Living for the Cinema

The original Die Hard released in 1988 remains one of THE most influential movies of all time as it pretty much set the template for dozens and dozens of action films to follow....just over eight years after it was first released, this was the first one to transport that core story to an ice hockey arena. :)In the lead role of a John McClane-like hero, it starred the "Muscles from Brussels" at the peak of his popularity, ...

HAPPY 300TH EPISODE - Thanks to all listeners and subscribers for your continued support!!! :)

The acclaimed writer/director of Ex Machina and Annihilation has returned to deliver his largest production yet, a dystopian war drama taking place in a possible future where the USA (no longer) is now experiencing its SECOND Civil War as several states have seceded from the Union resulting in an ongoing brutal conflict among se...

Dev Patel, the Oscar-nominated star of acclaimed films such as Slumdog Millionaire and Lion, has become the latest Hollywood actor to take his career in a new direction.....by directing this propulsive revenge action thriller taking place in a fictional city within India modeled on Mumbai.  Patel also stars as "Kid" who is a young drifter on a mission to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of corrupt local politic...

Back in the early days of the comic book movies, it was rare to see one released to theaters which was not only financially successful but also generally beloved by fans.  There were the Batman films....and then everything else including The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and Dick Tracy.  But just under thirty years, one came out which not only proved to be both financially successful and hugely influential for so many other subgenre films...

Thirty-five years ago this May, we first saw the release of a relatively small action drama starring then movie star Patrick Swayze as THE Greatest Bouncer/Cooler around who has been hired to clean up a troubled roadside bar in Missouri named the Double Deuce.  The character's name was Dalton and he DID clean up that bar along with the surrounding town of Jasper, defeating the evil Brad Wesley played by Ben Gazzara.    Directe...

Every major filmmaker has to start somewhere....and this Neo-Noir thriller was the feature filmmaking debut for Joel and Ethan Coen forty years ago.  Yes the same brothers who have delivered many memorable films since then including Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou, Inside Llewelyn Davis, and No Country For Old Men for which they won Best Picture at the Oscars.  This is the simple story of four people in the heart ...

As we approach Baseball Opening Day 2024, what better way to celebrate than to revisit one of the more beloved baseball films of the 1980's, a comedy with heart focusing on a true underdog franchise, the Cleveland Indians?  Directed by David S. Ward, the story focuses on one Cinderella season for the ballclub which is now under the control of a new owner (Margaret Whitton) who is determined to have them lose enough games to ki...

Welcome to the Living for the Max series.  Over the past 45 years, there has been no other film franchise QUITE as inventive nor as consistently exciting as The Mad Max Saga….four films mostly chronicling the post-apocalyptic adventures of lone wolf Max Roxatansky played three times by Mel Gibson and most recently by Tom Hardy.  As each film has been directed by Australian cinematic genius George Miller, they have each reflected hi...

What happens when a top-flight director (Walter Hill - 48 Hours, The Driver) decides to to spearhead a new original story blending various genres including gritty crime drama, rock musical, and star-crossed love story....also setting it within an unrecognizable urban setting and time period?  Well the result is one of the more bizarre financial flops of the 1980's which no one at the time truly knew what to make of....not crit...

Of all of the dozens of post-Pulp Fiction imitators to be released throughout the 1990's, this might be one of the more memorable ones even though it opened roughly 25 years ago to middling box office.  It director Doug Liman's follow-up to his seminal indie gem of just three years - Swingers - and while he once again kept the cast young and the locations limited to LA (and Las Vegas), he went a different route with the o...

In the lead-up to St. Patrick's Day, what better time to celebrate than to revisit what is considered by some to be a modern crime drama classic focusing on the Irish mafia?  Directed by Phil Joanou (Three O'Clock High), this story focuses on Terry (Sean Penn) who has recently moved back to the old neighborhood - Hell's Kitchen in New York City - and decides to join a "Westie" gang which includes his childh...

What better way to celebrate March Madness than to revisit a basketball movie which actually isn't a basketball movie but does still feature lots of basketball.....sorta? :) Benny and Josh Safdie followed up their breakout success of a couple of years prior - the extremely tense urban thriller Good Time starring Robert Pattinson - with an even TENSER crime thriller starring Adam Sandler as a fast-talking New York jeweler who a...

This is the story of a bored suburban housewife Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) who finds herself drawn to reading personal ads and becomes especially interested in those featuring a mysterious woman named Susan (Madonna) who she ends up sorta stalking. And through a series of unfortunate events, Roberta inadvertently becomes mistaken for Susan while also getting amnesia. :o Along the way she ends up striking up a romance with a charmin...

Kicking off Women's History Month, here is a truly unique take on one of the most famous (or infamous) monarchs in the history of French royalty.  Kirsten Dunst stars as the eponymous Queen married to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) - their reign lasted from 1774 through 1793 and happened to be during one of the most tumultuous periods in French history.  Though you would be forgiven for not noticing this for most of their ...

Since we are apparently still several years away from the next Star Wars or Star Trek movie on the big screen, director Denis Villeneuve has given us the next best thing....or maybe something even better? :) 

This long-awaited sequel to the Oscar nominated sci-fi blockbuster Part 1 picks up EXACTLY where the previous film left off.....Paul (Timothee Chalomet) and Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) now venturing on the desert plane...

The Coen Brothers are back!  Well actually just one of them (Ethan Coen) but he's here to direct while also co-writing and co-producing with his wife and long-term Coen's collaborator Tricia Cooke.  And what they have collaborated to deliver is an ambling, quirky, violent crime drama/comedy in the GREAT tradition of previous Coen Brothers' films like Burn After Reading, Fargo, or Raising Arizona.....but is it quite a...

Welcome to the Living for the Max series.  Over the past 45 years, there has been no other film franchise QUITE as inventive nor as consistently exciting as The Mad Max Saga….four films mostly chronicling the post-apocalyptic adventures of lone wolf Max Roxatansky played three times by Mel Gibson and most recently by Tom Hardy.  As everyone has been directed by Australian cinematic genius George Miller, they have each reflected his...