Brad reviews UNHINGED (2020), starring Russell Crowe!


I must admit that I’m not always the most patient guy in the world, and that extends to my driving. I get so frustrated when someone pulls slowly out right in front of me, or when another person camps out in the left lane of the interstate. Most of the time, these are just quick little moments that I quickly move on from, but what might happen if one day I decided to honk my horn and the person in the other car is a crazy psycho? UNHINGED takes that scary thought to the ultimate extreme.

The premise of the movie is about as simple as it gets. Rachel’s (Caren Pistorius) having a rough morning, and she’s running late while taking her son to school. When the truck in front of her doesn’t move at the green light, she decides to lay on her horn. The driver (Russell Crowe) pulls up beside her at the next light and requests an apology. When she refuses, he decides he’s going to teach her what a bad day really is. 

UNHINGED works because it’s a mean little thriller that exploits a fear that we can actually imagine. Most of us have a story that involves some level of road rage, and director Derrick Borte’s movie doesn’t waste a second once it gets going. It’s one of those movies where everything keeps getting worse for the terrorized Rachel while the tension continually ratchets up from the beginning to end. The violence is sudden and brutal so you never quite know what’s going to happen next, which definitely works in the film’s favor.

And then there’s the incredible Russell Crowe. Probably heavier than he’s ever been on screen, his psychopathic road rager is truly terrifying. Having witnessed his sick mental state early in the film, we know he’s capable of committing the most heinous acts imaginable. Crowe commits himself completely to this character, erasing any thoughts we have of his noble performances in movies like GLADIATOR or CINDERELLA MAN. Caren Pistorius is also effective as the woman who’s in for the fight of her life. I think she looks a lot like actress Shailene Woodley.  

UNHINGED isn’t a perfect film, as it does ask its audience to suspend quite a bit of disbelief. But with that said, it does offer 90 minutes of suspense anchored by Crowe’s incredibly intimidating performance. In my opinion, it’s a very effective film… and I doubt I honk at anybody on my way to work tomorrow morning!

Brad reviews THE HARD WAY (1991), starring Michael J. Fox and James Woods!


There was a time in the ’80s and ’90s when seeing either Michael J. Fox or James Woods on the cover of a VHS box at my local video store would guarantee a rental from me. Fox had been my favorite television star throughout the ’80s thanks to his performance as Alex P. Keaton on “Family Ties,” and I loved him in TEEN WOLF and the BACK TO THE FUTURE films. James Woods had become one of my favorite actors beginning in the latter half of the ‘80’s after I discovered his run of intense performances in films like COP, BEST SELLER, and TRUE BELIEVER. So, when THE HARD WAY paired these two favorites together in a “buddy-cop” film, it felt like a movie that had been made specifically for me. I recently upgraded my old DVD by purchasing the Kino Lorber blu-ray, so it was the perfect time for a revisit.

THE HARD WAY follows Nick Lang (Fox), a pampered Hollywood movie star who wants to prepare for a gritty new cop role by shadowing a real detective in New York City. Much to the frustration of badass Supercop John Moss (Woods), he’s forced by his starstruck Captain (Delroy Lindo) to show Lang around town and keep him out of any trouble. Even though he’s supposed to be protecting the megastar, Moss is also tracking a psychopathic killer known as “The Party Crasher” (Stephen Lang), and soon Nick Lang ends up smack dab in the middle of real danger.

By 1991, the buddy-cop formula had been going strong for a while, but director John Badham found a clever angle by pairing Michael J. Fox’s fantasyland “action star” with James Woods’ tough, no-nonsense New York detective. It sounds like a gimmick, and it is, but both the action and comedic elements somehow work.

The performance of James Woods keeps the movie moving forward from start to finish. His John Moss is perpetually angry, sarcastic to a fault, and always seems one minute away from completely losing it. He’s also exceedingly tough when he has to be. Woods plays the character with so much energy that it’s impossible to look away, and nobody gets on his nerves like the Hollywood golden boy. Michael J. Fox is perfect as the shallow movie star, because he could be completely insufferable, but he ultimately brings enough charm and self-awareness to the role to make the character likable. There’s a particularly funny, running joke where different people keep telling his “undercover” character that he looks kinda like Nick Lang… only shorter, or in one case, whiter. At the end of the day, it’s the chemistry between Woods and Fox that makes THE HARD WAY such an enjoyable action comedy!

