Month: July 2020

Movie of the Week: ‘Animal Kingdom’

Jeff Mitchell

AHFW’s Movie of the Week inspired a vastly successful television show, sort of like “MASH” (1970) did.  Robert Altman’s comedy classic, however, and “Animal Kingdom” (2010) have very little in common, except blood is spilled in both films…and television shows. “Animal Kingdom” (2010) – The walls of justice close in on a Melbourne (Australia) bank-robbing family within a cloudy, confusing Shakespearean atmosphere.  Led by matriarch Janine Cody (Jacki Weaver), she and her kin decide to fight back with methods that they understand: revenge and betrayal. At the center of the storm…

Celebrate Be a Dork Day with ‘Revenge of the Nerds’

Jeff Mitchell

These days, with wild advances in technology and masses of human beings trekking to Comic-Cons all over the world, nerds – in most social quarters – are no longer the butt of jokes. July 15 is Be a Dork Day, and since we are a movie site, why not celebrate the occasion with “Revenge of the Nerds” (1984), a film with an “ahead-of-its-time” premise that nerds and dorks are cool! Admittedly, some of the film’s gags and tricks would not pass 2020’s politically correct culture and the MeToo movement –…

Here’s a perfect Harry Dean Stanton double feature

Jeff Mitchell

Harry Dean Stanton passed away in 2017, but he was born on July 14, 1926, so it’s the perfect time to celebrate the man.  Harry Dean is a most recognizable face, because he’s starred in countless supporting movie roles, like in “Alien” (1979), “The Thing” (1982), “Escape from New York” (1981), “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” (1992), “The Pledge” (2001), and so many more. Here’s a great double-feature idea! In Win Wenders’ “Paris, Texas” (1984), however, he plays the lead!  A rare moment for sure, but one to check…