Thank You to My Wonderful Readers

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

My biggest priority in creating and maintaining this website is to have fun sharing new ways of looking at movies. And I’m so pleased that I’m reaching an ever-growing audience of people who are as eager to explore films as I am.

I don’t have anything super clever to say this week. All I want to say is thank you. Thank you for being a part of this website, for liking what I share week after week and just being a part of the Deja Reviewer experience.

I’d like to say thank you to individuals who have made a real impact on me through their kindness throughout this past year. So it’s my turn to shine the spotlight on all of you. Let the gratitude begin. Continue reading →

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Modern Hollywood Trends the Salkinds Were Doing Decades Ago

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Ilya and Alexander Salkind may not be household names, but that’s certainly not for lack of trying. The father-son producer team were influential and ambitious all the way from 1973-1992. In fact, right up to the bitter end, they were innovating in ways that Hollywood didn’t truly appreciate until recently.

They are most famous for buying the rights to, and producing, the first three Superman films. But they did much more than that. They started trends that are now being used all over Hollywood without getting any credit. So I’d like to give credit where credit is due and talk about four modern Hollywood trends the Salkinds were doing decades ago. Continue reading →

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The Best Time-Travel Movie You’ve Never Heard of: Timescape

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Timescape (also titled Grand Tour: Disaster in Time) is the best time-travel movie you’ve never heard of. It’s a quiet little movie filled with interesting ideas. The filmmakers did a lot with a limited budget, mostly by hinting at bigger things and relying on good old suspense, mystery, and likable characters to carry us through the film.

I highly recommend you go check out this movie. It feels like something out of a Ray Bradbury novel. Anyway, let’s take the grand tour and discover what makes Timescape a forgotten film gem. Continue reading →

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The 10 Best Sequels That Came Out Just 1 Year After the Original Film

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Anybody can get lucky and make one fantastic film. But sequels are a tricky business. Few movie series can boast not only a great first film but also an equally excellent sequel… that came out just a year after the original.

Now that takes foresight.

I’ve compiled a list of 10 sequels that fall into this category. Just so it’s clear, these films had to be the first sequel to a popular film, so I couldn’t include, say, Back to the Future Part III, or other sequels that are further away from the original than the first one.

Admittedly, half of the films on this list are based on books, so it makes sense that they would be able to be pumped out fairly quickly because the stories were already there. They just needed to be adapted. But it’s still a big risk to put a sequel into production before you know for sure that the first film is a huge hit.

This will be a countdown, so we’ll start with what I judge to be the least great and then work our way to the best at the bottom. So let’s find out what are the 10 best sequels that are only separated from the original film by a single year. Continue reading →

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The Movie That Scared Me as a Child More Than Anything Else: Mr. Boogedy

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

My parents were pretty prodigious in the movies they allowed me to watch as a kid, but they didn’t let me watch any blood-and-guts horror films as a child. Sure, I watched The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal, The Last Starfighter and plenty of other mature kids movies during my formative years, but none of those movies were consistently frightening. They just had scary elements scattered throughout them.

I think that’s why the scariest movie villain to me isn’t Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees. Those guys just come across as silly to me. No, the most horrifying figure I would never want to meet in a dark basement is a man named Mr. Boogedy.

Mr. Boogedy was an episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color that appeared during its 30th season in 1986. And I’m going to explain why it scared me as a child more than any other film. Continue reading →

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Movie Matchups: The Martian vs. Mission to Mars

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I was impressed when I saw The Martian this past week. I had heard nothing but amazing things about it, and I was excited to see it and look for similarities between it and another space disaster movie, Apollo 13.

I did get a sense of déjà vu, but it wasn’t from a mission to the moon, but from Mission to Mars. That movie came out in 2000, and it’s an absolutely miserable experience to sit through.

The Martian takes the route of telling its story mainly from the perspective of the man who’s stranded on Mars while Mission to Mars tells the story from the perspective of the stranded man’s rescuers. And that’s just the beginning of how they diverge.

I’m just going to call the characters by the names of the actors playing them because it seems pointless to call them anything else. And if you don’t want to have the plots of both of these films spoiled, turn away now.

With that in mind, let’s take one small step and explore how similar The Martian is to Mission to Mars. Continue reading →

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10 Actors Who Had to Suffer to Make Their Movies

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Some actors really suffer to make their movies. I’m not talking about getting minor injuries doing a stunt and having to wait a few days or weeks before continuing on. I’m talking about actors who are in constant pain and discomfort through the majority of a film’s production. Most of this suffering is physical, but some of it is psychological.

I have put together a list of 10 actors who sacrificed their bodies and emotional wellbeing to complete their films. I won’t be including actors whose injuries prevented them like Sean Young in Batman because she wasn’t able to return to the role of Vicki Vale after being thrown from her horse. Continue reading →

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10 Timely Lessons from A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

The first time I saw the classic 1966 film A Man for All Seasons was in a high school History class. We were learning about the Renaissance, and this movie definitely proved to be enlightening. Sadly, I didn’t care for it at first, being bored by its lumbering pace and long speeches.

I watched it a few more times over the years and each time I got more out of it. The dialogue (written by Robert Bolt of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago fame) is so witty and equal parts hilarious and dramatic.

On my most recent viewing, it was like I was watching a completely new movie. Every line seemed to speak to modern problems. It turns out that Sir Thomas More wasn’t just a great man who stood against the evil of his day, but he set an example for all of us to follow in our daily lives. So I would like to share 10 timely lessons from A Man for All Seasons. Continue reading →

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The Most Brutally Honest Line in a Romantic Comedy Comes from The Wedding Singer

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

The Wedding Singer is my favorite Adam Sandler movie. It was the first of his films that I saw all the way through in one sitting, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for it.

I especially like how this movie handles serious topics. When characters get drunk they vomit, make bad decisions, and feel terrible in the morning. The main characters don’t sleep around, and they have a lot more self-respect than the side characters who do. In fact, one of the side characters admits that his lifestyle is keeping him from being happy.

Sammy wants to be happy, but he goes about it in all the wrong ways.“I’m not happy; I’m miserable.” That is the most brutally honest line in a romantic comedy, and it comes from The Wedding Singer. It’s spoken by a character who is desperate to come across as a tough guy, but inside he’s full of angst and self-doubt. This five-word admission speaks volumes about his character and about what a lot of people seem to be missing in their lives.

Let’s talk about the conversation that leads up to that poignant moment and uncover the dirty little secret that no one wants to admit. Continue reading →

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Did MST3K’s Joel Robinson Create Artificial Intelligence for His Bots?

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

It is time to totally geek out and blow one aspect of a glorified puppet show way out of proportion. I am going to talk about a show that is near and dear to my heart – Mystery Science Theater 3000. Continue reading →

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