Benson takes over 007’s adventures from John Gardner, and delivered this short story that first appeared in Playboy in 1997. Benson shows that he can tell a Bond story in true Ian Fleming style, though the ending definitely is a little more adult, but hardly surprising given the context of where it was published. James…
Tag: son
Over the Top (1987) – Menahem Golan
Sylvester Stallone stars in this corny, overly sentimental flick that is totally 80s. I know this because it features a song on the soundtrack by Kenny Loggins, and all the best movies of the 80s did. This time around Sly is a truck driver, Lincoln Hawk who is planning in entering the world arm wrestling…
The Sniper (2021) – Chang Kuo-Li
Taiwanese author Chang Kou-Li delivers an action thriller this week. With its North American debut, The Sniper, is available now from House of Anansi Press, features a translation by Roddy Flagg and reads like the best of Hong Kong cinema. There are action beats, police investigations, involving characters and a weaving story that takes you…
Uncommon Valor (1983) – Ted Kotcheff
Before Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone did it, while it was still a bit of a taboo subject for American society, Gene Hackman, to the strains of a James Horner score gathered to him Robert Stack, Patrick Swayze, Harold Sylvester, Fred Ward, Tim Thomerson, Randall Cobb, Reb Brown and Kwan Hi Lim to his side,…
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) – John Moore
Bruce Willis returns for a fifth time as New York cop John McClane in an instalment which I desperately hope isn’t the final one in the series because it’s so abysmally bad and you don’t want a series like this to go out on a bad note. Directed by John Moore (who’s past films didn’t…
M*A*S*H (1973) – Major Fred C. Dobbs, Ceasefire, and Showtime
Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and Trapper (Wayne Rogers) push Frank Burns (Larry Linville) just a little too far after he rails out a nurse in Major Fred C. Dobbs. Written by Sid Dorfman, this episode, with a nod to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in the title, first aired on 11 March, 1973. Burns goes…
Star Wars: Mission From Mount Yoda (1993) – Paul Davids and Hollace Davids
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… The original Expanded Universe ventured into the realm of young reader stories with a six volume series following Ken, known as a jedi prince, though to date, he hasn’t shown any real knowledge of the Force. In this tale, another environmentally themed story, Han Solo,…
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) – Jay Roach
It’s odd that this one ends up in DK Books’ Monsters in the Movies, but it comes in under the mechanical menaces section of the book because of the dangerous fembots that menace the titular hero. Mike Myers not only stars in this send up of spy films, but he also wrote it, paying homage…
Star Wars: The Glove of Darth Vader (1992) – Paul Davids and Hollace Davids
Before Timothy Zahn’s final entry in his Thrawn trilogy was released in 1993, the Expanded Universe continued to grow, with the launch of a series of young adult titles, the first being released in June of 1992. A very short novella, the story is set a year after the events of The Return of the…
Dante’s Inferno (1935) – Harry Lachman
Spencer Tracy gets a glimpse of hell in the next title featured in DK Books’ Monsters in the Movies, Dante’s Inferno. Tracy plays Carter, a forceful and determined young man, who finds success and a pathway to greed, avarice and more when he joins a concessionaire run by Pop McWade (Henry B. Walthall). After a…
