoyed "Super". This is the movie that I expected "Kick Ass" to be, and obviously it covers much of the same territory. While for me "Kick Ass" started off strong and went off the rails rather quickly, I found "Super" to be one of the rare films that got better as it went along.

The unacknowledged truth of comic book superheroes is that many of them would have to be mentally disturbed to do the things they do,…

Solid popcorn movie that serves as a good follow up to 2009's "Star Trek" with enough references to the 1982 "Star Trek II" to please Trekkers already comfortable with director J. J. Abrams' hyperkinetic style. I thought this film was a bit more thoughtful than the 2009 film, though it has the same visuals and pacing.

I was getting a bit uncomfortable after the first act, because it seemed that the villain was being left behind in the story, but…

I am likely grading this on a curve, and low expectations certainly play a part, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a lot of fun with this movie. Surely it will be considered one of the greatest "Nazis on the moon" films in cinema history. The dialogue is awful at times and Peta Sergeant is pretty crappy as a wacked out assistant to the President, but the rest of the cast was good and likable. I…

Good, interesting documentary, well made and not pretentious. There's not a lot to say about it beyond that. The short clips of music are the only thing that brings it down a bit. Music lovers are the intended audience for this film, but often we only get to hear a short section of a song instead of a full performance. The performances do get longer at the end, and it's certainly a treat to be a fly on the wall…