This week’s spy thriller is a fantastic film from Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. I remember being blown away the first time I saw this one, though I’ve always been a fan of Scott’s work, and the score by Harry Gregson-Williams felt perfectly suited for a techno-thriller, though admittedly this is…
Tag: u.s.
Topaz (1969) – Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock takes on Leon Uris’ novel Topaz in this film adaptation of the same name. It’s not quite on the level of a Tom Clancy techno-thriller, but the subject material, centring around the Cuban Missile Crisis and a Russian spy ring within the French intelligence community is pretty engaging stuff. Unfortunately, for me, it ended…
The Bourne Identity (2002) – Doug Liman
Matt Damon takes on the role of Robert Ludlum’s most famous creation in the 2002 adaptation of his novel. While it could be argued that Paul Greengrass perfected the Bourne storytelling style with Supremacy and Ultimatum, Liman introduced all the visual language of that style in the first film. When compared to its sequels, even…
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – Blu-Ray Review
From the opening moments of Dark Fate, this does feel like the Terminator film we’ve been waiting for, because as much as the film series has been about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800, it’s also, when it’s at its best, about Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, who returns to the series in style). Or rather, the balance of…
War of the Worlds (1989) – Epiphany, and Among the Philistines
The war continues this week as humans and morthren clash over possession of planet Earth. First up is Epiphany. Written by Greg Strangis, series creator and show runner, this episode first debuted on 2 January, 1989. There is a summit occurring between the U.S. and Russia and the aliens have a plot to cause a…
Godzilla 1985 (1984) – Koji Hashimoto & R.J. Kizer
I continue my time with that man-in-a-suit monster, Godzilla, as the Sci-Fi Chronicles jumps forward a couple of decades and introduces me to the revitalized version of the monster, that screened in 1984, some thirty years after the original film. For the most part, it disregards any of the previous films, but for the…
2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) – Peter Hyams
We dive into the cinematic universe of Arthur C. Clarke with this next film. I’d previously written about 2001: A Space Odyssey here, so I could jump right ahead to its sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. This was my first introduction, film-wise into the worlds Arthur C. Clarke had created. I’d previously…
Issues – Double Digest No.1
Kirk is back from his holidays and had tons for me to catch up on and a few new titles to explore this week at West End Comics! He also had two more Orphan Black Funko figures for me, Cosima and Sarah have joined Helena and Alison…. just waiting on the double dose of Rachel….
Airwolf (1985) – Crossover and Kingdom Come
More high-flying action this week as Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) flies Airwolf into more danger! First up is Crossover, written by Elliot West and airing 26 October, 1985, this episode sees String working alone to bring a father daughter team over from Czechoslovakia, to the U.S. through Mexico. The pair are defecting and have…
Touch of Evil (1958) – Orson Welles
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of Citizen Kane, is this noir film starring Welles, Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. This film was stunning for the beautiful camera work alone. Everyone talks about the opening shot, but it’s always amazing to see it. And…
Enter The Dragon (1973) – Robert Clouse
Bruce Lee brings an effortless grace and charm to this entry on the 101 Action Movies list. It had been awhile since I’d last watched it, so I quite enjoyed the chance to revisit this one. Lee plays, well, Lee. An exceptional martial artist at a Shaolin temple to go undercover in a tournament on…
Hot Docs: Teenage – Matt Wolf
Using Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture as a launching point, Wolf’s film, which screened at the Lightbox yesterday, serves as a perfect companion piece to Savage’s work. Through the use of varied voice overs from the UK, the U.S. and Germany, the film charts the growth of a new creation, that of adolescence at…
