Author: Larry C. Taylor

I am a nonfiction author whose first two publications cover director John McTiernan and Tony Scott, respectively. I am a self-made film historian, and I believe film is the one true art form, from the epic majesty of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, to the heartfelt horror of midnight drive in dreck.

Forget This Last Decade, Bruce Willis is an All-Time Great

Willis is stepping away from acting due to aphasia diagnosis. For the last ten years, give or take, Bruce Willis' star has fallen considerably, thanks to an increasingly inept collection of dour, poor-quality DTV action movies. Most have been shot overseas, and Willis's involvement rarely stretches beyond about fifteen minutes of screen time. Outside of … Continue reading Forget This Last Decade, Bruce Willis is an All-Time Great

DEAD POETS SOCIETY: No, Mr. Keating is Not The Actual Villain

When a Bad Take becomes accepted. Recently, I haphazardly stumbled into a Twitter debate over Peter Weir's 1989 Best Picture nominee, Dead Poets Society, and what it's ultimately trying to say in its tragic final act and subsequently rousing conclusion. The consensus, at least in the thread in which I found myself, was that Robin … Continue reading DEAD POETS SOCIETY: No, Mr. Keating is Not The Actual Villain

Summer of ’96: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, The Masterpiece of 90s Summer Cinema

Tom Cruise was already an international superstar when he assembled a team to adapt Mission: Impossible for the big screen. Ever since he slid across the floor in his tightie-whities and blossomed into an A-list actor, Cruise aimed high, teaming up with the likes of Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Tony Scott, Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, … Continue reading Summer of ’96: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, The Masterpiece of 90s Summer Cinema

Summer of ’96: TWISTER Ushers in a New Era of CGI Storytelling

It never really mattered whether or not tornadoes could effectively, realistically, be cinematic villains because they're sporadic and they never last long. That made no difference when you saw that first teaser and first trailer for Twister, Jan de Bont's parade of CGI cyclones, flying cows, and Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt leading a ragtag … Continue reading Summer of ’96: TWISTER Ushers in a New Era of CGI Storytelling

RUN HIDE FIGHT: The Daily Wire’s First Feature is a Scorcher

In this new version of the old world, things are certainly different in just about every walk of life. For some of us out there - some of us who cherish film, the history of the movies, and the movie theater experience - we have been forced to come to the realization that movies may … Continue reading RUN HIDE FIGHT: The Daily Wire’s First Feature is a Scorcher

Joel Schumacher (1939-2020): Five Essentials

If you were a theater patron in the 1990s, odds are you bought a ticket for a Joel Schumacher film somewhere along the way. For fifteen years, give or take, the costume designer turned filmmaker had his finger on the pulse of pop cinema. He made big hits in all different genres, until Bat Nipples … Continue reading Joel Schumacher (1939-2020): Five Essentials

Forgotten Films Archive, #2: FANDANGO (1985)

Once in a while a film full of stars, loaded with promise and equipped with a wide release plan, will come and go without making so much s a ripple in the zeitgeist, lost in the infinite growing back catalogue of cinema. Sometimes, these flippant dismissals are warranted; other times, they're confounding. Occasionally, but rarely, … Continue reading Forgotten Films Archive, #2: FANDANGO (1985)