My fondness for Bob's Burgers extends all the way back to the first episode in 2011. The writing and performances are on par with the very best sitcoms, the animation has a style all its own, and they've kept us hooked on the lovably losery Belcher clan through week after week of uproarious antics.
Michael Mann's preeminent crime thriller somehow eluded wide audiences in 1995 but has since become an absolute classic of the genre. As he did with Thief several years prior, the writer/director goes deep into the world of career crooks, imparting specific tricks of the trade while revealing the perpetrators as utterly no-nonsense individuals. We can't dismiss them as heartless—their attempts to establish or maintain relationships yield much of the film's fascinating character drama—yet they are incredibly dangerous, willing to kill without hesitation as needed.
When an immensely talented young screenwriter with something to prove fights to make his movie his way—and wins—every once in a while, we get a Reservoir Dogs. Quentin Tarantino's auspicious directorial debut is rough and raw and all the better for it, the story of a heist gone wrong and the rat in the criminals' midst, with copious amounts of blood spilling and bodies piling up as plans spin wildly out of control.
Technically not a "non-stop thrill ride" (it's a classy commuter vehicle so passengers need to board and disembark periodically), Bullet Train is nonetheless a rousing, violent and quite funny adventure. The story moves as fast as the locomotive itself, indulging themes of fate, luck and revenge as an errand boy (Brad Pitt) dealing with a midlife crisis runs afoul of assassins and international crime syndicates, all of them circling a high-value briefcase while the clock counts down to their ultimate destination.
Someone once posited that the way to gauge the quality of a sequel is to plot the delta—better or worse—from the movie that spawned it. Employing that metric, Top Gun: Maverick might be the best damned sequel that I've ever seen.
Chucky, the possessed plaything who would go on to become one of the premier icons of late 20th-Century horror, got his start right here in this 1988 outing. When a dying serial killer with a fondness for the occult transfers his soul into the only vessel available—the hot new talking doll on display at a toy store—little Chuck winds up going home with a single mom and is soon in the hands of a cherubic six-year-old boy.
Before comic book adaptations became their own industry, this earnest action-comedy take on Lowell Cunningham's lesser-known creation became a runaway hit, spawning a popular movie, TV and merch franchise. These supremely discrete "MIB" government agents monitor the comings and goings of Earth's rather frequent alien visitors, maintaining peace through secrecy. Their newest recruit, Jay (Will Smith), needs to step up when a particularly nasty creature lands with ill intent for the galaxy, and Jay's winning chemistry with his world-wearier partner, Kay (Tommy Lee Jones), combined with many highly imaginative sight gags, yields plenty of laughs. At a brisk 98 minutes--the plot was cleverly streamlined after negative test audience feedback--Men in Black is definitely a fun re-watch.
With the theatrical re-release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture earlier this year, a new generation of fans has discovered its charms, thanks in large part to an extensive upgrade to the creator-approved Director’s Edition released on DVD in 2001 — the version personally overseen by director Robert Wise to better represent the movie the way he wanted to debut it back in 1979. But, now, a stunning new version of the film has emerged in the 2022 Director’s Edition, which presents this classic movie in 4K/HDR and Dolby Atmos for the first time.
Ambitious, original, yet largely underappreciated, the first Star Trek film stands alone. Rushed into theaters in December 1979 with unfinished special effects and a studio-mandated runtime of only 130 minutes, it was not the version director Robert Wise intended.
On the way to cooking up the all-time great spaghetti western, Sergio Leone began here with Rawhide star Clint Eastwood, eager to break out of his "white hat" TV persona and take his craft and career to the next level. Together they birthed an anti-hero who would become known as The Man with No Name, indelible and ultimately at the center of For a Few Dollars More (also new to 4K) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (released last year).