SEVEN – Howard Shore
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part. — Ernest Hemingway.
What’s in the box?!? — Detective David Mills.
Seven – usually stylized as ‘Se7en’ – is a dark psychological crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher, in what was his second feature film after his 1992 debut Alien 3. The film follows two homicide detectives – weary veteran William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), who is on the verge of retirement, and impulsive newcomer David Mills (Brad Pitt), who has recently transferred to the city with his wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow) – as they investigate a string of grisly murders staged around the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy, and wrath. Each crime scene is meticulously designed by the killer to reflect the sin being punished, and the murders grow increasingly disturbing. The investigation eventually leads the detectives to a deranged but calculating serial killer known only as John Doe (Kevin Spacey), who sees himself as a moral avenger exposing society’s corruption through his crimes, and whose final murder is directly targeted at the detectives investigating him. Read more…
AMERICANA – David Fleming
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Americana is a modern western crime thriller written and directed by Tony Tost, starring Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, and Halsey. The film centers on a rare Native American artifact that falls into the black market, sparking an increasingly violent conflict between various characters including a waitress, a US military veteran, a hardened criminal, and an indigenous leader. The film was shot in 2022 in New Mexico and premiered at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival in 2023, but then it languished in distribution hell for a couple of years, before finally receiving a belated theatrical release in August 2025. Unfortunately, despite decent critical reviews, the film was an enormous commercial flop and disappeared from cinemas after just a couple of weeks, with some people suggesting that a backlash to Sweeney’s recent controversial American Eagle jeans commercial may have contributed to its failure. Read more…
UNSTRUNG HEROES – Thomas Newman
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Unstrung Heroes is a coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Diane Keaton, adapted from journalist Franz Lidz’s memoir of the same name. The story is set in the 1960s and follows twelve-year-old Steven Lidz (Nathan Watt), a sensitive and imaginative boy growing up in Los Angeles. Steven’s father Sid (John Turturro) is a brilliant but eccentric inventor who is emotionally distant, while his mother, Selma (Andie MacDowell), is warm, loving, and supportive. However, when Selma is diagnosed with terminal cancer, the family is shaken; struggling to cope with his mother’s illness and his father’s inability to express vulnerability, Steven decides to leave home and live with his two eccentric uncles, Arthur (Michael Richards) a paranoid conspiracy theorist, and Danny (Maury Chaykin), a gentle, childlike dreamer. Though unconventional, the uncles provide Steven with comfort, eccentric wisdom, and a sense of belonging, and through their unconventional guidance, Steven learns to process grief, embrace imagination, and find resilience in the face of loss. Read more…
APPLEWOOD – Penka Kouneva, Deniz Aktaş
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s not often than I feel compelled to write about the music for low-budget straight-to-streaming horror movies because, frankly, they are not usually very good. More often than not they are little more than basic string and keyboard textures punctuated with stingers and musical jump-scares. Unsophisticated, disappointing, just barely functional, with very little to recommend and even less to like out of context. They are often the domain of young up-and-coming composers still finding their feet, and although many of today’s top film music names cut their teeth in the genre, there remain dozens and dozens of others toiling away down there, writing music that nobody hears for films that few people see. Applewood is different. It’s certainly a low-profile and low-budget film, but what it lacks in prestige it more than makes up for in terms of talent and impact. Read more…
SANDS OF IWO JIMA – Victor Young
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Writer Harry Brown wrote a story that offered an account of the epic battle by the Marines to take the island of Iwo Jima during WWII. He then teamed with fellow writer Edward Grant to adapt it and write a screenplay, which they presented to Republic Pictures. Republic Pictures management thought the story of one of America’s greatest achievements in the war would resonate with the public. As such they purchased the film rights, placed Herbert Yates in charge of production with a $1.4 million budget, and tasked Allan Dwan with directing. An outstanding cast was assembled, which included John Wayne in the starring role of Sergeant John Stryker. He was joined by John Agar as PFC Pete Conway, Forest Tucker as PFC Al Thomas, Adele Mara as Allison Bromley, and Arthur Franz as Corporal Robert Dunne, and the narrator. Read more…
THE USUAL SUSPECTS – John Ottman
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
This famous quote from the writings of 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire is at the heart of the story of The Usual Suspects, the film which marked the mainstream debuts of director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie. It is a neo-noir crime thriller that unfolds as a story within a story, as told to federal agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) by Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), a small-time con artist with cerebral palsy; Kint is one of two survivors of an explosion on a ship docked in San Pedro harbor in Los Angeles. Kint recounts the events leading up to the explosion, telling Kujan that five criminals – himself, plus Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Fred Fenster (Benicio del Toro), Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), and Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak) – met during a police lineup in New York, and began committing heists together. Eventually, they are drawn into the orbit of the mysterious, almost mythical crime lord Keyser Söze, a figure so feared that most refuse to speak his name. Söze coerces the group into attacking the ship in San Pedro in order to eliminate witnesses who can identify him, and eventually Kujan comes to believe that Keaton – a former corrupt cop apparently trying to go straight – must have been Söze. Read more…
OTHELLO – Charlie Mole
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.
