His Girl Friday (1940) – 4K Review

The first film in the Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection, Volume 4 is wonderful and fantastic, His Girl Friday, helmed by the incredible Howard Hawks, and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, I was very eager to dig into the film to see how the upgraded image looked, as well as the chance to…

Footloose (1984) – 4k

There is no way this film is forty years old. I remember very well the summer of ’84, and the first time that I saw Footloose. I was completely swept up in the music, I just recently discovered pop music, having grown up in a predominantly country household, and the rhythms and beats really spoke…

The Lord of the Rings (1978) – Ralph Bakshi

The summer of ’84 was one of the defining summers of my life. It saw a lot of changes in my life, and was also the first time that I read The Lord of the Rings. I was swept up in the world, and was delighted that I’d read all three books so quickly, and…

Titanic (1997) – 4K

James Cameron’s epic Oscar-winning film, Titanic, finally comes to 4K in time for the holidays, and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) have never looked better. Man has this film come a long way. I remember seeing this on the big screen and marvelling at the spectacle Cameron put on the screen. It was…

Scrooged (1988) – 4K

The endlessly quotable (‘The night the reindeer died’ stays with me!) Bill Murray holiday film, Scrooged hits 4K from Paramount Pictures just in time for the holidays. A riff on the classic Dickens’ tale, A Christmas Carol, Bill Murray brings the laughs in this delightful film helmed by the legendary Richard Donner. Murray plays Frank…

Batman (1968) – The Great Escape, and The Great Train Robbery

Shame (Cliff Robertson) is back, escaping from prison with the help of Calamity Jan (Dina Merrill) and her mother, Frontier Fanny (Hermione Baddeley), who is also interfering in their potential romance, but that won’t stop Shame for preparing for his latest caper. The Great Escape was written by Stanley Ralph Ross and first aired on…

Running Scared (1986) – Peter Hyams

Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal are Chicago cops who are toying with the idea of retirement and moving to Key West to run a bar in the buddy-cop film Running Scared. Director Peter Hyams was coming off some success following 2010: The Year We Make Contact and recruited the actors for he film, and other…

Dead Again (1991) – Kenneth Branagh

It’s been a couple of decades since I watched Branagh’s Hitchcockian romantic thriller, Dead Again. In fact, it had been so long that I completely forgot about the uncredited appearance by Robin Williams! But from its opening shots, and it’s driving and powerful score by Patrick Doyle, I was taken into the sweeping narrative. In…

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) – Wes Anderson

The framing, the quirky characters, the details, the whipsmart dialogue and its delivery. Every time I watch a Wes Anderson film that one becomes my new favourite until I watch another one. I love how he tells his stories, how his characters interact, and all the little moments, styles, and touches that make a Wes…