The Longest Yard is a strange film for a number of reasons, many of them having to do with how imbalanced it feels. Helmed by the ever-reliable Robert Aldrich (a chameleon of filmmaking, having worked in every conceivable genre, particularly in studio fare that were based on the supposed interests of the general public), and…

Nicolas Cage will be the first person who will point out the fact that he has been working for a long time. He will quickly remark on having been a working actor since the age of 15, which means that his career has lasted over four decades – and in that span of time, he…

Beauregard Bottomley (Ronald Colman) is something of a genius – it’s unlikely that one will find him without his nose nestled deeply within a book on nearly any subject, a multitude of facts residing in his middle-class brain. However, his preoccupation with educating himself on every matter has left him at a disadvantage when it…

As arguably one of the most distinctive faces in the history of independent cinema, to the point where his name is synonymous with a particular era and style of filmmaking as a result of his prolific career and role in the movement, Steve Buscemi certainly is someone we could expect to have learned a great…

Any film that starts and ends with the words “they lived happily ever after…or did they?” is bound to be something quite remarkable, especially one produced over eighty years ago. It’s hardly a surprise that the mind behind this simple but effective manipulation of a common trope is Preston Sturges, a filmmaker whose entire existence…

It’s tough to be mediocre – or at least, that’s the basic premise of Brad’s Status, which follows a middle-aged man as he tries to make sense of a world he no longer recognizes while undergoing a series of college tours with his gifted son, in whom he sees every lost ambition and broken dream…

How do you begin to describe My Cousin Vinny without veering too close to either side of the extreme? One of the many comedies produced by Hollywood every year that essentially follows the same structure of taking a major star or two, placing them in an unexpected situation (which may or may not included entirely…

They say it takes a village to raise a child – and this has rarely been more clear than in Steel Magnolias, playwright Robert Harling’s tender love letter to his late sister, and the women in his community that orbited around his family in the years surrounding her untimely death. The film adaptation of the…

Surprisingly, it took Albert Brooks several decades of casting himself in roles that were really thinly-veiled versions of his own life to finally play himself in one of his directorial efforts, which seemed like something that was an enormous inevitability, since even though he’s a remarkably gifted actor with a considerable amount of range, he…

You can always tell when a filmmaker has attained a considerable standing in the industry when the simple question of “what is their best film?” seems to be almost impossible to answer. In this case, the jury remains divided on what film best represents the iconic careers of Joel and Ethan Coen, who remain amongst…