Five Graves to Cairo

#22 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. This movie almost lost me in its second act. It seemed to be going in about four different directions at once, but the air raid and the third act began and everything snapped right back together. The almost directionlessness of that second act makes this, Billy Wilder's…

A Quick Thought about Rotten Tomatoes

Looking at the disparity between critics and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes seems to be a favorite pass time and way to create a punching back of critics. It's usually brought up with really big movies that critics hate or love while the audience does the opposite. Star Wars: The Last Jedi got hit with this…

The Major and the Minor

#18 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. In terms of first films, Billy Wilder could have done much worse than The Major and the Minor, a light and occasionally delightful comedy. I mean, have you seen Fear and Desire? I have. Susan Applegate is a small town girl living in New York City and…

The Alien Franchise Ranked: The Definitive Ranking

A top 7...of 6 movies. Well, at least it's not a top ten. So, I wrote separate reviews of the two cuts of Alien 3 because, I feel, they are materially different enough to justify separate looks. I also excluded the Alien vs. Predator films because they suck and I consider them a separate franchise. Well, enough…

Alien: Covenant

#4 in my Ranking of the Alien Franchise. This feels like two movies in one. One is fine, technically proficient, and somewhat effective. The other I love. Ridley Scott was caught in a bit of a bind after Prometheus. A lot of people weren't happy with what he had done, how it was only tenuously connected…