I want to make a movie. Better yet I want to make an 1980's movie. Why? Mostly because the majority of today's movies are bad remakes of classic 80's cheese. Now I'm sure most 80's movies were probably remakes of other inherently bad movies, but I didn't see those so they don't count. Now making an 80's movie has a recipe to follow, as there is an exact science to hitting cult status.

Creating a piece of cinema that people will quote for the next 30 years requires intense research. Personally my VHS collection alone is enough to make most people roll their eyes at things I actually spent money obtaining while others simply shake their heads and tell me they haven't even heard of most of them; which either way is fine by me.

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Popularity: 12% [?]

A California comedy with a heart.

Michael Douglas is “Charlie,” a jazz base player, a dreamer, and a loser who spends a few years in a mental institution for a tune-up from the neck-up.

His sixteen year old daughter Miranda ( Evan Rachel Wood) has lost half of her heart when her mom left the house years ago but she managed to learn how to take care of herself.

In a sense, father and daughter switched Emotional IQs over the intervening years – he became the child while she grew into what he should've been; the responsible one.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

3:10 to Yuma tries to break the traditional Western-movie mold like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992) did. But at the end, 3:10 fails to solve one of the equations that it sets for itself in Act 1.

Basically this is another "delivering the criminal to justice" story with a "morality play" at its core.

Protagonist Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a crippled Civil War veteran and loser of a farmer who cannot even command his own son’s respect.

He emerges as an unlikely hero turning down all incentives to betray himself. He resists the easy way out and sticks with a higher principle until the bitter end.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

I’ve been renting DVDs online for quite a long while. Here is my take on how the top 4 rental options compare.

1) NETFLIX

Two words: “Forget it!”

I know how hyped up an operation Netflix is. I forgot the number of times I had to close a Netflix under-pop ad when I visit a web site. It’s been advertised and marketed like crazy. But I really think it sucks for a reason that IMHO borders on “consumer abuse” and “misrepresentation.”

Netflix promises “unlimited rentals” for the subscription category you sign up for, right? Well, think again...

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Popularity: 26% [?]

At the most fundamental level, a movie has to decide whether it’s a documentary or a dramatic work. We also have to decide whether we want to watch an educational, didactic film or a work of dramatic fiction.

Lions for Lambs fails on both levels. It’s neither one nor the other. It lectures through drama, but without teaching anything new.

Despite strong writing, directing and brilliant acting, it maintains a split-personality. It’s a film about war on terror that might have served its purpose better if delivered as a Political Science paper or a New York Times Magazine cover story.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

(Photo: Peggy Noonan)

Here are some my favorite American journalists who rarely fail to amaze me with their wit and erudition, powerful prose, and clarity of thought.

Peggy Noonan

She writes for the Wall Street Journal. Her Friday columns is a must reading for me. She used to be Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter. A devout Catholic and a committed Republican that I trust, despite the fact that I’m neither.

Her recent comments on Hillary Clinton’s turbulent candidacy should be enough to give you a sense of her depth and brilliance as a political commentator:

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Popularity: 19% [?]

Is this how the West was won and built? Unfortunately yes.

Mad-dog prospectors lusting after silver, oil and power; taking life-and-death chances with their bodies, minds, and souls…

Equally dogged preachers, freewheeling rascals and speculators of every kind roaming them arid hills burning with hope.

Winning some. Losing some. Fast forward a hundred years: welcome to California!

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Popularity: 2% [?]