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3.5/4
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Gun Crazy
(1950)
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Matt Brunson
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A seminal film noir as well as a cinematic primer for 1967's Bonnie and Clyde.
Posted May 07, 2026
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3.5/4
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The Martian
(2015)
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Matt Brunson
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The Martian will disappoint only those who were waiting for Marvin to show up at some point to wreak looney havoc.
Posted May 07, 2026
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3/4
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Spencer
(2021)
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Matt Brunson
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Spencer gets up close and personal with its subject, both in director Pablo Larrain's shooting style and in scripter Steven Knight's attempts to analyze and understand the mindset of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Posted May 05, 2026
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2/4
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Shrek Forever After
(2010)
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Matt Brunson
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Little kids will lap this up with the same zeal as Donkey digging into a stack of his beloved waffles, but adults will find nothing new here, just another retread of ideas exhausted in the previous entries.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3/4
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Cemetery Man
(1994)
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Matt Brunson
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This constantly swirling film is all shook up, alternately a raucous zombie movie, a tragic love story, an existentialist character study, and a gruesome slasher flick -- and always a dark comedy.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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Of Mice and Men
(1992)
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Matt Brunson
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The 1939 interpretation starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Burgess Meredith remains the definitive version, but this 1992 take is a gem in its own right.
Posted May 03, 2026
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4/4
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American Hustle
(2013)
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Matt Brunson
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A movie that in its best moments recalls GoodFellas, with a bit of Boogie Nights thrown in to sweeten the pot.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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Bound
(1996)
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Matt Brunson
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A steamy crime thriller (and significant LGBTQ film) that contains more suggestive double entendres in its dialogue than perhaps any movie this side of Double Indemnity.
Posted May 03, 2026
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1.5/4
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The Watch
(2012)
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Matt Brunson
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It's been suggested this this flop was the victim of horrible timing, but it would have tanked at any time because it’s frequently terrible.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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Rango
(2011)
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Matt Brunson
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In its finest moments, Rango comes across as a Coen Brothers film with anthropomorphic animals instead of flesh-and-blood humans.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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Monsieur Verdoux
(1947)
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Matt Brunson
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Chaplin is marvelous as the cutthroat Casanova, and his scenes opposite a fabulous Martha Raye as the most indestructible of his conquests are the movie’s best.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3/4
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Independence Day
(1996)
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Matt Brunson
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Borrowing from seemingly every sci-fi film this side of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, the picture somehow manages to recycle these reference points and come up with something that works on its own terms.
Posted May 03, 2026
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2/4
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The House Bunny
(2008)
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Matt Brunson
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Personally, I don’t think Hugh Hefner ever topped his cameo in the Roman Empire segment of Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part I, but he does enjoy more screen time in The House Bunny.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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Captains Courageous
(1937)
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Matt Brunson
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Tracy is earnest, but if that’s a Portuguese accent he’s sporting, then I’m Katharine Hepburn.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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20,000 Years in Sing Sing
(1933)
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Matt Brunson
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Too short at 80 minutes, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing marks the only screen pairing of two-time Oscar winners Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis.
Posted May 03, 2026
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1.5/4
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Stone Cold
(1991)
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Matt Brunson
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Bosworth doesn’t exactly command the screen as much as merely take up space.
Posted May 03, 2026
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2.5/4
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The Running Man
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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This new version is better paced and better plotted but not necessarily a better movie —- indeed, while their approaches are different, the entertainment value is about the same.
Posted May 03, 2026
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1.5/4
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The Phantom
(1996)
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Matt Brunson
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Extra demerits for employing one of the dumbest taglines of the past 50 —- make that 100 —- years: "Slam Evil!"
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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House Calls
(1978)
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Matt Brunson
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This delightful romantic comedy offers yet another opportunity to catch one of the screen’s greatest comedians plying his trade.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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Both things can be true at once: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a complete original, and it’s reminiscent of other brain-warping works of recent vintage.
Posted May 03, 2026
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2.5/4
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The Choral
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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While parts of the material are meant to accentuate the senselessness and unfairness of combat, these vignettes are not terribly interesting.
Posted May 03, 2026
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3.5/4
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The Prestige
(2006)
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Matt Brunson
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A dense and multilayered drama that explores Nolan's usual recurrent themes while simultaneously serving up a cracking good mystery yarn.
