DANNY BOYLE’S TRAINSPOTTING 2 — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

1

Trainspotting 2 (I simply refuse to refer to this film as T2 as there is only ONE T2) works way better than I ever expected. I am very wary of long-lead sequels, especially sequels to masterworks, so this one had a lot to prove. The story is really good, the performances are all excellent, it’s beautifully photographed by Anthony Dod Mantle, and director Danny Boyle again proves that cinema is part of his DNA; I really love him as a filmmaker. The narrative has more of a reason to exist than I could have imagined, with everything feeling organic enough as to make contextual sense. And while certainly nowhere near as impactful as the first effort (but how could it have been?), it’s an extremely entertaining film that reignites old characters in ways that could have felt forced or unnecessary but never does thanks to the conviction of the script and the heart it shows for the various characters. Sequels, as a rule, are typically designed with one thing in mind: To make money. And with this one, that never feels like it was the guiding motivation, as Boyle is too smart for that, and given that he could make nearly anything that he wants, I’m glad he brought back the gang for one more wild round of debauchery. John Hodge’s script is sharp, funny, and perceptive of where these characters would realistically be at this point in their manic lives. This most definitely wasn’t a “safe-bet.”

2

“I hate to admit this but I don’t understand this situation at all.” An appreciation of David Lynch’s impenetrable entertainment, Twin Peaks and all- by Josh Hains 

by Josh Hains, posted in Film Review

These days, when I watch anything David Lynch has filmed, be it Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Inland Empire, or even his flawed yet hypnotic and deliciously crazy adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, I check my brain in at the door. I let my mind become invaded by the alluring sights and sounds that populate his stunning body of work, letting them burn themselves into the deepest parts of my soul. I don’t over think what I’m watching, and I don’t allow myself to obsess over such cerebral, intentionally puzzling works. Above all else, the images tend to stay with me like dirt under my fingernails, or a ghost lurking in an old house.

The point of Lynch’s life’s work is breaking convention, trying truly new things with the form, narratively or visually, that most people in the movie or television businesses will never think of in their lifetime. Ever. Taking cinematic standards we’ve become comfortable with and breaking them like a sledgehammer against concrete, dismantling what’s considered safe, easy, and profitable, his works always risky, provocative, difficult, and confounding. I find just about everything he’s made confounding to varying degrees, and just like any great puzzle, the necessary pieces to solving any given mystery in any of his works are always right there in plain sight, staring me right in the face, taunting me. I’m reminded of a quote from Christopher Nolan’s brilliant puzzler The Prestige: “Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled.” Except that I don’t want to be fooled, at least not entirely.

I have a tendency to want to know what pieces go where and watch them all slowly fit together, though an equal part of me doesn’t want to completely kill the mystery, doesn’t mind the ambiguity and relishes in being challenged on such deeply psychological levels. The first time I saw his Mulholland Drive, I disliked it because I couldn’t make heads or tails of what I’d just witnessed. Nothing I’d seen made any amount of sense, or could easily be summed up in a quick sentence. It was impenetrable, and I hated it. A couple years ago I learned that the impenetrable, confusing, ambiguous nature of everything that is Lynch, is the point. Whether or not I can solve the puzzle of Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, or Twin Peaks, isn’t the point of those and most of David Lynch’s filmography. That’s never been the point. You’ll only drive yourself mad trying to solve something you aren’t meant to solve, or find yourself underwhelmed and ungrateful if you do somehow manage to decipher the code that solves the mystery and don’t like the results. The point is the journey, and just like any grand adventure, everything he’s made has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s not the destination that matters, but how we get there, and though the journeys Lynch takes us on between those points on the map is different from what we’re used to, in the end it’s actually a really good thing.

All great art should be more than just disturbing to the comfortable and comfortable to the disturbed. It should be challenging. It should make us think deeper than we’ve ever thought before and inite us to continue to think deeper. It should make us look at the art and ask why, make us take a deeper look inside ourselves and ponder why we didn’t think if it ourselves, and what we can do to be more creative and open minded. It should open a wide assortment of doors to all kinds of endless creative potentials and ideas, and challenge us to tackle subjects we’ve been too afraid and comfortable to explore. Twin Peaks: The Return, is this year’s prime example of taking the standards we’ve become so accustomed to, and breaking them for 18 episodes straight. 

