A Brief History
A lifelong film buff and natural-born critic, I have been logging my movie ratings (evaluations) since 1987. From September 1988 to January 1990, I was the co-host of “Film Close-Ups,” a weekly 30-minute program on KALX-FM, the U.C. Berkeley radio station. During my tenure on the show, I reviewed one to two movies a week and had the opportunity to interview several filmmakers. From December 1989 to July 1990, I wrote movie reviews for the arts section of The Daily Californian, U.C. Berkeley’s independent daily newspaper, serving the campus and community. Since January 1990, I have been involved on and off with “Movie Magazine International” (the successor to “Film Close-Ups”)—for which I occasionally reviewed movies in 1991-92 and for which I built a website in 1995.
Recent Ratings
Below are my ratings for the last 10 movies I’ve watched, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. (Note: My ratings may seem to skew higher and more towards See It than Skip It because I tend to watch movies that rate fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. i.e., I try to watch only “good” movies for the most part.)
Title | Year | Rating | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
Bone Lake | 2024 | See It | |
The Rip | 2025 | See It | |
One Battle After Another | 2025 | See It | |
Avatar: Fire and Ash | 2025 | See It | |
Roofman | 2025 | See It | |
Wake Up Dead Man | 2025 | See It | |
Fight or Flight | 2024 | See It | |
Frankenstein | 2025 | See It | |
Materialists | 2025 | Skip It | |
Sovereign | 2025 | Skip It |
All Ratings
View all of my Movie Ratings (over 3,000 movies).
Below are links to all my movie reviews.
Note: The star rating you will see on each review is on a scale of 0-4 stars (following the convention popularized by Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin). By contrast, on my Movie Ratings list, I have recalibrated my ratings to use the more conventional 1-5 stars.
- Abyss, The
- Addams Family, The
- Adventures in Babysitting
- Another Woman
- Back to the Future III
- Backdraft
- Barton Fink
- Batman
- Bear, The
- Betrayed
- Betsy’s Wedding
- Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
- Black Rain
- ‘ burbs, The
- Burglar
- Cadillac Man
- Casualties of War
- Chances Are
- Child’s Play
- Class Action
- Cousins
- Crazy People
- Crimes and Misdemeanors
- Cry-Baby
- Dead- Bang
- Dead Poets Society
- Defending Your Life
- Die Hard 2: Die Harder
- Doors, The
- Dragnet
- Dream Team, The
- Driving Miss Daisy
- Earth Girls Are Easy
- Eight Men Out
- Enemy Mine
- Erik the Viking
- Field of Dreams
- Fletch Lives
- Getting It Right
- Glory
- Great Balls of Fire!
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch
- Harlem Nights
- Heart Condition
- Heathers
- Her Alibi
- Hot Spot, The
- Hunt for Red October, The
- I Love You to Death
- Immediate Family
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Innocent Man, An
- Joe Versus the Volcano
- Johnny Handsome
- Jungle Fever
- Land Before Time, The
- Laserman, The
- Let It Ride
- Lethal Weapon
- Lethal Weapon 2
- Life Stinks
- Little Murders
- Loose Cannons
- Men Don’t Leave
- Mermaids
- Mighty Quinn, The
- Miss Firecracker
- Mississippi Burning
- Mortal Thoughts
- Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
- My Girl
- Mystic Pizza
- Naked Gun, The
- Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear
- Nuns On the Run
- One, Two, Three
- Opportunity Knocks
- Outrageous Fortune
- Pacific Heights
- Package, The
- Paperhouse
- Point Break
- Punchline
- Q & A
- Quick Change
- Relentless
- Revenge
- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
- Robocop
- Robocop 2
- Romero
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
- Running on Empty
- Say Anything…
- Scrooged
- Sea of Love
- She-Devil
- Short Time
- Skin Deep
- Something Wild
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Starman
- Staying Together
- Steel Magnolias
- Swing Shift
- Tales From The Dark Side
- Talk Radio
- Tango & Cash
- Tapeheads
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Total Recall
- Turner & Hooch
- Twilight of the Cockroaches
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
- Twins
- U2: Rattle and Hum
- UHF
- Videodrome
- Vital Signs
- What About Bob?
- When Harry Met Sally…
- Working Girl
- Yaaba
- Young Einstein
Below are the question and answer transcripts of seven interviews I conducted for KALX “Film Close-Ups”.
- Al Giddings – Underwater Filmmaker (“The Abyss”)
- Sam Hamm – Screenwriter (“Batman”)
- Leonard Nimoy – Actor/Director
- Tom Schlesinger – Comedy Screenwriter
- David Schow – Horror Writer
- John Stanley – Author of “Creature Features Movie Guide”
- Peter Wang – Director
Below is everything else: my top 10 lists and special reports I wrote for KALX “Film Close-Ups”.
- 1987
- Top 5 Films – List
- 1988
- Best & Worst – List
- Top 10 Films – Story
- 1989
- Good, Bad & Ugly – List
- Good, Bad & Ugly – Story
- Top 10 Films – Story
- 1990
- Cheers & Jeers – List
- Top 10 Films – Story
- Jim Henson Tribute
- 1991
- Hits & Misses – List
- Top 10 Films – Story
- 1992
- Rantings & Ravings – List