Dedicated to movie nerdom, nostalgia, and 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. Today, while raising two young, beautiful daughters with my amazing wife, I look forward to anything rated R and not Bluey. Comments and dialogue encouraged!
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 →
The power of The Force was found in my in-law’s basement where my brother-in-law made room for everyone to team-assemble his latest LEGO set – the Mos Eisley Cantina: “I’m a collector,” he said as he opened the gigantic box and dumped the bagged 3,187 pieces on to the table. In the background on three... Continue Reading →
A friend of mine suggested an interesting notion for Christopher Nolan to consider: What about just writing the screenplay and leaving the artistic decisions to a different director? Would the never-ending 150 minutes go by faster? Would the main characters possess a heart and earn viewer empathy? Finally, would Nolan’s astounding time warp perplexities include... Continue Reading →
It’s the summer of ‘94 in my best friend’s basement, and we’re watching MTV music videos at full blast. Soon, we see three skinny, pale guys dressed in ‘70s era undercover cop garbs with fake mustaches running wild through alleyways. Their hideous striped ties and shaggy wigs fly in their faces. The music behind the... Continue Reading →
No CGI-infested, Jack Nicholson-spectacled, comic book-possessed entry of the Batman filmography can ever top the mastery behind Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). When it was first released, this masterpiece with wings had three audiences: One for the sequel of Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), one for another interpretation of what was the sixth Batman-related... Continue Reading →
I love my unique first name. Even with its immediate connection to the presidential race dropout, Senator Bernie Sanders, I find my Bernie identity special. Heck, I’m the second youngest Bernie I know! Before Sanders, people used to associate my name to the comedy, Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), in which the titular character’s murdered body... Continue Reading →
Although this Steven Soderbergh thriller is a bit dated, its subject matter couldn’t be any more timely. As the Coronavirus continues to make headlines and possibly touch the lives of people we know, a sense of fear is expected. For me, the manufactured fear found in movies is a necessary antidote. Contagion suffices (for now).... Continue Reading →
Take it from Alan Alda in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) when he says, “If it bends, it’s funny. If it breaks, it’s not funny.” The same can be said about thrillers and horrors where suspension of disbelief is so fragile, the moment you push the otherworldly button too soon or too forcefully, you break the... Continue Reading →
There’s a reason Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times placed Ford v Ferrari as his top film of 2019: It is a refreshingly uncontrived look at male camaraderie, and it revitalizes the sports movie genre, even if you have a low motorsports IQ. Yes, there are several mentionings of 427-cubic-inch big-block engines, GT40 acronyms,... Continue Reading →
Two grown men are stranded on a remote island with flatulence abound. This is not going to be a popular mainstream movie. Add black and white photography, an alien dialect of 1890s New England, and the claustrophobia of a shoddy lighthouse, most Marvel Comic Universe fanatics will tear their hair out. For me, The Lighthouse... Continue Reading →
The content (people who still actually believe the earth is flat) may be more fascinating than its basic execution, but this doc succeeds by not judging its subjects and simply hitting the record button. The “flat-earthers” kind of just do their thing, and we might roll our eyes as much as feel sorry for them.... Continue Reading →
Reely Bernie 