Tag Archives: movie review

Thanks to Days of Future Past, X-Men Is Finally the Series It Always Deserved to Be

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past this weekend, and I can’t help feeling that this is what the X-Men series was always meant to be. All of the series’ strengths are on display here and almost none of its … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged action movies, batman, bryan singer, comic books, films, movie review, movies, movies based on books, science fiction, sequels, star trek, superman, wolverine, x-men | 9 Comments

The Empire Strikes Back Is a Perfectly Symmetrical Film

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Anakin Skywalker was prophesied to bring balance to the Force, and it looks like he did in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. This film, which many hail as the best of the original trilogy, is an example of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinematic Chiasmus | Tagged 1980s, action movies, chiasmus, films, fun, george lucas, movie review, movies, science fiction, sequels, star wars | 57 Comments

1990: The Year of Failed Film Franchises

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

As far as I can tell, 1990 had more series-destroying sequels than any year before or since. And most of these sequels to popular films didn’t exactly go out on a high note, like, say, Return of the King. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged 1980s, 1990s, action movies, back to the future, comedy, eddie murphy, films, funny, gremlins, humor, movie review, movies, predator, robocop, rocky, science fiction, sequels, the godfather | Leave a comment

In Defense of Joel Schumacher’s Batman Movies

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

No one can mistake Joel Schumacher’s two Batman films for masterpieces. Nor can they call me a Schumacher fan, especially after I lambasted his atrocious St. Elmo’s Fire, which he took sole credit for both writing and directing. But I … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged action movies, batman, batman and robin, batman forever, bruce wayne, christopher nolan, comedy, comic books, films, funny, humor, joel schumacher, joker, movie review, movies, parody, sequels | 13 Comments

RoboCop (1987) Is an Almost Perfectly Symmetrical Film

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

The Old Testament is full of examples of chiasmus, which is a figure of speech used in ancient times to emphasize balance. It lists a bunch of ideas or things and then repeats each of them in reverse order. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinematic Chiasmus | Tagged 1980s, action movies, chiasmus, films, history, movie review, movies, robocop, science fiction | 170 Comments

Movie Matchups: Dr. No vs. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Dr. No was the first true attempt to bring an Ian Fleming novel to the silver screen back in 1962. Eight years earlier, Buena Vista Distribution had debuted its first feature film – an adaptation of the classic Jules Verne … Continue reading →

Posted in Movie Matchups | Tagged action movies, disney, drama, films, james bond, jules verne, movie review, movies, movies based on books | 4 Comments

Predator Is Surprisingly Deep for an Action Movie

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Happy April Fools’ Day. I’m only half-joking when I say that the 1987 classic Predator is surprisingly deep for an action movie. It’s not exactly the kind of movie you watch hoping for a lot of subtext to analyze. Predator … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged 1980s, action movies, arnold schwarzenegger, films, funny, holiday, humor, movie review, movies, predator, puns, science fiction, terminator | 16 Comments

Forgotten Film Gems: Space Cowboys

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Ten years before The Expendables came out, Space Cowboys made the idea of an old-geezers team-up movie cool. Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner came together to turn what could have been a predictable fish-out-of-water story … Continue reading →

Posted in Forgotten Film Gems | Tagged clint eastwood, films, movie review, movies, old actors, science fiction, star wars, tommy lee jones | 1 Comment

Top 10 Best Speeches in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

What really sets Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy apart from Tim Burton’s and Joel Schumacher’s films isn’t necessarily their music (Danny Elfman arguably composed the definitive Batman theme music for the first Batman), action sequences (which are surprisingly few and … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged action movies, batman, christopher nolan, drama, films, movie review, movies, sequels | 23 Comments

The Always Good (But Never Great) Writer/Director Gary Ross

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Poor Gary Ross. As a writer and director, he’s never made a bad movie. But he’s also failed to make a big impression on movie audiences through his films. Filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and James Cameron, for all … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged directors, films, gary ross, movie review, movies, movies based on books, sequels | 9 Comments