As we move back to the Romance and Melodrama genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, we get to revisit one of my favourite films (many people share that opinion, and who can blame them?!) – Casablanca. It came along at just the right time, had just the right cast,…
Tag: story
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Henry Selick
The final recommendation from The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of It’s A Wonderful Life is this modern day cult classic, that has found its way into the mainstream consciousness and has been stuck there since the film’s initial release, celebrating Christmas and Halloween in that macabre and…
The Iron Giant (1999) – Brad Bird
The Sci-Fi Chronicles now brings me Brad Bird’s now classic animated tale of a young boy, Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) who meets a robot (Vin Diesel) from outer space, and the government agent, Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) who is trying to capture them. Set in the late 50s, the film gives adult viewers an…
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) – Frank Capra
It’s the middle of summer, so what better time to take a look at a holiday classic as I dive into the Family genre of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Holiday film or not this one is undeniably a classic, and James Stewart is simply perfection as George Bailey, a…
Vinyl – Season 1
Vinyl, Season 1, recently got its home video release from HBO, and I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to take a look at it. Partly created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, who also directed the two-hour pilot, the series is set in New York during the early 70s and follows…
Hevn [Revenge] (2015) – Kjersti Steinsbo
Beginning its Canadian theatrical run at the Lightbox, the Norway-Canadian co-production of Steinsbo’s directorial debut makes an impression. Featuring multi-layered characters set against the gorgeous backdrop of western Norway, Hevn is a revenge thriller that is tautly paced, strongly directed, and features some very nice performances from all the players. The film follows Andrea…
X-Men: First Class (2011) – Matthew Vaughn
Sometimes to go forward, you need to go back, as we learn in the next X-Men film as I journey through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Continuing its cue of using great actors, Vaughn recasts the characters we’ve already been introduced to as we go back to 1962 and the height of the Cuban Missile…
Spectre (2015) – Sam Mendes
The new James Bond film opens today, with Daniel Craig’s fourth outing as Ian Fleming’s special agent, 007. And as an avid Bond fan, I had to be there. So what did I think? Gorgeous locations… check. Beautiful women… check (though Monica Bellucci is extremely under-used, as well as Naomi Harris’ Moneypenny). Style… check….
Toronto After Dark: The Diabolical (2015) – Alistair Legrand
Ali Larter took center screen at the 10th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival last night in this spin on the haunted house tale, that to my way of thinking could have been a tad longer to expand on the mythology and story that the film wanted to introduce and play with, because otherwise,…
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…
The Mind Reels 