Gidget: Directed by Paul Wendkos. With Sandra Dee, James Darren, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O’Connell. A young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer. With a blink and you’ll miss it appearance by Yvonne Craig, this film is much more famous for the first appearance of Sandra Dee, someone that at the start of the film is as pure and innocent as a young teenager can be, then by the end of the story has some much needed experience in the ways of the world. True story here, previous to this I was watching an episode...

The Valet: Directed by Richard Wong. With Eugenio Derbez, Samara Weaving, Max Greenfield, Betsy Brandt. A movie star enlists a parking valet at a Beverly Hills restaurant to pose as her lover to cover for her relationship with a married man. It’s an english remake of a French film, without a single recognizable star, which adds to its appeal, since there’s just the story and some actors that honestly all deserve to be seen. It’s a goofy and basic premise, but they’re somehow able to make it work and by the end of the film I bet you’ll be pulling...

Waterloo: Directed by Sergey Bondarchuk. With Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins. Facing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo. I’ve never been one to care about the political histories of other countries, though Napoleon is one of those political characters that nearly everyone’s heard of, even if he’s the butt of a “short guy” joke. This movie picks up right as Napoleon is defeated for the first time and the opposing factions thought they’d be able to just throw him on...

Lightyear: Directed by Angus MacLane. With Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi. While spending years attempting to return home, marooned Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear encounters an army of ruthless robots commanded by Zurg who are attempting to steal his fuel source. I know they say it opens tomorrow, but AMC doesn’t play by anyone’s rules, so I saw it tonight. Take a bit of time to wrap your head around this: This is the fictional movie that the fictional character from “Toy Story” named Andy saw when he was a kid, so it’s a movie that was from...

Insomnia: Directed by Christopher Nolan. With Al Pacino, Martin Donovan, Oliver ‘Ole’ Zemen, Hilary Swank. Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn’t set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen. Another entry in our Robin Williams rewatch, this one I remember seeing in theaters back in 2002 and not being happy with how serious Robin was in the film. Here we are 20 years later and I’m just fine seeing him expanding from pure humor. This wasn’t his first, nor his last serious role, but I think it’s one of...

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn: Directed by Phil Alden Robinson. With Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, Melissa Leo. A perpetually angry man is informed he has 90 minutes to live and promptly sets out to reconcile with his family and friends in the short time he has left. This feels like a tv movie, both in visual framing and soundtrack, and honestly it’s not really all that good of a movie. There’s some pretty fucked up stuff that happens, especially if you know how Robin’s life ended outside of the movies. Skip this unless you’re doing a watch of...

Wing Commander: Directed by Chris Roberts. With Freddie Prinze Jr., Saffron Burrows, Matthew Lillard, Tchéky Karyo. Blair, a fighter pilot, joins an interstellar war to fight the evil Kilrathi who are trying to destroy the universe. Look, I know that not many people enjoyed this film, but it has everything that I could ask for in a military science fiction film: a kickin story, an awesome soundtrack, and giant fucking cats in space marine armor. I still haven’t played the games the movie is based on, though I do own them. Maybe they’ll get played in my “Monday backlog” twitch...

Jurassic World: Dominion: Directed by Colin Trevorrow. With Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill. Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live–and hunt–alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures in a new Era. I’m sure no one was shocked that a decision was made to make yet another Jurassic Park / World movie, and I’m sure no one is shocked at all...

Queen of the Damned: Directed by Michael Rymer. With Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Aaliyah, Vincent Perez. In this loose sequel to Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), the vampire Lestat becomes a rock star whose music wakes up the equally beautiful and monstrous queen of all vampires. This is such a great movie, but I’m really not sure if my opinion of it is because I first saw it in my formative years when I was listening to the type of music featured in “Queen of the Damned”. It’s not only featured in the film, it’s the core...