Tag Archives: movies

My Favorite Scene: Fight Club (1999) “Welcome to Fight Club”

“How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never really been in a fight?” Brad Pitt asks it of Edward Norton shortly after they meet, and people (particularly men) have been asking each other the question ever since David Fincher’s 1999 anarchic masterpiece was released.  Based on the equally (and oddly quite wise) novel by Chuck Palahniuk.  Fincher’s film is a unique and insightful look at the societal neutering of the American male.  I’m going to write this from the standpoint of one…since that’s what I happen to be.  Men are hard-wired for aggression.  We want to punch stuff.  We like to see things blow up, destroyed, and laid low.  We’re hunter-gatherers at our core.  Now we spend 40 hours a week in a sea of grey cubicles, and our weekends at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  There’s something missing.  We’re missing a key part of ourselves and it manifests in bottles of whiskey and Prozac.  We don’t know ourselves, because most of us haven’t been in a fight.  That’s why Fight Club (which didn’t do well in theaters) became a cult sensation.  It touched a nerve with men.  It was a revelation.
Continue reading My Favorite Scene: Fight Club (1999) “Welcome to Fight Club”

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Trailer 2 – 80 HD Screenshots and Breakdown


So how many times have you watched it?  I’m up to over a dozen viewings of The Last Jedi trailer, and I’ll be honest, my inner 10-year-old kept me up all night running through shots, amazingly cool things, HUGE questions, etc.  The wait was clearly worth it for the trailer, and I have no doubt it will for The Last Jedi proper.  OK, so we’ve watched it to death.  What are the big takeaways?

  • There’s going to be a duality of training: Snoke finally refining Kylo Ren’s power, and Luke initially appearing to agree to train Rey (remember this film will pick up exactly where Episode VII left off).
  • Luke realizes the full potential Rey has and completely freaks out.  It would seem that, at this point, he will stop her training.

Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

  • Not content at patricide, Kylo looks to be severing any connection left to the light, and the implication from the trailer is that he will hunt down and kill his mother.  We know, due to Carrie Fisher’s tragic death, that Leia’s storyline will finish in this film…things aren’t looking good for Leia (whose own storyline for the film wasn’t even touched on as was barely those for Poe, Finn, and Chewie).
  • Crait (the salt flat planet introduced in the last trailer) looks like it will be the scene of an epic battle on the surface, inside the planet (I’m assuming the Falcon is racing through Crait’s interior, but that’s pure speculation as is that the immense space battle is taking place above the mining planet), and over it.  What makes Crait so special?  I’m betting that’s the convergence of Leia, Poe, and Finn’s stories.

Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

  • The convergence of Kylo & Rey’s seems to indicate that Rey, frustrated by Luke’s refusal and with nowhere to turn, takes Ren up on his offer to teach her from Episode VII.  This could be a red herring, but Rey is going to end up in front of Snoke somehow.  Could it be the BIG GIANT TWIST is that Rey is going to join Ren and Snoke?  No, I don’t think so either, but it’s there for us to angst over for two months.
  • One more note: no duel featured in the trailer.  All lightsaber use is in training.  All episodic Star Wars films have a duel, and this will too, but with the interactions between Luke, Rey, Kylo, Snoke…who will be fighting who seems totally up in the air.
  • Rian Johnson seems to have put together a massive blend of action and character-driven drama, and I think we can pretend to know all we want, we’re still going to be surprised.  Now let’s dig deeeeeep.

Continue reading Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Trailer 2 – 80 HD Screenshots and Breakdown

American Assassin Trailer #3 (2017) *The Ultimate Weapon is Unleashed*

If you’re a fan of the Robert Ludlum/Tom Clancy military espionage thriller genre of novels, you may have discovered Vince Flynn when his literary career took off in the late 1990’s.  His main protagonist, Mitch Rapp, is a really interesting creation and I always enjoyed the series which is now being continued by author Kyle Mills since Flynn’s tragic death at only 47.  American Assassin is chronologically the first novel in the Rapp series, and the first three trailers for the film adaptation starring Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) and Michael Keaton is impressive and looks like it could be something to liven up the traditional doldrums of September when it debuts on September 15, 2017.
Dylan O'Brien and Michael Keaton in American Assassin

American Assassin Trailer #2 (2017) *It Takes One to Kill One*


If you’re a fan of the Robert Ludlum/Tom Clancy military espionage thriller genre of novels, you may have discovered Vince Flynn when his literary career took off in the late 1990’s.  His main protagonist, Mitch Rapp, is a really interesting creation and I always enjoyed the series which is now being continued by author Kyle Mills since Flynn’s tragic death at only 47.  American Assassin is chronologically the first novel in the Rapp series, and the first two trailers for the film adaptation (click here to watch the first) starring Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) and Michael Keaton is impressive and looks like it could be something to liven up the traditional doldrums of September when it debuts on September 15, 2017.
Michael Keaton, American Assassin

In Theaters This Week (6/09/2017): The Mummy, Megan Leavey, It Comes at Night

Kate Mara in Megan Leavey

Each Thursday we look at what is going to be coming out in theaters this weekend, show you the trailers for the big releases, predict the box office winner and just generally give you enough of a carrot to pull you through the rest of the work week.  Can The Mummy surprise and delight as Wonder Woman did last week?  It doesn’t look like it. Continue reading In Theaters This Week (6/09/2017): The Mummy, Megan Leavey, It Comes at Night