As I return to the Family genre of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book I am greeted by an old friend, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the final family film recommendation. I grew up with the book. I was introduced to The Hobbit via the Arthur Rankin…
Tag: 1984
The Bounty (1984) – Roger Donaldson
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my return to the action genre and my screening of The Pirates of the Caribbean, is The Bounty. This one has everything working for it, a score by Vangelis, an all-star cast including Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Liam Neeson, Daniel Day-Lewis,…
Gremlins (1984) – Joe Dante
Practical effects, matte paintings and a dark, playful sense of humour… They just don’t make them like the used to. I was delighted when I returned to the Family section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book that Joe Dante’s horror comedy Christmas movie (it’s set at Christmas therefore it IS a…
Red Dawn (1984) – John Milius
The final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Dr. Strangelove is John Milius’ dark and violent film, Red Dawn. With an all-star cast including Patrick Swayze, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Powers Boothe and Harry Dean Stanton, the film chronicles an invasion…
The Talisman (1984) – Stephen King and Peter Straub
There are very few Stephen King novels I haven’t read, and even as I revisit the occasional one, I realised that I had never finished The Talisman. A copy of this book was a Christmas gift to my Mom the year it came out. She read it first, and I was next in line to…
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984) – Douglas Adams
So I felt it was time to check in with the gang from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy again, and dove into book four of the trilogy. This one seems a bit shorter than the previous tale, and to my chagrin, Ford Prefect is barely in it, Marvin makes only an appearance, and Zaphod…
Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders (1984) – Jean Lorrah
It’s been a while since I checked in with the non-canon universe of Star Trek, so I dived into the world of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in this would-be murder mystery. Spock is preparing for some leave on his home planet of Vulcan. When an attack from a Klingon ship wounds one of the Enterprise’s…
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) -Hayao Miyazaki
The next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book is a long overdue check-in with Miyazaki, the famed writer/director who has envisioned so many incredible tales. This time around, it’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I didn’t have access to a subtitled version, so I went with the English dubbed (subtitle is ALWAYS the…
Star Trek: The Tears of the Singers (1984) – Melinda Snodgrass
Before she was tapped to join the writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Melinda Snodgrass penned this non-canon classic Trek novel, that is one of the best ones I’ve rad to date. There is an ecological element to the tale, music, and alien life plays a major part, and not only are Kirk, Spock…
Star Trek: My Enemy, My Ally (1984) – Diane Duane
I return to the 23rd century with this week’s book shelf with the next Star Trek title in the Pocket Book series. Penned by Diane Duane, who had previously written The Wounded Sky, this one plays like a bit of a Cold War Thriller, at least to start, rotating the Romulans in as the baddies…
The Mind Reels 