“Hello. My name is Robert Montague Renfield. And just like these decent folks, I’m in a destructive relationship. When I met him, I was a real estate lawyer hoping to make a deal that would change my life and my family’s lives forever. Oh, and it certainly did.”

After nearly 90 years, the Universal horror cycle stands as one of the most enduring collection of horror movies today. Their influence on modern horror is unmistakable. There have been literally thousands of incarnations of Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster, but the first image that comes to your mind will always be the nightmare creations of those Universal films. Studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. was trying to break away from his father’s control and create a studio culture of his own. The results would start in 1931 when an unknown Hungarian actor named Bela Lugosi jumped from the stage to the screen in Dracula, directed by Tod Browning.
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Well, I’d say this film was right in Gerald Butler’s wheelhouse. Teaming with Ric Roman Waugh for the third time of his career (it’s worth noting that two additional partners are already planned in the form of sequels for both the Has Fallen franchise and Greenland 2), Butler plays a undercover CIA agent who finds himself on the run and hunted. With only one ally, he has a little more than a day to traverse dangerous terrain while trying to stay one step ahead of those who hunt him. So while the concept of this film is not really original, the film does make up for the lack of originality by providing a adrenaline-filled experience with a healthy does of suspense. Joining Butler are Vikings’ Travis Fimmel and Navid Negahban, both of whom provide excellent backup to Butler.
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“Never accept death when suffering is owed.”

So I think it safe to say that when it comes to the Fast and Furious franchise, it is no longer about cars or street racing any more. In the beginning it felt like we were getting a window into a secret underground world that spanned multiple continents. However, I would say that is no longer the case. Dom and his family have gone legit. Not only have they gone legit, but they now unofficially work for the government in some capacity. No, it is no longer about the cars and street racing any more. In fact, I would go as far as to say that we aren’t tuning in to see them use their skills on the behalf of the government, either. There is one thing that keeps us coming back for more. We want to see what over-the-top, outrageous, death-defying, impossible stuff they are going to do next.
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“In the 1940’s, a new genre – film noir – emerged from the world of hard-boiled pulp magazines, paperback thrillers, and sensational crime movies. These films, tough and unsentimental, depicted a black and white universe at once brutal, erotic, and morally ambiguous.”

Film Noir officially started in the 40’s, but the movement was well underway by the early 30’s. You can trace its roots to the Great Depression and the arrival of the dime pulp magazines. These were highly stylized, mostly mystery stories that provided cheap escapism for the masses who were not having a good time of it. Writers like Raymond Chandler crafted the mold that was easily transferred to the silver screen. These were low-budget films that were intended to be second billing with the more mainstream releases. They were shot quickly. Many have a very flat look, created intentionally. The lighting was often minimal, crafting odd shadows and unusual textures. The dialog wasn’t intended to be natural or realistic. These characters usually spoke in clichés and had names like Mac, Griff, or Dollface. There was often a shade of gray to these characters.
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“There ain’t any jail of steel or stone that can hold a body prisoner as tight as one built of old age … and lack of money.”

If I Had A million is a rare kind of film for 1932. The industry was barely out of the silent era, and stories needed to be tight and usually short. Short was the word of the day for this film. It became the first feature film to be released as an anthology with plenty of A-list stars and several directors, each taking on their own little piece of the pie. It was a rather brilliant idea for the time, but sadly this style of filmmaking wouldn’t really start to catch on until the 1970’s, starting almost exclusively with horror films and later creating its own little niche genre in mainstream filmmaking.
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“I cannot – yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do “must” and “cannot” meet? Yet I must – but I cannot!”

Often it seems some films were made to collect a mantle-full of awards. For some it’s the Oscars they covet. For others it might be a Golden Globe award or even a People’s Choice Award. As a member of two critics’ guilds, I have to make these assessments every year. I know how important these accolades can be for a film and the people who created it. But there’s one award that films (almost) never set out to obtain. Still it can provide endurance for a film and help new audiences to embrace it. I’m talking about those Golden Turkey awards, and few films ever made deserve the Golden Turkey than 1953’s Robot Monster. When you hear folks talk about how monstrous that movie is … they’re not talking about the creature itself.
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In 2017 What the Waters Left Behind made some waves as a horror film that came out of Argentina.  It was shot on a pretty low budget, but it seems it was successful enough to warrant a sequel. I actually stumbled across What the Waters Left Behind on a streaming service one late night when I couldn’t sleep. The film is pretty much made for late-night viewing; it has a fun midnight movie vibe. The first film follows a group of documentary filmmakers that are traveling to the town of Epecuen that was wiped out in the 80’s, and the filmmakers want to check out the ruins of the town. What follows is a fun Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets The Hills Have Eyes romp filled with plenty of gore and the terrible demise of this film crew that wandered where they didn’t belong. Now it is five years later, and we have the sequel What the Waters Left Behind: Scars.  This was unexpected, but just what did I think about this Latin-flavored bloodfest? Well, it’s pretty much what I expected, and that’s a good thing.
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“Who’s ready for contact poker?”

