Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins direct the film that brings me back to the musical genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Stephen Sondheim pens the lyrics for this Academy Award winning musical (including Best Picture) that is an updated retelling of Shakespeare’s beautiful tragedy Romeo & Juliet with Richard Beymer…
Tag: themes
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – John Frankenheimer
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Dr. Strangelove is Frankenheimer’s incredible thriller that still has the power to chill to this very day. In fact, it seems even more relevant today than when it was released. It’s 1952, during the Korean War. An American…
Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Rupert Sanders
Paramount Pictures’ live action adaptation of the classic anime, Ghost in the Shell, hits blu-ray and DVD today. I am going to eschew any discussion of the white-washing controversy surrounding the film’s production, and just focus on the movie itself. I love the original anime, and constantly saw it as kin to the cinematic version…
Star Trek: Crisis On Centaurus (1986) – Brad Ferguson
Well, except for the product placement, the implication that the Earth isn’t under a one government rule, and that the economics of the future are a little different (according to Picard) which is not followed here, most of this tale is fairly enjoyable. In fact, of it had been rewritten and edited a little more…
Alien: Covenant (2017) – Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott returns to the science fiction genre again and retreads things that have gone before in Alien: Covenant. The latest film in the seemingly indefatigable series connects the previous film, the divisive Prometheus with the first film in the series, 1979 Alien, both directed by Scott. And while I didn’t hate it, the film…
The Twilight Zone (1960) – A Thing About Machines, The Howling Man and Eye of the Beholder
Buckle up because there’s the signpost up ahead! It’s time for more eerie tales from The Twilight Zone as I continue to explore The Complete Series on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. Up first is A Thing About Machines. Penned by Rod Serling, with an original airdate of 28 October, 1960, the story follows Barlett Finchley’s…
Predators (2010) – Nimrod Antal
Predators takes us back to the jungle with a varied cast as I continue my adventures with the dangerous alien in my journey through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Alice Braga, and Topher Grace are among an elite group of killers who are abducted and dropped into a jungle. As…
The Movie Book (2016) – Danny Leigh, Louis Baxter, John Farndon, Kieran Grant and Damon Wise
I always love to take a look at movie books and see what films made the lists contained within. Then I’ll spend an inordinate amount of time ruminating why others were left out. They also tend to add a pile of movies to my viewing queue, and as I’m coming up on the end of…
Robocop 3 (1993) – Fred Dekker
Whatever good will was left after the less than stellar Robocop 2 was absolutely lost with the final instalment in the series, and my latest stop on my way through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Sacrificing their R-rating to appeal to a broader audience was their first mistake (the fact that there was an animated series…
We Go On (2016) -Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton
Premiering on Shudder TV today is this tightly paced, solidly acted supernatural drama that pursues the life long question of what happens after we die. Written and directed by Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton, the story revisits oft-explored ideas and themes, but does it in a solid way. At the film’s centre is Miles Grissom…
