Allied (2016) – Robert Zemeckis

  Available today from Paramount Pictures is director Robert Zemeckis’ wartime romantic thriller, Allied. Opening in French Morocco,  the film is a deliberate throwback to the romantic war films of yesteryear. In the first half of the film there are intentional callbacks to films like Casablanca and Notorious, calling to mind our memories and emotions…

Wings of Desire (1987) – Wim Wenders

Remade for those North American audiences who hate to to read as the less than stellar City of Angels, the beautiful Wings of Desire captured hearts and imaginations when it premiered at Cannes, winning Wenders a Best Director award. It is also the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book….

Quantum Leap (1991) – Shock Theater, and The Leap Back

Season 3 of Quantum Leap comes to an end this week with the stellar episode, Shock Theater. Written by Deborah Pratt (surprise, surprise, seeing how good it is), the season finale aired 22 May, 1991. And oh, boy… is it good. It’s 3 October, 1954 and Sam (Scott Bakula) finds himself in the body of…

Universal Soldier (1992) – Roland Emmerich

Sometimes you are just in the mood for something blatantly mindless, poorly written, and violent fun. Well, the next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book should provide me with more than a healthy dose of that as I dive into the works of Roland Emmerich. How he keeps getting A-list stars to work with him…

Rebecca (1940) – Alfred Hitchcock

I dive into another classic Hitchcock film that I am sad to day I had never seen until now as the recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book continue. This one walked away with two Oscars, Best Picture and Best Cinematography, and stands up beautifully. The story sees Joan Fontaine starring…

Total Recall (2012) – Len Wiseman

  The Sci-Fi Chronicles brings me to another remake, this time Total Recall. Based ever so loosely on the Philip K. Dick tale, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, it also seeks to prove itself a worthy successor to one of the biggest films of the early 90s. Most viewers will only know the…

Quantum Leap (1989) – Genesis Parts I & 2

  Quantum Leap. Scott Bakula. Dean Stockwell. I love a lot of science fiction television (and movies) and as much as I love my Star Trek, Quantum Leap has been my favorite show since my introduction to it. I came to it towards the end of Season 2 originally, in fact, I still recall the…

Magnum, p.i. (1987) – Solo Flight and Forty

  It’s back to Hawaii! This week we start off with Solo Flight, which originally aired on 4 February, 1987, and was written by jay Huguely. When Thomas (Tom Selleck) can’t resolve a case and is fired from it, he decides to take some alone time, and after spotting an old World War II fighter…