Posted Apr 30, 2026
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3/4
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We Need to Talk About Kevin
(2011)
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Matt Brunson
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The low-simmer setting of the project is precisely why it stays with you.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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2/4
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Snakes on a Plane
(2006)
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Matt Brunson
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Even Samuel L. Jackson’s highly publicized quip about the "motherfuckin’ snakes" registers as much ado about nothing (besides, most of the truly classic movie lines arrive honestly rather than being carefully test-marketed, packaged, and pre-sold).
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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2.5/4
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Marie Antoinette
(2006)
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Matt Brunson
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Recommended, but with reservations.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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2.5/4
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Sleepers
(1996)
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Matt Brunson
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The first half is far stronger than the second part.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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3.5/4
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Point Blank
(1967)
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Matt Brunson
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For a Hollywood picture, this sure feels like an international production.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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3/4
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Merrily We Roll Along
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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Worth the screen capture.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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3.5/4
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The Man Who Came to Dinner
(1941)
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Matt Brunson
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Just when it seems that this can’t get any funnier, along comes Jimmy Durante.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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3.5/4
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The Maid
(2009)
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Matt Brunson
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It isn’t until late in the game that audiences will be able to determine the extent of the picture’s darker undertones.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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1.5/4
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Groove
(2000)
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Matt Brunson
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Nothing to rave about.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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3/4
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Die My Love
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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There have seemingly been more movies about doofus mall cops than there have been about women with postpartum depression, but here’s one to help the balance sheet.
Posted Apr 26, 2026
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3.5/4
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Michael Jackson's This Is It
(2009)
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Matt Brunson
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This Is It doesn’t quite feel like a documentary, nor does it seem like a concert film. It’s clearly a love letter to the fans, but, perhaps more importantly, it’s an olive branch to the latter-day critics, cynics, and naysayers.
Posted Apr 23, 2026
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3/4
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A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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Before Opus. Before Sparky. There was … Punk.
Posted Apr 22, 2026
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3/4
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Machete
(2010)
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Matt Brunson
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More fun than a barrel of Sylvester Stallone DVDs.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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1/4
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Good Luck Chuck
(2007)
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Matt Brunson
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Upchuck would have been a more accurate title for this nauseating effort.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3.5/4
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Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary
(2002)
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Matt Brunson
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Not since Francis Coppola’s sharp take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula has there been a vampire flick as deliriously off the wall as Guy Maddin’s Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3/4
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Runaway Train
(1985)
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Matt Brunson
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Runaway Train is based on an unused screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, which right there gives it no small measure of class and import.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3/4
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Begin Again
(2013)
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Matt Brunson
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Begin Again is about as grounded in reality as a Minions movie, yet the picture is so warmhearted and generous of spirit that it’s easy to overlook its contrivances.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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1.5/4
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The Prisoner of Zenda
(1979)
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Matt Brunson
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Of the six screen adaptations of Anthony Hope’s adventure novel, this is the version that’s supposed to be a comedy. Don’t you believe it.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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2/4
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Mercy
(2026)
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Matt Brunson
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An early scene in Mercy shows that none of the film’s characters have apparently seen The Fugitive -- the rest of the movie makes it clear that they haven’t seen Minority Report, either.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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2.5/4
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She Killed in Ecstasy
(1971)
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Matt Brunson
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Fairly effective as a revenge yarn.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3/4
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Vampyros Lesbos
(1970)
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Matt Brunson
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This finds Jess Franco cheekily revamping the vampire classic.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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2.5/4
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Uncommon Valor
(1983)
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Matt Brunson
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Uncommon Valor plays out largely as expected.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3.5/4
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Lurker
(2025)
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Matt Brunson
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A cringe psychodrama, as it were.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3/4
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It All Came True
(1940)
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Matt Brunson
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Humphrey Bogart plays a tough -- but not too tough! -- gangster and Ann Sheridan receives top billing -- until she doesn’t! -- in this amusing lark from the Warner Bros. factory.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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3.5/4
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The Gay Divorcee
(1934)
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Matt Brunson
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It continues to rank as one of the best of the 10 Astaire & Rogers offerings.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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2/4
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A Bridge Too Far
(1977)
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Matt Brunson
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This rarely moves and only sporadically entertains.
Posted Apr 19, 2026
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1.5/4
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Rambo: Last Blood
(2019)
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Matt Brunson
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This doesn’t even feel like a Rambo flick as much as a generic action film starring any Tom, Dick or Liam.
Posted Apr 17, 2026
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3/4
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First Blood
(1982)
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Matt Brunson
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The first and best of the franchise.
Posted Apr 17, 2026
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