Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and the time-loop comedy that doubles as theology. Studied in religion classes and philosophy seminars.
A father in 1969 talks to his son in 1999 through a ham radio during an aurora. The film works on a viewer who comes to it cold.
Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union, and the cheerleading film that made its race plot load-bearing. The 8 reflects honest evaluation of one of the best teen films of the 2000s, anchored by Kirsten Dunst at her career peak, Gabrielle Union in…
Beautifully crafted, morally indefensible. Pretty Woman is simultaneously one of the best-made films of 1990 and one of the most socially destructive.
The pacing is genuinely good. Some critics and marketing materials have positioned it as dark comedy, which is the wrong genre frame.
Donna Wilkes, Rory Calhoun, Susan Tyrrell, and pre-gentrification Hollywood Boulevard. Exploitation cinema that survives in spite of itself.
Reverse-mystery structure, Galifianakis as Alan, Mike Tyson on the air drums, and the taser scene that never stops being funny. The film is funnier on rewatch than it was on first viewing because the audience already knows where it is…
Peter Jones as the Book, Douglas Adams's voice intact, and the Vogon poetry torture. Dated, charming, better than the movie.
Crichton's first major bestseller, Robert Wise's procedural patience, and Kate Reid's underrated Dr. Leavitt. The 6.5 reflects what those incomplete viewings have confirmed: the film is terrifying in a slow, low-key way that few other 1971 science fiction films attempted,…
Rick Moranis at his peak, practical effects that put CGI to shame, and Disney back when it made original family adventures. The Blu-ray release is out of print and trades at collector prices.
Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and John Hughes's most ambitious teen film. Ferris narrates Cameron's story.
Five teenagers, one library, one Saturday detention. John Hughes's bottle-episode masterpiece with Paul Gleason as the principal.
The craft notes in these reviews come from the same eye Richard Lowe brings to books. He has authored 113+ books and ghostwritten 54+ more across fiction, memoir, and nonfiction. If you want a book that respects the reader the way the best films do, start with a conversation.
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