I did want to shoutout Stephen Lang as well. His “Party Crasher” is a memorable and crazy villain. For a film that leans heavily into the comedy, Lang’s unhinged performance actually feels dangerous, giving the movie some grit and edge when he’s on the screen. I love watching movies from this time period to see the parade of recognizable actors that always seem to show up. This one doesn’t disappoint as Annabella Sciorra, Luis Guzman, LL Cool J, Delroy Lindo, Christina Ricci, and even Penny Marshall appear, to name a few.

One of the best things about THE HARD WAY is that it never sits still for long, which does keep you from focusing too much on a couple of glaring plot holes. The filmmakers smartly keep things moving back and forth between the jokes and the big action scenes, and most of the time it all works. It doesn’t reinvent the buddy-cop film, and it’s not necessarily the first movie you think of in the genre, but I consider it an underrated gem, and I feel like it may have fallen through the cracks over the years. If you’re a fan of peak James Woods, or if you fondly remember just what a big deal Michael J. Fox was in the 80’s, this one is a must watch.

Brad reviews KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS (1989), starring Charles Bronson!


Back when I was a teenager, I would always get the entertainment section out of my dad’s Sunday paper so I could check out the movie listings. I was mainly looking for information about my favorite movie star, Charles Bronson. Nowadays, we know about new movies months, even years, in advance, but back then I would learn about them from the entertainment section of dad’s paper. One Sunday in early 1989, when I was 15 years old, I saw an advertisement for a new Bronson film called KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS. It was the first time I had ever heard of it. I knew I wasn’t going to get to see it at the movies because it was only playing in Little Rock, but I was excited anyway because it would be on its way to video soon!

In the film, Bronson plays police Lieutenant Crowe. Along with his partner Eddie Rios (Perry Lopez), he deals with the sleaziest criminals in Los Angeles on a daily basis and it’s starting to take a toll on his personal life. He’s currently invested in bringing down an underage prostitution ring led by Duke (Juan Fernandez) and Lavonne (Sy Richardson). When Japanese businessman Hiroshi Hada’s (James Pax) young daughter is kidnapped by Duke, Crowe decides he must do everything in his power to get her back to her family.

KINJITE reunites Bronson with director J. Lee Thompson for the ninth and final time, bringing to an end what I think is one of the more underrated actor-director partnerships of the action genre. Bronson had first worked with Thompson on the fun mystery film ST. IVES at the peak of his 70’s career. By 1989, Bronson was in his late sixties and understandably slowing down on the action front, but he still possessed that unmistakable presence on screen. He’s more invested in his performance as the prejudicial Lt. Crowe than he’s usually given credit for. There’s one specific scene where he goes off on a group of Japanese businessmen and women who are holding up traffic in front of a large hotel. It’s one of Bronson’s strongest scenes of the 1980’s as he yells various traffic code violations, and obscenities, at the surprised guests. It’s a bad moment for his character, but a well-acted moment for Bronson.

None of Bronson’s ‘80’s action films were based on stories about sunshine and roses, but the subject matter of KINJITE is particularly dark and ugly. Themes of child exploitation, human trafficking, sexual violence, and prejudice are all given screen time in a world that’s so corrupt that only someone as committed as Lt. Crowe is even capable of taking on the evil that’s presented here. Crowe is not necessarily a good man, and his sense of justice goes completely overboard at times. For example, in one scene where he catches a pervert preparing to commit an assortment of depraved sexual acts on a young prostitute (played by Nicole Eggert), Crowe says “I’m going to show you what it feels like to be one of these girls,” and we, along with his partner, hear the screams off-screen as he honors his word. In another scene, he makes the pimp Duke eat a giant Rolex watch, which prompts the trafficker to say, “I’m gonna die…” None too concerned about Duke’s health, Crowe casually tells him, “No you won’t, but you will have to stick your head between your legs to tell the time.” This is not a well-adjusted human being, but with all the evil acts being committed around him, you still can’t help but root for the guy.

The supporting cast around Bronson is quite good. Juan Fernandez is a standout as the despicable pimp, Duke. There’s something about Fernandez that just makes him great as a bad guy, as he had proved a few years earlier in the Oliver Stone film SALVADOR. His character here has this odd energy about him that oozes evil. Veteran character actor Perry Lopez, who had worked with Bronson going all the way back to the 1954 western DRUM BEAT, provides the aging icon a solid partner who helps smooth out his character’s roughest edges. Their scenes together are very strong because they feel like two weary detectives and old friends trying to deal with a world they’re both sick of.

