Poor Man’s Seven. Eyes Wide Shut sets up a series of captivating mysteries but refuses to follow through on them. ????? This week I was assigned Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s final film. On the back of my ode to Tom Cruise, David decided to challenge me with a Tom Cruise film featuring a director […]

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Rich Man’s Comet: Both cover ground about relationships and both are sort of funny. However, Sleepwalk With Me did make me want to watch Birbiglia’s stand-up, which is a plus, I guess. ★★☆☆☆ This week I watched Sleepwalk with Me, Mike Birbiglia’s first foray into writing/directing. The film is basically a film adaptation of his […]

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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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Rich man’s Tucker and Dale vs Evil: This is a horror movie that’s not really about horror. Where Tucker and Dale use humor to pervert the horror genre, Let The Right One In uses drama. ★★★★☆ BOO! It’s Halloween! In honor of this holiday of candy and costumes, I was forced to watch Let The […]

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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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Poor man’s Do The Right Thing: while American History X is definitely more shocking, I felt that Do The Right Thing does a better job of showing the motivations of the characters, even though I really don’t like Do The Right Thing. ★★★☆☆ American History X has been on my radar for a long, long […]

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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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Poor man’s The Graduate: Both movies are excellent, and as you’ll read, they have many similarities. However, The Graduate edges out Harold and Maude on account of being one of the best movies ever made. ★★★★☆ This week Josh assigned me a movie I’ve been avoiding since he suggested we watch it in 2009. I […]

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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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Poor man’s Apocalypse Now: The tone felt very similar in both of these films, but unfortunately Enemy At The Gates doesn’t have anything to say. ★★☆☆☆ Ok, I asked for this movie. I begged, nay pleaded for a movie that would go down smooth. A movie that didn’t ask any deep existential questions, a fun […]

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