The Long Kiss Goodnight should be better than it is. It’s got quite the pedigree. Director Renny Harlin had given us Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, and a solid entry in the Nightmare on Elm Street series with The Dream Master. There’s a score by Alan Silvestri, a script by Shane Black (who is damned reliable…
Tag: jarring
The Sword and The Dragon (1956) – Aleksandr Ptushko
The next title in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies, as I continue to delve into Dragons and Dinosaurs, takes me to Russia, where the legendary hero Ilja Moromez (Boris Andreyev) is brought to life in the first Russian film to be shot and shown in Cinemacope. It was released in ’56 in Russia, and…
Miami Vice (1985) – Milk Run, and Golden Triangle: Part 1
It’s back to Miami for another flashback to the 80s, as Crockett (Don Johnson) and Tubbs (Philip Micheal Thomas) continue to do their part to stem crime in the seedy world of drugs, arms, prostitution, and vice. Milk run was written by Alison Hock and first aired on 4 January, 1985. Staking out the airport,…
Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Steven Spielberg
I was stunned when I first saw Saving Private Ryan on opening day, 24 July, 1998. I had never seen war depicted so realistically, so heart-breaking, graphic, and impactful. I held onto the names of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks like a mantra through the film, to guide me through it, to make everything be…
The Pianist (2002) – Roman Polanski
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Schindler’s List is this film, based on the autobiography of Wladyslaw Spillman. The film sees Adrien Brody taking on the role, and going home with the Oscar for Best Actor because of it. Too right too, considering his…
City of God (2002) – Fernando Meirelles & Katia Lund
City of God, based on a true story is the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Taxi Driver. Brutally violent, jarring in its depictions, and beautifully made the film is a one of a kind experience that takes us into the slums just outside of…
Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series
Debuting on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures this week is the incredible follow-up to the cult television program, Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series. When I first heard of the possibility of a new series, set twenty five years after the first, just like Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) said would happen I was ecstatic. When I…
Acceptance (2014) – Jeff VanderMeer
The final book in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy is on the book shelf this week, and like its predecessors is immensely enjoyable with its ominous overtones even as it hints at something stunning, amazing and beyond human comprehension. We are taken back into Area X, and the government institution investigating the geographical anomaly, the…
The Mind Reels 