The first recommendation following my screening of Jailhouse Rock for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film is the very enjoyable The Girl Can’t Help It starring the stunning Jayne Mansfield. The film follows an alcoholic PR man, Tom Miller (Tom Ewell) who used to the top of his game, and could find the…
Month: June 2017
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) – The Terratin Incident, The Time Trap, and The Ambergris Element
Captain’s log: stardate 5577.3 The Terratin Incident was written by Paul Schneider and was first broadcast on 17 November, 1973. The Enterprise receives a transmission from Celephus, following the transmission is a flash of light, which disables all the dilithium aboard ship. Added to the problem that the ship is losing power is the fact…
The Twilight Zone (1961) – Still Valley, The Jungle, and Once Upon a Time
My journey through Paramount Pictures’ The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series continue with another trio of episodes this week. Up first is Still Valley. Series creator and showrunner Rod Serling adapted Manly Wade Welmman’s short story for this episode that first aired on 24 November, 1961. The tale, set in 1863, follows Sgt. Joseph Paradine…
Star Trek: Mindshadow (1986) – J.M. Dillard
The Human Adventure continues on the Book Shelf this week with some more non-canon Star Trek adventures. And for the first time in a long time, this was a Trek book I enjoyed. Dillard has a knack for the characters, and while some of the beats may not have been completely inline with Trek, I…
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) – The Magicks of Megas-Tu, Once Upon a Planet, and Mudd’s Passion
Captain’s log: stardate 1254.4 Long before the search for Eden and God led the Enterprise to the Final Frontier in Star Trek V, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) encountered a similar adventure in a similar location. Written by Larry Brody, this episode aired on 27 October, 1973. The Enterprise…
The Mind Reels Hosts The Degrassi Reunion Panel
Back during Toronto’s Comic Con, Sue and I were fortunate enough to hang with our friends Pat Mastroianni, and Stacie Mistysyn, and make new friends with Stefan Brogen, Dan Woods and Kirsten Bourne. Or, perhaps you know them by their character names, Joey Jeremiah, Caitlin Ryan, Archie ‘Snake’ Simpson, Mr. Raditch and Tessa Campenelli. We…
Jailhouse Rock (1957) – Richard Thorpe
The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book brings me back around the Musical genre, and this time around it features Elvis Presley himself. The story, such as it is, follows Vince Everett (Presley) who is serving one year (!) for manslaughter. While in the joint he meets a former country singer, Hunk Houghton…
Alexander Nevsky (1938) – Sergei M. Eisenstein and Dmitriy Vasilev
DK Book’s The Movie Book suggested one more Key Film for Sergei Eisenstein following my screening of Battleship Potemkin; the classic Russian film Alexander Nevsky. Starring Nikolay Cherkasov in the titular role, the film is incredibly engaging, and well-produced, and if nothing else you can tell that the composer Sergei Prokofiev’s score influenced such composers…
Doctor Who (David Tennant) – The Family of Blood, and Blink
The story started last week in Human Nature comes to a conclusion this week in The Family of Blood, and sees the Doctor (Tennant) making some difficult choices, and sacrificing a chance at love and a life of quiet happiness. Based on his novel, Human Nature, which featured the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Paul Cornell…
The Mummy (1999) – Stephen Sommers
While the updated version of The Mummy blasts into theatres this summer, the 1999 reboot was on the list of recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for follow-up titles to Raiders of the Lost Ark. This version, directed by Stephen Sommers, stars Brendan Fraser, Oded Fehr, Rachel Weisz and Arnold…
The Mind Reels 