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!
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 →
“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 →
"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 →
Quarantine. Lockdown. Shelter in place. No one would have guessed such dystopian, sci-fi concepts would become a reality for the last three months of our lives. L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies could empathize. He broke his leg and has been wheelchair-ridden in his small, quaint New York City apartment for six weeks. The once renowned freelance photojournalist... Continue Reading →
Top Ten lists are the most personal, subjective, and ludicrous arrangements in the universe. If there’s one essential purpose to their existence, it’s that they instigate conversation, harmless controversy, and passionate opinion sharing. Ambiguous weight is placed on terms like “Top,” “Greatest,” or “Most Influential.” Overall, I think these lists we make are simply our... Continue Reading →
I realize I'm alone in the (Marvel) universe when I say I’m not a fan of the tiresome outburst of comic book/superhero movies, and I see no point in differentiating the two descriptors because they, more or less, follow the same tiresome formula: Arrogant hero + desensitizing CGI +/- obligatory love interest + forgettable villain... Continue Reading →
Reely Bernie 