My return to the Musical chapter of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book sees me settling into Robert Wise’s multi-Oscar winning (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Editing and Best Music) adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music. Starring Julie Andrews (in an Oscar nominated performance) and…
Tag: performances
A Wrinkle in Time (2018) – Ava DuVernay
Disney’s adaptation of Madeline L’Engle’s classic young adult novel is a mixed bag at best. The story’ ideas aren’t realised on the screen very well, but there is some nice talk about quantum physics, physics, and science as spiritualism throughout the film that I really enjoyed. Director DuVernay, best known for her documentary work, in…
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) – Gore Verbinski
Who would have thought that Disney could turn one of their oldest theme park attractions into a tentpole franchise back in 2003? Sure the series has floundered, and perhaps overstayed its welcome since, but that first film, directed ably by Verbinski, with a definitive score by Klaus Badelt, and featuring an A-list cast delighted audiences…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991) – Night Terrors, and Identity Crisis
Captain’s log: stardate 44631.2 Airing on 18 March, 1991 and penned by Pamela Douglas and Jeri Taylor from a story by Shari Goodhartz, Night Terrors is the kind of episode that would have freaked me out as a kid. I did not handle scary/spooky stories well when I was a child. The Enterprise has tracked…
Little Women (1933) – George Cukor
The next big title in DK Canada’s The Movie Book is the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind, which I had previously reviewed, so, once again, I moved onto the always educational What Else to Watch list to delve into other titles. That brought me to Cukor’s adaptation of Little Women from 1933. Despite,…
Gosford Park (2001) – Robert Altman
Nine years before Julian Fellowes created Downton Abbey, he wrote Gosford Park from an idea from filmmaker Robert Altman, and it is the next title on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book, following their recommendation of The Rules of the Game. The film balances a mystery, drama, with hints…
West Side Story (1961) – Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins direct the film that brings me back to the musical genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Stephen Sondheim pens the lyrics for this Academy Award winning musical (including Best Picture) that is an updated retelling of Shakespeare’s beautiful tragedy Romeo & Juliet with Richard Beymer…
The Untouchables (1987) – Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma directs from a David Mamet script which helped win Sean Connery an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The Untouchables starring Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro is the next stop in What Else to Watch following my screening of Battleship Potemkin in The Movie Book from DK Canada. This was my first…
The Twilight Zone (1961) – Long Distance Call, A Hundred Yards Over the Rim, and The Rip Van Winkle Caper
Paramount Pictures dares me to go deeper into The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series on blu-ray, and I took them up on it. First up this week is Long Distance Call. Written by Charles Beaumont and William Idelson, this episode had its premiere on 31 March, 1961. Young Bill Mumy (making his first of three…
The Devil’s Castle (1896) – Georges Melies
I dig into a new book this week, DK Canada’s The Movie Book. It will take us through a gamut of decades and titles, and there is so much to watch. There are titles I’ve seen, and those I haven’t – so it’s going to be a fun ride. Since I’ve seen the first film…
