To round out the remake/reboots I’ve been watching this week I thought I’d take a look at the latest Jack Ryan film. Based on the characters (not any of the books) created by Tom Clancy, Chris Pine steps into the shoes previously filled by Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin. What starts out fairly decently,…
Tag: remake
RoboCop (2014) – Jose Padiha
The other remake I watched this week, after the Evil Dead debacle, was the new Robocop. Lacking the over-the-top violence and comic book nature, not to mention the skewering social commentary of the original, there’s not a lot to redeem this film. And I feel sorry for viewers who come to this one first…
Evil Dead (2013) – Fede Alvarez
I decided to watch a couple of remakes this week, to see how they look, and how they stand up to the originals. We need to establish I’m a huge fan of the originals, I recognize they are full of faults, but there is also an undeniable charm to them, as Raimi and his…
Battlestar Galactica (1978) – Saga of a Star World
It struck me that I wanted to revisit some television shows, and while I thought about it, I realized there were a couple more names that could stand alongside Spielberg, Lucas and Roddenberry as entertaining me and shaping me as I grew up… Donald P. Bellisario and Stephen J. Cannell. The tv series that…
Taxi (1998) – Gerard Pires
The 101 Action Movies list brings this highly enjoyable French film to my attention. Please don’t confuse this hugely entertaining film with the rather pathetic 2004 North American remake. This one is fun, fast, and has some great sequences. You can see the seeds for Luc Besson’s later creation of The Transporter series in…
TIFF Next Wave 2013: Ghost Graduation – Javier Ruiz Caldera
Attention Toronto film fans!!! Thanks to TIFF’s Next Wave Film Festival, you will have another opportunity to catch one of my Top 12 Films of 2012 on the big screen one more time!!! I was lucky enough to see this one premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, and I can’t rave about…
Solaris (1972) – Andrey Tarkovskiy
Often referred to as Russia’s answer to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, this entry on the 101 Sci-Fi Movies list is given the short shrift with such a comparison. Yes, they are both epic science fiction tales dealing with humanity, but that I think is where the comparisons can be brought to an end. Where…
TIFF 2012: Ghost Graduation – Javier Ruiz Caldera
I have to admit, I was secretly really excited to see this movie, but part of me was worried that it wouldn’t be as good as I hoped it would be. The plot description was, essentially, written for my 80’s-lovin’ self: Five students – a rebel, a jock, a pretty and popular pregnant girl,…
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Wes Craven returns to the 101 Horror Movies list with his 1977 classic, The Hills Have Eyes. The film originally received an X-rating, but Craven made a couple of additional cuts to make it a hard R. There was a remake not so long ago, and for the most part, I remember it being fairly…
Where Have All The Good Scares Gone?
Is it possible that the horror genre has become so spotlit in the mainstream media, that it no longer has any shadows for scary things to hide in? Fear and scares are dependent on the individual, what freaks someone out won’t phase the next. If that’s the case, shouldn’t there be more variety in the…
The Mind Reels 