While I think Bronson provides a good performance and that Thompson provides solid direction, I wouldn’t rank KINJITE among the star’s best 80’s films. It tries to juggle a lot of difficult themes and wants to comment on cultural differences, built-in prejudices, and sexual deviance, and it also wants to deliver the kind of action that audiences expected from Bronson’s Cannon films. It’s a well-made film, but the results aren’t completely effective because it can’t find the right balance between the serious dramatic themes and the expected action heroics. In the end, the events depicted on screen are too disturbing for the film to qualify as fun, escapist entertainment, but they’re not handled with enough depth for the film to make any sort of serious statement. The film ends up making you pretty darn uncomfortable, so I don’t revisit it as often as I do other Bronson / Thompson collaborations like 10 TO MIDNIGHT and MURPHY’S LAW.  

Based on the dark subject matter I’ve described above, I can’t give KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS an unreserved recommendation like I do so many other Bronson films. But as the final collaboration between Bronson and J. Lee Thompson, it does carry a certain historical significance. And for fans interested in seeing the darker side of Bronson’s film career, it remains a memorable, and unsettling, final chapter in one of action cinema’s most enduring partnerships.

Brad reviews FELON (2008), starring Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer. 


FELON is a movie that caught my attention when I was scrolling through Val Kilmer’s filmography on IMDB. I was looking for a movie and performance that seemed worthy of his talents, and this one stood out to me based on its high rating. It was directed by Ric Roman Waugh, who has helmed several solid Gerard Butler films over the last decade, including ANGEL HAS FALLEN (2019), GREENLAND (2020), and KANDAHAR (2023). I decided to go ahead and check it out on a lazy, and hot, Sunday afternoon in Arkansas. 

Stephen Dorff stars as Wade Porter, a man whose life takes a serious turn when he kills a burglar who has broken into his home. He’s sentenced to 3 years in prison for manslaughter and soon learns just how difficult it is to survive in prison. In what may be the best performance of his career, Dorff’s transformation from business-minded family man to brutal, prison survivor is incredible. As hard as he becomes, you never stop seeing the decent man trapped beneath the hardened exterior that prison forces on him. Val Kilmer plays John Smith, a mysterious lifer whose emotional scars and wisdom prove invaluable to Porter’s survival. While Smith may never go down as one of Kilmer’s most well-known characters, he gives an excellent, understated performance that proved he could still command the screen.

After looking through the IMDB profile for FELON, I expected a gritty prison drama with plenty of violence. You do get that, but I was surprised by how much the film affected me emotionally. This movie sets up a scenario that proves how quickly an ordinary guy’s life can be destroyed by one difficult situation, and then how hard it is to hold on to your humanity when your new world is completely built on violence. 

Director Waugh is able to keep the stakes high from the very beginning of the film to its end. Porter not only has to fight with all he has to survive behind the walls of the prison, but he also has to do whatever he can to to hold his family together, especially when it looks like his wife Laura (Marisol Nichols) is going to divorce him. There is a lot of violence behind the prison walls, but it feels ugly rather than entertaining, which adds meaning and a layer of depth to the film. I want to shout out Harold Perrineau, who I know from the TV series LOST. He is absolutely chilling as the evil prison lieutenant Jackson, who lost his own humanity years earlier and who now treats inmates as nothing more than pawns in his own ugly game. His performance is especially affecting when coupled with Dorff’s decent character. 

Val Kilmer put his name on a lot of movies later in his career that aren’t that great. FELON isn’t a classic, but it’s a very strong film. After enjoying their work together in THUNDERHEART, I really enjoyed seeing Kilmer work again with Sam Shepard, who plays his last remaining friend here. It’s a wonderful bonus for a low budget film from 2008. What stayed with me most, though, is the film’s reminder that justice and fairness aren’t always the same thing. Wade goes to prison wanting to quietly serve his time so he can move on with his life, but he quickly learns that survival often depends on abandoning the ideals that allow him to be a man of integrity in the real world. It’s a somewhat unsettling thought that has stuck with me after the movie ended. 

FELON is a film that’s probably never received the attention it deserved, but it’s a good prison drama. Anchored by excellent performances from Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer, it provides an emotionally compelling story that’s well worth a watch. If you’re a fan of Val Kilmer like I am, this one’s a forgotten gem! 


