The Founder (2016)

★★★
Ray Kroc's venerable restaurant chain, like all the big-name retailers and food establishments that dot the landscape, started out as one store. It has endured periods of low profit, lawsuits, failed products (though I loved the Arch Deluxe), a critical documentary, a critical book and shifting eating habits to remain the go-to place for a quick meal and senior citizens who gravitate to the nearest store for coffee every morning. It has also inspired parody ("They got the Big Bac. We got the Big Mic.") and a sly pop culture reference courtesy of Quentin Tarantino. The Founder gives us the story of how Ray Kroc turned a lone hamburger stand in San Bernardino into the national brand known as McDonald's. Kroc's rise to the top of the restaurant food chain is an intriguing story so good it's taught in business schools. Director John Lee Hancock presents a struggling milkshake machine vendor in his 50s who finally sees an opportunity to find the success that has eluded him after years of effort. If he has to take someone else's concept and run with it, then so be it.

The Relic (1997)

★★★
The Relic is so much fun that it's easy to forgive its shortcomings, and there are plenty. This is a gory monster movie that takes place in a vast building with corridors that are perfect for a mutated beast to roam free and attack unsuspecting prey. If this sounds pretty routine, well, it is, but Peter Hyams directs the film like a well-oiled machine. There are occasional surprises to go along with the formulaic elements.

The Punisher (2004)

★★★½
The Bride has some competition. Uma Thurman's character from Kill Bill: Volume 2 isn't the only one going on a revenge spree. The Marvel Comics hero The Punisher comes to the big screen once again (previously seen in a 1989 movie) and, like Spider-Man and Daredevil, he does so with a vengeance, literally. The movie is an explosively good time, but it doesn't settle for pyrotechnics to carry it. This is a strong character-driven film fueled by an intense performance by Thomas Jane and a surprisingly sadistic performance by John Travolta, in what is probably his best role since Pulp Fiction.

Matchstick Men (2003)

★★★½
While I liked Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning Gladiator, I didn't think it represented his best work. He's a solid director, who made Black Hawk Down and Thelma & Louise some of the most talked-about films of recent years. Matchstick Men is another winner, a film of surprising complexity and strong characterizations. It features another stellar performance by Nicolas Cage, and a string of captivating supporting performances that enhance the film's rich texture.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

★★★★
One of the television show's enduring images is that of Laura Palmer's reveal. We see it first within minutes of the premiere episode of Twin Peaks, and we see it again towards the end of David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. It is heartbreaking. Those eyelids and her melancholy posture suggest the saddest of stories. Even as motionless Laura Palmer, Sheryl Lee was still acting. She conveyed emotion with a slight tilt of her head and that sorrowful frown. Hers was a life that ended horrifically when it should have been glorious. Blue Velvet opened with an immediate warning signal—that of burrowing ants—to suggest the horrors to come in a town of picturesque neighborhoods complete with white picket fences. Now imagine Blue Velvet was itself only the surface, and there exists a small town with even darker forces at work. Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth was an evil character, but the antagonist in Fire Walk with Me is a force of nature that feeds off suffering.