Cinemavino

Our Back in Time Series begins twenty years ago with a cult classic, Napoleon Dynamite! I know 2004 seems like yesterday to most of us, but several Olympics, presidents, and a pandemic have passed since then. As such, we can now rewatch flicks like this with brand new eyes.

As such, we have strong opinions. Travis and I were around college age when this movie came out, while Sean was in grade school. So, nostalgia definitely f...

For this episode, we go back to the original story of a legend: Godzilla, King of the Monsters! I was today years old when I learned that this film was actually two productions spliced into one! The original Toho movie, Godzilla, was later combined with Americanized footage shot two years later. Actor Raymond Burr later claimed to have filmed his scenes in only one day.

Come aboard as we discuss this film as an origin story fo...

Elegant and refined aren’t words you’d normally bandy about Mel Brooks’ filmography, but with Young Frankenstein, they just seem to fit. This horror homage is really a delicate soufflé, crafted with care and dedicated to the Universal horror flicks of the 1930s. Brooks seems to genuinely love the James Whale/Boris Karloff adaptation of Mary Shelley’s book, and he’s very careful to steer his humor away from even a hint of ridicule. 

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We hope you enjoyed our Best Picture Series! It was certainly a blast to make. That goes even more for our upcoming schedule, the Month of Monsters. If you're into Dracula, Kong, Godzilla, or Frankenstein, this will be your jam! Those will kick off next week, with Peter Jackson's mammoth epic, King Kong.

In the meantime, enjoy this special look back at an episode that ties in perfectly: Guillermo del Toro's impressive Hellboy I...

It may have all the aesthetics of a big, burly action epic, but don't get it twisted:  The Bridge on the River Kwai is a nuanced, character-based drama, and a philosophical rumination on the absurdities of human nature. In the end, this is a film that's unafraid to ask questions without obvious answers. 

We'll circle back to that in a bit. For anyone who's never experienced this cinematic milestone, let me give you the Reader's Dige...

Our Best Picture series continues with a Coen Brothers classic, No Country for Old Men! It's a lean, eccentric thriller, loaded with colorful performances and quirky dialogue. The film won multiple Oscars and is now considered to be a staple of the Neo-noir genre.

One of those Oscars went to Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor. As he is one of the most decorated Spanish actors in history, we enjoy a rich Spanish red in honor ...

Our Christmas Series wraps up with one you wouldn't expect--Gremlins! The story begins with Oklahoma folk/country singer Hoyt Axton, playing inventor/two-bit entrepreneur Randall Peltzer. In a Chinatown antique store, Randall secretly buys a mogwai, or a cute, mischievous, fantastical creature, from the owner’s grandson. This adorable furball has three big rules—don’t expose it to light. Don’t get it wet, and don’t feed it after m...