Probably my third review of this movie. Arguably the most rewatchable film ever made. It is for me anyway. I watch a lot of true crime shows. Especially those revolving around organized crime, i.e., The Mafia. Tonight it was a show about the Jimmy Burke crew that took down the Luftanza heist. At the time the biggest cash haul in American history. All made possible because of a low level street hood named Henry Hill. An associate of Jimmy Burke…

"Certainty." Sometimes it takes the strangest things in life to adequately articulate what you've had trouble giving voice to in your walk as a Christian. Or Jew. Or Buddhist. Pick your faith, brother. For me, though, I've always balked at anyone or any church that professes to know with certainty the mind and will of God. That sort of arrogance is not only off-putting but telling in the extreme. The same can be said of politics, but for once I'll…

In honor of the late great Olivia Hussy. I was SIX freaking years old when my sister took me to see this the year it came out! She was supposed to take me to see "The One and Only Genuine Family Band". A G rated Disney picture. Instead, I'm subjected to young nubile love and Shakespeare at the incomprehensible age of six. Thankfully, I have no actual memories of the traumatic event. The story is one that's passed around the…

Ensemble acting at its best. The only one better in my opinion being Glengarry Glen Ross. The stand out here, though, is Mickey Rourke, unrecognizable in his untarnished youth. Face like a Greek god. Everything about Diner feels like something out of your own past, even if your own life didn't resemble it at all! The honesty in the telling is so evident that right away you know its a memoir of the writers life. In this case the writer/director…

Watching the raw unfiltered talent of Giovanni Ribisi and Steve Zahn on Display for 90 minutes is a reminder of what acting is all about. The energy is insane and the timing is ridiculously spot on. Zahn rattling off his lines while spastically bouncing off the concrete walls of the local Quick-E Mart. Ribisi trying to make some sense of the world and his place in it. Those two together are the essence of organic acting. Slipping effortlessly into the…

I've reviewed this movie before but had nothing original to say at the time. Then again, who does? I've read reviews that are both thorough and exhausting. Filled with facts, figures, and salacious innuendo. Some of the reviews were even enlightening. But most are straight out of Wikipedia or film school textbooks. Not that I blame anyone for wanting to seem worthy of their own praise. I mean, what can you say about a movie that many of us believe…

So I'm watching this Feel Good movie from 1987, and guess what? I'm not feeling too good. Not because it's not funny and touching, cause it is. Even poignant, you might say. No, my ill mood has nothing to do with the movie itself. It's how this same film would be perceived had it been released at any point in the past eight years. Immediately, it would be tagged with that derogatory and dismissive term that no one seems to…

Have you ever witnessed a more bipolar film in your life? The first part is like stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting. To an America that only ever existed in one's rose colored memories. Yet it's exactly how most of us would like it to be. A place where the Golden Rule is the rule and not the exception. Where the only naughty aspects of life are in well placed innuendos and sly little winks. An America that only a…

When it comes to Christmas I totally agree with the main character in Feast of the Seven Fishes, that Christmas is a blank canvas that each of us fills with the yuletide memories we experience during our childhood. That's why the disparity of opinions on so many of the Christmas movies and specials. To you, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. To me, it's nothing more than a great action caper. Take "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for example. For…