Category: Ben Cahlamer – 2017

Total 22 Posts

Bong Joon-ho’s Okja is an astonishing tale of love and perseverance.

Four years ago Bong Joon-ho surprised us with his astounding Snowpiercer, giving us a dystopian future in which the entire world was contained on a train.  It had a limited theatrical release and those that were able to catch it,

Top Ten Films of 2017, so far . . . .

It’s crazy to think that half of 2017 has gone by.  It’s crazier to think that I’ve seen approximately 210 movies since January and 190 of those films have been in a theater.  April was an exceptionally busy month with

The Bad Batch

Directed by: Ana Lily Amirpour Written by: Ana Lily Amirpour Starring: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Jayda Fink, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna I’m going to be up front.  I have not seen Ana Lily Amirpour’s freshman directorial

Review: Mann’s subversive ‘Blackhat’ is uniquely familiar.

In the past, if you wanted to steal money, you would hire a professional safe cracker or you might grab a few ski masks and AK-47’s to rob a bank in broad daylight.  In those instances, people didn’t get hurt

Review: Burnett’s neo-realistic “Killer of Sheep” is timely and timeless.

In today’s flash-in-the-pan film environment where a perfectly-timed explosion, laugh, or shout punctuates a non-existent narrative, it’s very rare that I am floored by a film. Yes, I find every film to have a redeeming quality, but that doesn’t necessarily

Review: Crowe’s zany 1989 debut “Say Anything” is lyrical, humorous romance

Nothing spells “doom” like a first crush where life goes from really simple to really complicated in a heartbeat.  Once you’ve gotten over the initial awkward phase and the relationship starts to blossom, “doom” turns to love. In writer-director Cameron

Review: Jack Sholder’s cult-classic “The Hidden” is a gem waiting to be found.

While the modern world enjoys Kyle MacLachlan in his current turn as Dale Cooper in “Twin Peaks,” I decided to celebrate his cult status with the classic The Hidden. Recommended to me by several film friends earlier this year, Jack

Review: Disney’s convoluted “Pirates” treads same water as prior entries

Full of witchery, imagination, humor and a lot of water, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales finds our hero, Captain Jack Sparrow in the throes of a British jail, scheduled to be executed.  The British are also

Review: Classic “Over the Top” struggles against itself.

In the height of the power-ballad filled 1980’s where tempers were as long as the hair, producer-director Menahem Golan and mega action star-writer Sylvester Stallone teamed up to deliver the ultra-cheesy Over the Top. The original story written by Gary

Review: Needham’s classic “Bandit” celebrates 40 years.

Hal Needham’s action-comedy road trip film, Smokey and the Bandit lit up cinema screens in the summer of 1977, leading to the second highest box office take of the year and an Academy Award nomination for editing. Coming in at