This is the third time I’ve seen THE CRAZIES in the five years it has been released, which makes it one of the movies I’ve seen the most since starting this project back in 2009. My movie watching took a huge hit as I’ve run through six seasons of Justified in the last two months, and the show’s central actor, Timothy Olyphant, got me thinking of THE CRAZIES. In both those titles, Olyphant plays a tough guy with a badge (though the differences are stark).
Here’s a B-movie film noir directed by a guy named Ken Hughes who would later go on to helm such movies as the Peter Sellers’ CASINO ROYALE and a little family film called CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. But, over a decade early, he was paying some bills with this little HEAT WAVE.
Alan Turing is known, now, for cracking the Enimga code and for his famous test which determines wether something is human or artificially intelligent. THE IMITATION GAME tells his story, one which is sadly underemphasized by history.
I once saw ALIEN3 years ago, on VHS, rented from Major Video. Things that no longer exist: VHS and Major Video. Things that probably shouldn’t have existed: ALIEN3. But I’m revisiting the series and knew I would watch it again. When the special editions were created, David Fincher refused to come back and rework the film due to his poor experience. He did, however, give Fox his blessing to try and put together what they would call an ‘Assembly Cut’ which is substantially different than the theatrical version. It is longer, and major plot points are either different or given further explanation. While some of the special effects suffer, there would never be any reason to watch anything BUT the Assembly Cut of ALIEN3.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I last watched a movie. Busy month of directing shows, but a fun and productive one. I’m ready to be on the other side of a crazy winter, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss the fun of the plays I’ve been lucky enough to run. Anyway… I watched Spike Lee’s Americanization of OLDBOY. If I was going to jump back in, at least it would be with something interesting to talk about!
There are vanity projects, and then there is making a movie in which you and your friends play yourselves surviving the apocalypse. That is the premise of THIS IS THE END. If these were loathsome people then this would be a failure. We already know James Franco is in it. One check mark in that column. Could it work?
It has been a very long time since I have seen ALIENS. I will say that it looks so much better on Blu Ray than it did on the old pan-and-scan VHS I got out of the library in high school. The version I just watched was the Director’s Cut which James Cameron wanted to release in the first place (but it was deemed too long at just over two and a half hours), but I have no idea what was added compared to the theatrical version. Not that it matters, really.
I remember seeing this movie around the time it came out. I remember thinking it was kind of dumb. But I couldn’t remember if it was a dumb dumb or a brilliant dumb. So, looking for a high octane action movie to cap off a long week, I decided to give it a go in order to discern which it was.
I love me some Steve Martin. Watching him as the de facto host of SNL 40 reminded me that I was sitting on PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, one of his few landmark films I had yet to see. Looking for some laughs on yet another snowy Maine night, I went ahead and threw it on.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (1987)’
I haven’t seen nearly enough Harold Lloyd, so when a High Def print of a promising late-silent era film shows up on TCM, I try to grab it. SPEEDY was actually Lloyd’s final silent film.
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