Watch This With Rick Ramos

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I take on a classic of the Science Fiction Genre, Ridley Scott's 1982 Masterpiece Blade Runner . We discuss it's groundbreaking narrative as well as it's lasting legacy over nearly four decades. Of course, we discuss the continuing argument of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) as a replicant as well as the insights, opinions, and questions crea...

Let's get right to this . . . there is one great action star of the cinema and his name is Chan Kong-sang better known as Jackie Chan. A child actor and graduate of The Famed Peking Opera School, Jackie Chan shot to fame in the mid-70's as the Hong Kong Movie Industry was reeling from the loss of the great Bruce Lee.  Looking to fill this void there were a number of attempts at replacing Lee. Chan...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I look back at David Fincher's  Fight Club . I can't think of a better way to sum up and close out the 90's than this brutal examination of male anger, disillusionment, and confusion.  On this episode we look at the brilliance of the film, the source material from author Chuck Palahniuk, the performances of Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and He...

On this episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I remember the great Harry Dean Stanton who passed away on September 15th at the age of 91. Stanton distinguished himself in an acting career that spanned over 50 years. He was truly a great presence on screen, exemplified by roles too numerous to name, but highlighted in his only starring role - Wim Wender's  incredible examination of a man who...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos I take a look at an exceptional film playing in theaters at this time, Matt Ruskin's Crown Heights. Detailing the life of Colin Warner who found himself wrongfully imprisoned for murder at the age of 18, this is a powerful true story, told beautifully.  With exceptional performances by Keith Stanfield as Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King,...

On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I sit down in The Fortress of Ultimate Darkness to discuss American Journalist Sebastian Junger and British Photojournalist Tim Heatherington's Restrepo and Korengal (which Junger would create on his own after Heatherington's death in 2011 while covering The Libyan Civil War).  Both films examine the experiences of soldiers fighting in the...

Going solo this week. On this episode I take a look at the career of the great Robert Mitchum who would have been 100 years old on August 6th. A great actor who has been eclipsed by the likes of George C. Scott, James Dean, and Marlon Brando, Mitchum was the epitome of cool and hipness. A man of incredible natural talent, Mitchum exhibited this throughout his nearly 60 year career. On this week's...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I sit down in The Fortress of Ultimate Darkness to discuss the passing of an American Original, The Playwright Sam Shepard who passed away July 27th just a few months short of his 74th birthday.  I have to admit that I had been an admirer of Shepard's for quite some time without knowing a great deal about him. His passing led me on a tour...

So on this new episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I get a bit serious delving into the world of the judicial system, and specifically The Death Penalty. As always we take our cue from the cinema focusing on the works of Werner Herzog (2011's Into the Abyss ), Lawrence Schiller (1983's The Executioner's Song ), and Tim Robbins (1995's Dead Man Walking ). It's a bit of a heavy talk, but dif...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I tackle one of the greatest films ever made, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.  Take a listen as we spend nearly three hours talking a ground-breaking piece of cinema. With incredible performances from Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Michael Castellano . . . Christ, the lis...

On episode #137 of WatchThis w/RickRamos I welcome back good friend - and frequent WatchThis collaborator - Mike Black so that we can talk the Decade that formed our earliest understanding of Cinema . . . The 1980's. I have said it in the past (and I stand by the statement) that the 1980's was a (mostly) artistically empty period for filmmaking, but what it did excel at was the elevation of The Ac...

On this week's episode of Watch This w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I reflect on the world of professional wrestling, focusing our attention on the documentaries Beyond the Mat (Dir. Barry W. Blaustein, 1999) and The Resurrection of Jake The Snake (Dir. Steve Yu, 2015). Not necessarily great films, but films that give a fascinating and entertaining exploration into the behind the scenes going on's of this...

On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos Ibrahim & I take it a bit easy, walking down memory lane, and talking about the movie influences that have brought us to this place. From Tower Records and The Warehouse, to Scorsese and The Faces of Death Series, Ibrahim & I remember the great movie memories of our lives. A little bit of a lighter episode, but one that came together rather nicely. T...

