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film5000.bsky.social
I'm not a film critic, just a passionate movie buff. I was born in 1971, studied film in New York during the early ʼ90s, and have lived and worked on the outskirts of the industry all my adult life. Love reading about people's thoughts on cinema.
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My semi-annual ranked list of the Oscar Nominees. www.film5000.com/features/140...

If I wasn't already all in on Boston's indie cinema scene, I sure am now. www.cambridgeday.com/2025/01/23/s...

#84at40 #BeatStreet ★★ Solid Hollywood melodrama set in emerging world of NYC hip-hop incorporates all aspects of that culture--not just the dancing. Rae Dawn Chong & Guy Davis head up cast blending actors & authentic hip-hop practitioners for a winning combination. www.film5000.com/1984/beat-st...

#84at40 #Breakin2 ★★ Hastily produced sequel to hastily produced original, cashing in on surprise success of film cashing in on a craze. Breakin' turned out more enjoyable than it would seem to have right to, Breakin' 2 turned out better than the film it followed. www.film5000.com/1984/breakin...

#84at40 #Breakin ★★ Cannon Pictures capitalized on the breakdancing craze of the early '80s with this quicky exploration musical, which may lack any impressive dancing but has a quaint PG-rated charm. www.film5000.com/1984/breakin...

#84at40 #StreetsOfFire ★★ Walter Hill's "Rock 'n' Roll Fable" is a case of style over substance in which the style never gels. The casting and design are schizophrenic mixes of tones and eras that never come together but are kind of fascinating to look at. www.film5000.com/1984/streets...

#84at40 #Tank ★★+ James Garner is his affable self playing a soon-to-retire U.S. Army Command Sergeant with his own Sherman tank who runs afoul of the corrupt local sheriff in the small Georgia town he and his family are stationed. www.film5000.com/1984/tank/2637

#84at40 #BestDefense ★ In possibly the worst studio release of 1984, Dudley Moore plays a defense contractor shmuck, and last-minute "Strategic Guest Star" Eddie Murphy is the tank commander who eventually suffers the outcome of Moore's engineering incompetence. www.film5000.com/1984/best-de...

#JimHensonIdeaMan ('24) ★★★+ Exploring the enigmatic Henson's personal life as much as career, Ron Howard is the latest to create a fascinating documentary about the tragically short but incredibly productive life of the man who redefined puppetry and television. www.film5000.com/2024/jim-hen...

#TheOldOak ('24) ★★★ Latest, maybe last from Ken Loach is simple tale about pub owner caught up in tensions between bitter, racist customers and newly arrived Syrian refugees. Strong performances all around bring out the best in Paul Laverty's on-the-nose dialogue. www.film5000.com/2024/the-old...

#EvilDoesNotExist ('24) ★★+ Hamaguchi's latest is an inscrutable man vs nature tale about a rural village confronted with a poorly planned real estate project. Much is mesmerizing but either too complicated or too simplistic (depending on how you read the ending). www.film5000.com/2024/evil-do...

#ISawTheTVGlow ('24) ★★★ With this sophomore outing, Jane Schoenbrun continues to creepily and effectively explore their generation's distinctive experience of loneliness, active imagination, and looking to screens for identity and self-actualization. www.film5000.com/2024/i-saw-t...

#Furiosa ('24) ★★★ George Miller's follow-up to his magnificent legasequel reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road, makes most of the frustrating choices typical of origin stories, and Anya Taylor-Joy is surprisingly strong in the titular role. www.film5000.com/2024/furiosa...

#indianajonesandthetempleofdoom ★★★+ #84at40 Revisiting this endlessly rewatchable classic on its 40th anniversary. So many embarrassing choices combined with so many wonderfully executed ideas. An unworthy sequel to Raiders?—maybe, but what the hell would be worthy? www.film5000.com/1984/indiana...

Completin' Friedkin. I revisited all of the films made by the maverick director #williamfriedkin last year. Such a fascinating career! www.film5000.com/features/721...

#84at40 #Reckless ★★★ This sincere and effective romantic drama about high schoolers from opposite sides of the track longing to escape a dying midwest steal town launched many impressive film careers. www.film5000.com/1984/reckles...

