Citizen Kane Summed Up in 1 Word

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I’m going to do something different this week. I usually offer a verbose 1,000-word or more discussion of a film or TV show. In this series, I’ll boil it all down to a single word. Sometimes that’s all it takes to really make one think.

Let’s see if we can sum up Citizen Kane in one word. I could offer a big, long description of the implications of this word, but I’m not going to do that. I’ll simply offer the word to you and let you fill in all of the intriguing gaps it implies. Here we go.

Citizen Kane: Misled.

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

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Why Does The Twilight Zone Hold Up So Well?

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I recently watched a review of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and in it, the reviewer noted that he didn’t find that TV show as funny as he thought he should have. The reason is because it was such a trailblazer and other TV shows had copied its formula to even better effect in the years since it debuted. This reminded me of Lethal Weapon 2, which was lampooned and copied so much that it felt almost derivative when I finally got around to seeing it a few years ago.

And that brings me to the topic of this article. Why hasn’t The Twilight Zone suffered the same fate as so many other innovative programs? That TV show debuted in October 1959 and ran for five seasons. It wasn’t the first show of its kind – One Step Beyond first aired in January 1959 – nor was it the last – Boris Karloff’s Thriller premiered in 1960 and The Outer Limits arrived in 1963. And, of course, there are modern incarnations like 1985’s Amazing Stories, 2001’s Night Visions, and the currently running Black Mirror. But the original Twilight Zone series still stands out as a monumental achievement in popular entertainment, social commentary, and unconventional storytelling. Why does it hold up so well? Let’s find out. Continue reading →

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I Love My Work

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Several years ago, a friend of mine asked me how to start a blog and keep it going. I told him that he needs to love what he writes about. There’s no other way to consistently create something worth reading. Continue reading →

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10 Great Storyteller Scenes

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

The conventional wisdom is that because film is a visual medium, filmmakers should always take a show-not-tell approach to storytelling. But there are always exceptions to the rule. Sometimes the combination of a good actor and quality dialogue can mesmerize the audience with a simple story and speak volumes about the characters and the images they inspire in the minds of their listeners. No need for flashbacks or any other tricks. Just pure, spoken storytelling.

Here are 10 examples of great storyteller scenes. Continue reading →

Posted in Significant Scenes | 3 Comments

Have You Ever Had an Idea That No One Else Has Had Before?

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Have you ever had an idea that no one else has had before? An original thought that you were the first to come up with. An overlooked detail only you noticed. I ask because I recently rewatched A Beautiful Mind, and it brought back a specific memory from my college days. Continue reading →

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I Wouldn’t Be Surprised If the Alien Symbiote Appears in the Next Spider-Man Film

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

The last time I made a prediction about Spider-Man, it came true in the next three films. I’m talking about when I speculated about Spider-Man finally leaving New York City on the big screen and, sure enough, he went to Germany in Captain America: Civil War, Washington, D.C. in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thanos’s homeworld Titan in Avengers: Infinity War. And that brings me to my current prediction, which is different than my previous one because this time I hope I am wrong. Continue reading →

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Ayn Rand Predicted the NPC Meme 75 Years Ago

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

If you’ve never heard of a real-life non-playable character (or NPC), here is a video that explains it quite well: Continue reading →

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Hitting Rock Bottom

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I rarely start writing without a firm grasp of what I intend to say and where it’s going to go. I’m just going to have to wing it and hope that something good comes from this. Continue reading →

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What’s Wrong with Me?

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Something feels wrong. I love movies in general, but it’s been a long time since I cared about any movie in particular. I had been looking forward to Avengers: Infinity War long before it debuted back in April, and it didn’t disappoint. I saw it twice in theaters, and I loved it both times. But when it came out on Blu-ray, I didn’t buy it. That’s what really cemented this feeling of dread for me. How could I react so indifferently to a movie that met or exceeded all of my expectations and that I had wanted to see since the teaser at the end of The Avengers in 2012? Continue reading →

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Star Trek’s Whales and Wails

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Star Trek is great for many reasons, chief among them is its ability to sprinkle classic literary references into its narratives. Oh, and it also has a flair for the dramatic, so it’s a lot of fun when these two things combine to form a little thing I like to call Star Trek’s Whales and Wails. Continue reading →

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