The NeverEnding Story (1984) – Wolfgang Petersen

The first recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Fellowship of the Ring is Wolfgang Petersen’s 1984 adaptation of only a small part of Micheal Ende’s fantasy novel, The NeverEnding Story. It has been more than thirty years since I watched this one, so I was…

Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – Robot of Sherwood, and Listen

The Doctor (Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) embark on a bit of a lark with Robot of Sherwood. Written by Mark Gatiss this episode first aired on 6 September, 2014. Clara has always wanted to meet Robin Hood, which the Doctor insists was made up. To prove the point he takes her to Sherwood Forest…

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1993) – Travels With Father

The next adventure of Indiana Jones (Corey Carrier) is pieced together from two episodes shot in 1993 that didn’t air from a proposed third season.  The two episodes were written by Frank Darabont, Matthew Jacobs, and Jonathan Hales. They were combined into a television movie that first aired on 16 June, 1996. Russia, March 1909….

The Daylight War (2013) – Peter V. Brett

Digging into the third book of The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett has been long overdue, but it was very much worth the wait. After the climactic conclusion of the previous instalment, not to mention some of the revelations, the characters are left in some strange places. The novel picks up shortly after the…

Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – Cold War, and Hide

The Doctor (Smith) and Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) get a Cold War adventure in this tale written by Mark Gatiss. The episode aired on 13 April, 2013. The Time Lord and his Companion find themselves on a Soviet submarine commanded by Captain Zukhov (Liam Cunningham), his lieutenant, Stepashin (Tobias Menzies) and an Ultravox loving scientist, Grisenko…

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) – Joe Johnston

Before Joe Johnston directed one of my favourite comic book movies, The Rocketeer, he directed this Disney film that took the b-movies of the 1950s into the late Disney-fied 80s. There are nods to films he hasn’t made yet (which is really fun) and dialogue lifts from classic films and a playful sense of fun….

The Black Hole (1979) – Alan Dean Foster

I remember having this novel as a child. In fact, the soundtrack, the first recorded digitally, was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money as a child. The film has been a favourite of mine for some time, flaws and all, so when I came cross the novel at a…

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) – Howard Hawks

The big title in DK Canada’s The Movie Book is Casablanca, and what kind of film reviewer if I hadn’t covered it before? So it was onto the What Else to Watch list which brings me a Howard Hawks film I hadn’t heard of, and stars Cary Grant. This is all win as far as…