I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around most of what happened this season on Twin Peaks, and though repeated viewings of Twin Peaks when the Blu-Ray arrives some months from now will surely unlock a few secrets and tie up some loose ends I didn’t immediately comprehend, I doubt I will ever be able to fully understand everything that happened over the course of The Return. I also don’t fully understand what the hell happens in Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, or Inland Empire, but that’s quite alright with me. I’m not supposed to understand the plots, I’m supposed to be swept up in everything else that’s going on. The acting, the symbolism, the trippy nightmarish images, the sudden graphic violence, the sensuous love stories, thunderous pulsating scores, the sublime aura of it all. Like I said before, it’s not the destintion that matters, but how you got there, and how I got there was a magnificent achievement. 

My biggest takeaways from Twin Peaks: The Return, as of right now because I’m still processing what I watched, are that David Lynch is perhaps the foremost essential artist of our times, and a truly brilliant one at that, willing to break rules and conventions for the sake of experimentation and trying to provide more sophisticated entertainment to us all. My other takeaway is that though the battle between good and evil in fiction or our reality never truly ends, as long as the world is occupied by Dale Cooper’s, the light stands a chance of winning.

Atomic Blonde 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review


Atomic Blonde is the annual adrenaline shot the action genre gets every year, if we’re lucky. Amidst carbon copy superhero extravaganzas, increasingly ridiculous Fast/Furious hemorrhages and head scratching animation ventures, the multiplex is a frustrating realm these days, but sometimes we are blessed with a good old fashioned hard-R action blitzkrieg that turns out to be a pure banger, lighting up the summer movie roster like neon fireworks. Blonde rides the wake that John Wick left behind, a refreshing, stylistic, no-holds-barred form of action storytelling that cheerfully pisses in the face of all things glossy and PG-13. Set in a frenzied Berlin days before the wall comes down and the Cold War freezes over, Charlize Theron is a breathtakingly sexy super spy with a very particular set of skills and a borderline nihilistic approach to espionage, as well as a massive bone to pick with certain factions of the enemy, who stay fairly hidden until the wicked chess game of a plot rounds it’s final curves. Tasked by a sneaky British intelligence honcho (Toby Jones) and a mysterious CIA Agent (John Goodman, excellent as always) she’s caught between all kinds of warring assets including the KGB, roaming German euro trash punks and a British rogue agent (James Macavoy) playing all sides at once. The plot serves action, to be sure, but it still takes itself seriously amidst all the punches, flying kicks, icepicks to the jugular and careening vehicular destruction. Theron is a primal piston of wanton violence and slinky sexual virility, throwing herself headlong into every action sequence with the kind of reckless abandon that makes you believe those bruises for real (apparently she busted a few ribs for real filming this, the absolute champ). The highlight is a bone shattering one take wonder of a staircase fight, a hapless Eddie Marsan bandaging a bullet wound with swaths of duck tape while Theron furiously dispatches several enemies using any means within arms reach, a spectacle that leads to glorious cringes once the hits get hard and critical and sharp objects start getting close to eyeballs and major organs. The soundtrack must be noted too, the filmmakers employing nostalgic melodies straight out of the 80’s to evoke time and place nicely, with everything from Nina’s 99 Luftballoons to The Clash’s London Calling and Queen’s Under Pressure coming into play. There’s also pretty much the hottest movie sex scene I’ve seen in years, as Theron and a bombshell of a French agent (Sofia Boutella) get slippery under the sheets in a neon soaked Berlin hotel room. This is an action film made by folks who are head over heels in love with the genre, and the passion shows. We never feel cheated, chaperoned or short changed, every ounce of this piece charged up to please the crowd and keep pulses thundering. 

-Nate Hill

TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review

Image result for twin peaks the return black lodge

Let’s discuss Showtime’s finest “original” programming and David Lynch and Mark Frost’s cataclysmic finale of the TWIN PEAKS saga. First things first, will we get another season or a standalone film that is akin to FIRE WALK WITH ME? Probably not, no. Sure, stranger things have happened, but it’s more than likely we will not get another visual TWIN PEAKS story, and may not even get another film from Lynch himself. This very well could be it for both Peaks and Lynch.

