It’s time to continue exploring the non-canon adventures of the crew of the starship Enterprise. This is going to be fun, as some of these I haven’t read since I was a kid (reading them as they were published) and some I have never read. So going in order of publication, the first book…
Tag: 1981
Chariots of Fire (1981) – Hugh Hudson
Today, I dive into the recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of Raging Bull. This four time Oscar winner (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Costume Design) had never before graced my screen, so I was looking forward to settling in and watching…
Hot Docs 2015: Raiders! – Jeremy Coon & Tim Skousen
Screening today at the Hart House theatre at 9:30 is a documentary that completely encapsulated my youth and filled me with awe, and a fire to create. Back in 1981, a film came along that changed many a young viewer, myself included, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. It affected a number of…
The Greatest American Hero (1981) – Pilot
In 1981, I was living in Kingston, Ontario, I had fallen in love with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi was still a long ways off!! Television, of course, still continued to entertain me, and Stephen j. Cannell was right there keeping an occasional evening occupied with his take on…
Clash of the Titans (1981) – Desmond Davis
Now this is the way you do a Greek mythology epic, with heart, fun and some top-notch stop motion effects. There is more emotion and character in a single armature movement in this film, than in the whole of the pixelated version of the 21st century! I was so happy to be able to…
Trailer Tracks: Time Bandits (1981) – Terry Gilliam
Time Bandits was my first introduction to Terry Gilliam films, and by extension, Monty Python as well. I caught this one night during a SuperChannel free weekend event, back in the early 80s, and while I liked it, I definitely didn’t ‘get’ all of it. Now, it’s come a bit of a treasure for…
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: Escape From New York (1981) – John Carpenter
Carpenter’s action flick has the perfect trailer, it introduces the concept, hints at the action, and shows us our hero, Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken. Sure, it looks dated now, but if trailers today re-embraced the less is mor concept again, I’d really enjoy that!
Remembering When… Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars and Indiana Jones were an inextricable part of my youth. As mentioned in my Star Wars post, prior to ’77 there was nothing that stood out amongst the pop culture landscape, there were fun and cool things, but nothing like the mountain that was the experience of Star Wars, and then, a number…
The Mind Reels 