One of William Shakespeare’s most enduring and celebrated plays, Othello is a classic tale of jealousy, manipulation, and betrayal, with hint of racism thrown in for good measure. In the story Othello, a respected Moorish general in Venice, secretly marries Desdemona, the daughter of a nobleman. His ensign, Iago, jealous of Othello’s success and resentful at being passed over for promotion, schemes to destroy him. Iago tricks Othello into believing that Desdemona has been unfaithful with his lieutenant, Cassio. Consumed by jealousy, Othello murders Desdemona – only to discover too late that she was innocent and that Iago deceived him. Overcome with grief and guilt, Othello takes his own life, while Iago is exposed and punished. Read more…
RED SONJA – Sonya Belousova, Giona Ostinelli
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The character Red Sonja was created for Marvel comics in 1973 by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith as a companion to their already-established Conan the Barbarian character, who was himself created by the groundbreaking writer Robert Howard in the 1930s. A flame-haired female warrior in a savage world, she used her sexuality as a weapon as much as her sword, and she accompanied Conan on many comic book adventures; when Conan got his own movie franchise starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1982, Sonja quickly followed suit in 1985, with Danish supermodel Brigitte Nielson in the title role. Now, almost 40 years later, a new version of Red Sonja has emerged, directed by M. J. Bassett, and starring Italian actress Matilda Lutz in the title role. The film follows the adventures of Sonja, who unites with a group of unlikely warriors to face off against the evil emperor Dragan and his cruel sorceress wife Annisia, who slaughtered her family when she was a child. Read more…
DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS – Alfred Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
20th Century Fox Studio CEO Darryl F. Zanuck had always been drawn to seafaring tales. He began planning for one in 1939, but it took seven years to set his dream into motion. In 1946 he purchased the screenplay “The Princess and the Pirate, 13 Rue Madeleine” by Sy Bartlet, and tasked John Lee Mahin to rewrite the story into this film, entitled Down to the Sea in Ships. Zanuck was satisfied with the rewrite, and placed Louis D. Lighton in charge of production with a $2.5 million budget, with Henry Hathaway tasked with directing. A fine cast was hired, including Richard Widmark as First Mate Dan Lunceford, Lionel Barrymore as Captain Bering Joy, and Dean Stockwell as Jed Joy. Read more…
DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE – Mark McKenzie
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A classic sci-fi horror tale with a comic twist, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde is a modern reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Directed by David Price, the film stars Tim Daly as Dr. Richard Jacks, a chemist working at a fragrance company, who also happens to be the great-grandson of Dr Henry Jekyll, the protagonist of the original story. After he receives his great-grandfather’s scientific notes as part of an inheritance, the shy and bumbling Jacks tinkers with and creates a new serum, intending to use it as a base for a new women’s perfume; unfortunately, when he tests the serum on himself, he finds himself transformed into the beautiful, confident, and very female Helen Hyde (Sean Young) – and Helen is determined to take over Richard’s life. However, despite having a fun supporting cast – Lysette Anthony, Harvey Fierstein, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jeremy Piven – the film was both a critical and commercial flop, and is mostly forgotten today. Read more…
DRACULA – Danny Elfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel Dracula, which introduced the world to the modern concept of the vampire, has been made into films dozens and dozens of times over the years, from the early German expressionist silent version by F.W Murnau, to Bela Lugosi’s classic Hollywood portrayal in 1931, to the Christopher Lee-Peter Cushing British Hammer horrors of the 1950s and 60s, and many more besides. Last year director Robert Eggers made one of the best ever versions of the story with his Nosferatu, which portrayed the undead count as more plague than man, twisted and evil. Now, the latest director to take on the story is French director Luc Besson, but his version of the story is different from Eggers’s, and is instead closer in tone to the luxurious romanticism of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992, which remains my personal favorite of all Dracula films. Besson’s film – which was made entirely by a French crew – was nevertheless shot in English, and stars Caleb Landry Jones in the title role as the blood-sucking count who is both debonair and demonic, with Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, and Matilda De Angelis in major supporting roles. Read more…