What does the final season mean? What does it answer in the twenty-five-year absence? What happened to Cooper at the end? Honestly, none of that really matters, does it? The more diehard fans of both Lynch and his seminal series with Mark Frost, are not looking for answers, one could say that they are just seeking more unfulfilled questions that will keep them returning to the Peaks canon over a series of years, if not decades.

One thing is apparently clear from THE RETURN. Lynch’s obsession with dreams and a parallel reality which is all rolled into lifelong inspiration, THE WIZARD OF OZ. OZ deals very much in dreams, a parallel reality, and one’s journey back home or at the very least the center of their own reality. There are a plethora of motifs and nods to the film within the series.

THE RETURN isn’t very much like the original series, aside from a string of arcs from beloved characters. What truly perpetuates the main narrative is FIRE WALK WITH ME, which is even more of an important component of the mythology of TWIN PEAKS than ever.

David Bowie’s brief cameo as time traveling Blue Rose Task Force Special Agent Phillip Jeffries became the great and powerful Oz of THE RETURN. He spoke in a method of half riddles, through puffs of steam coming from a percolator.  Sadly, David Bowie was not able to start and complete his scheduled scenes, so instead actor Nathan Frizzell was cast as the voice of Jeffries, and even overdubbed Jeffries’ dialogue from FIRE WALK WITH ME and THE MISSING PIECES. Regardless of the lack of David Bowie, Lynch was able to bring him back into the spotlight, not only in the foreground of the new series but also as the pop culture icon that he had always been.

 

Without diving into the Lynchian mathematics that is near impossible to solve within THE RETURN, the series ends itself exactly where it began. Cooper is in the Lodge, speaking with Mike and with Laura Palmer whispering in his ear. What does that all mean? It means that Cooper is looped inside of his own dream, within the Black Lodge, and with this reveal, it certainly calls the entire run of this season into question, and makes us ask ourselves what is the reality of the show? Is the reality we saw outside the Black Lodge a tangible reality, a parallel reality, or is it fictitious and all conjured up within Dale Cooper’s head as his sits in the Black Lodge?

David Lynch and Mark Frost brought the season back to where it began and left the audience with a bigger question than what was originally asked. They not only created the finest television event of the year but possibly ever. They have crafted an alluring, taut, and downright haunting story that has no end.

 

NICK’S NOTES: WARGAMES

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

3

I used to watch WarGames all the time as a kid. It aired constantly on HBO, my dad was a big fan, and it was edgy in just the right spots but never overly offensive as to be objectionably in my mother’s movie-watching eyes. Released in 1983 and directed by John Badham (who had replaced Martin Brest), this cold-war era piece of vintage entertainment centers on a young computer hacker (Matthew Broderick) who accidentally infiltrates a top-secret government computer program, resulting in a series of escalting “war games” being conduced by a super-computer between the U.S. and Russia. You gotta love this idea! Co-written by Walter Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, the film sports some gorgeous cinematography by William A. Fraker, and is very well-paced by editor Tom Rolf. Shot for $12 million and grossing $80 million, the film was a big hit and was well-received by critics, and has become one of those staple catalog titles that people still adore to this day. Extra-cute Ally Sheedy POWER and big-time Dabney Coleman POWER like a cherry on top.2

Force Friday Podcast: THE EWOK ADVENTURES

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review, Podcast, Star Wars

Image result for the ewok adventures

Join Frank and filmmaker Derek Wayne Johnson as they discuss BOTH of the Ewok films that are seminal films from their childhood. Don’t forget to purchase Derek’s film, JOHN G. AVILDSEN KING OF THE UNDERDOGS from retailers everywhere!

Image result for battle for endor

 

 

 

RON HOWARD’S GUNG HO — A REVIEW BY FILMMAKER & GUEST CRITIC DAMIAN K. LAHEY

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

GungHoPoster

‘Gung Ho’ (1986) dir. Ron Howard

“The truth? You don’t want the truth. You want to hear that Americans are better than anybody else. But they’re kicking our butts. That ain’t luck. There’s your truth. Sure, the great old American do-or-die spirit. Yeah, it’s alive. But THEY’VE got it.”

