John Wick

Poor Man’s Mad Max: Fury Road: both movies strive for the beauty of simplicity, but John Wick falls a little short ★★★☆☆ John Wick is the 2014 action vehicle starring Keanu Reeves. The film follows an incredibly simple trajectory, which is usually a winning combination for me (more on that later): Keanu’s wife dies. He is […]

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Risky Business

Rich Man’s 21–both a story about winning big and going for broke, but Tom Cruise is way more charismatic than Jim Sturgess (sorry Jim!). ★★★☆☆ Risky Business (as if you already didn’t know), is the 1983 dramedy that help jumpstart the career of one Thomas Cruise Mapother IV — better known as Tom Cruise. It’s […]

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Soaked in Bleach

Poor Man’s The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. Soaked in Bleach is just missing that stunning bit of luck that turned the ending of The Jinx into a phenomenon ★★★★☆ The year was 2001. The place was suburban Washington. The more specific place was a middle school hallway during 2nd lunch period. […]

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Nightcrawler

Poor Man’s American Psycho, If it’s older brother didn’t exist, this movie would have no shadow to stand in ★★★★☆ Jake Gyllenhaal, to me, is one of the most underrated actors we have working today. I know that’s a weird way to lead off a review, but I want to make sure that everyone reads […]

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The Sting

Poor Man’s Ocean’s 11 – Oceans benefits from The Sting being in the public consciousness for decades, but the student has become the master ★★★☆☆ The Sting is one of the quintessential classic Hollywood con-man movies, featuring starring turns from Robert Redford (who you might remember as angry man on boat from my second review) […]

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Swingers

Rich Man’s Humpday: a tale of bravado and bromance, but Swingers comes in the easier-to-swallow gel capsule ★★★☆☆ Swingers, as most of you probably already know, is Jon Favreau’s 1996 film debut. It stars Favreau and Vince Vaughn as two struggling entertainers (Favreau is a standup comedian, Vaughn is an actor) living in early 90s […]

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The Great Escape

Rich Man’s M*A*S*H, it uses the same dark-comedic tone but puts it to much greater effect ★★★★★ When you’ve been watching and discussing movies with the same people for over 7+ years you end up with a common vocabulary. Today, I get to talk to you cinemateurs about a term we use, a ‘perfect film’. […]

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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Poor Man’s Matchstick Men: it checks all the con-man boxes, but without much style ★★★☆☆ Last week, we talked about one of David’s great loves, the biopic. This week we wade into another of his favorite topics: the con man movie. The con man genre is full of excellent films and even better characters. Con […]

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Rebuttal: The Wind Rises

Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre! ★★★★☆ That’s right, I’m opening this rebuttal up in French. Before my next review, I wanted to give you my perspective on The Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki. David and I, y’know the two guys mentioned in the tagline, will be writing rebuttals […]

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