The recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book continue following my screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. This time around it’s a Disney film I’ve only seen in bits and pieces and never seen as a whole. It’s World War II, and an apprentice witch, three children and a conman…
Tag: special effects
Lost In Space (1998) – Stephen Hopkins
The next big adventure in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book is the big-screen reboot of the classic 60s television series, Lost in Space. Boasting an all-star cast, William Hurt, Gary Oldman, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacy Chabert, and Matt LeBlanc, the film follows the family Robinson as they leave the dying earth to prepare the…
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) – William Shatner
The next stop with the U.S.S. Enterprise according to the Sci-Fi Chronicles is the fifth film in the series, as I’d previously reviewed IV. Shatner takes the helm both as Captain James T. Kirk and as director and helped with the story as well. Big ideas get caught up in budget restrictions and less…
Barbarella (1968) – Roger Vadim
Jane Fonda steps into her first and only science fiction movie in this 1968 camp classic that is so bad that it almost comes round to good again, who am I kidding, it doesn’t get anywhere near to coming around to good. It’s also the next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, so it…
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004) – Phil Tippett
Special effects expert and modelmaker, Phil Tippet, slips into the director’s chair for the first of two direct-to-dvd sequels to Paul Verhoven’s original militaristic sci-fi war film, which is the next stop in the supremely enjoyable, Sci-Fi Chronicles book. A group of troopers, in an abandoned outpost find that they are in deeper trouble…
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – Philip Kaufman
The Sci-Fi Chronicles book has brought me lots of enjoyment to date, and I got very excited when it was time to revisit the series of films based on the novel by Jack Finney. I’d previously reviewed the original film here but was looking forward to re-watching this version, I’d only seen it a few…
Inception (2010) – Christopher Nolan
A heist film wrapped with multiple dreams, so many in fact, that there has been much debate if the top-level, the main reality of the film itself, is a dream. To support this there is much discussion of the character’s totems, an individual item they carry around with them that is uniquely theirs, one…
Godzilla (1998) – Rolamd Emmerich
It had to happen sooner or later, there was bound to be some crossover from the Sci-Fi Chronicles book and the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book… and it just had to be this one. Roland Emmerich’s 1998 Godzilla film, which for the Sci-Fi book continues my exploration of the Godzilla character,…
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) – Eugene Lourie
My sci-fi journey continues with the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, as I dive into the first title recommended following a viewing of King Kong, which I’ve previously reviewed here. The most enjoyable aspect of this film, is Ray Harryhausen’s animation of the titular monster, which is vaguely Saurian, but unlike…
Niagara Integrated Film Festival 2015
Against the backdrop of wine country with the dull thrum of the falls imaginable at the farthest edge of earshot, members of the film and wine industry gather to make connections, share experiences and celebrate the finer things in life – film and a good vino. And I was fortunate enough to be invited…
The Mind Reels 