Out of all of Scorsese’s work, I think Taxi Driver, the next stop on the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as I return to the Thriller genre, is my favourite. It also features one of my top performances by Robert De Niro. Much has been said and written about Taxi Driver since…
Tag: drugs
The Running Man (1982) – Stephen King as Richard Bachman
Despite being a fan of the 87 Schwarzenegger flick, I’d never read the original source material, so being long past due, I dug into it and was delighted to find that the novel was a completely different experience, and worthy of a cinematic adaptation in its own right. Ben Richards lives in the slums, a…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992) – Power Play, and Ethics
Captain’s log: stardate 45571.2 Brannon Braga, Herbert Wright and Rene Balcer penned the teleplay from this episode that first aired on 24 February, 1992, from a story by Maurice Hurley and Paul Ruben. When the Enterprise investigates a storm-riddled planet for a missing ship, the away team, lead by Riker (Jonathan Frakes) returns to the…
Goodfellas (1990) – Martin Scorsese
Goodfellas is the final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Godfather. Here’s the thing, the gangster genre has never been my favourite, or even high on my list of films I enjoy. But, I remember reading the original non-fiction book written by Nicholas Pileggi back…
Scarface (1983) – Brian De Palma
A story of greed wiping out any trace of humanity, and the dark side of the immigrant story, Brian De Palma’s update of the classic gangster 1932 film remains a staple of the genre as I return to the Thriller & Crime section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film. Al Pacino plays…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988) – Arsenal of Freedom, and Symbiosis
Captain’s log: stardate 41798.2 Arsenal of Freedom written by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler from a story by Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin with an original airdate of 11 April, 1988 is a bit of a mixed bag. The Enterprise arrives at a desolate planet, with no life forms detected Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the…
Live and Let Die (1973) – Guy Hamilton
007 is back, and he’s the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Roger Moore debuts as secret agent James Bond in this 1973 update of Ian Fleming’s character. It also delves a little into blaxploitation, and features one of my favourite Bond Girls, Jane Seymour as Solitaire. Marrying drugs…
The Twilight Zone (1960) – The Chaser, A Passage for Trumpet, and Mr. Bevis
It’s time to venture deeper into Paramount Picture’s The Twilight Zone this week as I take on another trio of episodes from The Complete Series on Blu-Ray. The first episode up this week is The Chaser. It was written by Robert Presnell Jr. and was based on the short story by John Collier. It first…
Vinyl – Season 1
Vinyl, Season 1, recently got its home video release from HBO, and I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to take a look at it. Partly created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, who also directed the two-hour pilot, the series is set in New York during the early 70s and follows…
The Princeling of Nanjing (2016) – Ian Hamilton
Ian Hamilton. You sir, know how to write a story. I remember last summer when I binge read the entire Ava Lee series as it existed at that point, and loved every minute of them. Whip-smart, frenetically paced and completely addictive, I had no idea how I was going to survive until January before…
The Mind Reels 