Grab your towel and Don’t Panic! Douglas Adam’s classic tale gets a big screen adaptation, of his book/screenplay, which had previously been so well used by the BBC as a miniseries, and before that a radio programme. There are things that work in this version, and things that don’t, but the effort is there to…
Tag: production design
Doctor Strange (2016) – Scott Derrickson
Benedict Cumberbatch settles rather nicely into the Marvel universe, as he dons the cloak and mantle of the MCU’s (Marvel Cinematic Universe) latest superhero. Doctor Strange. Easing into an American accent, as easily as he does Strange’s costume, Cumberbatch fits the role perfectly, bringing to life the doctor’s arrogance, ego, and eventually his humbled, giving…
Black Moon Rising (1986) – Harley Cokeliss
My time with John Carpenter continues as I delve further into the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. This time around it’s an action thriller that Carpenter penned and sees Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn caught up in the action. Jones is Quint, a professional thief, who is hired by the FBI to gather evidence…
Hell or High Water (2016) – David Mackenzie
Director David Mackenzie and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) update the western for the modern age, while tweaking and twisting it into this crime drama. Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine) are brothers. Tanner is a career criminal, and Toby, like those in his family before him, is dirt poor. Like so many places…
Minority Report (2002) – Steven Spielberg
Tom Cruise takes center stage in the next Sci-Fi Chronicles film as I continue reviewing Spielberg science fiction titles that I haven’t covered for the blog yet. Based loosely on the short story by Philip K. Dick, the film follows John Anderton (Cruise) the chief of the Pre-Crime Unit in the year 2054. Using…
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – Steven Spielberg
The Sci-Fi Chronicles brings me another Spielberg film to cover that I previously hadn’t for the blog. A.I. This one proved to be a very divisive film for a lot of viewers, originally planned to be a Stanley Kubrick film a lot of film fans believe that Spielberg over-sentimentalizes it and makes it a…
Stranger Things (2016) – Season 1
Picture a Stephen King novel directed by Steven Spielberg, with a score by John Carpenter, and a beautifully balanced touch of nostalgia and you have the wondrous, scary, funny, and exciting ride that is Netflix’s latest winner, Stranger Things. Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, the series is set in Indiana in the year,…
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) – Robert Wise
The Sci-Fi Chronicles lets me settle in to enjoy another one of my favorites… featuring one of my favorite film scores, this one by Jerry Goldmsith, the U.S.S. Enterprise leaps from the small screen to the the theatrical one with this first film which isn’t for everyone, but the older I get, the more…
Hot Docs 2016: Operation Avalanche – Matt Johnson
It’s right there in the title, Operation Avalanche, it’s a snow job. This faux documentary is played straight, pretending to be a film edited together from film shot by a pair of agents (Matt Johnson and Owen Williams) posing as filmmakers, working on a documentary about the Apollo program at the height of the…
Cub (2014) – Jonas Govaerts
Also releasing from Anchor Bay today is this film that hails from Belgium. The blurb had me from the outset. Young Sam (Maurice Luijten) is troubled and imaginative. He’s off on a camping trip with his local cub scout troop, with Kris (Titus De Voogdt), Peter (Stef Aerts) and Jasmijn (Evelien Bosmans) as their…
The Mind Reels 