Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Steven Spielberg

I was stunned when I first saw Saving Private Ryan on opening day, 24 July, 1998. I had never seen war depicted so realistically, so heart-breaking, graphic, and impactful. I held onto the names of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks like a mantra through the film, to guide me through it, to make everything be…

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1994) – Armageddon Game, and Whispers

Station log: stardate unknown Morgan Gendel, Ira Steven Behr and James Crocker pen this episode from a story by Gendel. The episode debuted on 30 January, 1994. This ends up being another O’Brien (Colm Meaney) and Bashir (Alexander Siddig) story. The pair are helping a pair of races, the T’Lani and the Kelleruns put an…

Ran (1985) – Akira Kurosawa

I return to the War section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, and settle in for Ran, Kurosawa’s epic opus. Taking its inspiration from Shakespeare’s King Lear, the film is a visual masterpiece delving into tragedy, drama and action. It is also one of the top recommendations on the What Else…

Persepolis Rising (2017) – James S.A. Corey

The seventh volume in the brilliant, and highly enjoyable science fiction series, The Expanse, finally finds its way to the Book Shelf this week, and it was so worth the wait. I love this series so much, and this book, Persepolis Rising does two things that haven’t really happened in the series before: there’s a…

The Pianist (2002) – Roman Polanski

The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Schindler’s List is this film, based on the autobiography of Wladyslaw Spillman. The film sees Adrien Brody taking on the role, and going home with the Oscar for Best Actor because of it. Too right too, considering his…

Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – The Zygon Inversion, and Sleep No More

Peter Harness and Steven Moffat pen the conclusion to the story begun last week in The Zygon Invasion, airing on 7 November, 2015, the episode left the Doctor (Capaldi) in a precarious predicament, the Zygon replacement of Clara (Jenna Coleman) had just launched a rocket at the President of Earth’s (the Doctor) plane – with…

Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – Before the Flood, and The Girl Who Died

Before the Flood is the conclusion of the cliffhanger to last week’s underwater base/ghost episode from last week. Penned by Toby Whithouse, and first airing on 10 October, 2015, it finds the Doctor (Capaldi) travelling back in time to before the underwater base was flooded, and the deserted sunken village they were investigating is alive…

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1995) – Attack of the Hawkmen

Indiana (Sean Patrick Flanery) takes to the air, and fights behind the lines in the next adventure he finds himself on. This television movie first aired on 8 October, 1995, and follows Indy’s time in Africa. 1917 The script, written by Matthew Jacobs, Rosemary Anne Sisson, and Ben Burtt sees our young hero serving now…