STEPMOM (1998; Chris Columbus) GRADE: D- By Daniel Barnes *Originally published on the Movie City USA blog on June 5, 2008. At the end of Chris Columbus’ mummified would-be tearjerker Stepmom, a credit reads, “In Loving Memory of Irene Columbus.” It’s a reference to the director’s mother, who […]
By Daniel Barnes *Originally published on the Movie City USA blog on August 21, 2007 [w/updated comments at the end] “He makes Hollywood feel better about itself.” -David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film I think that Thomson means this not just in the sense that Ron […]
“ARRESTED ADOLESCENCE IN PRE-APATOW AMERICA” (the silent era – 1996) By Professor Daniel Barnes Dub challenged me to create a course on “films about overgrown adolescents that don’t involve Judd Apatow.” Although Apatow got his start on TV in the early 1990s, his first film credits were on […]
CHINESE ROULETTE (1976; Rainer Werner Fassbinder) GRADE: A- By Mike Dub A precocious adolescent concocts an elaborate plan to expose the secrets of her family in Chinese Roulette. It sounds like it could be the plotline of a heartwarming Christopher Columbus movie, but this is a film by […]
The Big Wedding (2013; Justin Zackham) GRADE: F By Daniel Barnes It is important to note that I was dared to watch The Big Wedding by my father, Walter Barnes, Jr. Besides being a wonderful Dad, my father is a huge movie fan, and his early influence is […]
To Die For (1995; Gus Van Sant) GRADE: A- By Mike Dub Director Gus Van Sant has always been sympathetic to the anguish of teenagers. With varying quality (anything from My Own Private Idaho to Finding Forrester) his films express the troubles of American youth with great sensitivity. […]
