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Harvey is endearing but also kind of horrifying. Some moments feel like they could belong in a horror film. Jimmy Stewart brings warmth, as always, but the story itself gets surprisingly intense. And yet, the warmth ultimately pays off. It’s a film about seeing the good in everything and everyone. Something we could use more of today. Yes, it starts off strange, but it turns into something wonderful.

A sweet film that hits familiar beats and mostly plays out predictably with some odd pacing. There’s a moment in the second act that feels like a gradual build up to the conclusion, whereas the actual ending feels a bit more abrupt. Wes Craven choosing this as his ion project might seem surprising but look closer and you’ll catch moments of sharp tension that, intentional or not, make Music of the Heart actually feel like a Craven film in subtle ways.

This movie plays so much better at midnight, when you're in the mood for something obscure and odd. The soundtrack is a bit overbearing, the movie is bananas, but Modern Problems delivers the kind of goofy, dated humor and messy plot that hits just right when you're feeling mindless, nostalgic, and half asleep.

Meet Joe Black is a bizarre fantasy film that goes on for three hours. It’s about beautiful people surrounded by decadent artwork in a world of luxury, confronting the literal embodiment of death. But it’s also about a father who loves one daughter more than the other. Oddly, it’s a well produced, polished, entertaining film built on an unexpectedly thin foundation.

The American President is a political fantasy wrapped in a feel good romance with Michael Douglas delivering a charming performance and a solid ing cast. It’s often cheesy in parts and has a few plot holes but the polished, uplifting tone makes it an easy and enjoyable watch.

Repo Man stands in a genre of its own. It’s one of the most atmospheric films you can find. Industrial green LA streets under glowing purple skies give it a weird, otherworldly vibe. Scenes sometimes feel randomly slapped together but most of the time it works, and feels intentional. The score emphasizes the eeriness, making this a badass midnight movie unlike any other.

The Goodbye Girl fits squarely into the single parent with a precocious kid trope that was big in the 70s. Neil Simon’s signature is all over it. Witty dialogue, smart, relatable characters. Dreyfuss is grating at first and maybe pushes it too far, but his arc is what won him the Oscar. And that 70s Neil Simon charm is hard to beat.

Mr. Holland's Opus feels especially dated, with sentimental beats and overdramatized scenes that often play like a Lifetime movie. Dreyfuss gives a strong performance, but his unlikeable presence undercuts the emotional payoff. The film drags, the aging over thirty years is barely convincing and by the end, you're left wondering why you cared in the first place.

It starts off with a warm welcome and ends with some sweet moments, but Dan in Real Life quickly feels like a thin story built on a hollow premise. The conflict is one-note, and the characters end up making dumb choices just to keep it going.

I loved this way more than I expected. It reminded me that sometimes a movie hits harder because of who you watch it with. And a feel good film doesn’t need a deep breakdown. It just needs to make you feel good.

Starts with baby steps and ends up sprinting into full blown madness.

Absence of Malice sets up an interesting dynamic between Sally Field and Paul Newman. It follows a Miami reporter who unknowingly becomes a pawn in a federal investigation, blurring the lines between journalism and justice. The pacing is slow at times but it all pays off in the third act when Wilford Brimley shows up and steals the show with a no nonsense rundown.

The pairing of Michael Caine and Robert Duvall is legendary. And it works. The rest of the film doesn’t quite match their charm. It’s cute and family friendly, but the story wanders and leans corny. But if you’re after something uplifting and heartfelt, it’s worth a watch.

The jacket over the shoulder, the sunglasses, the attitude. The Color of Money is about one guy trying way too hard to look cool, and another who just is. Tom Cruise is obnoxiously cocky and Paul Newman is effortlessly smooth. Revisiting his Fast Eddie Felson character from The Hustler, Newman’s magnetism is what anchors the whole film. And then there’s the soundtrack. Robbie Robertson’s score and the perfectly placed tracks give it an unmistakable style. The Color of Money is ruthless, and maybe Scorsese’s most underrated film.

I suggested Big Fish after my mom was let down finding out her dad had told a few tall tales she believed most of her life. This film feels universal. It emphasizes the beauty of character, optimism, and the joy we can bring to those closest to us. I hadn’t seen it since it came out but watching it again I realized these are the kind of stories that live on. And in that way, the film becomes immortal.

The Penguin Lessons is an endearing film with a lot of heart. The story’s based on true events and takes some unconventional turns, even if the script sticks to a familiar formula. Steve Coogan can be an acquired taste, but the film’s charm, steady pace, and the sheer cuteness of the penguin make it a truly enjoyable watch.

The Hustler is a straightforward story about strength and ego. It doesn’t lean on style, aside from one dizzying sequence where Fast Eddie takes on Minnesota Fats in a 25 hour drunken match. Spinning into a chaotic blur of superimposed shots that captures the mess of it all. The characters feel so real you’re with them every breath, and when they’re off screen, you want them back. It’s a captivating film that quietly shaped a lot of the character driven stories that followed.

