There’s a scene in Point of No Return where Bridget Fonda, fresh off a transformation from junkie street rat to couture-wrapped assassin, strolls into a dinner party in a black dress that could qualify as a federal weapon. In one hand, she holds a stolen moment of domestic normalcy. In the other, a gun. And … Read More “Point of No Return (1993) — Femme Fatale With a Smoky Eye and a Silencer” »
If the late ’80s and early ’90s were a landfill of half-baked action comedies, then Bird on a Wire is the fluorescent mattress at the bottom — loud, inexplicably popular at the time, and full of mystery stains. Directed by John Badham (yes, the same man who gave us WarGames and Saturday Night Fever, back … Read More “Bird on a Wire (1990) — Mel, Goldie, and 110 Minutes You’ll Never Get Back” »
You ever watch a movie that feels like it was made by a focus group of coked-up marketers trying to invent E.T. with a circuit board and a fart machine? Welcome to Short Circuit — John Badham’s 1986 stab at a feel-good, family-friendly, sci-fi comedy that lands somewhere between Wall-E’s lobotomized uncle and a RadioShack … Read More “Short Circuit (1986) — Johnny Five Is Alive, and That’s the Problem” »
Once upon a time — before TikTok rotted our brains and Russia figured out Twitter — there was a simpler, purer world. A world where hacking required actual typing, nuclear war could be triggered by a teenager in a hoodie, and computers made sounds like R2-D2 having a panic attack in a microwave. This was … Read More “WarGames (1983) — How to Almost Start World War III with a Dial-Up Modem and a Bag of Doritos” »
Let’s get one thing clear: Whose Life Is It Anyway? is not the kind of movie you throw on for background noise while folding laundry or swiping through dating apps. It is not light. It is not cheery. It is not here to make you feel comfortable about life, death, or the medical establishment. But … Read More “Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) — Art, Death, and Sarcasm in a Hospital Gown” »
It’s easy to dismiss Saturday Night Fever as a glittery disco relic — a polyester-laced time capsule of Bee Gees falsetto and light-up dance floors. And if you’re only watching the first 20 minutes — John Travolta strutting down the street with a paint can and a horned-up smirk — you might think that’s all … Read More “Saturday Night Fever (1977) — Disco, Delusion, and the Death of the American Dream” »
Before John Badham sent Saturday Night Fever shimmying across disco floors or turned Matthew Broderick loose on NORAD in WarGames, he dipped his toes into the bathwater of made-for-TV dread with Reflections of Murder — a 1974 small-screen gem that plays like Alfred Hitchcock and Tennessee Williams got drunk together and decided to remake Diabolique … Read More “Reflections of Murder (1974) — A Sharp Little Knife of a Movie, Polished with Whiskey and Guilt” »
John Badham’s Footsteps is like ordering a dry martini and getting a glass of water instead: all the trappings of spy-thriller flair but none of the punch. Starring someone named Norm—yes, Norm—a forensic expert-turned-amateur-sleuth, the film limps along in its own shadows, misplacing its own footsteps somewhere during act one. It wants you to feel … Read More ““Footsteps” (2003): A Cat-and-Mouse Caper That Forgot to Bring the Cat (Or Much Else Terribly Important)” »
John Badham’s Brother’s Keeper promised a gripping tale of sibling betrayal, family secrets, and moral unraveling. The catch? It delivered something less Hitchcock, more Lifetime — a murky mini-series dressed up as high-stakes drama but plagued by implausible twists and surprisingly bad hair. Strap in for a 2002-era TV movie that’s heavy on melodrama and … Read More ““Brother’s Keeper” (2002) – Brothers, Betrayals & Bad Haircuts: Badham’s Sibling Soap Shackled by Its Own Drama” »
Back in 1999, John Badham decided to trade neon lights for dusty roads and filmed The Jack Bull, a modern reimagining of A. B. Guthrie Jr.’s classic Western Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. And guess what? He did it justice—blending fierce character study with somber moral reckoning. It’s like a cowboy cocktail: slow-sippin’, bittersweet, with a … Read More ““The Jack Bull” (1999): A Wild West Slow Burn with Heart, Honor, and One Hell of a Bull” »