TheRetroCritic

After the first season of Comic Book Men opened the doors of the Secret Stash comic-book store to television for all to see, AMC soon went ahead with a second season with Kevin Smith, Walt Flanagan, Mike Zapcic, Ming Chen and Bryan Johnson all returning. This time, the show would be spread out over 16 episodes instead of just 6, each of them half the length of what they were in the last season. And although this meant a more rushed pace and less time with the Stash gang, Season 2 did well to manage this new format by not over-crowding and overloading the episodes. In terms of guest appearances, there are thankfully not too many with Jason Mewes popping up in a couple of episodes and the season ending with Walt meeting some veteran Jersey Devils hockey players. The highlight guests-wise has to be Stan Lee who shows up at the Stash for a photo-shoot and answers some of the cast's geekiest questions. It's a fun tribute to Lee and comic-book fans should really enjoy the few t

As if the 80's weren't already 80's enough, in 1986 we got the most patriotic, corniest blockbuster imaginable: Top Gun . Directed by Tony Scott, the film starred Tom Cruise in his then most bankable role and followed cocky fighter jet pilot Maverick as he starts training with the best of the best. If you ever wondered why Michael Bay sets all his films at sunset, the answer is Top Gun as pretty much every scene in Scott's movie takes place in front of a golden sky. We first meet Maverick (Cruise) and his friend Goose (Anthony Edwards) as they show off their bold yet reckless flying and manage to save a panicking pilot who would have otherwise crashed. Because apparently mixed messages are an old navy favourite, they are told off then promoted and sent to the Top Gun school of awesome pilot douchebags where their confident, playful attitude is quickly rejected and criticised before Maverick proves himself worthy. There, they meet alpha-douche Iceman (Val Kilmer), w

Partly a project started by Adam Nimoy and his father focused on the Spock character's conception and cinematic journey, partly a crowdfunded homage to the late actor, For The Love Of Spock is a new documentary tribute with a lot to say and a lot of heart. Chronicling the impact of Star Trek , the birth of Spock and the ups and downs of Leonard Nimoy's career, the film takes great care to touch upon different aspects of the actor's journey from his films to his family life, other interests like directing, theatre or photography and what he and his iconic character means to the fans. A lot of emphasis is put into showing how all kinds of fans have gravitated towards the stoic Vulcan from the 60's to today as we get interviews from cosplayers, celebrities (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jason Alexander) and NASA employees who all explain what the character means to them. Of course, the key members from the Original Series' cast are all there to talk about on and off-set s

Led by Kevin Smith, Comic Book Men was AMC's geekier version of a Pawn Stars -style reality show with Red Bank, New Jersey comic-book store Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash as the central setting. Cleverly using a podcast recording as a framing device, the show would include goofy comics-themed conversations, transactions with customers selling or purchasing all kinds of items and a mini-storyline involving the main cast. A sort-of spin-off from popular Smodco podcasts Tell 'Em Steve-Dave and I Sell Comics , the cast in question was a mix of both with Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson joining Ming Chen and Mike Zapcic behind the Stash's counter. Season 1 is a short one in that it only has 6 episodes but each of them is about 45 minutes long, a running-time that would be reduced by half soon enough. And this is why this first season remains the best of the bunch: by giving us more time with the cast and having more space to develop the main stories, the show allo

Shortly before Gene Wilder turned a French film into The Woman In Red , we got The Toy , a remake of Francis Veber's Le Jouet starring Richard Pryor in the role originally played by Pierre Richard. It did well at the box-office despite critics not exactly praising it. One of the many Francis Veber comedies to be adapted into Hollywood films, The Toy should have been a breeze with its simple concept leaving little room for messing up and the reliable Pryor doing his thing. For the most part, this remake is pretty faithful to the original film as a rich, spoiled kid (played by Scott Schwartz) basically buys a grown man as a toy just to annoy his distant father only to find that a friendship develops between he and his purchase. The key scenes from the French film are recreated here from Pierre Richard's slapstick shenanigans to the kid's creation of a newspaper exposing his father's cold approach to everyone. As hard as he tries to make the film fun, Richard Pryor f