Peter Sellers plays the richest man in the world who adopts Ringo Starr in a satire of class, capitalism, and inherited power. The film unfolds in a series of chaotic vignettes. Dated, dry, and often trying a little too hard to be funny. It's a clear commentary on hippies vs. squares, pushing against the norms of 1969. The sheer disregard for humanity is hard to find humorous today. Very much a product of its time.

Several shots feel rushed or like mistakes, but take a step back and they somehow frame this great adventure perfectly. The film's pacing is balanced, the dialogue snaps, and the shootouts are timeless. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has real heart, with a soundtrack that feels out of place but sticks with you. It may seem messy on the surface, but just under that is something truly incredible.

I'm a bit surprised I’d never heard of No Mercy before, but after watching it, it’s not hard to see why. The leads had major box office draw, and a few atmospheric scenes are stylishly shot. Jeroen Krabbé delivers real tension with a villainous performance. But the story is very formulaic and the film ends up being pretty forgettable.

Cuo ti zhui ji zu he aka Fox Hunter is a wild, fast paced Hong Kong femme-fatale film packed with sharp blocking, rapid dialogue, and quick cuts. A female cop goes undercover as a prostitute, and it spirals into a deadly revenge story. The action is the foundation of this film. Grenades, chaos, and tight choreography. One scene has Jade Leung snapping the leg of a chair she's tied to, rolling onto a couch, and flipping it over just in time to block a grenades explosion. It's intense, stylish, and a blast to watch.

The Asphalt Jungle opens with stark black and white visuals. Industrial, rigid, and cold from the start. It’s a classic heist film, but the character driven plot is what gives it weight. Marilyn Monroe stands out in a ing role, soft and glowing against the hard edges of the other actors and the set design. Noir shadows slice across rooms and faces with bold precision. It’s a tough, lean John Huston film that earns its place in his already stacked filmography.

My Heart Is That Eternal Rose follows a quiet man who crosses paths with his old flame, now stuck under the thumb of a triad boss. What starts as a reunion spirals into a doomed triangle of love, loyalty, regret. The film rapidly swings between romance and action. Neon lit streets, dreamy nightclubs, tense violence, atop a melodramatic love score. Saturated colors flood every shot. It's Miami Vice meets John Woo. Stylized, tense, and tragic in the best way.

There’s a brilliant coldness running underneath the overt warmth of Hannah and Her Sisters. Cozy apartments buried in a chilly New York, families gather while affairs evolve, warm yellow glows behind sterile white light. Inviting and distant at once. An 80s I can only recognize from this film. You get the usual Allen tropes. Overlapping dialogue, the 1920s jazz, muted color palettes. But set all that aside, along with Allen himself, and what’s left is something strangely magical. It feels deeply personal in a way that’s almost uncomfortable. I’ve always loved this movie and I always will.

A Better Tomorrow follows Ho, a former gangster trying to go straight and his brother Kit, a rising cop who resents him. The film is loaded with bold visuals, neon soaked Hong Kong nights, deep reds everywhere, and an incredibly dramatic score that comes on strong. One sequence cuts from a prison lineup to shooting range targets flipping toward us, it’s such a powerful way to represent Kit's anger. The entire film is all bruised pride and tension between men, and it builds to a badass final showdown.

Mad Dog Time has the look of a bad CBS drama and leaves you constantly asking questions like: Why are all of these actors in it? Where did they come from? What is this movie about? Why am I watching this?

Given the set up, Shakedown could’ve easily been a dry courtroom drama, but instead it’s a slick, badass action flick with some killer night shots of New York in the 80s. Weller and Elliott both bring real heat, and while the movie isn’t perfect, it’s unpredictable, fun, and packed with some unforgettable action.

Can’t Buy Me Love feels a little off from the start. A lawnmowing teen pays the most popular girl in school a thousand bucks to pretend to date him so he can be cool. It’s basically teenage prostitution played as a quirky romance. The 80s vibe is fun on the surface, and the teenage conflicts mostly work, but the whole thing feels weird, and the awkward mix of 50s music and 80s teen life doesn’t help.

Not sure it would've made a difference anyhow, but SpaceCamp had the bad luck of releasing the same year as the Challenger disaster. Notable for Joaquin Phoenix’s first film appearance. It’s cheesy, full of plot holes, but it does have a few moments of that unmistakable family friendly 80s charm. Though nothing can save it from its own ridiculousness.

Hard Time doesn’t even begin to describe what it’s like sitting through this movie.

