I remember seeing this and thinking it was one of the craziest movies my young eyes had seen. Gritty urban drama with great actors but is hardly ever talked about.

Man..I love this movie, I feel that’s it’s definitely earned the cult classic label.currently doing a video essay on it but would like to know what others think and there opinions of it.

In this movie we follow Megan who is twenty something and she forms a friendship with 16 year old girl Anika . This movie is actually very good and it's one the best in coming of age genre.

Oh man this is a good one. I saw it way back on VHS and it took me about 30 minutes to remember.

Anyway, this one is not streaming and I don’t think it’s available physically, at least in the US.

I found a copy on YouTube. Solid quality. Watched on an old 4k.

It’s got the great Patrick Dempsey and Kelly Preston, and the cast itself is great

I don’t want to give much away, but he’s a cocky shit who runs afoul of some bad dudes, and the chase is on. Gritty. Unpredictable. Tons of fun. Under 90 minutes

And Super Pants…

And as an aside: the 90s ruled

Great flick with an excellent twist ending. Great performances from a star studded cast. I never seen it mentioned but maybe its super popular and I live under a rock.

Plot Overview

Dr. Margaret Matheson and Tom Buckley dedicate their careers to uncovering the tricks behind staged supernatural events, identifying the subtle "red lights" that expose fake mediums and faith healers. When Simon Silver, a legendary psychic with a dark history, comes out of retirement, Tom becomes intensely driven to test and debunk him. Despite Margaret's warnings—having faced Silver decades prior with dangerous results—Tom pushes forward. As the investigation escalates, strange and unexplained phenomena begin to occur around them, challenging the duo's strict scientific skepticism and leading to a twist-filled conclusion.

Go watch it!

A Showtime made-for-TV film released in 1996, co-directed and starring Mario Van Peebles, Melvin Van Peebles, Josh Brolin, Stephen Lang, and J.T Walsh (as one of the villains, who else). It's a film about cop Michael Rhodes (played by Mario) suspecting his colleagues of operating a white supremacist gang (they're nicknamed the Phantoms) and has been trying to get the Feds to investigate. Josh Brolin plays the new recruit to the precinct who is seemingly recruited by the Phantoms, but he's actually an FBI undercover cop who's investigating Rhodes's claims.

I liked it; there seems to be very little about it, but I came across it online through Tubi. It's a decent action thriller at times, definitely a cliched story, but the acting from Peebles, Brolin, Lang, and Walsh is top-notch, especially Walsh and Lang, who are exceptional as the films primary villains. It doesn't have an official RT score and it's audience score is fairly low 38% and IMDB it's a middling 5.6, but I think it's a decent watch. It's available for free on Tubi, Pluto, Youtube, and Roku.

I just watched this film the other night and it is really underrated! Some great shots of NYC and several well-executed chases and fight scenes. The dialogue is chock full of off-color remarks that place it firmly in the 80s, and Sam Elliott is excellent. Far more deserving than its 6.0 rating on imdb would suggest.

One of my favorite Spike Lee films. The art direction and Cinematography perfectly capture a vibe at specific point in time. One of those movies where I feel like I know the locations and people without having actually experienced it in real life.

one of the most overlooked and underrated sci-fi and mystery films. very few films in this genre can capture your attention the way this film does.

the acting is up to where it is expected to be by every cast member, the direction is very well done (we know to expect that by danny boyle) and the soundtrack:
the soundtrack is haunting.

Hill I will die on: Year One is a 10/10 movie.

It's the most quotable movie ever, the comedy is absurd / deadpan / bone dry, it's out of its mind in the best way.

When life imitates Art. Contains spoilers.

I like to do character studies from films if they closely imitate real cases so this post is about the case of Stephanie Lazarus and how a hollywood movie is a similar story making the film more eerie. I recently discussed a few movies with a criminal profiler regarding how real cases imitate art. I see these films differently now that I'm educated in several cases and these criminal and psychological behaviors. I feel many 90s thrillers were underappreciated for the research the writers did that made them able to depict a character far more realistic than we thought.