Brad reviews THUNDERHEART (1992), starring Val Kilmer!


THUNDERHEART came out back in 1992, when I was a mere 18-year-old and trying to go to the movies any time I possibly could. I already liked Val Kilmer based on his performances in such diverse films as TOP SECRET (1984), REAL GENIUS (1985), TOP GUN (1986), and WILLOW (1988). I also liked the director Michael Apted, who had directed the underrated Gene Hackman courtroom drama CLASS ACTION the year before. I figured THUNDERHEART would have to at least be pretty good…

Val Kilmer stars as the young FBI agent Ray Levoi, who’s sent to a Sioux reservation in South Dakota to assist veteran agent Frank “Cooch” Coutelle (Sam Shepard) in a murder investigation. You see, Levoi is “part” Indian, so the thought is that his family heritage will at least give him some credibility when dealing with the Indians on the res. At first overly confident and cocky, he begins to change as the investigation uncovers a history of corruption, violence and broken political promises that have had a tragic impact on the people of the reservation. By the film’s thrilling conclusion, Levoi has been forced to question his own identity and decide who his loyalties truly belong to!  

I’m a big fan of THUNDERHEART. I really enjoy the arc that Kilmer’s character undergoes in the film. At first, he’s extremely cynical and doesn’t want to have anything to do with being the special “Washington redskin” in the FBI’s murder investigation. When he gets stuck with the job, though, he just wants to get it over with as soon as possible. But as the story moves along and he meets various characters like Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene), Maggie Eagle Bear (Sheila Tousey) and Grandpa (Ted Think Elk), he begins to see the truth behind their situation. By the end, he’s willing to give up everything to solve the crime and bring those responsible to justice. Kilmer allows this 180-degree turnaround to happen naturally, and I personally believe that this is one of the more underrated performances of his career.

The primary supporting cast deserves a lot of credit as well. Graham Greene brings wisdom and an engaging sense of humor to his character of Walter Crow Horse, the tribal police officer who starts out as a pain in the butt to Levoi prior to becoming a trusted ally. And I’ve always loved Sam Shepard, who plays the grizzled veteran agent Frank Coutelle. He’s completely believable as a man who’s seen it all, maybe a little too much, over the course of his career. The dusty South Dakota landscapes become a character all its own and provide the perfect backdrop to the story. This is a movie that feels authentic instead of like some staged Hollywood production.

I also like that this movie isn’t afraid to take its time with the story, a story that’s based on real events and that feels very relevant to this day. Stop me if you’ve heard any of these themes lately: governmental distrust, cultural identity, justice… THUNDERHEART’s entire storyline is wrapped up in these ideas. If anything, the film seems even more meaningful today than it did in 1992. There are times that Apted may operate with a bit of a heavy hand, but this movie isn’t interested in serving up cardboard villains or easy answers. Rather, we’re treated to an engaging mystery-thriller that never overshadows its characters and eventually rewards us for our patience.

At the end of the day, THUNDERHEART is a film that I highly recommend. It’s not going to blow you away with its action, although there are several exciting sequences. But I do encourage you to give this film your attention and settle in with the plot and the characters. Inside this crime thriller, there’s a strong human story about a man who comes to terms with his identity while gathering the courage to fight for the truth, no matter where that may lead. Although there were a lot of good options, when I read that Val Kilmer had passed away, THUNDERHEART is the film I watched to come to terms with the moment.  

Brad reviews Jane Austen’s PERSUASION (1995), starring Ciarán Hinds & Amanda Root!


It’s been a while since I’ve written about any of my favorite romantic films. Today, I thought I would discuss the film that just might be my favorite love story of them all, and that’s the 1995 version of PERSUASION. Based on Jane Austen’s final completed novel, PERSUASION tells the story of Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) who was persuaded eight years earlier, at the age of 19, to reject the hand of the man she loved, Captain Frederick Wentworth (Ciarán Hinds). At the time, Wentworth had no fortune or social standing, but the ensuing years seemed to bring both to the seafaring captain. When fate unexpectedly brings them back together, Anne’s past feelings of love re-emerge, and so does her regret for her earlier decision. After all these years, does the still-single Captain Wentworth love her, or is he ready to move on?

