As I continue my time with the Musical chapter in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, I dove into the biographical film, Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney. That gave me a pause. Despite everything I had ever heard about the film, I’d never seen him do anything like this. It was…
Tag: america
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The Impossible Astronaut, and Day of the Moon
Astronauts, the Silence, the Doctor’s (Smith) death, and some tons of temporal shenanigans launch the sixth series of Doctor Who with The Impossible Astronaut. The episode was written by Steven Moffat and first aired on 23 April, 2011. The Doctor after showing off in history to attract the attention of The Ponds, invites Amy (Karen…
West Side Story (1961) – Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins direct the film that brings me back to the musical genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Stephen Sondheim pens the lyrics for this Academy Award winning musical (including Best Picture) that is an updated retelling of Shakespeare’s beautiful tragedy Romeo & Juliet with Richard Beymer…
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 Godfather Trilogy – Francis Ford Coppola
Paramount Pictures is celebrating the 45th anniversary with a re-release of the 1972 classic The Godfather, and its two sequels. I have a bit of a sordid history with these films. I’ve never been a fan of crime family stories, I can’t relate to them, and have never understood the hypocrisy that seems inherent in…
Watchmen (2009) – Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder who is always great with visual images, but not the strongest director when it comes to story, takes on Alan Moore’s epic iconic graphic novel, the next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles. Visually, the film tends to be very faithful to the original panels, of the comic book, capturing an alternate 1980s filled…
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) – David Yates
J.K. Rowling scripts and produces the return to the magical world we last saw on screen in 2011, with the Deathly Hallows Part 2. This movie has big foot steps to follow in, so does it pull it off? For the most part, yes, but it left me wanting to dig into things that were…
Duel (1971) – Steven Spielberg
Before Richard Dreyfuss was Steven Spielberg’s every man, there was Dennis Weaver, and I hit the road with him, in the very thrilling Duel, which is the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my viewing (oh, so long ago) of Wages of Fear. Written by Richard Matheson,…
Hell or High Water (2016) – David Mackenzie
Director David Mackenzie and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) update the western for the modern age, while tweaking and twisting it into this crime drama. Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine) are brothers. Tanner is a career criminal, and Toby, like those in his family before him, is dirt poor. Like so many places…
Village of the Damned (1995) – John Carpenter
John Carpenter’s take on the Midwich Cuckoo’s tale is next up in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, and boasts a pretty fine cast in the form of Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Marlk Hamill, Linda Kozlowski and Michael Pare. The location has been changed to small town America, but the basis of the story remains the…
The Mind Reels 