The first season of Your Honor was very much a contact sport. The first 20 minutes was some of the most compelling television I’ve ever seen. Bryan Cranston started us off as the titular judge Michael Desiato. He’s known as a tough but fair judge. He’s got a pretty good life until his son makes a fatal mistake and sets the series on its course. Adam has an early morning accident where he runs down another teen and leaves him for dead. Michael’s first reaction is of course for Adam to turn himself in to the police. But at the station he learns the victim was the son of the local mob boss, Jimmy Baxter, played ruthlessly by Michael Stuhlberg. Michael knows that if Jimmy finds out who killed his son, he’ll kill Adam. So the first season covers his elaborate plan to cover up the crime. That meant asking his childhood friend, local politician Charlie Figaro, to help get rid of the car.
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Not sure if this film will go down in history for any real significant impact. However, there is one important gem to take away from this film: this is the movie where the king of cool found his queen. That’s right, The Experts is the movie in which John Travolta met Kelly Preston, and the rest, I suppose, is history, as the two went on to have a nearly thirty-year marriage until her tragic death in 2020. In the film, it is quite fitting that the two served as each other’s love interests, despite some clear geopolitical differences. I’d say that is putting it mildly given that Preston is a Russian sleeper agent and Travolta is the unwitting American who is teaching her to pass for American.
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I was expecting a stereotypical action movie chock full of cheesy one-liners. Not quite what I got. There were one or two cheesy one-liners, such as “cleanup on aisle 3.”  However, for the most part, I’d say Stone Cold holds its own in the entertainment category. Serving as the acting debut for former NFL linebacker Brian Bosworth, I’d say the film served as a solid opening to an on-and-off acting career. In this showing, Bosworth stars as a cop with a reputation for excessive force and maverick-like methods for getting the job done. After his latest stunt lands him a three-week suspension, he finds himself at the mercy of the FBI, who want to use him for a undercover operation, which many others would consider a suicide mission. Rounding out the cast are William Forsythe of Sam McMurray, Richard Gant, and Lance Henriksen serving as the film’s big bad. For a 30-year-old movie, I’d say that the film held up well in regards to action and dialog.
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“Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

That is all that was heard when George Foreman won his first heavyweight championship. He entered that match an underdog despite his superior size and reach, and he shocked the world when he knocked the then-undefeated Frazier down six times on his way to TKO victory. However, that is just where he journey begins. Thanks to Big George Foreman, we get to see his journey in its entirety, in one of the most accurate and faithful biographical adaptations that I’ve ever seen. Key thing to know about me: I am a big boxing fan, so any opportunity I have to enjoy a movie about a boxing legend is a good day. This is no exception, as my knowledge about this hall-of-famer, such as his hard upbringing and the fact that he gave all his sons the same name, was limited; Big George Foreman, at least for me, shone a light on a boxing figure who probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.
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In 1986, long before Luc Besson gave us such classics as Taken, The Fifth Element, or Leon: The Professional, he helped co-write and produce the wacky sci-fi/thriller Kamikaze.  I’m a fan of Besson, and not only had I never seen this film, I had never heard of it, so I was more than happy to check it out. In my opinion Luc Besson is one of the best action filmmakers out there. Whether he is writing, directing, or producing, he manages to put out an enjoyable product on a more consistent basis than many others.  If you are unfamiliar with the guy’s work, go ahead and take a moment to check him out on IMDB, and I’m pretty sure you’ll find a few titles on his resume that you’ve enjoyed.  Now in the 80’s you can say he was still cutting his teeth and trying to make a name for himself and had some moderate success. Subway (1985) is a fun little standout, and in 1988 he had The Big Blue.  In that time he handed off the script for Kamikaze to Didier Grousset, his Assistant Director from Subway, to direct the film, and as they say, the rest is history.
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“The year: 1187 A.D. The Saracens of Asia swept over Jerusalem and the Holy Land, crushing the Christians to death or slavery.”

The Crusades is the name of a 2023 comedy that was recently released, and it’s a comedy in the Animal House tradition, and it’s what you’ll get if you try to do any quick title searches on that name. But buried beneath all of that beer and vomit, you might discover a more obscure (today) film from 1935 directed by the mythic Cecil B. DeMille. And you won’t find any frat parties or beer kegs anywhere in this historical epic. The time and place are the Christian Crusades to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslim tyrant Saladin, the onetime Sultan of Islam.
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This 1975 Burt Reynolds film is nothing like I expected, and for the most part I’d say that is a good thing. When I first picked up the title, I pretty much expected this to be a fun yet somewhat forgettable action film from the 70s, something in the same vein as Stick or Gator, but instead this is a more complex story that takes many strange twists and has an ending that was pretty unexpected. The film was directed by Robert Aldrich, who was fresh off of directing The Longest Yard and also to his credit directed one of my favorite war films, The Dirty Dozen.  Aldrich is one of those directors who I’d put in the same category as Don Siegel who were just fantastic at directing “tough-guy” films that just oozed testosterone in just about every frame.  In other words, directors that Hollywood would try to cancel in a heartbeat if they were working today. That being said, this is one of those films that is a product of the time it was made, and it has enough offensive moments that would make a modern audience want to stand up and protest, and, well, it’s what makes me like this film a little more than I should.
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