Opening Act - Boogie Nights

Welcome to Opening Act, a new feature in which I analyze the first scene of a movie. I hope to do this on a weekly basis and may even transition this to a video review series if I ever decide to learn how to do that. If anybody wants to teach me, feel free to try.

The first movie I have chosen for this column is Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 odyssey through the pornographic film industry of the late 70s and into the new era of home video of the 80s through the rise and fall of porn star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg). In addition to Dirk, Boogie Nigthts chronicles influential director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), his wife and porn star Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), Dirk's best friend and fellow actor Reed Rothchild (John C Reilly), cowboy-loving porn actor with a passion for stereo sales Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) and the young female pornstar Rollergirl (Heather Graham) among many others. Now I haven't seen Paul Thomas Anderson's debut feature, Hard Eight, so I cannot speak to it's quality but Boogie Nights is his breakout film, making him a marquee director among film lovers.

Titillating Tease or: The 10 Best Things About the 9/11 Trailer

Charlie Sheen knows 9/11 was an inside job

A couple weeks ago a poster surfaced for a movie coming out this year that caught me eye. It promised Charlie Sheen, Whoopi Goldberg, Luis Guzman, Gina Gershon and more in a movie simply titled 9/11. Oh boy was I excited. I was sure nothing could come close to taking the title of worst movie of 2017 from The Book of Henry but then this comes along. Today saw the release of the trailer and oh boy, it's something. It's so much something that I couldn't wait until it comes out to review it here. 9/11 gets special treatment. So without further ado, here's the 10 Best (Worst) Things About the 9/11 Trailer.