In ‘Gung Ho’. a U.S. automotive plant has been bought out by a Japanese company and the workers must adapt to the Japanese way of doing business. This is an unintentionally prophetic film about the complacency of the American working class and the tensions that arise in a rapidly evolving multi cultural and global economy. A comedy packed with some earnest socio-political insight, this remarkable film is headlined by an effortless and confident Michael Keaton who fits this movie like a glove.

Watching this film years after I last saw it, some of the culture clash gags did make me wince but overall it holds up. In less capable hands individual sequences could have dissolved into SNL skits. Howard does a commendable job of sidestepping obvious set ups (for the most part) and focusing more on the world these characters inhabit without becoming patronizing. I think this is one of his best films. The script by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Mandel, Ganz and Edwin Blum is clever and quick with a clear understanding of these characters. The film feels very ‘lived in’ and Production designer James L. Schoppe and costume designer Betsy Cox deserve serious kudos for their work on this. Cinematographer Donald Peterman captures the proceedings in an unassuming way, really letting the material breathe.

I really love all the supporting players in this, too. Gedde Watanabe, George Wendt, Mimi Rogers, John Turturro and infamous acid tripping professional baseball player Dock Ellis all do a wonderful job.

Adding to this film’s relevancy is the fact that ‘Gung Ho’ sheds a light on something that has now had a very negative impact on the United States Of America – the delusional entitlement of the working class or more specifically, the white working class that turned out in droves for Donald Trump. Brain dead from propaganda telling them they’re the greatest thing since sliced cheese and that they deserve pay checks just for getting up in the morning, they have supplanted a racist nationalist ideology for a reliable work ethic. They want to be treated and compensated like the hard working Paul Bunyons of American mythology without actually doing any of the work. They believe they’ve been abandoned and in some ways this is true. But they’re abandonment of a reliable work ethic has let them down far more than any foreigner or liberal policy they would like to blame.

GungHoStill

One Composer against the Armada: An Interview with Craig Safan by Kent Hill

by Kent Hill, posted in Interviews

The film scores that permeated my youth seemed for the longest time to be written mostly by two guys – John Williams and James Horner. Though, while this pair were both loud and prolific – they weren’t the only composers in town.

I come from a time of cinema obsession where the score and the images were indeed one. I cannot imagine the films of that period without their score nor can I hear the scores and not see the images.

http://soundtrack.ucoz.com

Other dominant composers of the period were Bill Conti, Basil Poledouris, Trevor Jones and a man named Craig Safan. To talk about Craig is to talk about The Last Starfighter, for The Last Starfighter was one of the most important films of my formative years, and its score continues to echo through the speakers of my car stereo as I drive off to face the grind daily (or to battle evil in another dimension).

As much as I could have gushed about all the nuances in the Starfighter score for the duration of our chat, it is proper to acknowledge to he (Craig) has written many a great score for both film and television alike. With scores for Remo Williams, The Legend of Billie Jean, Stand and Deliver as well as the small screen’s Amazing Stories and his long run on Cheers. Craig has even scored a video game, and it was cool to hear how the gig for Leisure Suit Larry came is way.

At the end of our chat I told Craig I constantly listen to his Starfighter score in the car. He asked if at anytime did the car convert to a spacecraft and fly me off to join the Star League? There have been days where I wish that had been the case. Though whenever that music is playing there always seems to be a chance that I may yet get my recruitment papers at last, take flight, and go get me a Gun-Star. But till then, have a listen to the extraordinary gentlemen whose music continues to live on in the glorious films of our last golden age.

Ladies and Gentlemen . . . I give you . . . Craig Safan.

15262307405_85a5098e5f_o

Multi-Headed Sharks and Mega-Sexy Mercenaries: An Interview with Christopher Olen Ray by Kent Hill

by Kent Hill, posted in Interviews

I’ve often mused on what it might have been like if my father had of worked in the movie business. Would I have have grown up with this addiction to cinema had that have been the case? Or would it have been different?

I’ve traveled beyond these grey hills, that surround the quiet town in which I reside, and I have seen the poor and unfortunate parts of this world. But you pause upon reflection of such experiences and remember, if you were born into such a life, would you know any different? It would simply be your life until to chose to break loose your shackles and go seeking?

