Rio Conchos (1964) – Gordon Douglas

  Richard Boone and Jim Brown lead the cast in the first recommendation following my screening of The Red Badge of Courage for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Boone stars as James Lassiter, and he, Franklyn (Brown), Haven (Stuart Whitman), Rodriguez (Anthony Franciosa), and an Apache woman (Wende Wagner) are trailing…

The Red Badge of Courage (1951) – John Huston

  We delve back into the war section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, and the next big title there, is John Huston’s adaptation of Stephen Crane’s novel, that follows a young, Union soldier, Henry Fleming (Audie Murphy) also known as The Youth, as he struggles with his fear, and the…

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Martin Scorsese

  Paul Schrader adapts Nikos Kazantakis’ powerful novel about the life of Christ (portrayed powerfully by Willem Dafoe) comes to life under the sure hand of Martin Scorsese, bringing the Christian character to life in a way unseen on the screen before this. Raising questions not only about the concept of Christ, as well as…

The Trap (2015) – Melanie Raabe

  There is an immediacy to Melanie Raabe’s debut novel, The Trap, which sees its English release this week, via House of Anansi Press here in Toronto. Translated from German the captivating tale draws the reader into the world that she has created, much as her character, author Linda Conrads, is drawn into the situations…

Star Wars: Bloodline (2016) – Claudia Gray

  Claudia Gray who wowed me with her young adult Star Wars novel, Lost Stars, returns to that galaxy, far, far away, this time centering on a story about Princess Leia Organa. Set twenty years after the destruction of the second Death Star at the Battle of Endor, and ten years before the events of…

No Country For Old Men (2007) – Joel & Ethan Coen

  The last recommendation for my viewing of Night of the Hunter for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is this crime thriller from the Coen Brothers. The story follows a trio of characters, and two million dollars. When Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the fallout of a drug deal gone…

Doctor Zhivago (1965) – David Lean

  One of the recommendations from my viewing of Gone With The Wind, as I make my way through the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is up for viewing today, David Lean’s Russian revolution epic, Doctor Zhivago; and I enjoyed this one so much more than Wind right from the off. The…

Solaris (2002) – Steven Soderbergh

  My journey with the very enjoyable, and informative, Sci-Fi Chronicles book continue with this tale of exploration into the soul, heart and depth of emotions… George Clooney heads into deep space under the guidance of director by Steven Soderbergh and producer James Cameron as they take on Stanislaw Lem’s classic science fiction novel that…

Village of the Damned (1960) – Wolf Rilla

  The Sci-Fi Chronicles plunges me into B-movie horror filled with creepy blonde-haired children in this classic that is still a little unnerving. Based on the novel, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham this one still has the power to make the viewer uneasy. Strange things are afoot in the English village of Midwich when…