Retro Reviews & More

BATMAN (1966-1968) TRICKY TREACHEROUS TRIVIA! STICKY SLIPPERY STATS! I am choosy about, well, everything I watch, but today it's specifically campy content. As a rule, camp is no more a deterrent than it is an incentive to watch something; it is just helpful to me to know going in when I am otherwise interested in whatever it is. The absolute key to selling camp to an audience is that there is no self-awareness among the characters. This is where the 1960s television series and theatrical film, Batman , excel, in my opinion. The entire cast, led by the late great Adam West as Bruce Wayne and titular character, act as though they were not in on the joke. So popular during its short run, it became a point of honor to be a guest villain, attracting the likes of Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Art Carney, Vincent Price, and even musicians such as Liberace and Eartha Kitt. Here are some statistics and trivia mostly regarding these appearances. Please note: Batman followed a two-episode...

This is a new category of post, entitled "Into The Fray." It takes a topic and pits films, as an example, against each other with criteria to score each to declare a winner, at least in my opinion. Before we get into the fray each time, I will state two sets of criteria. The first is to pick the contenders, and the second will be to grade each. Oftentimes, there will inevitably be some overlap of the two sets. Finally, I will write a passage about each film, scoring it in each category, and score it overall. Into The Fray: Sequels What makes a great sequel? I am sure that question has nearly as many answers as people who would answer. For me, it is simple and threefold. First, the original film must be good. Second, a sequel must logically follow the previous film(s), including warranting being made in the first place. This can, of course, include an entry in a planned series of films, but the right story can follow a film that previously stood alone. The main thing is it add...

Underappreciated, Likewise For the past two weeks, my subject has been underappreciated films with a lower budget (an estimated $25M is the top end) and not part of an established intellectual property. This is the last film of three that I had in mind for the time being. I began with Joe Versus the Volcano , and continued last week with 2002's Equilibrium . To be underappreciated is for a film to garner a low critical opinion and/or audience reaction, when it deserved better. The Last Ride (2011) | Biographic Drama I am a large fan of bio-pics, particularly those whom the subject is a musician. On Blu-ray or DVD, our (my family and I) collection includes 8 Seconds , 42 , Amadeus , Big Eyes , The Book of Daniel , The Book of Esther , The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith , The Buddy Holly Story , The Case for Christ , Coal Miner's Daughter ,  Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story , Ed Wood , Goodbye Christopher Robin , I Can Only Imagine , I Saw the Light , Joseph: King of Dreams , La Bamba...

Underappreciated, Too Last week , I started a short series on underappreciated films with 1990's Joe Versus the Volcano . There are certainly films with large budgets that did not find its audience to make projected profits and/or find its critical acclaim. But, this series is not about those. To succinctly restate my personal definition of underappreciated, it deserved better than the response it received. Here is the second of three underappreciated films, again in my opinion. Equilibrium (2002) | Dystopian Sci-Fi Action To compare the repetitious and formulaic nature of many romantic comedies last week, I briefly mentioned films of the action genre made in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of them during this time contain strings of attempts at cool visuals, one-liners, etc., over true substance. The best action films weave these tropes and clichés with the staples of a good movie when disregarding genre. There are films released during these two decades that did just that such as the...