For Chris Olen Ray movies were simply a part of his life; being raised by a filmmaker and being in his father’s films. But like all young people do at some point, they choose to rebel. Thus, Chris joined the military to get as far away from the movies as he could. He took the sea and saw something of the world before returning and realizing – what’s in the blood, stays in the blood.

Emerging from the shadow of his father (B-movie legend Fred Olen Ray), Chris soon amassed an impressive list of credits all his own. From horror to action, to the type of film that would not look out of place among his father’s credits; attacking multi-headed sharks and all-star, all-female mercenaries, these are just the tip of the iceberg.

It is as exciting to ponder his next cinematic chapter as it was to chat with Chris Olen Ray…

…Enjoy.

cray

I’LL BE BACK: FIVE FAVORITE SCHWARZENEGGER FILMS

by 39frames, posted in Film Review

o-ARNOLD-SCHWARZENEGGER-facebook.jpg

In honor of the latest re-release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Skynet’s 20th birthday yesterday, Ben and Kyle sat down to reflect on Ahnuld’s film legacy. Those action-adventurers and comedies that marked a highlight in his film career. From an Austrian bodybuilder to the action star of the 80’s and 90’s, to a storied politician, the duo revisit five classics and put our their spin on them.

Conan the Barbarian

MV5BNDgyZmRmZGQtNGVkZC00N2UzLWI1NGYtMGRjZjU4ZmFiNGZiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjMyNTkxNzY@._V1_.jpg

BEN: Although he had a number of roles in the 1970’s after being discovered as a body builder, none of those roles defined Arnold Schwarzenegger more than 1982’s Conan the Barbarian and its sequel, Conan the Destroyer two years later.  Patterned after The Road Warrior and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, John Millius’s and Oliver Stone’s script for Barbarian is at its heart a revenge story, full of amazing cinematography and classic characters, such as James Earl Jones as Thulsa Doom, Max von Sydow as King Osiric, Mako as the Narrator/Wizard amongst others.  I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen this film in a very long time and I’m overdue for a visit because I remember Duke Callgahan’s cinematography of the desolate, yet rich mountainside landscapes to be stunning along with Basil Poledouris’ drum-heavy instrumental score.

KYLE: Poledouris’ score is legendary.  Aside from the outstanding cinematography, one of the things that makes this film work is that it is unapologetically violent and adult oriented.  The 80’s was a decade in American cinema where you could get away with quite a bit and many films, particularly those geared towards children had a darker undercurrent.  Barbarian went the opposite route and didn’t bury the darkness, it showcased it.  This is also easily Arnold’s best performance.  Conan is flawed and violent, but there’s a savage nobility to him that really comes to fruition after the crucifixion scene.  It’s my favorite part, when they raid the orgy and Doom’s minion says “You” and Conan immediately raises his sword.  It’s scenes like this that make you fall in love with movies.

The Terminator

the-terminator-1.jpg

BEN: In some ways, this role really defined Schwarzenegger’s style as a sarcastic something or another.  It wasn’t so much the character of the Terminator that defined him, but his formidable, yet mechanical presence on the screen. Future roles would lighten him up, where here, Cameron had him approach the role with a more robotic precision, which would permeate some of his more militaristic roles in future movies.  What I liked about his performance was that he was ultra-cool even when he was deadly serious.  The opening scene with Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson where The Terminator asks for their clothes and Paxton’s character says “This guy’s short of a six pack” says a lot about the story and the character because in the next scene Schwarzenegger just sticks his fist into the abdomen of one of the punks, killing him instantly.  It is this precision in Schwarzenegger’s acting that really is defined in this film and is something that we continue to see today.

KYLE: Cameron’s best film by a mile and the one that put Arnold on the map.  It’s the perfect blend of 80’s neon dystopia and cold war paranoia…a place where Arnold’s inhuman assassin is free to kill with impunity in the name of a machine dominated future.  While Arnold is amazing, I’d argue this is really Michael Biehn’s film, but his layered performance only works because it is contrasted by the emotionless antagonist that only Schwarzenegger could portray.

