The final novel in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is on the book shelf this week, and I was curious to know if it would have the same effect on me as it did when I first read it eighteen years ago. I remembered nothing of the final half of the book after a…
Tag: epic
Disney/Pixar’s Coco Blu-Ray Review
The Golden Globe winning (and Oscar nominated) film from Pixar, the stunningly beautiful Coco is released to blu-ray and DVD today. Over the course of nineteen films Pixar has established itself as the foremost makers of family entertainment. Entrenched in a faithful and gorgeous representation of Mexican beliefs and traditions, the story follows a young…
The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – Peter Jackson
As I return to the Family genre of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book I am greeted by an old friend, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the final family film recommendation. I grew up with the book. I was introduced to The Hobbit via the Arthur Rankin…
The Leopard (1963) – Luchino Visconti
The next film on the What Else to Watch list from DK Canada’s The Movie Book following my screening of Ossessione is this three hour epic starring Burt Lancaster. Lancaster plays Prince Don Fabrizio Salina, the ageing patriarch of a dying dynasty. It’s Sicily in the 1860s and political and social upheavals cause Fabrizio great…
The Deer Hunter (1978) – Micheal Cimino
Micheal Cimino’s examination of the effects of war, framed around the Vietnam conflict and a small industrial town in Pennsylvania is the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Apocalypse Now. Laying out the scars, physical, mental and unseen that affected those who fought in it,…
Little Women (1933) – George Cukor
The next big title in DK Canada’s The Movie Book is the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind, which I had previously reviewed, so, once again, I moved onto the always educational What Else to Watch list to delve into other titles. That brought me to Cukor’s adaptation of Little Women from 1933. Despite,…
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Francis Ford Coppola
The brilliant, Vietnam epic, an update on the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness, is the next stop in the War genre as I continue my cinematic journey with the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. The story behind the film is almost as incredible as the film itself. Boasting a cast that…
Finding Nemo (2003) – Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
Finding Nemo, the final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Lion King was the Pixar film that cemented my love for them. Yes, I totally enjoy Toy Story 1 & 2 as well as A Bug’s Life, but Finding Nemo made my affection for Pixar…
The Lion King (1994) – Roger Allers & Ron Minkoff
Magnificent. The descriptor still applies to this now iconic Disney masterpiece, and one I got to revisit when I returned to the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Coming back to the family genre, this was the next stop. Containing themes of, well the circle of life, ranging from that of the ecological…
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) – Sergio Leone
The Great Movies – The 100 Years of Film book returns me to the western genre with this Sergio Leone epic that stars Jason Robards, Chalres Bronson, Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale. Playing against type, Fonda is the villain, Frank, who is working for the railroad, and trying to drive a woman, Jill McBain (Cardinale),…
The Mind Reels 