After decades of neglect, George Pal’s history-making Sci-fi breakthrough arrives in a worthy video transfer. The milestone production is as original as Kubrick’s 2001 and arguably more influential, as it spurred the public to believe that space travel was a practical possibility. Filmed in Technicolor, Pal’s moonscapes captured the world’s imagination, and his silver-winged craft…
One of the best combat films of World War II is this MGM ode to the 1942 Dolittle Raid, the strike at the mainland of Japan conducted as a needed morale booster in the early months of hostilities. Some Hollywood films were an outlet for public outrage against the enemy; Dalton Trumbo’s screenplay records honest…
Nighttime dramas are the backbone of series TV. Whether they are streamed, binged, cabled or in a box set, they are our default mode when viewed from the couch. This Last Reel takes us from TV’s live “Golden Age” to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Fugitive, Naked City and features Route 66. My theory is that…
Here’s a rather good picture that’s a tough sell. We especially admire its comic tightrope act … there’s no humor in the Holocaust, but there always is in human nature. It’s a potentially grim story positioned as comedy, or an odd kind of anti-comedy. David Hayman is a cranky old concentration camp survivor living in…
Sans mobile apparent. Star Jean-Louis Trintignant and composer Ennio Morricone dominate this cheerfully attractive serial killer tale, shot in sunny Nice. A mad sniper is nailing Frenchmen right and left, and Inspector Trintignant is fresh out of clues. Philippe Labro directs from a book by Ed McBain, with Dominique Sanda, Carla Gravina, Laura Antonelli and…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, a trio of films dabbling in dragons, to one extent or another. We also have some fire-breathing wine pairings for each. Dragons Forever is a 1988 action/comedy martial arts movie…
Veteran producer Damien Douglas is about to embark on his most epic quest yet: fulfilling a decades-long dream to put a unique spin on the classic sword-and-sandal adventure. Douglas (To Get Her, The Contract, Fatale, The Gen Zone, D.O.P.E. Unit) is slated to begin production later this year on the recently announced historical saga Moors,…
I’ll bet that plenty of Russians enjoy this Cold War thriller — Sean Connery charms everyone. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan tale is a real winner, with a a cast that really shines: Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Richard Jordan, Peter Firth, Tim Curry, Stellan Skarsgård and Jeffrey Jones. The seagoing…
In Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Pilate dismisses Jesus as “just another Jewish politician.” Jesus a politician? The idea has enraged some and inspired others. Written by Paul Schrader, the 1988 film was harassed from the word “go” but it wasn’t the only movie of its kind to be attacked by the mob,…
