Nicholas Vargo

Favorite films

  • Punch-Drunk Love
  • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Chinatown

All
  • Friendship

    ★★★★

  • The Phoenician Scheme

    ★★★★

  • Sahara

    ★★½

  • Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

    ★★★★

More
Sahara

1983

★★½ Watched

Interesting albeit misguided attempt by Cannon Films to take Lawrence of Arabia and combine with both The Blue Lagoon and The Great Race (as described perfectly in the Cannon Films doc Electric Boogaoo). This combination could work if the concept is properly refined but here, it just consistently goes off the rails with some truly weird scenes that have to be seen to be believed.

Still, Sahara isn’t all bad. Brooke Shields is quite good as our hero, the ing cast is pretty good (particularly…

Pee-wee as Himself

2025

★★★★★ Liked Watched

One of the most extraordinary documentaries I’ve ever seen. Paul Reubens is such an enigmatic figure and his story told primarily through him (but also through some of his collaborators, something wanted to see a little more of) is one of humility, humbleness, and even narcissism. Yet, that is the key to understanding who he is. It tells you everything you ever wanted to know about what makes this man tick, and that keeps us intrigued for the better part…

More
The Munsters

2022

★★★½ Liked Watched

The trailers may have made it look unbearable but Rob Zombie’s take on The Munsters is a surprisingly entertaining and shockingly funny movie that takes the origin story approach to the how Lily and Herman met, and has a lot of fun executing it. By no means is this a perfect picture but everybody is giving 110% at all times. This is especially true of Daniel Roebuck, who steals the show as The Count (He even looks like Al Lewis,…

Hurry Up Tomorrow

2025

★★★½ Liked 3

A crazy fever dream of a movie that I walked in expecting to hate with ion and actually walked out quite surprised I enjoyed it. It’s not perfect and it’s certainly not for everyone but if you can gel with its vibe, it might gets it hooks into you (and this is coming from someone who is not a big fan of The Weeknd). On top of that, Jenna Ortega’s performance is one of her best. It’s also great to see my town of San Diego on screen after Novocaine didn’t even bother to shoot there (and that movie was set there).