Nicolas Cage headlines in Mandy, a drug-addled hallucinogenic ride in this revenge horror (?) thriller. Set in the early 80s, but filled with 70s sensibilities in sense of style and set design, Cage is Red Miller who lives out in the woods with Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough). They have a quiet life, he works is…
Tag: style
John Wick (2014) – Chad Stahelski
I was shocked (and delighted because it meant I could watch them all again) that I hadn’t written about John Wick before. I had written up the second film but for some reason hadn’t done the other three. So that means I could buckle up and dive into this amazing world where assassins thrive, have…
Smallville (2001) – Hothead, and X-Ray
Hothead takes onto the Smallville Crows, the highschool football team overseen by the arrogant Coach Arnold (Dan Lauria). And Arnold is going to be our freak of the week. Written by Greg Walker this episode, which is helping to continue setting the pace and style for the series, first aired on 30 October, 2001. Arnold…
The Day the Earth Blew Up (2024) – Peter Browngardt
I’m not sure what is going on with Warner Brothers, making a number of movies, completing them, then canceling their release only to use them as tax write-offs. We can only hope some day we’ll see the release of Batgirl, but happily, Ketchup Entertainment picked up Coyote vs. Acme and The Day the Earth Blew…
SilverFin (2005) – Charlie Higson
The Young Bond series gets underway with SilverFin written by Charlie Higson, with the blessing of the Ian Fleming Foundation. It’s a curious idea. By giving us a young James Bond, you’d think the stories are meant to appeal to young adult readers. But the stories themselves are in keeping with the literary James Bond…
Northern Exposure (1994) – Zarya, and Full Upright Position
Through the magic of Ed’s (Darren E. Burrows) film making, and Marilyn’s (Elaine Miles) storytelling we get a look at a legend of Cicely. Set in the 1900s, the regular cast take on other but familiar roles as Marilyn relates a tale of how the Romanovs came to Alaska. Written by Diane Frolov and Andrew…
The Peacemaker (1997) – Mimi Leder
It’s easily been a couple of decades since I last watched this techno-thriller with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. I have to say, in the current geo-political environment, it’s hard to see the Americans as the good guys, working against Russian and Eastern European interests. And it’s sad that I feel that way. A group…
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Call to Darkness (1989) – Michael Jan Friedman
We’re still early into The Next Generation novel series, this is only the ninth in the series. Set in the second season, while the third season was just getting underway on television, the book had to be written while the second season was in production. And that means not everything was going to work as…
Vamp (1986) – Richard Wenk
This one has been on my list to eventually get to for quite some time, and apparently now was the time. If I’d realized how much of a comedy it was before this, I would have dug into it a while ago, Ias it ends up being a lot of fun. If silly. A.J. (Robert…
The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002) – Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson delivers his last original James Bond novel. His last 007 book was the adaptation of Die Another Day. So that means he has to wrap up the villain, Goro Yoshida, that he set up in the previous book, Never Dream of Dying. At the PM’s request, James has been assigned to look out…
The Mind Reels 