Colin Wessman

The Pick: Basic Instinct

We’re back with another sleazy movie from the ’90s with one of the most-parodied movies of its time, Basic Instinct. We dig a little bit into the movie’s status as one of the quintessential erotic thrillers as well as how Michael Douglas came to embody this very particular type of sexy murder mystery. We try to delve into things about it other than “that scene” while taking a stab at a Michael Douglas impression, which is apparently just a more nasally Jack Nicholson. Strap in for the pick of the century. Continue reading →

Colin’s Favorite Albums of April 2022

April wasn’t quite as hot of a month music-wise as the other two I’ve covered so far this year. Which is perfectly ok since March 25 saw the release of so many noteworthy albums that I’ll have plenty to talk about here. In addtion Destroyer’s last album (which I covered last month), the first three albums I’ll be covering actually came out on that release date and served as some of my most-listened-to albums throughout April. Continue reading →

The Pick: The Devil’s Advocate

Only in New York! This week we’re taking a look at a decidedly sinister and satanic look at NYC with the supernatural lawyer oddity that is The Devil’s Advocate. We discuss both Keanu Reeves’s perplexing accent as well as how Al Pacino arrived at the bombastic persona he embraced in the ’90s. Pacino’s turn as Satan himself (which isn’t really a spoiler) earns the actor a slot in our Three Timer’s Club while also becoming another one of our latest villains bent on committing omnicide. Continue reading →

The Pick: Altered States

We’re a little late in posting this tribute to the late, great William Hurt. But hey, it’s always a good time to get in the tank. This episode, we go deep into this hard-to-classify sci-fi/horror oddity about a university scientist who goes from experiments in sensory deprivation tanks to drug-induced hallucinations to becoming a violent monkey man. It’s a movie made by a bunch of guys who seem a little too smart and talented for this material, and yet make it all the more fascinating in the process. Continue reading →

Colin’s Favorite Albums of March 2022

This month was another strong one as far as albums go, so I guess I’ll once again talk about some of my favorites. I’ll also give a shout-out to albums that I liked, but I just didn’t get around to listening to enough to make sense of how much I liked them. Those include: Wild Loneliness by Superchunk, Squeeze by SASAMI, and Running with the Hurricane by Camp Cope. Meanwhile, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars by The Weather Station is a nice little companion piece to last year’s fantastic Ignorance, but feels a little too low-stakes for it to really stand out on its own. Continue reading →

Oscars Fortnight Day 7: The Piano

The Piano (1993)

The 66th Academy Awards (1994)
Nominations: 8
Wins: 3

Initially, my reasoning for picking The Piano to review was pretty obvious, as just like back in 1994, Jane Campion has one of her career-best films in the Oscar race this year. However, I became a little nervous about this pick after Campion made that weird comment about the Williams sisters at the Critic’s Choice Awards. Though she’s apologized since then and it seems the Oscar news cycle has moved on to claiming CODA as the frontrunner now? I don’t know. Anyways, even if The Power of The Dog doesn’t win a ton of Oscars, it’s in good company with The Piano, a simply ravishing and sensuous work that didn’t do so bad Oscar-wise considering it was up against Schindler’s List at the 66th Oscars. Continue reading →

Oscars Fortnight Day 6: Reds

Reds (1981)

The 54th Academy Awards (1982)
Nominations: 12
Wins: 3

Reds is the kind of Oscar-winning film that has been a bit forgotten over the years for reasons that are pretty easy to pinpoint. First, it’s one of the longer Best Picture nominees at 195 minutes, putting it just behind The Irishman in length, but still ahead of this year’s Drive My Car. It also isn’t the work of some revered auteur, as Warren Beatty has one of the strangest filmographies I can think of, with this being his most acclaimed film by a pretty wide margin. And while it does mostly earn its 3-plus hours with a scope that could certainly be considered epic, it feels a little too heady and political to fit into your traditional notions of what constitutes a big-screen epic. Continue reading →