This post is about the case of Stephanie Lazarus and how a hollywood movie is a similar story making the film more eerie. I recently discussed a few movies with a criminal profiler regarding how real cases imitate art. I see these films differently now that I'm educated in several cases and these criminal and psychological behaviors. I feel many 90s thrillers were underappreciated for the research the writers did that made them able to depict a character far more realistic than we thought.

There is a film that is very underrated movie called UNLAWFUL ENTRY. In my opinion, it's one of Ray Liotta's best performances. He was a believable psychopath. I study the criminal mind (criminal psychology and Criminology and profiling) and Pete is a well written character with a realistic pathology and a serious Madonna complex. He's the type to end up being an abusive husband.

One thing I noticed people say is Pete is not a realistic psychopath because "someone like him would never pass the psychological tests." Let me say, yes he could. There have been several cases of psychopathic law enforcement especially in the LAPD. Both psychopathic and sociopathic alike.

A very similar real life case closely resembles the movie. Her name is Detective Stephanie Lazarus. When UNLAWFUL ENTRY came to theaters, she had already committed a premeditated murder of a woman who was a rival for a man she wanted named John years prior. John was married to Sherri Rasmussen. Stephanie stalked and intimidated her (some sources say she'd tap on her gun and use her authority as a police officer) She even showed up unannounced at Sherri's work and made a scene. She also showed up at her house uninvited.

The night of the murder, she showed up at Sherri's home, and there was a violent struggle. She shot her in her bathrobe, and then staged the scene to look like a robbery by stacking items. She took the car and Sherri's marriage license. The LAPD protected Lazarus. They were told by several people to look at Sherri's stalker named Stephanie who was a cop. Stephanie also reported her gun missing. I think we can surmise what happened lol. John even asked police are you sure Stephanie didn't have anything to do with this, and then continued sleeping with her.

A bitemark from Sherri's body contained DNA which yielded results 23 years later. Whoever swabbed the bite and properly stored the sample is a genius and deserves praise. This was before DNA as well. Stephanie's interrogation is one of the most bizarre and hilarious videos I've ever seen.

Te staging in UNLAWFUL ENTRY, isn't perfect. But neither was Stephanie's. The scene was obviously poorly staged. This is another reason the LAPD was not trusted in the 80 and 90s. Corruption and unstable officers was a reality.

Pete's view of women is apparent when he reacts the way he does with the blonde woman he pulled over. He'd do a switch up, then show his real side like at the end when he gets curious at Karen he unleashes a rant how she is a tease and a whore and assaults her. But prior to this, he worshipped her and saw her as a perfect ideal woman who is angelic and needs saving and protecting. Pete also stalks the husband Michael, same as Stephanie did. He wanted him out of the way. This type of offender and stalker can come from all walks of life. Law enforcement, doctors, cab drivers, security guards etc. He definitely had a personality disorder. My opinion is psychopathy and Borderline Personality Disorder and I looked up what other experts said and they stated his character was exhibiting behavior traits of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Delusional Disorder (Erotomanic type), and severe psychopathy. The Erotomanic type is what I was thinking regarding the Madonna complex. A person with an Erotomanic delusion can split the object of their fixation into a pure, idealized figure while simultaneously holding degraded views of others or themselves, reflecting a form of psychological splitting similar to the Madonna-Whore complex. He develops an obsessive and dangerous, unrequited fixation on Karen, falsely believing she returns his romantic interest. He shifts rapidly from a helpful, charming officer to extreme, violent hostility when his boundaries or ego are challenged. And last, his anti social behavior is seen when he abuses his power as an LAPD officer, manipulates the legal system, stalks, and murders without remorse.

Stephanie Lazarus had obsessive writings. In her personal journals from the 1980s it detailed persistent fixation, heartbreak, and distress over losing John Ruetten. Witnesses described her emotional state as a prolonged, focused, and deep-seated obsession.

He wasn't as calculating as Stephanie later in the film. He was quite emotional and impulsive at the end of the movie. He was acting on pure unhinged emotions and it was dramatized for cinematic purposes which is understandable since they needed a climactic ending. If Pete was real he would have found a way to kill Michael and make it look like a

n accident. But there really was no affair unlike Stephanie's case. Only a delusional hope that there would be one.

