I loved The West Wing, even if I came to it late. I remember working in the video store and as each season came in, cutting one for rent. I was fairly oblivious in my 20s, but as I grew, I became enchanted with Aaron Sorkin’s writing, and needed to watch the things he’d written….
Tag: martin sheen
The Believers (1987) – John Schlesinger
The dirty and gritty New York of the 80s serves as the backdrop for this rough, brutal and frightening take on hoodoo and Santeria, with a script written by Mark Frost from a novel by Nicholas Conde, the story follows a police psychologist, Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) when he gets called in a horrifying case….
The Final Countdown (1980) – Don Taylor
A couple of years before Top Gun put us in the pilot seat of the F-14 Tomcat, The Final Countdown had the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy and delivered some stunning aerial photography in this classic time travel film. Boasting performances by Martin Sheen, Kirk Douglas, James Farentino, Katharine Ross and Charles Durning, I…
Mission: Impossible (1969) – Live Bait, and The Bunker: Part 1
James D.Buchanan, Ronald Austin, and Meyer Dolinsky pen this week’s first episode, Live Bait, from a story developed by Dolinsky. This story first aired on 23 February, 1969, and features too recognisable guest stars, Anthony Zerbe, and the wonderful Martin Sheen! Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team head behind the Iron Curtain again to free…
The Dead Zone (1983) – David Cronenberg
Christopher Walken stars as Johnny Smith, a school teacher who ends up in an accident that gives him second sight, allowing him glimpses into the past, present and future in the Jeffrey Boam scripted adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel. Directed by famed director David Cronenberg, the film is packed with recognisable names in front…
Catch Me If You Can (2002) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg gives us a film inspired by true life events, and puts Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Walken through their paces as I dig into another title mentioned in Ten Bad Dates With De Niro. DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., the youngest counterfeiter and fraud in American history. Before his nineteenth birthday, he’s cashed…
The Departed (2006) – Martin Scorsese
I come to a rather interesting list in the Ten Bad Dates With De Niro book that has a couple of films that I haven’t previously covered for the blog. It’s a list of remakes that are arguably better than the original. And the critical reception, not to mention that of the audience, would seem…
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…
The West Wing: Season 2
So I just finished Season 2 of Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing (I’m happy they went with the widescreen presentation from this point on), and I’m so glad to be watching it this way, and not waiting week to week for more, like I had to wait for The Newsroom! I am so hooked, and completely in…
The West Wing: Season 1
Yes, I know. I am way late to this party. But jonesing for more Aaron Sorkin, I do love The Newsroom, I thought I would try out The West Wing. I couldn’t get into it when it aired simply because I didn’t much care for politics. Now, I find it a much more fascinating subject,…
The Mind Reels 