This animated DC feature from 2009 teamed-up iconic heroes Superman and Batman with Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy returning to voice their respective roles. The film sees Lex Luthor become President of the United States and a Kryptonite meteor head for Earth. Lex Luthor's rise to power is one that should have prompted some pretty exciting physical and psychological clashes between Superman and his arch-enemy and, to a certain extent, we get that with most superheroes and villains working for Luthor being sent out to stop both Superman and Batman, who obviously refuse to believe this new public persona of his. This makes for some entertaining fight scenes packed with familiar faces from Captain Marvel to Hawkman, Katana and many others. In the end, we of course get a Superman vs Luthor one-on-one. This is very much a brawl with a lot of punch-outs so if it's non-stop action you're looking for then you won't be disappointed with this one. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

After the success of Silver Streak , Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were cast as the leads in Stir Crazy , a comedy from 1980 about two friends on a road trip across America who are mistaken for bank robbers and sent to prison after a particularly harsh ruling. We follow Skip (Wilder) and Harry (Pryor) as they enter the Southern prison and try to survive as long as possible behind bars while their lawyer attempts to prove their innocence. Skip is the optimistic writer who believes there is good in everyone and Harry is the realist who just wants to keep his head down. Later on, when the warden is testing prisoners to take part in a rodeo competition, Skip proves himself to be a natural and agrees to ride in the hope of somehow using this opportunity to plan some kind of jail break. There's something almost tragic about seeing these two innocent guys being sent to such an unforgiving place and Sidney Poitier's film does have its dark Cool Hand Luke moments but it's also

Back in 1976, Gene Wilder starred alongside Jill Clayburgh in Silver Streak , an action comedy directed by Arthur Hiller set on a moving train. The film was a box-office success and was significant for being the very first on-screen collaboration between Wilder and Richard Pryor. If you're expecting another Stir Crazy , however, don't because you're setting yourself up for disappointment as Pryor doesn't really enter the picture until about halfway through. The film isn't quite the farce you'd expect considering the always hilarious Wilder/Pryor duo so anyone going back to check this film out might be surprised to find that Silver Streak is, in fact, a surprisingly sophisticated comedy with a Hitchcockian tone. Which is not to say that the film isn't funny, quite the opposite. Gene Wilder is excellent from start to finish nailing both the dramatic, romantic scenes and the goofier moments which begs the question: why no Academy Award nomination? The fil

As far as Western spoofs go, it doesn't get any more classic than Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles . The film, which follows Cleavon Little's black sheriff as he is sent into a small racist town to defend it from bandits, was a big hit back in the day and it's still seen as one of the greatest comedies of all time. As with many other Mel Brooks comedies, Blazing Saddles could have easily backfired and been dismissed as being in poor taste but the writing (Richard Pryor helped with the script) is so clever and so funny that it somehow completely works as a biting parody of Western clichés and the genre's reluctance to acknowledge the unapologetic racism of the times. The plot is set into motion when Harvey Korman's corrupt State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr decides to drive the people of Rock Ridge out of town in order to lower land prices. He appoints an African American sheriff to shock the inhabitants away but when that doesn't work he tries various oth

Director Werner Herzog takes a general yet focused look at the pros and cons of the internet in new documentary Lo And Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World . Told through a series of chapters, Lo And Behold is exactly what you'd expect from a Werner Herzog documentary as the soothing-voiced filmmaker learns about the internet's origins before exploring the impressive technological and scientific advances made possible by being connected to a worldwide network but also the people negatively affected by this seemingly boundless medium. Not one to really impose his own opinions on the audience, Herzog makes sure to show different sides of the equation and leaves the professionals to do the talking when it comes to the more technical stuff. We see how education can reach a greater number of people nowadays but we also see how insensitive anonymous people online can be, we touch upon robotics and space travel but we also meet young gamers dealing with addiction whose lives o