Thoughtful reviews, the Boulder film scene

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Do The Right Thing

Spike Lee's complex, intricate look at race relations in Bed-Stuy NY. —Marty Mapes (review...)

" You know I can’t stand seeing him play with a gun”
“But the boy’s gotta learn some timeā€¦ "
— Nancy Gates & Sterling Hayden, Suddenly

MRQE Top Critic

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Why do certain critics love trash and trash the movies you love? Maybe it’s because they were dropped on their heads as infants. Maybe it’s their upbringing. Or maybe it’s purely a matter of bad genes.

We’ve invited our writers to introduce themselves so that perhaps you can get a better insight into their unfathomable minds.

Who are you?

Anand writes about off-the-beaten-path DVDs
Anand writes about off-the-beaten-path DVDs

Anand “Andy” Ramachandran.

What are your writing credentials?

I have a B.A. in English from the University of Colorado and various staff and freelance journalism gigs.

What are your movie credentials?

Courses in film history, aesthetics, and seeing many movies.

Why should anyone listen to your opinion?

I watch the movies so you won’t have in the case of bad ones and will want to watch in the case of good ones.

Movie pet peeves?

Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, the Bourne Trilogy

Do you have any non-movie habits?

Night after night, Pinky and I try to take over the world.

Give us some movie recommendations.

Ben-Hur, The Great Gatsby, Face in the Crowd, Everything’s Gone Green, the AFI 100, Chinatown (but not The Two Jakes), the original, unmolested Star Wars trilogy, the original Matrix (not recycled or revisited), Play It Again Sam, Love and Death, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Purple Rose of Cairo, John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, to name a few.

What are some of your guilty pleasures?

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The Curse of Lizzie Borden 2 (because I had a walk-on part), Dragnet (the movie and the TV show), Planet of the Apes, Flash Gordon, Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Chris Elliot’s Cabin Boy.

Any movie wisdom you’d like to share?

“If you’re not first, you’re last” — Ricky Bobby

“I’m a man of vision in a world that wears bifocals” — Butch Cassidy

“All we are is dust in the wind, dude.” - Bill & Ted

“A good novel [or movie] tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” - G. K. Chesterton

“The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence, but in the mastery of his passions.” - Alfred Lord Tennyson

“Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts, for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.” - William Wirt