This hobby blog is dedicated to movie nerdom, nostalgia, and the occasional escape. In the late 90s, I worked at Blockbuster Video, where they let me take home two free movies a day. I caught up on the classics and reviewed theatrical releases for Denver 'burbs newspapers and magazines. Stay tuned to my ongoing Top 50 Reely Bernie Faves list. Comments and dialogue encouraged!
My favorite coming-of-age movie is a tossup between E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (E.T.) and Cinema Paradiso, and I’m going to pick Cinema Paradiso because Spielberg represents other upcoming selections on my Reely Bernie Faves movies list. Plus, you have to include the Italian filmmakers, right? As an avid reader of Roger Ebert (RIP), I caught up... Continue Reading →
For me, So I Married an Axe Murderer is everything wonderfully 1990s. It is the self-conscious Mike Myers schtick from Saturday Night Live, it is a younger (and much safer) San Francisco celebrated, and it is the best darn soundtrack for lifting your spirits. Most noteworthy: this is the rom-com that came out before the... Continue Reading →
I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that He makes us the gift of suffering. Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of His chisel which hurt us so... Continue Reading →
I’m a sucker for historical fiction as it toys with timelines and actual events but holds true the atmosphere of the period, character impressions, and the filmmaker’s freedom to interpret. As the late, great Roger Ebert would say, “I look to books for facts and movies for feelings.” Despite fabricating a few incidents and compartmentalizing... Continue Reading →
A couple of days ago, my good friend, John, THE QUICK FLICK CRITIC, introduced me to the work of his friend, Derek Presley. Derek represents Independent Films|Muscular Puppy, and his latest indie hit, Tonic, is currently touring the film festival circuit. What an honor it was to watch and review a pre-release movie, and let... Continue Reading →
“Do you have anything besides Mexican food?” I start my Top 50 Reely Bernie Faves list with ¡Three Amigos! to make the point that some of our favorite movies are the least insightful, and within their “no-brainer” status we find a place of comfort and nostalgia. For me, ¡Three Amigos! was babysitter backup for dozens... Continue Reading →
I’ll never forget flipping through Entertainment Weekly’s 100 Greatest Movies of All Time magazine at the Gonzaga University Bing Crosby Student Center. It was October 1999, and the trend of releasing as many “Top,” “Best,” and “Greatest” lists was exploding before the world itself was predicted to explode. Y2K anticipation was all about the fear... Continue Reading →
Any Role-Playing Game is an opportunity to walk vicariously in your alter ego’s shoes. (Heck, you can even tailor-make those shoes!) Whether played with dice on a tabletop or through a video game campaign, the RPG is an extension of self—your noblest or darkest self. Created in the early 70s, revived by Stranger Things pop... Continue Reading →
As some of you may know, I like to reserve my horror movies for the month of October. However, because I'm a sucker for the found footage genre, and January expectedly provides so little potential in theatrical selections, I had to give this critically acclaimed oddity a chance. I'm glad I did, and I'm grateful... Continue Reading →
This was my favorite stretch of movies since the dire reality of March of 2020. Laughing at the face of COVID with new, audacious filmmaking playbooks and neo-classical perspectives, 2022 cracked the medium wide open. This was also a tougher year for me to choose just ten. I realize many will have Everything Everywhere All... Continue Reading →
Before I share my Top Ten of 2022 next week, I thought it might be fun to dish out my least favorite experiences watching movies this year. Like an expired carton of milk, the nausea of the flu during Thanksgiving break, or the wretched shrieking of a toddler, bad movies do exist, and they can... Continue Reading →
Steven Spielberg is the movie industry’s ultimate protagonist, an influencer of the coming-of-age narrative, and an auteur of visual storytelling. Born into the Spielbergian suburbs of the 80s, I was blessed to grow up with his imagination and knack for child-height thrills. Little did I know that Spielberg instilled a tiny moviegoer in me in... Continue Reading →
