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 stopped taking the Oscars seriously in 1999 when Steven Spielberg won Best Director, but his epic Saving Private Ryan did not win Best Picture. Wouldn’t the “Best” Director have directed the “Best” Picture? No, the forgettable, Harvey Weinstein-produced Shakespeare in Love took the glory, and you can now find DVD copies of it near... Continue Reading →
I am only 5 years old, running aimlessly around the neighborhood cul de sac like any 5-year-old would do. “Poltergeist is playing, Poltergeist is playing!” yells “Deedoo,” my next-door neighbor who is one year younger than me. I have no idea what “Poltergeist” is. Is it a TV show maybe having something to do with... Continue Reading →
Jaws (1975), Alien (1979), and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) are so mind-numbingly effective because we, the audience, never get to see the very thing causing the horror until the end. Our own minds do the wandering and second-guessing, and once the suspense reaches a breaking point—BAM!—you’re gonna need a bigger boat, the alien ends up having... Continue Reading →
With the crisp coolness of fall in the air, I figured it was time to dig out my Goonies CD. (Not the amazing soundtrack with Cyndi Lauper, mind you, but the Dave Grusin film score.) Without a doubt, the “Fratelli Chase” scene is the most inspiring, uplifting film motif of my life. (You have heard... Continue Reading →
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) perfected the adventure movie and broke new ground on the relic hunting culture we see on our screens today. Let’s face it: Without Raiders, there would be no Dora the Explorer, National Treasure, Nathan Drake, or even Animal Crossing! The hunt for the holy relic is in our blood,... Continue Reading →
Never have I been so deep-seated in a journey through the shrapnel-infested bloodshed of war and my theatre chair at the same time. I blame it all on the camera work. As British soldiers Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) deliver a message to higher authority to end an invasion against a retreating German... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
"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 Prime Video... Continue Reading →
Reely Bernie 