A s I suffered through the wretchedness of rewatching Batman and Robin, a visual metaphor popped in my head: The grainy footage of man's first failed attempts at flight. You've probably seen the montages before, where intrepid young men with twiddly mustaches and bowler hats mount winged bicycles and half-assed gyrocopters--mechanical ostriches destined to go…
T he Sisters Brothers takes place at an odd junction in America’s history. It’s 1851, and the American West as we know it is still embryonic. The characters in this film must navigate a social topography where boundless opportunity and unchecked mayhem flow in the same brick-brown river. Murder comes easily; alliances are cheap. Where…
This week, Travis and I drink a little red wine and talk about "First Man," and the Star Wars franchise. Our wine this week is a blend from Bonny Doon Vineyards called Cigare Volante. It's an American wine inspired by the reds of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in France. Wines from this area in the Rhone region are consistently…
T he Halloween franchise now spans forty years, long enough to spawn a host of terrible sequels, cheap knock-offs, and clever send-ups. This latest offering wisely heaves out the garbage from most of those predecessors and hones in on the trend-setting original, where Michael Myers terrorized a young, innocent Jamie Lee Curtis. Like the genre itself, Curtis…
"Y ou can't understand someone until you've seen the world through their eyes," Kirk Cameron tells us during Saving Christmas's mawkish opening narration. If nothing else, this film offers a fascinating glimpse into the intractable, sanctimonious way Cameron must view everything and everyone around him. His omnipresent voiceover brims with the serene, cheerful lunacy of…
B ad Times at the El Royale plays like Quentin Tarantino in third gear. In fact, just call it Reservoir Dogs on Beautiful Lake Tahoe. And while this film coolly copies the detached hipness and fragmented structure of Tarantino's early work, it's missing the ballsy, fuck-you attitude that made those movies so grippingly watchable. It's…
"Y our daddy’s going to the moon.” Janet Armstrong tells her son, in a voice shaking with pride and panic. “Okay.” The boy shrugs. “Can I go play now?” This exchange highlights the premise of First Man: Neil Armstrong, and the other astronauts who furthered the American ideal by reaching further and climbing higher…
T wice a month, I will pair an all-time classic movie with a few killer bottles of wine. The vino will tie to the film, in some shape or form. For this first time around the track, I've decided to review the classic mystery, The Third Man. Its entire plot takes place in Vienna, Austria, so…
For our first podcast, Travis Budd and I discuss our thoughts on Venom, and superheroes in general. We also enjoy some delicious red wine!
I n the immediate aftermath of World War II, Vienna stood as a nexus where soot-stained cynicism met and mingled with nefarious opportunity. Like most of Europe, Austria struggled to rebuild after the destruction of the Third Reich. Industry was hobbled; food and medicine became scarce. The Third Man, one of the most beautiful and…