Movie Reviews
Film and television reviewed the way I’d want to read them — with a rating that means something, an honest accounting of what works and what doesn’t, and craft notes for writers who want to understand how the machinery operates.
Each review includes a craft notes section for writers — specific observations about structure, character, world-building, and what the film does that you can actually use. Not theory. Technique you can steal.
Vice (9)
May 11, 2026Angel (1984) and the Franchise — Review
Donna Wilkes, Rory Calhoun, Susan Tyrrell, and pre-gentrification Hollywood Boulevard. Exploitation cinema that survives in spite of itself. Angel (1984) at 5/10.
May 14, 2026Boogie Nights (1997) — Review
Paul Thomas Anderson's foundational ensemble masterpiece. Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds. San Fernando Valley adult industry. 10+/10.
Mar 21, 2026Hardcore (1979) – Review
George C. Scott delivers one of his most underrated performances in Paul Schrader's 1979 descent into the Los Angeles sex industry — a film that builds a devastating portrait of American Calvinist rigidity confronting a world it has no tools to navigate, then loses its nerve at the finish line.
May 14, 2026Lovelace (2013) — Review
Biographical drama about Linda Lovelace. Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard. Substantively fluffy treatment of complex source material. 6/10.
May 11, 2026Pretty Woman (1990) — Review
Beautifully crafted, morally indefensible. Roberts and Gere at their peak, the original dark $3,000 script Disney bought to invert, and the documented real-world Pretty Woman myth. Reviewed at 7/10.
May 10, 2026Showgirls (1995) — Review
Paul Verhoeven's most reviled film is his most exposed — a Vegas satire 1995 critics mistook for the trash it was pretending to be. The reappraisal earned.
May 14, 2026Striptease (1996) — Review
Andrew Bergman comedy based on Carl Hiaasen Florida political satire. Demi Moore, Burt Reynolds. Marketing compromised the substantive material. 7/10.
May 11, 2026The Babysitters (2007) — Review
Katherine Waterston's discovery performance, John Leguizamo as a slimeball, Cynthia Nixon as the wife who knew. Indie drama, not comedy. The Babysitters at 6.5/10.
Mar 21, 2026Vice Squad (1982) – Review
Wings Hauser's Ramrod is one of genre cinema's genuinely frightening villains — casual, flat, and relentless across a single Hollywood night. Vice Squad earns its rating through its location, its villain, and Season Hubley's quietly intelligent performance. The cop is the weak link, but the rest holds.