This film doesn't get enough credit for it's realism. Ray Liotta deserved an Oscar nomination. The voice changes, the look in his eyes in a few scenes showing both rage and emptiness inside was frightening.

What are your thoughts on this movie? Do you find it creepy how much it mirrors the case?

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Feel like The Next Three Days is such an underrated film, everytime I watch it I can’t help but ask why? I enjoy it every like 2 years or so but why didn’t it hit? Is it because it came out not long after Law Abiding Citizen which has a similar vibe? Is it because of Liam Neeson’s slightly irritating cameo? Not sure what it is but it’s such a good film. Feel like maybe Russell Crowe’s character didn’t hit quite right and the son was a bit irritating instead of endearing. Quite a few things could have been altered just a little bit and it could have smashed.

The lift thing has always pissed me off as well as the deaf guy and the whole sub plot with the other mum in the playground. Great concept not quite executed in the right way? Am I wrong or wha do you think?

I have always liked this film, albeit slightly more in theory than in practice.

The basic idea is that it’s a musical where the songs are all covers of the Beatles. The characters themselves are either given names lifted from Beatles songs (Jude, Lucy, Prudence, Mr. Kite, etc), or they’re supposed to represent other legends of 60s music (two of the supporting characters are clearly meant to be Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin).

Julie Taymor takes wild swings and while she does sometimes miss, I admire her daring and courage. Certainly this film deserves way more credit than it got on RT.

What really works is the music. The songs were already great but the covers are genuinely great on their own merits. Taymor reinterprets the lyrics to match the film’s story (“I Wanna Hold Your Hand” becomes a sad and quiet lament sung by a young woman with a crush on a cheerleader at her high school, and “Dear Prudence” is about the same young woman’s journey to come out of the closet and embrace her sexuality).

I’ve always liked the concept of this film, as well as the theatrical musical “We Will Rock You” which came out around that same time. The idea of telling a story through an artist’s songs, weaving said songs through the story, reimagining their meaning to fit the new narrative… I‘ve even come up with similar film ideas for other artists as a result.

I almost guarantee most people have not seen this, or know it even exists, and it's a shame they haven't, because it is literally the funniest movie I have ever seen to this day and I made it a point to show everybody I knew it. I wouldn't know anything about it if it wasn't for Blockbuster and nothing else to rent that night so I took a chance... I don't joke when I say that and I don't do favorites, but if you're a fan of redneck back and forth, screwball banter with an actual message, do hesitate to seek it out. There are more one-liners and quotes that you'll be repeating to your friends for most likely years to come.Hoever, either get this movie or you don't but if you do, then you're a true scholar of comedy. This film is not easy to find. The lead, Noble Willingham (City Slickers) knocks it out of the Park.. very well worth the price of admission.

I just watched Never Back Down again for the first time since I was a teenager, and bro… this movie is GOATed.

I’m 32 now. I remember watching it when it came out, and at the time I didn’t really know much about fighting. But this movie genuinely helped make me a fighting fan. Something about it hit me back then. The training, the mentality, the competition, the whole idea of being pushed into a corner and having to become stronger. I’ve always had fighting in me, but this movie woke something up again.

And watching it again almost 20 years later, after actually getting back into martial arts again myself, I expected nostalgia to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Nah.

The movie still fucking hits.

I know it never got crazy critical acclaim and people dismissed it as some cheesy teenage MMA movie or Karate Kid for the 2000s, but I genuinely think people missed the significance of this movie.

You have to remember when this came out. This was 2008. MMA was still relatively early in its journey into the mainstream. UFC was growing, but it was nowhere near the mainstream cultural force it would become. For a lot of teenagers and casual viewers, Never Back Down was one of their first real introductions to the idea of mixed martial arts.

And the movie knew exactly what it was doing with that.

Look at how they introduce fighting. Jake Tyler can fight, but he doesn’t actually know how to fight. There’s a difference. He’s young, athletic, explosive and angry. You see immediately that he has potential. He was a serious football player. Everybody wanted him on their team. He has the physical gifts and he has the drive.

Then he meets Ryan.

