Jim Henson, working with producer George Lucas, created a beautiful fantasy world filled with amazing characters both live action (David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly (I developed such a crush on her) and puppet, great music (David Bowie and Trevor Jones) that opened my eyes, in much the way Muppets, The Dark Crystal did, and that Farscape would…
Divergent (2014) – Neil Burger
Sometimes my disappointment should be something I can throw at the screen. Not that you shouldn’t always worry about book adaptations, because invariably, the books are almost always better. But by the time we got halfway through screening this film, I wondered whether anyone in the production of this film had read the first book,…
Trailer Tracks: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Steven Spielberg
One of the biggest influences on my childhood, if not my entire life, alongside Star Wars, is this homage to the adventures of yesteryear, Raiders of the Lost Ark… that music (John Williams), that cast (Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies), those stunts (Vic Armstrong)!!! Often imitated, and sequel-ized, but never matched…
True Detective – Season 1
Released today on Blu-Ray and DVD from HBO is the first season of the stellar police thriller, True Detective. Created and completely written by Nic Pizzolatto and starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey with the entire 8 episode series directed by Cary Fukunaga this show is intelligent, dark, captivating and gritty. Set in Louisiana, the series…
Alan Partridge (2013) – Declan Lowney
Hitting DVD, Blu-ray and VOD today is this British import starring Steve Coogan,. He brings his Alan Partridge character in a hostage story that has some great dialogue wrapped up in a paint-by-numbers story. Reprising his television character, Coogan stars as Alan Partridge, radio DJ and deluded by his perception of his own fame, including driving around in a…
The Rockford Files (1976) – The No-Cut Contract & A Portrait of Elizabeth
This week private investigator Jim Rockford (James Garner) is in trouble again. The first episode, written by Cannell, himself is a lot of fun. It originally aired 16 January, 1976, and features Wayne Tippit, back as Agent Shore, Becker (Joe Santos), Angel (Stuart Margolin) and Beth (Gretchen Corbett). The phone gag is all in Spanish,…
Trailer tracks: Gremlins (1984) – Joe Dante
Man, do I remember this movie, and I still adore it. Who wouldn’t want a Mogwai?
Wrath of the Titans (2012) – Jonathan Liebesman
Sigh. Like the pointless remake that preceded it, this sequel is more interested in spectacle than story, image over substance. And like it’s predecessor, completely lacks the fun, and wonder that inhabited the 1981 original. This time around we have cardboard-cutouts-that-are-pretending-to-be-characters on another quest. And while the casting is good, Sam Worthington, Bill Nighy, Rosamund…
Trailer Tracks: The Goonies (1985) – Richard Donner
Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner working with a script from Christopher Columbus created this great film that starred Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton. I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen this one, I know I played the soundtrack on cassette so many times the lettering faded from it,…
Love and Death (1975) – Woody Allen
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Manhattan was, Love and Death. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised to the story, but still don’t care for Woody Allen’s acting ability. This time around, Allen takes on the Russians… He’s a neurotic soldier, Boris, in Czarist…
The Mind Reels 