One-Line Review: Hostage (2005), starring Bruce Willis
If you're looking for that brand of American action movie where Bruce Willis breaks all the rules because he knows what's best and gets away without consequences, this sure is one.
One-Line Review: American Badger (2019), starring Kirk Caouette
American Badger surprises with thoughtful pacing and good fight choreography, but needed another polish, a bigger budget, and way less rape.
One-Line Review: 12 Rounds (2009), starring John Cena and Aiden Gillen
The director of Die Hard 2 wished he'd made Die Hard 3, so he did the same thing but worse, adding more steps, clumsier reveals, and a girlfriend who exists to be a hostage.
One-Line Review: Cop Land (1997), starring Sylvester Stallone and Harvey Keitel
A strong, understated performance from Stallone in the role of a sheriff struggling to overcome his insecurity and his role as a yes-man for corrupt cops makes this a surprise success.
One-Line Review: The Protégé (2021)
Almost excellent, but the ending is a miss, it has a severe dearth of Vietnamese characters for a film set in Vietnam, and it expects us to buy romantic interest between the lead and someone 30 years her elder.
The Fate of Marty McFly
Marty slammed on his 4x4's brakes as Doc Brown ran into the driveway just as Marty pulled out of the garage. Leaning his head out the window, Marty shouted, "What're you doing, Doc? You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Marty!" cried Doc. "Come with me! It's a matter of life or death!"
He looked at his girlfriend Jennifer in the passenger seat with a sheepish smile. "Sometimes I help him with... stuff." Marty climbed down from the truck's cab. "What is it, Doc?"
"Remember the DeLorean? I need to take you on a trip."
"Aw, Doc, I'm taking Jennifer up to the lake. It's gonna be romantic."
"I'll have you back in ten minutes," Doc said. He leaned around Marty and waved at Jennifer. "I'll have him back to you in ten minutes!"
One 88 mph trip later, Doc and Marty stood looking at a landscape: pastoral and natural, but from the floating city in the distance, obviously a distant future. After some time spent in silent awe, Marty said, "What're we doing here, Doc?" Not getting an answer, he turned to see Doc Brown back behind the wheel of the time machine.
"This is a utopia, Marty! No one goes hungry, people live 200 years, everyone gets to pursue their passions! Enjoy it, Marty! You'll fit right in!" Marty's response went unheard for the 15 seconds the DeLorean took to reach hit 88.
Back in 1985, Doc Brown watched through binoculars as Marty McFly arrived from 1955, stuck in the new timeline he'd created, in which a Marty McFly-shaped hole had just been made. It wouldn't do for there to be two of them.
Marty looked at the Toyota 4x4 with wonder in his eyes. He turned with a grin when he heard Jennifer say, "How about a ride, mister?"
Coin of Truth
Ka-clunk, chunk!
Farrah dug her change out of the coin return. "You sure you don't want anything?" She held out the handful of change.
"Nah," Ollie said. He leaned against the wall in his artfully ripped jean jacket and spiky blond hair with the smile that still made her bite her lip like it had two years ago. She almost lost herself in the way he looked at her as she pulled her handful of coins back, but one of the coins caught her eye. She looked closer.
"Biden... Impeached? Look at this dollar coin. It says Biden was impeached this year."
"He wasn't."
"I know he wasn't." She turned the coin over in her hand. "But this says it like it's celebrating something, and has this year in big letters."
"That's crazy." Ollie pulled out his phone while Farrah took a photo. "Hey, look at this. People are seeing these all over the country. Search for hashtag Biden impeached." They both focused on their phones for a full minute.
Farrah looked up, despair written on her face. "I guess it's true."
In a faraway office in Washington, DC, the Director of the US Mint steepled his fingers and smiled.