Untouchables Epic, ornate, beautifully shot, written, and acted, would be just some of the apt descriptions of Brian DePalma’s Grand Masterpiece from 1987, depicting the era of Prohibition-era Chicago as it was controlled by the notorious gangster Al Capone and the small, hand-picked team of Federal Agents led by Eliot Ness who succeeded in bringing […]
Up In Smoke The one thing that all the great movie comedy teams always shared was having seamless, flawless onscreen chemistry. Whether it was Abbott and Costello (who were not friends offscreen and barely spoke off camera) or The Three Stooges (in essence two brothers and their best friend since childhood), when it came to […]
Urban Cowboy A cinematic exploration of the American subculture of country music, trailer homes, and mechanical bulls, this was a noble attempt by Travolta to branch out after hitting superstardom with Saturday Night Fever and Grease. The often uneventful, slice-of-life style of drama seen here may put some viewers off, and indeed, the first 30 […]
Urban Legend There can be no doubt that the success and influence of Scream changed the landscape of horror forever, as seen by this 1998 release that followed the tradition of having photogenic performers bussed in from popular tween soap operas, along with a hip soundtrack and a self-awareness by the characters, usually of the […]
Used Cars In an age where current comedy films have their writing rely on being witty rather than funny and any hint of political incorrectness is shot down in favor of awful irony, Robert Zemeckis’ 1980 classic would seem like a breath of fresh air to young audiences today. Telling the story of two rival […]
Usual Suspects Mystery films that keep the viewer guessing and then rocks them with a “big reveal” at the end are nothing new. Some are good, some are bad, and some are classics. This 1995 thriller from Bryan Singer (which allowed him to go on the A-list and make some overblown comic book films) definitely […]
V For Vendetta One of the saddest phenomenoms in all of this world that we live in is that any form of government, whether or not they present themselves openly in their ideology as being either “liberal” or “conservative” invariably always descends into becoming some basic form or level of outright fascism, particularly when it […]
Valkyrie Sometimes in this world there are stories that NEED to be told, even if (unfortunately) the execution of said story is not really up to par. Thus is the case with this 2008 release, timed to coincide with the Oscar race but instead being found to not be exactly worthy of that distinction, especially […]
Vanishing Whenever a famous, popular and acclaimed European or Asian film is remade for the American cinemas, the results can either wind up as being very popular or otherwise very reviled. What most of these remakes usually do not have though is the very same hand of the original director helming the American version, but […]
Video Dead Low budget zombie films are all well and good for young amateur filmmakers to show off their various makeup and camera skills, but since George A. Romero had beaten everybody to the punch in perfecting the formula for the subgenre with his Living Dead films (and Dan O’Bannon had added a nice exclamation […]