Playwright Martin McDonagh writes with a knife to a rock, etching in truths that are hard for his characters to swallow. “I just don’t like you no more,” Colm Doherty tells his long-time friend and drinking buddy, Pádraic Súilleabháin. It is the stuff of absurd finality that one either laughs off as “only the Irish”... Continue Reading →
"The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring kind of conformity." Filmmaker Todd Field’s previous masterpieces in In the Bedroom (2001) and Little Children (2006) invite the viewer behind the closed doors of a darker American suburbia where secrets fester and unethical decisions are made. On the surface, we may be quick to... Continue Reading →
I always thought David Bowie, the person, was more intriguing than David Bowie, the musician. Something about the mystique of his androgynous alter persona and heavily costumed stagecraft usurped the controls from anything musicological or biographically revelatory. I think the very private "Mr. Stardust" himself would have liked it that way. Director Brett Morgen's Moonage... Continue Reading →
Idris Elba is the bomb. Whether he’s laundering money in “The Wire,” sporting an office cubicle suit while supervising Michael Scott, or lawyering it up in my favorite role of his in Molly’s Game (2017) —Elba exudes a Denzel Washington-like glide (his admitted influence) and the subdued empathy of a flawed saint. The role of... Continue Reading →
Until its “ah-ha” moment at the end, Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) was a unique blend of almost satire, almost horror, and almost socioracial statement. Staying at almost would have kept it above standard, but there’s no denying the ending was a predictable horror movie cliché. Peele’s second round with Us (2019) also started strong... Continue Reading →
Watching a Baz Luhrmann movie is like sitting in front of a gold confetti-blasting canon. It’s style over substance, obnoxious over subtle — a nightmare for minimalist cinephiles like me. For anyone with a smidgen of an attention span, conveying a groundbreaking musician’s artistry on film just takes hitting a record button. Ever see last... Continue Reading →
An argument can be made that anything “Marvel Cinema Universe” is the same movie with 27 different titles. The formula never fails: Arrogant, grumpy, or emotionless hero + desensitizing CGI +/- obligatory love interest + forgettable villain who always possesses one less level of power = box office points. The DC Comics movies are no... Continue Reading →
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie last year and thinking, “This looks like an ode to late-twenties selfishness. Puke.” But, then I thought: Isn’t that exactly the time when someone should be selfish, especially when it comes to relationships? Isn’t that exactly the time we are supposed to date in person (or online),... Continue Reading →
The nuanced performance of Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, the psychological interpretation of Director Pablo Larraín, and the mystery of what happens behind closed doors are exactly why the film medium was created in the first place: These components call for a multi-sensory experience of what could be safely read but valued more when felt.... Continue Reading →
I never finished Frank Herbert’s novel; David Lynch’s movie adaptation put me to sleep; and I read enough about Denis Villeneuve’s latest being all set up with no payoff. This all being said, I went into Dune with no expectations because I didn’t think I earned them. I left Dune wholly enthralled. I was and... Continue Reading →
Filmmaker Paul Schrader is renown for taking us to the dingiest of places and introducing us to the gloomiest of people, and these are good reasons to watch the movies in the first place. Hopefully, we don’t want to be the imploding taxi driver, raging middleweight boxer, or guilt-ridden Calvinist priest, but it is surely... Continue Reading →
It is so good to be back in the movie theatre again. The vulnerability, air conditioning, and the screen of hopeful unpredictability are all part of the magical moviegoing experience that you simply cannot recreate at home with the pause button and ability to leave the action whenever you please (air conditioning optional). Today, I... Continue Reading →
For me, it was the smell. An amalgamation of Milk Duds, buttery popcorn, and hard-shell plastic would rush through my nose the moment I opened the glass door. It was the smell of nostalgia long before I was old enough to be nostalgic. It reminded me that movies were comfort, and comfort was home. In... Continue Reading →
Reely Bernie 