The Blu Spot

The Film: Throughout cinematic history, there have been few monumental epics that have achieved the standing of William Wyler's 1959 masterpiece "Ben-Hur." To this day, its sheer size & scope are still marveled at by all who see it, putting to shame films that now have to cheat with CGI to achieve the same scale. At the time of its making, if you wanted to see significant portions of Rome, it had to be built. If you needed to have a scene featuring thousands of people, you ha

The Film: There have been many films about investigative journalism over the course of cinematic history, including "The Post," "The Insider," "She Said," and, of course, "Spotlight," which garnered the Oscar for Best Picture a decade ago. However, none of these have been quite as revered as Alan J. Pakula's 1976 classic "All the President's Men," which tells the timeless story of the two reporters who put their lives on the line to investigate the infamous break-in at the Wa

The Film: Ever since it premiered way back in 1959, Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" has been a much-beloved program that is often cited as one of the greatest shows ever made. Over the course of five seasons, it told fascinating moral tales that often had endings you weren't quite expecting, delighting & entertaining audiences of all ages. This made it no surprise that, 20 years later, the idea was brought up to bring the concept to theaters, with four big directors (John L

The Film: Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson is certainly no stranger to massive critical acclaim, with each of his features having garnered a fair share of positive reviews. Have they always been deserved? Well, it's more than fair to say that some of his films are a little overrated, including "Inherent Vice," "Punch-Drunk Love," and "Licorice Pizza," but this hasn't stopped him from amassing a rather impressive 11 Oscar nominations over the course of his incredible caree

The Film: After the 2013 "Evil Dead" reboot failed to impress both critics & audiences alike with its pointless, gratuitous bloodbath, it was decided that it was time to put the idea of another film on the back burner for a little while, and instead attempt the series' first television iteration (with original star Bruce Campbell in the lead, no less). "Ash vs. Evil Dead" was well-received, but after three all-too-brief seasons, it was cancelled due to low viewership (basical

The Film: As writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson quickly approaches 30 years of making theatrical features, it really is quite something to look over what a strange & eccentric filmography he's created along the way, one that has thus far earned him a remarkable 11 Oscar nominations (though curiously no wins). In a career that's included some misses like "Inherent Vice" and "Licorice Pizza," to much stronger work like "There Will Be Blood" and "Magnolia," it's been truly fas

The Film: "The Conjuring" series has been a somewhat unusual roller coaster ride over the course of its 12-year existence. It started off pretty shaky with a surprisingly dull entry that didn't do much to elicit scares, but came back pretty strong with a sequel that fixed many problems that plagued the original. However, the third film (the poorly-titled "The Devil Made Me Do It") fell back on the same tired cliches & issues that held back the first entry. Now we come to what

The Film: 50 years ago this month, a little film called "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," based on the novel by Ken Kesey, was unleashed in theaters. It immediately garnered massive success, both critically and commercially, with the film earning well over $100 million against its remarkably small $3-4 million production budget. However, its success didn't end there, as the film went on to earn an incredible nine Oscar nominations, with it going on to win the "Big Five" (Pic

The Show: Without a doubt, one of the very best writers to come along in the business over the last few decades is the great Aaron Sorkin, who has garnered massive critical acclaim for writing extraordinary film projects like "The Social Network," "Moneyball" (co-written with Steven Zaillian), "Molly's Game," and "The Trial of the Chicago 7," all four of which earned him Oscar nominations and a win for "The Social Network." However, his work has not been restricted to film, w

The Film: A little over 50 years ago, a little gangster thriller called "Get Carter," starring the great Sir Michael Caine, was released in theaters. Over the decades, opinions of the film have varied quite a bit, with many having a mixed reaction to it, and many others considering it to be one of the finest films of its genre ever made. Wherever one may fall on the spectrum, there's no doubt that the film has quite a few fans, so for them, Warner Bros. recently unleashed a n