Yeah . . . On this episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos  I take a break from the seriousness of our previous episodes and have a little bit of fun with a classic, Hal Needham's classic 1977 Redneck Masterpiece, Smokey & The Bandit .  This is one of those films that I have to just come to terms with my love for . . . a hilarious and beautifully realized 70's era comedy that has stood the test of time....

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos Ibrahim and I come to the end of our examination of The Vietnam War.  You don't watch Full Metal Jacket , Stanley Kubrick's 1987 classic without recognizing it as two separate films.  That's the angle that we're approaching the film. Boot Camp and The Grunts' Experience in one of the few urban examinations of this very complex war.  With standout per...

The train keeps rolling down the bend . . . On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I continue our descent into The Vietnam War.  This week we take a look at The War through the eyes of the displaced and victimized . . . the people of Vietnam and Cambodia.  Oliver Stone ends his Vietnam Trilogy with 1993's Heaven & Earth , the story of Le Ly Hayslip who survived the destruction...

On this episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I continue our descent into the rabbit hole of The Vietnam War. This week we take a look at the grunts' welcome home with an examination of Oliver Stone's 1989 biopic of paralyzed Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July .  We also take look at Michael Cimino's 1978 masterpiece,  The Deer Hunter .  With these films we see two powerfu...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos Ibrahim & I continue our examination of the great Vietnam War films. This week we take a look at the "grunts' experience' in Vietname; We talk Oliver Stone's Platoon and Brian DePalma's Casualties of War .  The less written the better.  So take a listen and let us know what you think.  As always we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com .  So take a...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I begin a many episode (we have no idea how long this is going to take) examination of The Vietnam War. Where else to start off than - possibly - the greatest War Film ever made, Francis Ford Copolla's Apocalypse Now Redux - Copolla's 2001 Director's Cut of his 1979 Cannes Palme d'Or winner. Rarely do audiences have the opportunity to see...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I sit down in The Fortress to discuss George Miller's Masterpiece series MAD MAX (1979)  THE ROAD WARRIOR   (1981),   MAD MAX - BEYOND THUNDERDOME  (1985), and - finally - MAD MAX - FURY ROAD  (2015). Possibly the greatest cinematic series ever created (based on their being no weak films in the series), Miller's collaboration with Mel Gibs...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I continue our discussion on the Academy Award winning documentarian ( THE FOG OF WAR: ELEVEN LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF ROBERT S. McNAMARA - 2003) Errol Morris. This week we tackle his groundbreaking study of Randall Dale Adams, a man wrongly imprisoned for murdering a Dallas Police Officer during a routine traffic stop, THE THIN BLUE LINE...

Ohhhhh this is a heavy one . . . On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I take a look at documentary filmmaker, Errol Morris (who shot to fame with the 1988 documentary           THE THIN BLUE LINE , challenging the guilt of Texas Death Row inmate Randall Dale Adams). On this first of a two part episode we discuss the former private investigator's profiles of Vietnam War Era Se...

A mid-week entry that is mostly cathartic release for me. On this episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos we take a look at the career and passing of the greatest artist Rock 'N' Roll has ever know, Charles Edward Anderson Berry, better known as The Father of Rock 'N' Roll Chuck Berry. On this episode I talk about what this great man has meant to me. From my introduction through The Chess Box (purchased...

On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I continue our discussion on Alaska and the struggles of Man Vs. Nature exemplified in Lee Tamahori's THE EDGE (1997), Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu's THE REVENANT (2015), and - finally - we revisit Joe Carnahan's THE GREY (2011). Hopefully you will have as much fun listening to us as we had recording this. As always, Thanks for the continue...

On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos we take a look at a masterpiece currently playing in theaters, James Mangold's LOGAN, featuring a career defining performance by Hugh Jackman, an Oscar worthy performance from Patrick Stewart, and a promising introduction to a new young actress, Dafne Keen. I can't speak highly enough about this film.  I'm going to leave it at that.  Take a listen an...