PERSUASION features incredible turns from Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds as Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth. Their performances aren’t built around grand gestures or sweeping declarations of love. They’re built on quick glances, emotional restraint, and an ability to convey lingering pain, regret, and feelings of love that began many years earlier but have never gone away. Their chemistry isn’t flashy, but it is authentic, built over many years rather than some instant attraction. These character traits may seem old-fashioned and unnecessary in this day and time, but the action in the film takes place in early 1800’s where this behavior would have been perfectly natural.

Speaking of “perfectly natural,” director Roger Michell’s realistic presentation of the material is one of the film’s key strengths as far as I’m concerned. Avoiding the polish of most period dramas, PERSUASION embraces the weathered houses, imperfect landscapes, simple costumes, and yes, even the less than glamourous looks of the cast. It seems like we’re watching real people living in the real world instead of impossibly attractive men and women playing dress up. As the lead characters seem to be falling deeper into love over the course of the film, their blossoming happiness makes them more attractive.  

If I haven’t made it clear enough, if you’re looking for a movie that throws a lot of overly dramatic plot twists and simple solutions your way, PERSUASION is probably not the movie for you. But if you enjoy a deliberately paced, mature story that deals with messy themes of missed opportunities, personal growth, and forgiveness, then you just may love it. There are moments when Anne simply watches Wentworth across a room, or clutches a chair as he enters a room, where I felt such a strong connection to the characters. Sometimes the most powerful emotions truly are those that are left unspoken. This film will reward your patience if you stick with it, and its final scenes are very satisfying to me because of what the characters have gone through to reach that point.

PERSUASION is a film that I return to again and again when I’m stressed or need a pick-me-up. It just makes me feel good. In my opinion, it isn’t just one of the best Jane Austen movies, it’s one of the best romantic dramas out there, and I highly recommend it!

Brad reviews BOOTLEGGERS (1974) – #ArkansasMovies – My Celebration of Movies Filmed in the Natural State!


All my life, my Dad has told me that Roger Corman’s BLOODY MAMA (1970), which was filmed completely in Arkansas, contained scenes filmed along the beautiful white bluffs of Calico Rock, Arkansas. Dad and I watched it today, and we didn’t see any such scenes. I did some quick internet research, and it turns out my dad has been spreading misinformation all these years. He had mistaken the film for a different movie called BOOTLEGGERS (1974). It was filmed in and around the Ozark town of Calico Rock, and it was directed by B-movie maestro Charles B. Pierce (THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN). I was very happy to see that it was streaming on Amazon Prime, so I decided to give it a watch.

Set in rural Arkansas during the Prohibition era, the movie follows Othar Pruitt (Paul Koslo) and his moonshine-running buddy Dewey Crenshaw (Dennis Fimple) as they manufacture high quality moonshine whiskey and battle their local business rivals, the Woodalls, led by their vicious patriarch Rufus (Seamon Glass). When he’s not battling the Woodall’s, Othar finds time to hang out with his grandpa (Slim Pickens) and romance the tough but beautiful Sally Fannie (Jaclyn Smith, who receives an “introducing” credit). If you’ve seen many southern redneck movies, you probably know where this is all heading, but the fun is watching how it gets there!

BOOTLEGGERS is not a traditionally great movie, but there is a lot of fun to be had if you’re in the right frame of mind for some crude regional filmmaking. Director Charles B. Pierce clearly understood rural Arkansas in a way most filmmakers don’t. The dusty roads, cave-based moonshine stills, and run down old homes feel more authentic since they are actually filmed on location. I’ve been through that area many times, and he gets it right. Heck, a lot of the extras look like they wandered into the scenes straight off the local streets and fields. The print I watched looks like a really bad VHS copy, but Tak Fujimoto’s cinematography still manages to capture the beautiful nature of the area with its beautiful mountains and limestone cliffs hanging over the White River. One gripe though… the characters keep referring to the river as the Buffalo River, which is another beautiful river in Arkansas, but it is not the river in this movie. 

Another element of the film that I found interesting is the casting of Paul Koslo as the lead and good guy of the film, Othar Pruitt. Koslo almost always plays a slimy bad guy, at least he did in Charles Bronson’s 70’s films THE STONE KILLER, MR. MAJESTYK and LOVE AND BULLETS. The German born actor is actually pretty good as an Arkansas redneck, and he seems more comfortable handling the revenge sections of the film than he does the romance and comedy. 

