The final Orson Welles recommended title following my screening of Citizen Kane for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, is this entertaining, quick-cutting, documentary about frauds, forgery, and fakery. Wandering delightfully from subject to subject, Welles regales the viewer with a number of stories, most based in fact, about lies and…
Category: Did You See That?!? (Tv & Film)
The Blue Angel (1930) – Josef von Sternberg
The next section I`m jumping to in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, is Romance and Melodrama, and this has provided me with my first introduction to the films of Marlene Dietrich, specifically, The Blue Angel. A bit of a superior-type professor, Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings), runs a tight ship in the classroom,…
Chimes at Midnight (1965) – Orson Welles
So I’m getting back on track with the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, and am getting ready to finish up my time with Mr. Welles. I was quite looking forward to sitting down and watching this one, as I do like my Shakespeare, and I was quite interested to see how…
King Solomon’s Mines (1985) – J. Lee Thompson
Cheesy lines, poor pacing, editing and uninspired action sequences that are poorly shot, and some even lifted from Raiders and the serials of the 30s weigh this film down that not even a score by Jerry Goldsmith can save. Shot back to back with its sequel Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold, the…
Alien Abduction (2014) – Matty Beckerman
The found footage genre is packed full of material at this point, and it’s probably not going anywhere for a while, just like ‘reality’ television, I think we’ll be stuck with it. So when this one popped up on my Netflix recommendations, I knew, at some point, I’d get around to watching it. For the…
Red State (2011) – Kevin Smith
When a writer/director takes on a genre that aren’t often associated with, people are going to get antsy, and some people are just going to hate it no matter what. I found myself looking forward to seeing what Kevin Smith did with a different genre, and took a look at his film Red State,…
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) – Jimmy T. Murakami
With the advent of Star Wars in the late 70s, every studio, almost every writer, wanted to get in on the sci-fi band wagon, including Roger Corman. Known for his exploitation films with incredibly low budgets, Battle Beyond the Stars, was his biggest budgeted film, and was my introduction to the story of the…
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) – Peter Lord
Great sight gags, brilliant animation, a fun story and a talented voice cast make this one a treasure trove. I love the work of Aardman Studios, and this one did not fail to entertain. Based on his book, Gideon Defoe wrote the screenplay that brings this fun-filled story to life. The film features a captain…
Ghost in the Shell (25th Anniversary Edition) – Mamoru Oshi
Releasing from Anchor Bay today, is the 25th anniversary edition of this unprecedented anime film. The downside to it, is that despite that it’s the 25th Anniversary of the original manga, there are sadly no bonus features on the disc. On the plus side, the film looks very nice on Blu-Ray, and comes in…
Delivery: The Beast Within (2013) – Brian Netto
Releasing today on DVD from Anchor Bay is a nice take on the found footage film, combining reality television with a hint of Rosemary’s Baby, and a touch of Paranormal Activity. Rachel (Laurel Vail) and Kyle (Danny Barclay) after years of trying, are finally expecting. And they’re also the subject of a new reality show…