Commando

202-8.jpg

BEN: This film allowed us to explore Schwarzenegger’s . . . tender(?) side by exposing his character to a situation that placed his daughter in danger.  The intriguing element is that he is very much a military muscle jock, even if his character is retired and ‘off the grid’.  I really liked the story and characters in this film.  The settings are very 80’s with the Contras-like group taking his daughter hostage as he tries to figure out what’s going on.  Just as with his Terminator role, here he is a no-holds barred killer and he’ll blow anyone and anything up.  Except his daughter.  Oh, and Rae Dawn Chong.

KYLE: The body count for this one rivals Total Recall (which sadly didn’t make our list!).  Where The Terminator was the gritty underbelly of the 80’s, Commando is ultra-macho American end of the spectrum.  Let’s also not forget the tool shed scene, which is a legend unto itself with respect to comic book violence.  While the subject matter may not hold as much relevance today, the combat and over the top performances will always remain fixtures in American action cinema.

The Running Man

MV5BMDdiYTUxOTMtZDA5Ni00ZTg0LWJiZTktZThjNTgyNzA0YzcwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjk3NTUyOTc@._V1_.jpg

BEN: Never has there been a more relevant film to not only the time in which it was made, but also today.  It’s ironic then that Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) set the film in 2019.  Steven E. de Souza gave the horrors of government control a graphic representation, while director Paul Michael Glasser (yes, that Paul Michael Glasser!) layered the film with a veritable who’s who of actors to surround Schwarzenegger including Yaphet Kotto, Maria Conchita Alonzo, and former game show host Richard Dawson.  Some who have never seen it might call it cheesy, but it mirrors our reality today quite well.  Pay attention to what this movie is trying to say.

KYLE: I absolutely adore this film.  Coupling the very serious themes with the campy overindulgence of reality television makes for an outstanding experience.  There’s terrific action set pieces, mysterious landmarks of the zone, and Dawson’s scene chewing villain.  This is one of Arnold’s more vulnerable roles and it’s a blast to see him fighting the system.  Some of the commercials and other propaganda that are placed throughout are hilarious.  This is probably Stephen King’s actual worse nightmare, and like you say, it’s interesting that it is slowly becoming a reality.

True Lies

maxresdefault.jpg

BEN: Our final film is another James Cameron classic, if not an underrepresented film.  Based on the French film La Totale!, Lies focuses its story on Harry Tasker, a global sales manager who doubles as a black operative for a covert terrorism taskforce known as Omega Sector.  The story by James Cameron and Randall Frakes balances Tasker’s real world situations with his life as a family man, where he is married to Jamie Lee Curtis’s Helen Tasker, who knows nothing of his real life.  Tom Arnold and Grant Heslov round out his team while his daughter, Dana, played by Eliza Dushku is full of teenage angst.  Art Malik as the bad guy is very effective. Bill Paxton was hilarious as a faux double agent, Simon. Cameron surrounds himself with notable technical folks to support him.  Russell Carpenter serves as the cinematographer.  Whether we’re being chased down a snow covered, tree-lined hill in the Austrian Alps or we’re taking a helicopter ride over the Overseas Highway spanning the Florida Keys, Carpenter is up to the task. Conrad Buff, Mark Goldblatt and Richard A. Harris are all editors on various Cameron projects and they do a stunning job over the course of the 141 minute run time.  Finally, Brad Fiedel is back to give Harry and company a riveting adventure score.  Watch for the Westin Bonaventure Hotel to make another appearance as a stand-in for a D.C. hotel.

KYLE: While Total Recall and Predator are probably higher on my list, I think True Lies is an interesting film.  There is a lot of debate about whether True Lies is chauvinistic with respect to Arnold’s treatment of Curtis and while I won’t get into the specifics here, I do think the conversation has merit.  One of my favorite things about this film is how everyone appears to be having a wonderful time.  It’s probably the most fun film of Arnold’s adult oriented content because, like its premise, it knows it is an illusion.  It is a caricature of the films that Arnold built his career on while simultaneously being a playful examination on relationships, loyalty, and perspective.  Technically, this is one of Cameron’s most impressive entries, with the editing being the true stand out.

BEN & KYLE: Thank you for continuing to follow our conversations.  Next week, we’re going to take an in depth look at Lawrence of Arabia.