#84at40 #Splash ★★★★ The team that would soon become Imagine Films delivered this wonderful romantic comedy fable about a New Yorker who falls in love with a mermaid. Star-making performances by Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah ground the fantasy in genuine emotion. www.film5000.com/1984/splash/...

#84at40 #BachelorParty ★★+ Tom Hanks gives an excellent performance as a guy about to get married whose buddies attempt to treat him to one last night of debauchery in the low-brow comedy with many solid laughs. www.film5000.com/1984/bachelo...

#84at40 #Gwendoline ★ Tawny Kitaen, some colorful widescreen cinematography, and plenty of production value elevate Just Jaeckin's tedious T&A bondage adventure comedy. www.film5000.com/1984/the-per...

#WickedLittleLetters ('24) ★★+ Loosely based on a true story, this quaint English comedy of ill-manners stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley as warring neighbors involved in a scandal concerning anonymous point-pen letters. www.film5000.com/2024/wicked-...

#Problemista ('24) I found Julio Torres's semi-autobiographical surrealist comedy about a young immigrant who gets a job working for an NYC Art World outcast the most tedious debut feature since Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket. Feel free to take that as an endorsement. www.film5000.com/2024/problem...

#LoveLiesBleeding ('24) ★★★ Rose Glass's 2nd feature blends body horror and bodybuilding in this sexy, sweaty, small-town neo-noir in which the 2 leads are each equal parts Lana Turner and John Garfield, except that they're both also Linda Fiorentino. www.film5000.com/2024/love-li...

#LaChimera ('24) ★★+ A morose Brit returns to Italy and falls back in with a gang of archaeological thieves pursuing more Earthbound but no less elusive prizes. Rohrwacher’s romantic drama dabbles in whimsy where magical realism would have enticed more. www.film5000.com/2024/la-chim...

#WhenWillItBeAgainLikeItNeverWasBefore ('23) ★★★+ A captivating cast creates instantly relatable, lived-in characters in this coming-of-age story about growing up on the grounds of a large German psychiatric hospital as the son of the institution's director. www.film5000.com/2023/when-wi...

#TheBeast ('24) ★★★ The magnificent Léa Seydoux embodies 3 different characters who are possibly all the same woman in Bertrand Bonello's romantic sci-fi adaption of Henry James by way of David Lynch, Abbas Kiarostami, James Cameron, and Bret Easton Ellis. www.film5000.com/2024/la-bete...

#DunePartTwo ('24) ★★★ Vastly superior 2nd installment of Villeneuve's blockbuster adaptation of the beloved 1965 sci-fi novel proves what a waste of time Part 1 was. Watching this, one can imagine what an epic roadshow single film this could have been. www.film5000.com/2024/dune:-p...

#DriveAwayDolls ★★★ ('24) Ethan Coen's 1st solo foray is almost as fun and funny as the best Coen Bros. pictures. Qualley plays Georgy Clooney to Viswanathan's John Turturro in a tale of pals who take an impromptu road trip in a car with a suitcase full of trouble. www.film5000.com/2024/drive_a...

#CoupDeChance ('24) ★★ Woody Allen has been creeping to a halt for the past decade+, and this insubstantial but gorgeous trifle would be a perfectly serviceable movie to go out on; another light, stylish drama about adultery and murder among the rich and beautiful. www.film5000.com/2024/coup-de...

#CivilWar ('24) ★★ Alex Garland forgoes narrative logic and character motivation, injecting almost no politics, religion, or racial ideology into his dystopian near-future tale about journalists covering a domestic hot war between indeterminable factions. www.film5000.com/2024/civil-w...

#84at40 #Iceman ★★★ A Neanderthal Man frozen in ice for 40,000 years is brought back to life by a group of arctic researchers in this intriguing work of straightforward speculative fiction with a strong cast that features a mesmerizing John Lone in the titular role. www.film5000.com/1984/iceman/...

#84at40 #UpTheCreek ★ One of the less creative attempts at copying the slobs-vs-snobs ethos of Animal House and Caddyshack stars two vets from the Delta House and one from Porky's but borrows its best stuff from Race For Your Life Charlie Brown. www.film5000.com/1984/up-the-...

#84at40 #MoscowOnTheHudson ★★★ Robin Williams gives a touching, understated, humanist performance as a Moscow circus musician who defects while on tour in NYC in Paul Mazursky's sweet, wistful, somewhat languid, romantic drama. www.film5000.com/1984/moscow-...

