Reely Bernie Faves: Cinema Paradiso (1988)
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…
Reely Bernie Faves: So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
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…
Reely Bernie Faves: Shadowlands (1993)
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…
Reely Bernie Faves: Steve Jobs (2015)
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…
Reely Bernie Faves: ¡Three Amigos! (1986)
“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…
“Greatest” ≠ “Favorite” Movies
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…
Don’t Shoot the Piano Player: Tonic (2023)
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…
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
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…
Starting 2023 with Skinamarink
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…
Reely Bernie’s Top Ten of 2022
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…
Reely Bernie’s Top 5 Worst Movies of 2022
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…
A Warm Hug from The Fabelmans
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…
Banshees of Inisherin an Ode to Loneliness
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”…
Reely Bernie Horror Fest: Double Feature!
Happy Halloween, good friends! I want to thank Max at PowerPop for recommending It’s Alive (1974) and John at The Quick Flick Critic for recommending Prophecy (1979) as my final two horror movies to watch and review before the day of spooks vanishes into the night. It just so happens that both schlocky B movies…
Tár Crescendos to the Top of the Year
“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…
Reely Bernie Horror Fest: Nitram (2021)
“He was laughing at my pain…like it was the funniest thing in the world.” Origin/Director: Australia/Justin Kurzel Viewings Tally: Recommended on Letterboxd. This was my first viewing. Categorically, not a horror movie, but as a character study, this couldn’t be any more horrific. Synopsis: Based on true events, “Nitram” lives with his parents in suburban…
Reely Bernie Horror Fest: The Baby’s Room (2006)
“Our house was sold five times in the last three years. Does that sound normal to you?!” Origin/Director: Spain/Álex de la Iglesia Viewings Tally: I had never seen it before, nor heard of it. It was highly recommended by my friends on Letterboxd, and I purchased it for rent via Amazon Prime. Synopsis: Juan and…
Reely Bernie Horror Fest: Watcher (2022)
“I’ve always wanted to live an aimless existence in Bucharest; smoking cigarettes and scaring my neighbors with my hysterics.” Origin/Director: United Arab Emirates, USA, Romania/Chloe Okuno Viewings Tally: I realize there are literally over 20 movie titles with the word “Watcher” in them. There’s even a Netflix series coming out soon called “The Watcher.” (How…
Score: A Film Music Doc (2016)
“We’re the last people on earth who – on a daily basis – commission orchestral music. Without us, the orchestras might disappear…” -Hans Zimmer As a high school music teacher for 20 years and an avid moviegoer, I’m not sure how this one got away from me, but it showed up for free on my…
Upholding the Mystery in What Is David Bowie
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…
Idris Elba’s Pièce de Résistance for Three Thousand Years
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…
Reely Bernie Horror Fest: You Won’t Be Alone (2022)
IT’S A WICKED THING THIS WORLD. Origin/Director: Australia and Serbia/Goran Stolevski Viewings Tally: This was my first viewing! I wanted to make sure to include a recent horror release in my lineup. Synopsis: In an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young feral witch accidentally kills a peasant. She assumes the peasant’s shape…
The Found Footage Phenom.
“When found footage is done well, it feels like you’re watching real people in real situations. And that means that there are real stakes. It’s subversive.” Origin/Director: USA/Phillip Escott, Sarah Appleton Viewings Tally: This was my first viewing! It was recommended to me by some friends via the Letterboxd app. If you’re a found footage…
Reely Bernie Horror Fest: Killer Legends
“Every town has its legends. Every neighborhood has its boogeymen. ” Origin/Director: USA/Joshua Zeman Viewings Tally: This was my first viewing! I saw and enjoyed Joshua Zeman’s Cropsey in 2009 and was intrigued by the urban myth he grew up with on Staten Island during the 80s. Synopsis: Delving into our collective nightmares, this horror-documentary…
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