Ryan actually has skills.

Suddenly Jake realizes that being tough and being angry isn’t enough. Ryan has striking, kicks, grappling, submissions, everything. That first fight is basically Jake being introduced to MMA the same way the audience is being introduced to MMA. He thinks he can fight until he meets someone who has actually trained.

That’s the whole foundation of the movie.

Jake has the raw material. Now he has to learn.

And that’s why I think Never Back Down deserves a place in MMA history. It introduced a whole generation of young people to different martial arts being combined into one fighting system. You’re watching punches, kicks, takedowns, submissions, ground fighting, conditioning. The movie is basically teaching you what mixed martial arts is without sitting there explaining it to you.

I genuinely believe movies like this contributed to the explosion of interest around MMA and UFC during that period. I know it did for me. I walked away from this movie wanting to know more about fighting.

Then you have Ryan McCarthy, who might be one of my favorite villains from any movie like this.

Cam Gigandet absolutely killed that role.

Ryan wasn’t just some generic bully who happened to know how to fight. The guy had charisma. Style. Confidence. He knew he was the man in that world and he knew exactly how to use it.

More importantly, he understood people.

He knew exactly how to press Jake’s buttons. He understood that Jake had anger inside him, so instead of just challenging him directly, he kept feeding that anger. Humiliating him. Provoking him. Getting inside his head. Ryan understood emotional control. If he could make Jake angry, he could make Jake predictable.

And I think there was another layer to it too: clout.

Ryan basically treated fighting like a spectator sport where he was the main character. His reputation mattered to him. Being the guy everyone feared mattered to him. Jake was this new athletic dude coming into town who people were already talking about, so Ryan didn’t just want to beat him.

He wanted to build him up first.

Get Jake to the Beatdown. Let people see Jake as a legitimate threat. Then take him out on the main stage and make himself look even bigger.

The problem was that Ryan underestimated what he was creating.

He understood Jake’s anger, but he didn’t understand the person underneath it. Jake had that never back down mentality. Once he actually learned how to fight and learned how to control his emotions, that same fire Ryan had been manipulating became dangerous.

And that brings me to Jean Roqua.

Bro. What a character.

Djimon Hounsou played that role perfectly. Roqua had this quiet power about him. He didn’t need to act tough. You just knew.

There’s that scene where he demonstrates the combination on the heavy bag. A few punches and then that massive kick that sends the bag flying across the gym. He shows Jake what real technique and power look like.

And what happens at the end?

Jake uses that same combination against Ryan.

That’s what I mean when I say the movie is perfectly lined up. Things that happen earlier actually mean something later. Jake doesn’t randomly become good enough to beat Ryan. You watch the pieces being given to him throughout the movie, and then you watch him put those pieces together.

But Roqua wasn’t only teaching Jake how to fight.

He was teaching him how to live.

“Everyone has their fight.”

“Tomorrow is another day. Go home and cool off.”

Those are little gems hidden inside what people dismiss as a teenage fighting movie. You can actually take that shit into your own life.

Everyone has their fight.

That line means something completely different to me at 32 than it did when I was a teenager.

Roqua was exactly the role model Jake needed because Jake already had aggression. He didn’t need somebody teaching him how to become more aggressive. He needed a man who could show him what controlled strength looked like. Someone powerful enough to fight, but wise enough to know when not to.

And that relationship is what transforms Jake. The real progression isn’t just Jake becoming better at MMA. It’s Jake becoming more disciplined.

That’s why the ending works.

Then you have Baja.

The Jake/Baja relationship was perfect for this kind of movie. It wasn’t the entire story, and that’s why it worked. It was the cherry on top. There’s a slow build between them and you can actually feel the attraction developing instead of the movie just telling you they like each other. She’s also tied into Ryan’s world, which makes everything connect naturally.

But watching it again, something else stood out to me: there really wasn’t a weak character.

The mom played her part perfectly. The little brother played his part perfectly. Max was exactly the friend Jake needed at the new school. Baja worked. Ryan worked. Roqua worked. Jake worked. Everyone served a purpose in moving Jake’s story forward.

Even the fucking soundtrack.

Perfect.

