It’s been a long time since I watched Casino Royale, a spoof of 007 films, which had originally been developed as a serious adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel. When the Bond filmmakers, and Sean Connery didn’t want to be involved, the producers held onto the rights and went with a comedy instead. With five…
Tag: convoluted
The Venom Business (1969) – Michael Crichton
I dove into Michael Crichton’s next book, The Venom Business, as I work through his bibliography. This one took me a while to actually get into. There’s a bit of a convoluted plot for the first half of the book inundated with the parties and happenings of a swinging London where everyone, apparently, is over-sexed,…
Mission: Impossible (1972) – Ultimatum, and Kidnap
Murray Hamilton (the beaches will be open!) guest stars in Ultimatum. Written by Harold Livington from a story by Shirl Hendryx and Livingston, the episode all guests Donnelly Rhodes! First airing on 18 November, 1972, the episode sees the IMF on familiar ground. Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team are after a nuclear physicist, Cooper…
Mission: Impossible (1968) – The Cardinal, and The Elixir
John T. Dugan puts the IMF team through their paces in this episode he wrote, The Cardinal, which first aired on 17 November, 1968. Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team are asked to sneak into a country behind the Iron Curtain (which looks amazingly like Southern California) and deal with General Zepke (Theodore Bikel), a…
Mission: Impossible (1967) – Operation ‘Heart,’ and The Money Machine
Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team attempt to flush out a villain intent on assassinating a head of state, Rurich (Pernell Roberts) so that his country’s Western flavoured government will fall and give way to a rule under his name. To take him down, Phelps, Rollin (Martin Landau), Cinnamon (Barbara Bain), Barney (Greg…
F/X 2 (1991) – Richard Franklin
Five years after the first film, and a lifetime of difference for me, Roland Tyler (Bryan Brown) and Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy) were back in action. Unfortunately, an attempt to continue the gritty feeling special effects thriller comes across as a little disjointed, and honestly, more convoluted than it needed to be. An attempt to…
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) – Agatha Christie
It’s been decades, literally decades, since I read an Agatha Christie novel, in fact I remember where I was, and though I don’t recall the title, I know that it was a Poirot mystery. Something tells me a teacher may have suggested them to me, or perhaps the school librarian. I was curious what I…
The Unholy Three (1930) – Jack Conway
The Unholy Three is an unusual entry in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies for a couple of reasons. It’s Lon Chaney’s only talking film, and the ape featured in the film (we are in the monstrous apes chapter after all) is only seen a couple of times, and isn’t really used for much but…
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – Gore Verbinski
The third volume of Disney’s theme park attraction turned tentpole franchise is the next selection in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book as I explore the chapter on Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales. I’ll admit this instalment in the series is a little top heavy with a convoluted plot, but as showcased in the…
Neuromancer (1984) – William Gibson
Today’s book shelf takes me to a science fiction classic, written by the father of the cyberpunk genre, William Gibson. This novel came out in 1984. I was to turn 12 that year, and if I had been given this book then, or any age shortly around then, I don’t think I would have enjoyed…
The Mind Reels 