Director Ron Howard pairs with Tom Hanks to bring Dan Brown’s incredibly popular novel, The Da Vinci Code to the screen. Hanks portrays symbologist Robert Langdon, who previously popped up in Brown’s novel Angels and Demons, but it was the subject matter, and the way it tied into art and some historical moments that really…
Tag: ian mckellen
Stardust (2007) – Matthew Vaughn
Neil Gaiman’s fairy tale fantasy, Stardust, is the next stop in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book as I venture into the realm of witches. Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, and it always bothers me that more people don’t know his work, and I think that’s one of the reasons this film…
The Good Liar (2019) – Blu-Ray Review
Watching Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen dance and weave around one another in The Good Liar, was, for me, a cinematic joy. These two actors share the screen together for the first time, and Warner Brothers brings it home on blu-ray for you today. McKellen plays Roy, a conman who seems to have no scruples…
The Golden Compass (2007) – Chris Weitz
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film following my screening of The Fellowship of the Ring is this adaptation of the first book in His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. It’s obvious that the film was planned as the first in a trilogy, much in the…
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…
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The Angels Take Manhattan, and The Snowmen
Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory’s (Arthur Darvill) travels in the TARDIS come to an end this week with The Angels Take Manhattan. Written by Steven Moffat, with an airdate of 29 September, 2012, the episode sees the Doctor (Smith) and his Companions in New York in 2012. Here they are relaxing as the Time Lord…
Gods and Monsters (1998) – Bill Condon
The bio-pic, Gods and Monsters, is the next film on the What Else to Watch list, for Bride of Frankenstein, from DK Canada’s The Movie Book. The film chronicles the last days, as well as life and career of director James Whale, played brilliantly by Ian McKellen. The legendary film maker, perhaps best known for…
X-Men: First Class (2011) – Matthew Vaughn
Sometimes to go forward, you need to go back, as we learn in the next X-Men film as I journey through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Continuing its cue of using great actors, Vaughn recasts the characters we’ve already been introduced to as we go back to 1962 and the height of the Cuban Missile…
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) – Brett Ratner
The Sci-Fi Chronicles book continues its travels with the X-men, but this time around the mutants aren’t guided by the sure directorial hand of Bryan Singer. Taking the helm this time around is Brett Ratner, and you can tell from the off that it doesn’t have the same emotional depth, or action beats that…
X2: X-Men United (2003) – Bryan Singer
From apes, I move onto mutants with the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Having previously covered X-Men for the blog, I leapt ahead to X2. Picking up a few months after the ending of the first film, director Bryan Singer expands on the world he helped bring to the screen in the previous film. This time…
The Mind Reels 