I have been a Spielberg fan for as long as I can remember. The first film he saw was The Greatest Show On Earth, which affected him. Mine was Jaws, and I can say the same thing. Over the decades I have followed him on his storytelling journey, embracing each new film that came along,…
Tag: craft
The X-Files (2002) – Hellbound, and Provenance
Reyes (Annabeth Gish) brings an unusual case to Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) in Hellbound. She also has a strange connection to it that she can’t quite figure out. Written by David Amann and first airing on 27 January, 2002, the agents find themselves a series of deaths involving ex-cons who were skinned…
The X-Files (1999) – The Sixth Extinction, and The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
Series creator Chris Carter pens the seventh season opener of The X-Files, which premiered on 7 November, 1999. Scully (Gillian Anderson) is still in West Africa, on the Ivory Coast, investigating the strange, possible extraterrestrial structure (craft?) that the ocean has revealed. The entire thing is covered in text that seems to touch on all…
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) – Alejandro G. Inarritu
Micheal Keaton shines in Alejandro Innarritu’s Birdman. He brings a level to his performance that you know is based on personal experience, and delivers an Oscar-nominated virtuoso performance as Riggan Thompson, an actor who walked away from a billion dollar superhero franchise and is now worried about his relevance while being haunted by his past….
Battle Los Angeles (2011) – Jonathan Liebesman
Aaron Eckhart leads a squad of marines in this tale of alien invasion, that owes its pedigree to the likes of War of the Worlds and Independence Day. Is it great? No. But it ends up being fairly solid entertainment, and has a pretty solid cast surrounding Nantz (Eckhart) and his marines, including Michelle Rodriguez,…
Star Trek: Short Treks (2018/2019) – Runaway, Calypso, The Brightest Star, and The Escape Artist
Captain’s log: 2257 I take on the first season of Short Treks this week which aired between the first and second season of Star Trek: Discovery, Featuring shorter tales, some that will have a direct effect on future episodes and events. The first episode, Runaway, lets Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have a bit of a moment…
Rope (1948) – Alfred Hitchcock
I dig into another classic Hitchcock today, and despite the fact that James Stewart gets top billing, he is almost a supporting role, not really taking centre stage until the final act of the film that was adapted from a stage play by Patrick Hamilton, partially adapted by Hume Cronyn. Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip…
Heat (1995) – Michael Mann
I continue my time with Ten Bad Dates With De Niro, as I explore a list of Ten Scenes Where Shouty Al Shows Up, and yes, Pacino does yell a lot in this movie, but it is also a masterful epic that, for the first time, saw Al Pacino and Robert De Niro sharing scenes…
The Good Liar (2019) – Blu-Ray Review
Watching Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen dance and weave around one another in The Good Liar, was, for me, a cinematic joy. These two actors share the screen together for the first time, and Warner Brothers brings it home on blu-ray for you today. McKellen plays Roy, a conman who seems to have no scruples…
Star Trek: Vulcan’s Glory (1989) – D.C. Fontana
Space, the final frontier… I dove into another Trek novel from Pocket Books this week, and this was one I wouldn’t have read when I was younger despite the fact that it was penned by one of the writers of The Original Series, D.C. Fontana. In fact this was the only Trek novel she wrote…
The Mind Reels 