Mr. Baseball and the Fear of Failure

Posted on June 11, 2019 by

What could be worse than failing? That’s easy. Being forced to fail over and over again without the dignity of at least being able to walk away in shame. Now that’s the stuff of nightmares.

And that’s exactly how the 1992 film Mr. Baseball begins. I couldn’t find the original English version of this clip, but even though this one is in a different language, you can still get the gist of what’s going on. When Tom Selleck’s character steps up to the plate, the pressure’s on because he’s already got two strikes. One more and he’s out. And then this happens. Continue reading →

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The Paddielphia Experiment

Posted on June 4, 2019 by

It’s finally here! The movie I wrote and directed as a teenager in the summer of 1997 and got all of my brothers and one of my sisters to star in it. The Paddielphia Experiment. For a number of reasons, I had to delay its release by a few weeks. But I finally got all of the footage I needed, and now it is ready to share with the world. So sit back (and probably crank up the volume because the dialogue isn’t as loud as I’d like it to be) and prepare to be amused by my first attempt at filmmaking. I gave myself the first line of dialogue, by the way. Continue reading →

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Andy Dufresne and the Power of Consistency

Posted on May 28, 2019 by

Do you think that doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity? Try telling that to Andy Dufresne. Over the course of The Shawshank Redemption, Andy builds a library, earns more than three hundred thousand dollars, invents a new identity for himself, and escapes from prison – all by patiently doing the same boring things day after day. The only difference between him and the average person is that he is remarkably consistent in his work. Continue reading →

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Excuses, Excuses…

Posted on May 21, 2019 by

Several things kept me from finishing The Paddielphia Experiment this week. The footage was incomplete, I got really sick, and it seems like everything combined to prevent me from getting my work done. I know. Excuses, excuses. But I promise I’m on the mend and, barring any catastrophic event, I should be back on track next week.

So, I’m sorry that I have to delay one more time, but it should be worth the wait.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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Coming Soon: The Long-Lost Movie I Made as a Teenager

Posted on May 14, 2019 by

I’m finally doing it! Back in the summer of 1997, I wrote my first screenplay about a group of four brothers camping in the woods who get terrorized by a creature of pure evil. It was called The Paddielphia Experiment, which is a wordplay on The Philadelphia Experiment and the fact that we had a rather large cat named Paddi. She was a sweet cat, and she would often sleep with her back up against me as I sat and read books for hours on end. But she definitely had a temper, so that’s part of why I wanted to make a movie about her. Continue reading →

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The End of The Ten Commandments (1956) Is the End of the World

Posted on May 7, 2019 by

In a film packed with memorable moments, the creation of the 10 Commandments stands out as quite possibly the best scene in The Ten Commandments (1956). And not just because it is packed with Logos, spirituality, and drama. Another reason this scene is so powerful is because it perfectly represents the end of the world. We can look at this scene and see what is coming in our own future. And that is what we are going to do right now. Continue reading →

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I Was Wrong About Avengers: Endgame

Posted on April 30, 2019 by

I got a little cocky after correctly predicting that Spider-Man would finally leave New York City and that Justice League would follow the same format as every other Superman movie. One year ago, I predicted that Avengers: Endgame would begin with Thanos snapping his fingers, which would give us a new perspective on that devastating moment. And I was totally wrong. What happened instead was a pleasant surprise because it ensured I would have no idea what was coming the rest of the film. It’s quite a treat to not know where a story is going and to be delighted by the direction it takes. When it comes to Marvel movies, I don’t have a clue what will happen, so I’ll avoid speculating on them in the future.

Avengers: Endgame turned out to be less of an epic battle movie like Avengers: Infinity War was and more of a feast of character-driven stories. I’m sure it could be compared to many other movies from Back to the Future Part II to Ocean’s Eleven. But the two things it reminded me of the most were the final two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 1992 Mel Gibson film Forever Young. Continue reading →

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