Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi: Directed by Richard Marquand. With Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams. After a daring mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebels dispatch to Endor to destroy the second Death Star. Meanwhile, Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side without falling into the Emperor’s trap. I had some horrible news tonight, so here’s the second movie that I watched to try to make it more better. It sorta helped. Buy On Amazon!

After School: Directed by William Olsen. With Sam Bottoms, Renée Coleman, Edward Binns, Dick Cavett. A student-teacher relationship goes way beyond the classroom, including pre-historic times. I got suckered in by that absolutely amazing poster by Drew Struzan. The movie itself is a fairly straightforward and well done story of man’s belief in a higher power, the structures of religion, and how life doesn’t go the way you planned it to. Combined with this story, there’s a story going on about love in pre-historic times with bountiful nudity, lots of grunting, and an alarming amount of grape eating. The combination...

Moonfall: Directed by Roland Emmerich. With Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Charlie Plummer. A mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. It’s a disaster film form Roland Emmerich, who’s been pretty damn consistant in his previous post apocalyptic work with “ID4”, “2012”, and ‘The Day After Tomorrow” all having the same type of feel to them that “Moonfall” has. Sure there’s some really bad green screen work, but the concept is solid as a “terrible science fiction” b-movie concept that we all...

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One: Directed by Chris Palmer. With Jensen Ackles, Josh Duhamel, Naya Rivera, Troy Baker. Batman investigates a murder spree that takes place on holidays. The first of two movies adapting the 13 volume comic book series by Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, originally written in 1996/1997, and I still have both the single issues and a omnibus of the story sitting on a shelf in my office. It was one of the better Batman stories at the time, which is saying something, as this was near the height of the Batman comic universe at the...

The Hunt for Bin Laden: Directed by Leslie Woodhead. With Allen Farmer, Richard Clarke, J. Cofer Black, Pat D’Amuro. Witness the 20-year, billion-dollar hunt for the Al-Qaeda leader, as told by the main players who finally brought him down. Released in 2012 just a few years after the arrest, death, and dumping of Bin Laden’s body into a deep dark grave in the middle of the ocean, this is a good summary of the lead up to the American incursion into a foreign country without their knowledge or permission. It didn’t go as well as we had hoped, one of...

The Adam Project: Directed by Shawn Levy. With Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner. After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future. “Straight to Netflix” can mean many things, usually a movie that would have just barely made it’s budget back in theaters, but this “Adam Project” film turned out to be better than I was expecting, with the interactions between Walker Scobell and Ryan Reynolds being surprisingly earnest and seemingly legitimately emotional. It helps that there’s some eye popping spaceship scenes with...

Old Dogs: Directed by Walt Becker. With John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Conner Rayburn. Two friends and business partners find their lives turned upside down when strange circumstances lead them to be the temporary guardians of seven year-old twins. Made in 2009, it’s a free spirited movie made right after Travolta’s kid died, and released right after Bernie Mac died from sarcoidosis complications; they both get appropriate dedications in the final credits. An interesting point of fact: they had to shave Robin’s chest for a few scenes of this movie, and considering I know how hairy that guy is,...

The Villain: Directed by Hal Needham. With Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Lynde. Facing hanging, a bank robber makes a deal with the corrupt banker to avoid execution in exchange for a dirty assignment. It’s a stupid story with increasingly ridiculous and contrived plot points, but if you knew that it was a parody / love letter to the WB cartoons from the 1930 like I did, I bet you’d enjoy it much more than if you didn’t. The obvious name here to look for is Arnold’s, it’s only his 7th role and he’s obviously still getting his acting...