As far as the other cast members, Dennis Fimple steals most of his scenes as Othar’s friend Dewey. He’s the goofy but lovable hillbilly friend that these types of movies almost always have. He’s fun here. I always love seeing Slim Pickens and he’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect as an old moonshiner with plenty of homespun wisdom. Jaclyn Smith, a couple of years before her CHARLIE’S ANGELS fame, has a few fun scenes as a pistol-packing local hairdresser who takes a liking to Othar. Needless to say, when she did hit it big, the producers shamelessly repackaged the film to make it seem she was much more important to the plot than she actually is. All part of the 70’s fun of trying to make a buck at the drive-in!

At the end of the day, BOOTLEGGERS isn’t as professionally made as a movie like the Arkansas set WHITE LIGHTNING with Burt Reynolds. What it is though, is a solid southern redneck film, set in a beautiful location, with good performances and a violent ending that should please its intended audience. It certainly did me! 

Brad reviews the Native American thriller MEKKO (2015)!


I recently had the opportunity to participate in an interview with the Native American author Sherman Alexie. We were discussing some of our favorite films, and he threw out MEKKO (2015) as a movie he really liked. I was surprised because it’s a movie I had never heard of, and I consider myself in the know when it comes to all things movie related. I checked and it’s streaming on Tubi, so I decided I would check it out for myself.

The story follows Mekko (Rod Rondeaux), a Native American who heads to Tulsa after serving nineteen years in prison for killing his cousin in an alcohol-fueled fight. When what’s left of his family turns their backs on him, Mekko finds himself living on the city’s streets with many other Indians. While he finds a few friends, he also comes across the predatory and murderous Bill (Zahn McClarnon). When Bill turns his focus Mekko’s way, he decides to take things into his own hands.

I’ll just say right off the bat that I think that the best thing about the film is the incredible performance by Rod Rondeaux in the title role. He doesn’t have a lot of credits to his name, but he’s absolutely perfect here. It doesn’t even feel like he’s acting. His face seems to carry a lifetime of regret, but also a hope that his hard-earned wisdom will eventually mean something positive for him and the people he cares about. Rondeaux plays Mekko with a dignity that feels completely out of place with the world he now finds himself in. It’s a masterful performance that would net him the Best Actor award at the American Indian Movie Award ceremony for 2015. 

MEKKO was written and directed by Sterlin Harjo, who also created the series RESERVATION DOGS for FX that ran from 2021-2023. A citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Harjo presents us with a grungy, realistic film that’s also full of old tribal stories and myths. One of the main reasons that Mekko decides that he must take care of the murderer Bill himself is due to his grandma’s stories about evil spirits and witches that sometime insert themselves into people’s lives. Harjo’s film treats these beliefs at face value, and based on what we’ve seen, it’s hard to argue with him. 

I’ve been to Tulsa on a few occasions to watch the PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Golf Course. I’ve never seen the Tulsa that’s presented here. This Tulsa is dirty and extremely dangerous. Harjo used real locations and a lot of regular people from the local Native community, and that certainly adds to the authenticity of the story. As Mekko visits the homeless camps and soup kitchens, it just feels real. When Mekko takes on Bill (a truly frightening performance by Zahn McClarnon), it’s both a physical and spiritual reckoning that seems completely necessary. 

MEKKO is definitely a slow burner of a film that’s rough around the edges, but it’s also an undeniably powerful film. It feels honest in a way that most movies don’t. It’s about a wounded, decent person who’s trying to live a better life, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it for days.

Brad’s “4 Shots From 4 Films” celebrates June 7th Birthdays!


A lot of my favorite actors and celebrities were born on June 7th. I picked out a few of them, based on how much I have enjoyed their work over the years. I may have even created my own movie marathon for the day!!

Dean Martin in RIO BRAVO (1959) – Dean would have turned 109 years old today!
Liam Neeson in THE GREY (2011) – Liam turns 74 today!
William Forsythe in STONE COLD (1991) – William turns 71 today!
Prince in PURPLE RAIN (1984) – Prince would have turned 68 years old today.

Brad’s “4 Shots From 4 Films” commemorates D Day.


On Jun 6th, 1944, Allied forces invaded Normandy, France, in the largest amphibious invasion in military history. This action laid the foundation for the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control.

There have been some incredible cinematic portrayals based on and around that historic day. Here are some of my favorites.

The Longest Day (1962)
Where Eagles Dare (1969)
The Big Red One (1980)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)