Dunkirk (2017) – Christopher Nolan

When I saw Dunkirk in IMAX this summer, I came out of the theatre with a one word review, “Wow.” Now Christopher Nolan’s brilliant retelling of the British evacuation from Dunkirk comes home on blu-ray and DVD thanks to Warner Brothers. Running at a taut hour and forty five minutes (Nolan’s shortest film since Following),…

Finding Nemo (2003) – Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

Finding Nemo, the final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Lion King was the Pixar film that cemented my love for them. Yes, I totally enjoy Toy Story 1 & 2 as well as A Bug’s Life, but Finding Nemo made my affection for Pixar…

The Lodger (1927) – Alfred Hitchcock

One of Hitchcock’s earliest film, the silent black and white piece, The Lodger is the next title on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book, following the viewing recommendation of Murnau’s classic Sunrise. You can definitely see hints of what is to come from the master, as he works from…

Men in Black II (2002) -Barry Sonnenfeld

Jay (Will Smith) is back as I check in with the Men in Black for this sequel as I continue my time with the Sci-Fi Chronicles. When Earth is menaced by Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) Jay has to pull Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) out of retirement, even though he has no memory of his work…

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) -Garth Jennings

Grab your towel and Don’t Panic! Douglas Adam’s classic tale gets a big screen adaptation, of his book/screenplay, which had previously been so well used by the BBC as a miniseries, and before that a radio programme. There are things that work in this version, and things that don’t, but the effort is there to…

We’re 5 Years Old Today!!

I just wanted to take a quick moment to recognize that this is the 5th anniversary of The Mind Reels (!). We started small, and didn’t start doing daily posts until January or February of our first year. Since then, every single day there has been a post, where we share thoughts, memories, and review…

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) – Bryan Singer

  There’s probably a good, or at least a passable story somewhere amongst the mutants, Singer as a director has done some nice work with Marvel’s X-Men franchise in the past, but this time, it just feels like too much flash, and no substance. To say the visual effects super-saturate this film is an understatement….

Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979) – Terry Jones

  I was looking forward to this recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of The Ten Commandments; the gang from Monty Python taking on religion. Brian (Graham Chapman) was born on the same day as Jesus, just in the stable next door, and consequently, spends his life…

X-Men: First Class (2011) – Matthew Vaughn

  Sometimes to go forward, you need to go back, as we learn in the next X-Men film as I journey through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Continuing its cue of using great actors, Vaughn recasts the characters we’ve already been introduced to as we go back to 1962 and the height of the Cuban Missile…

Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Sam Raimi

  My web-slinging adventures continue with my screening of Spider-Man 3 for the Sc-Fi Chronicles, and this is a bit of a mixed bag, as instead of trusting to the director who brought them two very successful pictures, the studio wanted to shoehorn in a fan favorite character, Venom (Topher Grace) instead of letting Spidey…