johnlink ranks THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)

•July 28, 2012 • 1 Comment

Jumping into another series, here is the first of four Jack Ryan films. Tom Clancy’s creation was played in RED OCTOBER by Alec Baldwin, in PATRIOT GAMES and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER by Harrison Ford, and in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS by Ben Affleck. The character is being revitalized again for a currently untitled film starring Chris Pine with Kenneth Branagh directing and acting villainous. So now that we’ve got all that established, let’s look at the first Jack Ryan movie.

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Posted in ~ H ~, ~~~ 1990 ~~~

johnlink ranks ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011)

•July 27, 2012 • Leave a Comment

ATTACK THE BLOCK is a modestly budgeted horror-comedy which supposes an alien invasion smack in the middle of a tough South London block. A young group of budding juvenile delinquents become our focus as the attack plays out. This was an indie darling a year ago, winning Audience awards at film festivals and receiving nominations from niche genre organizations like Fangoria and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. So could it live up to the hype?

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Posted in ~ A ~, ~~~ 2011 ~~~
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johnlink ranks THE HOT ROCK (1972)

•July 25, 2012 • Leave a Comment

THE HOT ROCK is a Dortmunder story, a thief created in novels by Donald Westlake. His other major property, Parker, is hitting theaters for the first time next year with Jason Statham filling the role. Westlake is an author I have not dug into, but about whom I’ve heard wonderful things. THE HOT ROCK is the first of a bunch of minor films over the years which had different actors playing Dortmunder in unconnected films. Perhaps that is why Westlake (who wrote Parker under the pen name Richard Stark) was reluctant to have the Parker character turned into a film unless a series was committed to. Regardless, THE HOT ROCK is a nice introduction to Dortmunder, with Robert Redford playing the thief.

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Posted in ~ H ~, ~~~ 1972 ~~~
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johnlink ranks THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

•July 24, 2012 • 3 Comments

When I know I really want to see something I try to avoid learning anything about it. I never watch the previews for a following week’s episode on TV. I don’t read news on character spoilers on various websites. And, more to the point, I do everything in my power to avoid trailers of highly anticipated films. With THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, I saw the very first teaser trailer a year ago, and have seen nothing since. All I knew going in was that Bane was the bad guy, and Catwoman was added to the roster. In that spirit, this will be an atypical review for me. I’m going to do a spoiler free write-up, then give my rankings (cause that’s why you are all here, right? Hello? Where is everyone?) and then, after the rankings, I’m going to talk some spoiler heavy stuff. Because, truly, it is impossible to consider this film without discussing its climax.

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Posted in ~ D ~, ~~~ 2012 ~~~
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johnlink ranks WHEN HARRY MET SALLY… (1989)

•July 22, 2012 • 1 Comment

…because any time you can follow up FINAL DESTINATION 5 with a 23-year-old 2D romantic comedy with solid acting and writing, you have to do it. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY… is at the top of my favorite rom-com list. It’s a pretty short list, with (500) DAYS OF SUMMER and KEEPING THE FAITH rounding out the top three. I’ve talked before about the amazing run Rob Reiner made from the 80s into the early 90s, and this is his landmark romantic comedy, made right in between THE PRINCESS BRIDE and MISERY. Now that is one heck of a trilogy!

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Posted in johnlink favorite flicks, ~ W ~, ~~~ 1989 ~~~
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johnlink bundles his HARRY POTTER rankings

•July 21, 2012 • Leave a Comment

When I started bundling up some of these movie series, I knew that this one would be a bear. Eight films, three of which I’ve ranked twice. Lots of information. But its worth it. There’s some joy to be had in finding another way to mention how good this franchise is. It’s not like I’m here taking time to post about LEPRECHAUN or something like that. HARRY POTTER may not be the best fantasy series ever made, but it sure gives LORD OF THE RINGS a run for its money.

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Posted in ~ H ~, ~~Complete Series Reviews~~
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johnlink ranks FINAL DESTINATION 5 (2011)

•July 20, 2012 • Leave a Comment

After some TV last night, Liz and I were ready for bed. She started upstairs and asked if I was coming, I said I would be up in a few minutes. She said “You’ll probably stay up too late watching a dumb movie.” I replied that I would not. But then the iPad was going dead and I couldn’t find the charger. So I put the TV back on and found the fifth FINAL DESTINATION movie. Long story short; I stayed up too late watching a dumb movie.

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Posted in ~ F ~, ~~~ 2011 ~~~
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johnlink ranks THE INNKEEPERS (2011)

•July 19, 2012 • 1 Comment

This is the sort of thing I usually find on Fear Net. Instead, I stumbled upon this  movie on Amazon Prime through my seldom used XBox. I have the ap free through August, and there are several solid films in HD I want to catch before it goes away, including THE MISSION and MELANCHOLIA. But, for one night anyway, I needed something requiring no thinking, and less engagement. How’s that for an endorsement?

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Posted in ~ I ~, ~~~ 2011 ~~~
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johnlink ranks LET ME IN (2010)

•July 17, 2012 • Leave a Comment

I usually don’t carry a torch for the original foreign films remade into English language movies. Evidence of that can be seen in the criminally low number of foreign films which have been reviewed for this blog. LET ME IN, however, is based on the same source novel as the Swedish film LATDEN RATTE KOMMA IN (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN). The Swedish version just so happens to be one of the best horror films of the last decade, so this new English language film has a fairly high standard to meet. I tried to approach this as its own film, and to not consider it against the original. That proved virtually impossible. Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks LET ME IN (2010)’

Posted in ~ L ~, ~~~ 2010 ~~~
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johnlink ranks THE THIN MAN (1934)

•July 15, 2012 • Leave a Comment

This is a movie which I first heard of a decade ago in a noir film class. We were talking about the writer Dashiell Hammett, who wrote many crime novels turned into films. THE THIN MAN is not noir, but rather a comedy in which the private detective, Nick Charles (William Powell), reluctantly helps solve multiple murders. I have literally DVRd this film half a dozen times over the past several years, and I’m glad I finally got around to watching it.

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