The penultimate volume of Stephen King’s magnificent fantasy western opus is on the book shelf this week, and leads us along many roads, some hauntingly familiar, all troubling. With the abduction of the pregnant Susannah by Mia, the daughter of none, mother of one, at the climax of the previous book, everything is set up…
Tag: 2004
Van Helsing (2004) – Stephen Sommers
After his fairly positive success with two Mummy movies, and the cult favorite Deep Rising, Stephen Sommers looked to do an homage to the Universal Monsters and hopefully launch a new tentpole franchise with the Hugh Jackman led Van Helsing. This is the next recommendation from DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies by John Landis,…
Before Sunset (2004) – Richard Linklater
I return to the brilliant The Movie Book from DK Canada, as I continue to work my way through the What Else to Watch list following my screening of Boyhood. I got a bottle of wine, and settled in for the follow up to Before Sunrise… Before Sunset. Nine years after the release of Before…
Ray (2004) – Taylor Hackford
An all-star cast brings the life of the legendary musician Ray Charles in Ray, the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Sound of Music. Jamie Foxx leads the cast as the titular Ray and is joined by Terrance Howard, Regina King, Larenz Tate, Warwick…
Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) – Shane Meadows
Director Shane Meadows and star Paddy Considine wrote this script together that is the last recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Point Blank. Considine is Richard, a soldier returning to his home town. But this homecoming isn’t one of joy, it is with a singular purpose….
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) – Roland Emmerich
Happily with this film, my time with Roland Emmerich comes to a close, as I take a look at The Day After Tomorrow for the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. A glossy, A-list star (how does that keep happening in his films?), slick looking piece of filmmaking that renders global warming and catastrophic destruction of our environment into a…
The Stepford Wives (2004) – Frank Oz
Sigh. You’d think that a film boasting the likes of Frank Oz behind the camera, and Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Jon Lovitz, Glenn Close and Matthew Broderick in front would constitute a better film. But you can tell just by the casting that the film is slipping away from the dark conformist…
Crash (2004) – Paul Haggis
Walking away with the Academy Awards for Best Picture (controversially – as Brokeback Mountain was the presumptive winner), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, writer/director Paul Haggis’ tale of a cross-section of denizens of Los Angeles, tied together by race, loss and redemption come together in Crash, my next recommendation from the Great Movies…
Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Sam Raimi
Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) swings back into action with this, the second film directed by Sam Raimi about Marvel’s Web-Head. I’d previously covered the first one for the blog for a previous list, so I jumped right into the second one for the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Young Peter Parker is having a tough time, he…
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004) – Phil Tippett
Special effects expert and modelmaker, Phil Tippet, slips into the director’s chair for the first of two direct-to-dvd sequels to Paul Verhoven’s original militaristic sci-fi war film, which is the next stop in the supremely enjoyable, Sci-Fi Chronicles book. A group of troopers, in an abandoned outpost find that they are in deeper trouble…
The Mind Reels 