Was Steven Spielberg the right person to shoot the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s powerful novel? He was an interesting choice for the project, and it definitely wasn’t the dramatic material that he was associated with in the 80s, having delivered a number of blockbusters at that point. And while there were a number of…
Tag: producer
Scream 3 (2000) – Wes Craven
Wes Craven delivered a third entry into the Scream franchise in 2000, and while it’s interesting to see how characters have changed (or not) since the second film, the film itself lacks the self-referential meta nature that made the first to so enjoyable. Even by transposing the bulk of the story to the making of…
House (1985) – Steven Miner
Directed by Steve Miner, who gave us Friday the 13th Parts 2 and 3, and Sean S. Cunningham who gave us the first film, and was the producer for its sequels, gives us a different kind of horror (tinged with comedy) starring William Katt and George Wendt, and while there’s an interesting concept here, a…
Wayne’s World 30th Anniversary Steelbook Blu-Ray Review
It’s hard to believe that somehow, Wayne’s World is thirty years old. I remember seeing it in the theatres with my friends, I remember Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) on SNL, back when I would enjoy it. I remember it vividly, and it does not feel like thirty years ago. That being said,…
9th Annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest: Joseph Kuo Edition – The 36 Deadly Styles (1979)
There’s always something happening in New York, and this weekend, if you’re in Queens, swing by the Museum of the Moving Image who, in conjunction with Subway Cinema, are delivering their ninth annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest! The focus of this year’s festival is writer/producer/director Joseph Kuo, who has sixty-one directing credits to…
TIFF 2021: Violet dir. Justine Bateman
With her feature debut, writer/director Justine Bateman delivers an oppressive but ultimately rewarding emotional powerhouse that brings the everyday inner monologue and life struggle that each of us experience to the screen. In this case, it’s Olivia Munn’s Violet, a film producer, who has for too long sacrificed her own wellness, and life to the…
Groundhog Day (1993) – Harold Ramis
Bill Murray headlines in one of my favourite comedies, Groundhog Day, which sees Murray as Phil Connors, a smarmy weatherman who thinks he’s better than his yearly assignment to head to Punxsutawney, for Phil the Groundhog’s yearly prediction on winter. He’s joined by his new producer, Rita (Andie MacDowell), and cameraman, Larry (Chris Elliott). Following…
Zardoz (1974) – John Boorman
John Boorman wrote, prodiced and directed this sci-fi cult classic that has Sean Connery running around in red underwear and thigh high boots, waving a pistol and his moustache around. With a commentary on class, knowledge, and sex, the film wasn’t a big hit at the time, and sort of settled into the cultutal subconcious,…
Phantasm: Ravager (2016) – David Hartman
For the first time, Don Coscarelli lets someone else in the director’s chair for an entry in the Phantasm series (could you imagine a reboot, or a television series rework of this?) though he had his hand in the script as well as producing. Reggie (Reggie Bannister), Michael (A. Michael Baldwin), Jody (Bill Thornbury) and…
Sudden Impact (1983) – Clint Eastwood
Lalo Schifrin returns to score Dirty Harry’s next adventure which sees Eastwood not only starring as Dirty Harry Callahan, but serves as the film’s producer and director. After causing more problems for the city brass, and not following the law in his own investigations, Harry is assigned to a homicide case that will get him…
The Mind Reels 