An American tourist in Russia
I finally got around to watching the 2022 Russian war film The Best In Hell, and was underwhelmed. Not unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless. A thoughtful and poignant Ukraine war film would actually be valuable now. The Best In Hell parades itself as such a film, but underdelivers and focuses on all the wrong things. The … Read more
The movie depicts Nazi Germany in its final days and hours, which is fine. But I could not help but feel something bubbling beneath the surface. Angry resentment. Downfall, as the name directly implies, is supposedly about the end of the war that destroyed Germany. But that is not quite it. Even the word “downfall” … Read more
I recently re-visited the iconic 1996 alien invasion movie Independence Day. This was my first watch-through an adult, and I’m glad to say it was just as enjoyable as when I was a kid. My verdict for Independence Day is that most of the negative professional criticism is unfair, but I must also admit that … Read more
I’m going to share with you a classic 1947 American Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street., an excellent case study for propaganda in opening days of the Cold War. Miracle on 34th Street is a great romantic comedy and I love this movie, but I have to recognize that all the moral lessons are really terrible. And … Read more
After recently giving the trilogy a re-watch, some elements of the story struck me differently than when I saw them as a kid. The original RoboCop film in 1987 is one of those movies that tells a great standalone story, and the best test of this was that there were enough themes and ideas that … Read more