Welcome to Shermer, Illinois

Before the MCU. Before the DCEU. Before every major studio started scrambling to stitch their films together into a grand shared mythology with its own timeline, its own rules, and its own inevitable crossover event, there was a quiet suburb of Chicago that most people drove right past without realizing it. There was Shermer, Illinois. … Continue reading Welcome to Shermer, Illinois

From Joke Writer to American Icon: The Filmmaking Evolution of John Hughes

I have a specific memory of watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time and thinking — probably at an age when I wasn't yet sophisticated enough to articulate this — somebody made this movie who actually remembers what it feels like to be young. Not young in a generic, greeting card sort of … Continue reading From Joke Writer to American Icon: The Filmmaking Evolution of John Hughes

My Favorite Movies #69 – The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club 1985 Directed by John Hughes Netflix says... In writer-director John Hughes's seminal 1980s Brat Pack film, the athlete (Emilio Estevez), the brain (Anthony Michael Hall), the criminal (Judd Nelson), the princess (Molly Ringwald) and the basket case (Ally Sheedy) break through the social barriers of high school during Saturday detention. The disparate group … Continue reading My Favorite Movies #69 – The Breakfast Club