Sinners is rich with metaphor and builds into a bold Southern gothic horror story rooted in intergenerational trauma, cultural erasure, and the brutal cycles of sin and survival in Black American history. It explores the weight of a stolen legacy that's been repurposed, resold, and reclaimed. The film is gorgeous, atmospheric, and anchored by one sequence so euphoric it demands to be seen on the big screen. This is cinema. This is a powerful story. Told with clarity and force.

Viewed in 70mm ultra Panavision at the Vista Theater.

Great body horror. Bill hallucinates deformed bodies, calls his dad a butthead, his girlfriend offers to pee in his tea, and he pokes his finger through the cheek on his friend’s corpse. All the while suspecting his family is involved in a murderous orgy. The whole thing plays out with an 80s soap opera. With some hilariously bizarre moments, and one hell of an ending.

Aguirre is an epic plunge into colonial arrogance where jungle madness slowly consumes a doomed expedition that unravels in real time. It’s bold, brutal, and drenched in green hues never captured on film. The tone drifts between hallucination and horror, with Kinski’s cold, blank stare draining the life out of everyone around him. What an insane and highly memorable experience.

Switching Channels, the third and final remake of The Front Page, starts off strong with late 80s charm with a vibrant, tacky set design. It quickly loses steam in the second act. The story isn't the issue, earlier versions proved the concept works, but this one deviates quite a bit. The chemistry between Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner never clicks. Reynolds seems like he’d rather be anywhere else. And although the film begins with a tight setup, it gradually unravels as it goes.

Outrageous Fortune isn’t a movie you break down by concept, story, or acting. Doing that kind of misses the point. It’s comfort food. The kind of movie you would've caught on cable TV during a lazy Saturday and before you know it, you’re all in. It’s clean, silly, and one of a string of Bette Midler comedies made under Disney’s more adult oriented Touchstone Pictures label. And yes, it gets completely outrageous... but it fits. I mean it's right there in the title. It leans into the nonsense and it works because that's what you signed up for.

This is the first Punisher movie I’ve seen, and it’s a wild ride. Melodramatic performances, over the top energy, and Lou Gossett Jr. going full throttle from the start. The set design is drab and stripped down, nothing like today’s polished comic book films, but the bare bones vibe gives it a weird charm. At times it feels like Aeon Flux, other times like a bargain bin action movie. It’s definitely rough around the edges, but there’s something oddly compelling about watching a comic book movie still figuring out how to be a comic book movie.

Malone is an action thriller starring Burt Reynolds’ wig, with a guest appearance by Burt himself. He plays retired CIA assassin Richard Malone, who breaks down in a small Oregon town where a local crime boss wrongly thinks he’s there to kill him. Had this come out a few years later, it would've been prime Seagal territory. Ridiculous fights, small town vengeance, and a weirdly inappropriate bond with a young girl. The score sounds like a TV movie, the villains are cartoonish, Burt phones it in, and the whole thing just isn’t that fun to watch.

This one slipped into my watchlist after watching Maniac Cop. Judd Nelson plays a serial killer in LA, and the insanity is strong. It’s gritty, with dramatic, fairly over the top performances that somehow match the intensity of the film. Robert Loggia sets the tone, and Nelson, playing against type, actually fits the role in a fascinating and frightening way. The minimal flashbacks are set apart with a sort of clichéd soft focus filter that clashes with the film’s grittier style.

Black Moon Rising is an offbeat sci-fi action thriller set in LA, with TLJ playing a tech savvy thief hired to recover a data disc hidden in a futuristic supercar. He's miscast, with zero chemistry opposite Linda Hamilton, stuck in a role that never quite lands. The film leans heavily into the 80s style which keeps it fun. But it’s overly lit, full of weird low angles, and backed by a forgettable score that matches the film’s uneven tone. The story has that John Carpenter feel, but the execution is just too stale and disted to hold it all together.

Sharky’s opens strong with Randy Crawford’s Street Life and is filled with awkwardly long establishing shots. Marketed as Dirty Harry in Atlanta, it borrows the tough cop formula but adds its own flair. Pimps, prostitutes, political corruption, and a heavy dose of neo-noir atmosphere. The stakeout scenes have real tension, and the movie has style even if it’s not always tight. Reynolds coasts through some moments on autopilot, but the film stays watchable thanks to its mood and setup, even with several uneven performances.

Me in 1995: "I can't believe this movie exists"
Me in 2015: "I can't believe this movie exists"
Me in 2025: "I can't believe this movie exists"

There's something to be said about that.

A lifeless Burt Reynolds sleepwalks through Heat, an absolutely unhinged Vegas thriller with an 80s TV crime drama soundtrack. Reynolds plays a low-rent bodyguard trying to gamble his way out of town. Along the way, his prostitute friend slices the tip off a man’s penis for revenge, Reynolds kills two henchmen with a credit card, teaches a timid rich guy how to be tough, and ends up explaining to a crime boss how he knows the villain’s penis is bandaged. There are wild deaths, a ridiculous fight scene, and an ending that makes it all worth it.

