Firewalker (1986) – J. Lee Thompson

  The goofy 80s adventure movies continue with this goofy, campy clunker starring Chuck Norris, Louis Gossett Jr. and Melody Anderson. Stealing from the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark (right down th an appearance by John Rhys-Davies) and Romancing the Stone, the film pairs up Chuck as Max Donigan and Louis as Leo Porter, a pair of adventurers who…

There And Back Again: Remembering The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. I try to read it once a year, but lately have had to settle for maybe once every two to three. That doesn’t mean I love it any less. I love wondering the realms of Middle-Earth, visiting familiar places, seeing old friends, and singing songs. So…

Tales of the Gold Monkey

1982. The year after Raiders of the Lost Ark came out, a couple of television series tried to cash in on the action period piece serial vibe, there was Bring Em Back Alive with Bruce Boxleitner, and then there was Donald Bellisario who has gave me two of my favorite television shows Quantum Leap and Magnum P.I. and…

Toronto After Dark Film Festival – Tim’s Must See List

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival! As soon as I heard about it when we first started The Mind Reels, I knew it was something Sue and I would want to cover, and this year, WE ARE! This is the festival’s 7th year, and it runs for 9 nights and is packed with 21 films,…

Remembering Tony Scott – Top Gun (1986)

I was a little stunned when I crawled out of bed Monday morning for what I’m hoping to be a spectacular week only to learn that Tony Scott, noted director and brother of Ridley, took his own life. I’m not going to talk about the man himself, I didn’t know him, but I did enjoy…

Romancing The Stone (1984)

“Romantic novelist my ass!” “The Joan Wilder?!?” I love this movie, it’s just so much fun, and has so many wonderful lines that tend to fall from my lips on a regular basis. In the early 80s, everyone was kind of keen to cash in on the big adventure stories ever since they saw what…

Film Scores – A Whistler’s Tale

I’m a whistler, and a dreamer… and “Binary Sunset” is one of my favorite thoughtful, hopeful and slightly sad things to whistle, especially when I’m thinking about my future, and watching the horizon. Whistling. I do it all the time, and I carry a huge repertoire in my mind, and on my ipod. In the…

Remembering When… Raiders of the Lost Ark

Star Wars and Indiana Jones were an inextricable part of my youth. As mentioned in my Star Wars post, prior to ’77 there was nothing that stood out amongst the pop culture landscape, there were fun and cool things, but nothing like the mountain that was the experience of Star Wars, and then, a number…

School Days With Scholastic Books

Today I was gonna do a nostalgic post about another movie, maybe seeing The Empire Strikes Back or Raiders of The Lost Ark for the first time. Both of them stand out in my memory like lighthouses. But, as I ruminated on Raiders, I realized  I didn’t get to see it when it first came…