UHF (1989)

★★★★☆

George Newman becomes the owner of a local public TV station when his uncle wins it in a card game. Seeing that the station is limping along he decides to spice it up by creating all sorts of wacky shows and becomes an unintentional hit. The problem comes when R.J. Fletcher, a big corporate media tycoon, tries to prevent UHF from becoming a hit so that he could monopolize the television stations. With its brilliant pop culture parodies, slapstick humor and over the top performances, this film is a treat to watch and really makes you laugh in unexpected ways. There is also a sort of charm and warm-hearted feeling that comes with it. Weird Al is great as always but considering the type of humor that is used, I wonder why and how the film would have turned out had the Zucker brothers co-developed the movie with Weird Al.

American Graffiti (1973)

★★★★1/2

Set in 1962, this coming-of-age film centers on a couple of high school graduates who spend their last night cruising around in their cars, drinking and drag racing. One teenage couple tries to patch things up before they part ways, a young man searches the entire town for a mysterious fem fatale, another young man tries desperately to impress his female passenger and another tries to have fun while babysitting a high school freshman. The music, the clothing, the lingo, the cars and the amazing performance by one hell of a cast highlight this period piece and it’s a must for any film fan. It’s surprisingly very engaging and funny for one of the first ‘coming of age movies,’ and even still… it’s a rather sad and reminiscent tale.

I, Robot (2004)

★★★1/2

In the near future, a technophobic police officer investigates the apparent suicide of a key designer for a company that specializes in robotic servants for people. His investigation leads him to believe that a robot that displays emotional characteristics killed the designer but there is a bigger threat at large. Unfortunately, the officer’s extreme prejudice towards robots has blinded him from seeing the greater threat. For personal reasons, I found this movie to be very thrilling and an interesting critique on how we use and take machines for granted. Will Smith is great and the action sequences are pleasing but the real star of the show is Sonny, the robot that has a conscience. However, the CGI has aged pretty badly.

Scream 4 (2011)

★★★☆☆

Sidney Prescott has returned to Woodsboro after 10 years to try and regain her life back from the series of murders only this time she decides to reconnect with her family. The only problem is, the Ghostface Killer has also come back and this time he saved the most sadistic murders for her family but who’s affected more: Sidney or her young nephew Jill? Full review.

Inside Deep Throat (2005)

★★★★☆

This documentary not only explains the controversial debut of Deep Throat but it also dives into the production, how the cast and crew took the controversy, the plead for and against pornography as well as the legacy that Deep Throat left behind. However, Deep Throat wasn’t just any porno… it was the top grossing film in the U.S. when it came out. This was a wonderful documentary that doesn’t just become the typical “how they made a porno” film but dives into the pasts, the lives and the thoughts of all the people who were involved with the film and becomes a personal recount of the whole situation. It’s funny, it’s sad and it’s guaranteed to open you eyes to the wondrous world of censorship.

Eye for an Eye (1996)

★★★1/2

When her daughter is brutally raped and murdered, Karen McCann and the police suspect it was Robert Doob but when something went wrong with the courts he is set free despite the evidence against him. Enraged with the lack of professionalism by the LAPD, Karen decides to take the law into her own hands and avenge her daughter. Surprisingly there isn’t a lot of action and it’s substituted with Sally Field stalking Sutherland as she tries to map out her revenge. It does a great job holding you in suspense and Kiefer Sutherland does an amazing job playing the creepy, perverted, sadistic pedophile. I actually got chills in one scene.

Blast from the Past (1999)

★★★1/2

Adam had a pretty good childhood with loving parents but the only problem is that he has been raised in an underground fallout shelter for 35 years when his parents mistaken a plan crash for the a nuclear bomb. Now, after almost 4 decades he has been assigned to go up on the surface world to get medicine for his ill dad and a lot has changed since the 60’s. Especially since his whole world has been the artificial 1960’s. As I already explained a while ago I love movies that have characters taken out of their elements and this is no exception. It’s a well-made, funny, whimsical film that really puts the 60’s ideologies with the 90’s culture. Brendon Frasier is fantastic and really nails his portrayal as a shy, naïve young man.