US
-
The Halloween Franchise Retrospective
A big retrospective looking at and reviewing every Halloween sequel, remake, reboot, remake sequel, and reboot sequel. This tangled series includes the original 1978 “Halloween,” “Halloween II,” “Halloween III: Season of the Witch,” “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers,” “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers,” “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” “Halloween H20:… Read more
-
Why John McTiernan Disappeared for 20 Years & Tracking Down His Lost Documentary
John McTiernan directed Predator and Die Hard back-to-back as his second and third films. He would make several other films over the next few years before stopping abruptly in 2003 after Basic. The reason for his disappearance and why he hasn’t made another movie in the 20 years since is a big, complicated affair. This… Read more
-
True Detective Season 2 Deserves More Respect
“True Detective: Season 2” earned a reputation as one of the most disastrous follow-up seasons to an acclaimed TV show to ever hit the air. This video breaks down why it failed and why it is secretly far better than its terrible reception would indicate. Read more
-
The Father (2020) vs. The Son (2022)
Florian Zeller’s two movies The Father (2020) and The Son (2022) are similar in many ways but at polar opposite ends of the quality spectrum. In this double review of both movies, let’s break down why The Father is a great film and why The Son is a failure. “The Father” = 8.5/10 “The Son”… Read more
-
The Psycho Sequels Deserve More Respect
Alfred Hitchcock left huge shoes to fill with his timeless “Psycho,” so the decades-later sequels were bound to be met with a rocky reception, but I’m here to tell you that “Psycho II” and “Psycho III” are far better than you may have been led to believe, and “Psycho IV” isn’t that bad either. Read more
-
The Man Who Invented Independent Filmmaking
A tribute to and a showcase of the remarkable talents and accomplishments of John Cassavetes, a successful actor who used the money he made from appearing in movies to self-finance his own films independently. Truly one of the most important filmmakers of all time. Read more
-
The Top 100 Best Action Movies Ever Made
The full list is available below the video and on Letterboxd. Read more
-
The Best Films of 2023
At the time I made my 2023 recap video, I had only seen eight or so films released in 2023, so I instead ranked best films released any time that I watched for the first time in 2023. You can find that video below, but now that I’ve seen way, way, way more films released… Read more
-
Savage Vengeance — possibly the worst movie on Tubi
I was joined by Greg Mallette to watch Savage Vengeance, which is a strong contender for the title of the single worst movie on Tubi. Our live reactions and commentary are in the video below. 0/10 Read more
-
The Tragic Story of Barbara Loden, the Lost New Hollywood Pioneer
The tragic story of Barbara Loden, who helped pioneer the New Hollywood movement but was almost entirely forgotten in her time. Her lone feature film, Wanda, wasn’t properly reevaluated as a groundbreaking achievement until many years after her death. The video essay below covers her entire all-too-short body of work. Read more
samkench.com 