Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024) – Zack Snyder

I don’t know why I had my hoped built up for this, the first one disappointed me, and this one didn’t do much better. The main plot still follows the group of fighters that have been recruited by Kora (Sofia Boutella) to protect the people of Veldt from the evil imperial forces that are returning…

K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) – Kathyrn Bigelow

K-19 feels like an underrated Kathryn Bigelow film. She once again dives into the pressures of the armed services and war and she has a fantastic cast including Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, and Peter Sarsgaard. Set at the height of the Cold War in 1961, when Mutually Assured Destruction seemed to be moments away from…

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) – Yoshimitsu Banno

The next film in the Godzilla series is probably the most psychedelic entry to date, and even features brief animated sequences. It also has a pretty important environmental message. The newest threat for Godzilla, and humanity, to confront is an ever-evolving, and shape-shifting creature from outer space, christened Hedorah, by young Godzilla fan (who he…

Outland (1981) – Peter Hyams

Peter Hyams writes and directs this galactic update of the classic western, High Noon, that sees Sean Connery stepping into the Gary Cooper role of a lone marshall awaiting the arrival of men who are coming to kill him. With a visual look that seems to marry it with the universe of Alien (aided by…

The X-Files (1997) – Max, and Synchrony

The two-parter that began last week concludes with the episode, Max, written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, this story first debuted on 23 March, 1997. While the lovelorn Agent Pendrell (Brendan Beiser) loses his life to a bullet meant for Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her witness, Mulder (David Duchovny) begins to suspect…

The White Ribbon (2009) – Micheal Haneke

I’m finishing up the main body of DK Canada’s exceptional The Movie Book, and Haneke’s The White Ribbon is a fantastic film to wrap up the main section of the book. Set a few short years before the First World War, this Golden Globe winning film is a somber, thoughtful affair on sins, youth, tradition,…

The Golden Compass (1995) – Philip Pullman

Having just recently rewatched the film version of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, I was eager to revisit the novel, which I had read only once about twenty years ago. I remember enjoying the series, but can’t remember anything that happened in the third book of the trilogy, only recalling that I cried a lot….

Doctor Zhivago (1965) – David Lean

  One of the recommendations from my viewing of Gone With The Wind, as I make my way through the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is up for viewing today, David Lean’s Russian revolution epic, Doctor Zhivago; and I enjoyed this one so much more than Wind right from the off. The…