Category: Ric Review

Dirty Work There can be no doubt that perhaps the most underappreciated comedy genius of the 90s or even of all time is probably Norm McDonald, a guy who parlayed a laid back yet caustic comedic style into pure gold when he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in the early 90s and survived […]

District 9 Sometimes the use of allegory can make for the best of sci-fi movies, and this 2009 release (and rare Best Picture nominee for the genre) uses that all too well, in depicting how a race of 1 million+ aliens stranded on Earth is almost like a retelling of the apartheid saga from years […]

Disturbing Behavior What essentially is a high school set remake of The Stepford Wives nonetheless sadly relies upon the clichés of the teen horror genre to produce a disappointing effort that fails to draw the viewer in and take an interest in its story.  James Marsden (an actor that I do respect) stars as the […]

Django Unchained Quentin Tarantino has made nearly an entire career out of expressing his love for the types of films that most respected filmmakers turn their noses up at and the spaghetti western genre is no exception.  But only Tarantino would make a Western that is set in The American South in the 1850s (at […]

Doctor Detroit One thing that has often been said about the mid to late 70s heyday of Saturday Night Live was that as both a writer and performer, Dan Aykroyd had easily the sickest and most twisted sense of humor of any of the members of that crew, so much so that during the weekly […]

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story A big part of the reason for the obvious death of Modern American Comedy Cinema is the absolute dearth of new ideas for coming up with a concept that could actually be considered FUNNY.  This lack of inspiration has led to two things: First, the constant shoving in our faces […]

Dog Day Afternoon Back when he was considered one of the most dynamic acting phenomenons of the 1970s, Al Pacino starred in a number of what could be called his “bread and butter roles” (including Serpico and The Godfathers) that resulted in near unheard of critical accolades and a slew of Oscar nominations.  This release […]

Dogs Of War Coming off his star making, Oscar winning performance in 1978’s The Deer Hunter, Christopher Walken for a few years after was considered to be the next great acting sensation of the 20th century and with his Supporting Actor Oscar in the bag, he proceeded to field a number of leading roles, some […]

Domino You know it’s a sad sign of moviemaking when you get to a scene here where several of the main characters suddenly start tripping on mescaline, but the style of the film doesn’t change a bit because that’s the way the movie’s been riding all along. That’s what we get here from director Tony […]

Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut With this Director’s Cut, Richard Kelly’s film has been transformed from a convoluted, confusing mess into an epic, challenging masterpiece. Character development is a LOT better rounded, and the performances, particularly Jake Gyllenhal’s, feel much more fleshed out. Questions still remain for the viewer, though one feels like they have […]