Going into “back in my day” old-man mode here, but when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for the Sears and JC Penney holiday catalogues to come out, so I could flip though the toy pages and get Christmas ideas.

I fucking hate Best Buy. I’ve only gone in a handful of times in the past several years, once to buy a camera and return it the next day after a wedding, once to buy some really cheap video games that weren’t in stock elsewhere, and MHW a few weeks ago, because it was sold out and I didn’t want to buy it digitally.

Here in my city they had a big giraffe statue above the front door which always drew me, emotionally. When the store closed many years ago, that giant statue ended up outside a taxidermist’s business. It could be seen from the highway for years.

The Rocketeer was one of the best superhero movies ever. Fight me.

It’s for people who got upset that their furby was useless.

We all know film violence doesn’t translate into real life violence, so why are you mad about a pro-gun film at all? Seriously. Because you find the politics offensive? What do you think this film will cause, pro-gun...feelings? It won’t cause violence. You know it. You think a bunch of people will join the NRA and…

I’d like the Oscars to really focus on quality, rather than turning into the MTV Movie Awards. There always seems to be this temptation to inflate what was popular with what was good, and that worries me. Because Blade Runner lost money, does that make it bad? There are people who would argue that. I think Black…

I disagree. I think it’s insane that during a four-hour presentation we—well, not we, I didn’t watch it—have to sit through songs and skits and “Where am I?” speeches from Academy presidents, etc., but no one getting an actual Oscar can speak for more than 20 seconds. (And the whole “getting played off” concept is…

It’s icky to see Hollywood trying to celebrate itself and reckon with itself at the same time. They clap for themselves one second and then whip themselves the next. 

Not surprised.

True about how many great Hitchcock movies that could be on the list. I haven’t seen The Leopard Man so that’s on my To Watchlist now. But I would include Shadow of a Doubt (1943) to the nominee list. And both Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright should have been nominated for acting awards.

Re: Brief Encounter (which I absolutely agree with as a choice) Mike writes: “Happily married woman (Celia Johnson) meets attractive single man (Trevor Howard) and they fall passionately, miserably in love.”

No “Night of the Hunter” in 1956, I guess? It came out in ‘55. Amazing film, beautiful, haunting cinematography and Lillian Gish with a shotgun. Robert Mitchum’s preacher looks all too familiar these days.

Agreed. It's called "Run The Series" and that's what we expect. Watch all the goddamn movies. This piece is weak not only because he didn't finish the series (and if you're not going to buy it off Amazon for less than $6, find it online somwehere, jeesh!) But also because the final Death Wish is twenty years after the…

It's called a "business expense." To write about a film series for an entertainment website & not see every film in the series (especially if they are all available) is a disservice to the reader & makes the writer look like a chump, but to include a Final Ranking List and rate the film you didn't see dead last makes…

"I’ll cop to not being able to revisit the fifth film for this piece (it’s not on Netflix Instant or Amazon), which probably is just as well."

Bronson WAS capable of being a good actor.
And specifically, Bronson was a good SUPPORTING actor. That's why he was so good in all those classic "Manly Ensemble" movies in the 1960s.

The thing that tears my heart out about the original Death Wish is the tenderness between Paul Kersey and his wife, which makes his feeling of loss that much deeper. The scene where he looks through the vacation photos gets me in the heart every time (and Herbie Hancock's music for that scene makes it that much more…

It all leads back to Dirty Harry, really. And Eastwood was offered the part of Paul Kersey but turned it down. The major difference though is that the follow-up film Magnum Force turned it inside out in a way, with the character battling cops implementing a more militarized version of the justice he meted out in the…

That's something that does kinda get glossed over when we talk about these reactionary guy shoots all the criminals in the face movies from the 70's and early 80's was that a lot of big cities genuinely were crime ridden hellholes.