The Equalizer (1985) – Pilot, and China Rain

I don’t know what the first episode of The Equalizer was that I saw, but I remember where I was, and I knew I found the concept and execution interesting, even at 14. It was grittier than a lot of the episodic television that was being broadcast at the time, a little darker, and had…

1922 (2017) – Zak Hilditch

Thomas Jane stars in the Zak Hilditch helmed and adapted version of Stephen King’s novella, 1922. Wilfred James (Jane) is a proud farmer in middle America, where he lives with his son, Henry (Dylan Scmid) and his wife who has bigger dreams than living on a farm, Arlette (Molly Parker). With Arlette’s land, added to…

Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (1952) – John Gilling

This comedic title which features the next machine menace in DK Books’ Monsters in the Movies is a film that could have been filed under vampires or robots (though the vampire is definitely in it a lot longer than the robot). Apparently Mother Riley films were a thing in the UK, the character is played…

Hannibal (2001) – Ridley Scott

Anthony Hopkins returns to his iconic role of the cannibalistic doctor, Hannibal Lector in the sequel to the brilliant The Silence of the Lambs. This film shows up in Ten Bad Dates with De Niro on a list of films that it is painful to like. Jodie Foster and director Jonathan Demme elected not to…

Gemini Man (2019) – Blu-Ray Review

It should have worked. An Academy Award winning director (though action is not his forte), a bankable lead actor, a solid supporting cast, and the seed of a solid story. Will Smith gets his Bourne on (a couple of times) in Gemini Man, the Ang Lee action film that comes home on blu-ray and DVD from…

The Magic Sword (1962) – Bert I. Gordon

Basil Rathbone stars in the next film featured in DK Canada’s immensely enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book. As I delve into the chapter on Dragons & Dinosaurs I’m, so far coming across a number of films I had never even heard of. This family fantasy adventure is another one. Rathbone plays the evil wizard Lodac,…

Disney’s Aladdin: The Signature Collection

God I love this movie. This was the first Disney movie that I saw more than once in the theater. When it came out in 1992 I took everyone I could to see it (the only other Disney film I did that with was The Lion King in 1994). I loved everything about it, Howard…