#84at40 #RomancingTheStone ★★★★ Screenwriter Diane Thomas, producer/star Michael Douglas, director Robert Zemeckis, and radiant lead Kathleen Turner are pitch-perfect in this gem of a film that brought a fresh perspective and light touch to the action/adventure genre www.film5000.com/1984/romanci...

#84at40 #GreystokeTheLegendOfTarzanLordofTheApes ★★★ Big-budget highbrow telling of Burroughs' oft-filmed pulp story about a manchild raised by apes is brought to life by Hudson, Alcott, Coates, a solid cast of actors in period garb and amazing Rick Baker ape suites. www.film5000.com/1984/greysto...

#84at40 #AgainstAllOdds ★★+ Gorgeous actors and beautiful locations can't quite compensate for inert screenwriting in Taylor Hackford's in-premise-only remake of Jacques Tourneur and Daniel Mainwaring’s untouchably iconic Out of the Past. www.film5000.com/1984/against...

#84at40 #ElNotre ★★★★ Gregory Nava & Anna Thomas' stunning melodrama is still the quintessential film about migrants journeying from an unsafe homeland to follow the dream of getting to America only to discover the "promised land" holds a different set of challenges. www.film5000.com/1984/el-nort...

#84at40 #RacingWithTheMoon ★★★ Stellar performances by young stars Penn, McGovern, and Cage elevate Richard Benjamin's fine period drama, which feels like the authentic memories of a 60-year-old writer but, in fact, comes courtesy of 24-year-old Steve Kloves penning his first produced sec script.

#84at40 #PoliceAcademy ★★★ Second-tier slobs-vs-snobs comedy in the vein of Animal House, Caddyshack, and Stripes that nevertheless delivers an abundance of genuine laughs and is far more entertaining and progressive than many might presume. www.film5000.com/1984/police-...

#84at40 #TheLoveless ★★ Horney as hell, though not especially offensive, Peter Markle's soft-core Animal House On The Slopes is utterly devoid of humor but features a winning cast and LOTS of impressive downhill footage courtesy of sports photographer Warren Miller. www.film5000.com/1984/hot-dog...

#84at40 #TheLoveless ★★ The debut feature of director Kathryn Bigelow and star Willem Dafoe is part homage to '60s biker pictures, part nihilistic deconstruction of '50s nostalgia, but mostly an exercise in style over substance. www.film5000.com/1984/the-lov...

#84at40 #Angel ★★+ As wholesome and genuine as any exploration picture about a necrophiliac serial killer targeting hookers on Hollywood Blavard can be. Donna Wilkes leads a solid cast that includes Dick Shawn in his only non-caricature performance. www.film5000.com/1984/angel/2...

#84at40 Launching my look back on my favorite year of movies - 1984 www.film5000.com/1984

#Amanda ('23) ★★+ Benedetta Porcaroli gives a star-making turn in Carolina Cavalli's deadpan coming-of-age comedy, but you can't convince me this film wouldn't have been a full 50% better if Cavalli had forced herself to come up with an actual title. www.film5000.com/2023/amanda/...

#TheSweetEast ('23) ★★★ Talia Ryder plays a disaffected teen who travels through the US, witnessing the country through the lens of Sean Price Williams and the pen of Nick Pinkerton. What she sees makes the once vast and powerful nation seem small and pathetic. www.film5000.com/2023/the-swe...

#TheSuperMarioBrosMovie ('23) ★★ Pretty much what I'd expect from a big-budget modern animated feature based on Nintendo's signature video game. Actually, exactly what I'd expect from a big-budget, modern animated feature based on Nintendo's signature video game. www.film5000.com/2023/the-sup...

#PoorThings ('23) ★★★★ Stone gives a supremely confident tour de force performance as the creation of a mad scientist who embarks on a voyage of self-discovery and intellectual, political & sexual liberation in Yorgos Lanthimos's deceptive substance-over-style fable. www.film5000.com/2023/poor-th...

#TheIronClaw ('23) ★★★+ Sean Durkin's darkly affectionate tribute to professional wrestling explores the true story of the Von Erich family and the tragic complexities of trying to fulfill another person's dreams. www.film5000.com/2023/the-iro...