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH – Cyril J. Mockridge
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The husband and wife writing team of Guy and Constance Jones caught the attention of Hollywood studios after Universal successfully adapted their story “Peabody’s Mermaid” for the film Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid, released in August 1948. 20th Century Fox decided to roll the dice and so in July 1947 they purchased the film rights for their second novel “There Was a Little Man” for $50,000, which was adapted into this film, The Luck of the Irish. Fred Kohlmar was placed in charge of production, Henry Koster was tasked with directing, and Philip Dunne would write the screenplay. A fine cast was hired, with Tyrone Power starring as Stephen Fitzgerald, joined by Ann Baxter as Nora, Cecil Kellaway as Horace and Lee J. Cobb as David Augur. The film was made quickly and eventually released just one month later, in September 1948. Read more…
WASHINGTON BLACK – Cameron Moody
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Washington Black is a new Hulu drama-adventure TV series based on the 2018 ‘bildungsroman’ novel of the same name by Canadian-Ghanaian author Esi Edugyan. The story follows the adventures of George Washington ‘Wash’ Black, who is born into slavery on a sugar plantation in Barbados in the early 1800s. When a brutal new overseer named Erasmus Wilde takes charge of the plantation, Wash is unexpectedly chosen to be the assistant to Erasmus’s brother Christopher, nicknamed ‘Titch,’ a kindhearted inventor who is also secretly an abolitionist seeking to end slavery. Titch teaches Wash to read, write, and appreciate scientific exploration, introducing him to a world of wonder. However, a traumatic event forces Titch and Wash to flee Barbados in a flying machine, and their escape sets them on an adventurous globe spanning journey across the Americas to Nova Scotia, the Arctic, then to London, Morocco, and beyond, all with Erasmus’s slave-hunting henchman Willard hot on their trail. The show was written by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, produced under the auspices of showrunner Kimberly Ann Harrison, and stars Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Eddie Karanja as the younger and older Wash, with Rupert Graves, Tom Ellis, Billy Boyd, and Sterling K. Brown in major supporting roles. Read more…
LAST OF THE DOGMEN – David Arnold
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A wilderness action adventure with elements of mystery and historical fantasy, Last of the Dogmen stars Tom Berenger as Lewis Gates, a rugged bounty hunter tracking three escaped convicts in the remote and treacherous wilderness of the Montana Rockies near the Canadian border. During his search, Gates comes across bizarre signs that suggest the presence of a mysterious and elusive group living deep in the mountains – people who shouldn’t exist. After teaming up with anthropologist Professor Lillian Sloan (Barbara Hershey), an expert on Native American history, they investigate the mystery, and discover a hidden valley inhabited by a Native American tribe descended from the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, fierce warriors who evaded the U.S. Cavalry over a century earlier and have lived in complete isolation ever since. Read more…
THE NAKED GUN – Lorne Balfe
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Sassafras Chicken in D. Make it extra lumpy, boys.
As much as I enjoy witty repartee and sophisticated but humorous observations about the human condition, there is something enormously satisfying about a comedy that is unashamedly, gleefully stupid. My favorite out-and-out comedy of this type is Airplane! from 1980, which was written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, and my second favorite comedy of all time of this type is The Naked Gun from 1988, which ZAZ co-wrote with Pat Proft. The Naked Gun was itself a spinoff of the short-lived comedy TV series Police Squad, which aired on ABC for one season in 1982, and starred Leslie Nielsen as the inept LAPD detective Lt. Frank Drebin. Over the course of the show and the three subsequent films he investigates various murders, robberies, and extortion rackets – all of which are framing devices on which to hang all manner of goofy one-liners, ridiculous sight gags, and hilarious pratfalls, all centered around Nielsen’s unique brand of comedy. Read more…
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