Saturday, August 26, 2017
First Lines: Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home.
Friday, August 25, 2017
Gattaca (1997)
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
Atmospheric science fiction drama with excellent cast and settings draws a bleak picture of a genetically controlled future.
Halliwell (no star): "Glossy science fiction with a very soft centre under its hard surface."
First Lines: G.K. Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday
The suburb of Saffron Park lay on the sunset side of London, as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Thunderball (1965)
James Bond heads to The Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.
The nonchalant and over-sexed super agent's 4th adventure is full of action and sparely clad dames, all nicely produced, but with only hints of a thorough plot.
Halliwell**: "Commercially the most successful Bond, but certainly not the best despite a plethora of action sequences."
Maltin**1/2: "Fourth James Bond film isn't as lively as the others. Plenty of gimmicks, and Oscar winning special effects...but film tends to bog down - especially underwater. Celi makes a formidable Bond villain."
Shark in Venice (2008)
Traveling to Venice to investigate the mysterious death of his father a famous archaeologist and diver, unearths a killer secret that lies beneath the Venetian waters.
Rock bottom low-budget thriller with a preposterous premise, abysmal acting, and the shark attacks are repetitive - and disappointing.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
First Lines: L. Frank Baum - Ozma of Oz
At the time the wind began to blow, a ship was sailing far out upon the waters.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line.
Tongue-in-cheek homage to 50s Hollywood is especially convincing in its meticulous recreation of film scenes of diverse genres; in fact, the settings are all excellent, but the story with several subplots doesn't quite thrill, and the humour is sparse.
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