Simon's Movie Reviews

When it came out in 2001 after almost going straight-to-video, Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko earned the distinction of becoming one of the 21 st century’s first cult films. This was back in an era when cult status had to be earned through word of mouth, late night viewing on cable, as well as VHS rentals just as the DVD market was killing it. Kelly’s certainly has all of the ingredients required for underground discovery: a bizarre plot involving time travel, striking imagery, a soundtrack filled with hits of the era, a first time director and an eclectic cast. Looking back on the movie’s plot now one might think it’s the result of a fever dream. I know I watched this thing sometime in the mid-2000s, probably when it was playing on TV one night, and that it involved a jet engine falling from the sky and not smushing Jake Gyllenhaal to smithereens because a freaky-looking rabbit got him out of bed at the right time. I also remember that what bothered me the most was not the rabb...

Kathryn Bigelow is a director who did not so much break the glass ceiling as shoot her way through it. Her filmography rivals the manliest of action directors in Hollywood and in some cases surpasses them in terms of quality and style. Point Break (1991) her most commercially successful film to date, features amazing stunts, shootouts, and plenty of shots of young people at the beach. Having Gary Busey as a scenery (and meatball sandwich) chewing FBI agent certainly did not hurt either.     Since Point Break came out in at the beginning of the 1990s I did not go see it because at the time I was the target audience for Aladdin . However Bigelow’s film was not only a commercial hit, but it also gained a cult audience over the years and was eventually considered one of the best action movies of that decade. Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost certainly thought so, which is why their action-movie homage Hot Fuzz has two characters watch Point Break and also recr...