City on Fire is pure style. It’s a badass film. Packed with intense action scenes and unashamed brutality. The city glows with neon lights. Late night Hong Kong markets, and smoky nightclubs bathed in soft, hazy light. A killer saxophone score and some insanely vivid cutaways tie it all together. The way Hong Kong is captured is everything you’d hope for. It's gritty, electric. At times the movie shifts into some weird little detours, like Ko Chow’s uncontrollable horniness and an unprompted food fight, but it never throws the balance.

It feels like it took a lifetime to finally sit down and watch this movie. A movie I saw everywhere as a kid and somehow always knew was something great. Even with years of buildup, and still not knowing much going in, I have to say this: if you could stylishly and intelligently pack every awful film trope into one movie and still come out with something astonishing, this would be it. Undoubtedly disturbing in more ways than one, but a well made film is undeniable. When a movie hits every nerve whether good or bad, and never allows you to stop feeling, that nails the objective. Movies are meant to make you feel, and this one never lets up. And I can't even get into the insane performance by Gary Oldman.

Out of the Past is could be considered the blueprint for film noir. It’s smoky, cold blooded, and moves so swiftly it barely lets you take in the enormity of it all. Stark shadows cutting across the frame. Mitchum’s delivery is so natural it barely feels like acting, and pairing him with a sharp stylized character like Kirk Douglas is just an insanely fun choice. Every scene is written like a chess move, deliberate and concise.

Watching Creepshow feels like navigating through an excessive haunted house as a kid. It's lurid, garish, and bizarre. It's an anthology film that plays out through the pages of a wild comic book horror. It’s pure pulp, the perfect fusion of George Romero and Stephen King. Outrageously over the top, exaggerated, with a grimy undercurrent. Each segment is a blast. The only way to watch it is with the same mindset you’d have walking through one of those haunted houses. No boundaries, no uptight attitude, just loosen up and it will be fun.

There’s very little information on this movie, but there’s a lot to unpack. A man calls his friend’s daughter a whore. A car door falls off at the airport. A bathroom scene with cartoon sound effects, turns into a toilet paper theft. Men are called out for being spongers. The whole film is charged with high voltage Hong Kong sexual melodrama. One glance, one decision, one music cue, and Midnight Girls launches into emotional overdrive, offering an interesting social commentary on the lives of bargirls and taxi dancers.

This cop is a maniac!

It’s funny how a duo as great as Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor could have such electric chemistry, yet most of their movies together didn’t quite land or age well. Stir Crazy is one of those. It’s not bad, but it’s not as funny as it probably once was. It plays more like a time capsule now. Showing flashes of brilliant timing and chemistry, but wrapped in a film that feels mostly dated and underwhelming.

There were movies from my childhood branded as kids movies, but packed with heavy adult themes and moments so intense and vivid they stuck with you for life. Like dreams you could never forget. The NeverEnding Story is loaded with that, which is why it’s etched into my brain forever. If you’re looking for a movie that leaves an impression, this one will. It did for Andy Warhol, which is a true testament to its lasting, imaginative legacy.

Some movies work better on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe it’s the lazy sunlight, the half distracted mood, or that sweet spot between lunch and no plan. These are the films that feel right in that moment. Easy to sink into, but still leave an impression.

There are plenty more out there, but these stuck with me. The list is ongoing and in no particular order.

• Seems Like Old Times
• I Ought to Be in Pictures
• Big Business
• Stand by Me
• The Breakfast Club
• Quicksilver
• Overboard
• One Fine Day
• Sixteen Candles
• Real Genius

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Some movies just hit differently on a Saturday at midnight. There’s something about the anticipation of a free Sunday and the gritty, late-night atmosphere that perfectly complements these films—all of which unfold mostly under the cover of darkness.

I know there are many others, but these resonated with me personally. This list is ongoing and in no particular order.

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Blow Out
• Thief
• Manhunter
• Once Bitten
• Under the Skin
• A Clockwork Orange
• Barb Wire
• Eraserhead
• 2001: A Space Odyssey

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Conclave
2. The Last Showgirl
3. Anora
4. Goodrich
5. Jim Henson Idea Man
6. The Substance
7. Challengers
8. Nosferatu
9. Maria
10. A Different Man

1. Back to Black
2. Road House
3. Spaceman
4. Wolfs
5. Saturday Night
6. Heretic
7. Rumours
8. Absolution
9. Here
10. Oh, Canada

1. American Fiction
2. May December
3. Poor Things
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. The Holdovers
6. Barbie
7. Oppenheimer
8. Past Lives
9. The Zone of Interest
10. STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Inside
2. The Flash
3. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
4. Hypnotic
5. River Wild
6. Your Place or Mine
7. You People
8. Retribution
9. Paint
10. The Retirement Plan

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.