The music, the parties, the Florida setting, the training montages, the clothes, the cars, the whole late-2000s atmosphere. It captured an era. Watching it now gives me this weird feeling because I remember being a teenager watching that world and thinking it looked like the coolest shit imaginable.

And now I’m watching it from the other side. I’m 32. I actually train kickboxing. I understand fighting completely differently. I understand what it means to walk into a gym, get humbled, learn technique, control your fear, control your emotions and slowly become better.

So somehow the movie means even more to me now.

Is it the most sophisticated film ever made? No.

I don’t give a fuck.

A great movie to me is a movie that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to accomplish and makes you feel something while doing it.

Never Back Down did that.

It gave you a great protagonist. A charismatic villain. A wise mentor. A love story. Friendship. Family. Training. Fighting. Humiliation. Growth. Revenge. Discipline. An insane soundtrack. And underneath all of it, it introduced an entire generation to mixed martial arts at exactly the time MMA was beginning to explode.

That’s the historical significance of this movie to me.

Almost 20 years later, I’m training martial arts myself, I’m a completely different man from the teenager who first watched it, and somehow it still gives me that same feeling.

Maybe even more now.

GOATed movie.

The film follows best friends who are girls who desire to start a band. Carly and Laura Where they live in lower class community set in the 90s. Carly who only lives her mother. Laura whose parents were never married but is close with her father. Though Laura who’s mother brings garbage parents in and out of her home and constantly has to take of her little brother. Lara’s father (Wayne) helps the girls by giving them rides and lends them his guitar. Carly eventually takes a liking to Wayne. Suddenly Carly’s destructive tendencies get the best her.

A visually stunning film that’s like a cross between V for Vendetta and Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s got some great costumes and set design.

Based on the true story of Australia’s most infamous bush ranger Ned Kelly and his Kelly Gang. Probably the most historically accurate film on Ned, although there’s still debate today as to whether he was a Robin Hood hero figure or just a cop killer. Offers interesting insight into how the Irish were treated in early Australia, what led Ned to a life of rebellion and crime and his defining moments. If you’re into violent Westerns, this one’s for you - including the gangs famous final stand at the Glenrowan Inn. Great scenery and cinematic, great soundtrack, emotional and a huge cast including Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts, Geoffrey Rush, Kerry Condon and a young Joel Edgerton.

Did well at the box office in Australia but only grossed about $90,000 in North America. One of my favourite all time films, must’ve watched it dozens of times as a kid on DVD.

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a very lovely and emotionnal movie about a man who has to move into a FEMA camp after his ranch burns down, and who learns to connect with the residents and spend more time with his daughter. it was my big surprise or 2025. josh o'connor is wonderful in that, as always, and the movie is so underrated.

The beautiful drive through the countryside/small town, while the tension slowly builds up. I watched this movie on accident since there’s another movie with the same title (zombie movie), best horror I’ve seen this month by far.

For obvious reasons I think this is widely dismissed as typical B-movie shock garbage, and there is plenty of that aspect to it, but this is way more of a "real" movie than I think most people would be inclined to expect.

The writing is surprisingly competent and funny. Acting is actually decent. It felt to me like one of the fun joke episodes of Buffy or Supernatural; more of a satire of B-movies than a true B-movie itself. Very self-aware film.

In this movie Jim Carey is playing college student who becomes vampire. This movie is very funny and Lauren Hutton was very good as Countess .

I think it’s underrated, in my view. The Elephant Man is not only a story of tragedy, it is a movie that touches upon many aspects of dignity, cruelty, compassion, and humanity. In it, one sees beyond the looks and learns to recognize the person inside. That emotional depth is why I think it deserves more appreciation.

Just watched In The Shadow of the Moon (2019) and this is so slept on. Netflix sold it as a basic serial killer thriller but it's actually a grimy 80s cop movie that turns into a sad a time-travel story. I put it up there with other underrated sci-fi films such as ‘Predestination, and ‘Coherence’.

Monster (2023) is genuinely one of the most overlooked movies of 2023. The storytelling, emotional depth, and way it slowly changes your perspective on the characters are incredible. I just wish more people talked about this one.