The Journey(s) of Ian

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360556   This movie review will not hold you to final word suspense. It will not dilly dally on its way to its ultimate opinion. Rather, the truth will be revealed expeditiously. Immediately. Now, in fact. Ta Dar—the movie is great—a true and correct cinematic interpretation of Ray Bradbury’s 1953, short novel, the dystopian masterpiece “Fahrenheit 451”. I first read the novel in high school, where I am sure many others also first read of the terrifying and wilfully illiterate world of the protagonist, Fireman Guy Montag. I also recall seeing at about that same time the 1966 film version by François Truffaut. This was a movie adaptation approved of by the author. Sadly, Bradbury is no longer with us, but what is there about this new version of his novel that renders it successful? The reason for my approval is that the novel’s mood and theme of anti-intellectualism and alienation are successfully transmitted into a near future, all too possib...

"I AM LEGEND" It is impossible for SF fans of my generation to see this movie without automatically comparing it to its predecessor, the classic 1971 film "The Omega Man", starring the late, great Charlton Heston. To cut to the chase, while "I am Legend" it is a good movie it is inferior to the original. This may surprise some. Clearly, in some respects the modern is superior—the CGI, the creepy vampires, the sweeping photography, the stunts, are all impressive, however, where the modern lags is in the story itself. IaL has a relatively simple plot. Neville lives in an unpeopled NY. We see him hunt, fish, and talk to his dog (the presence of which is an obvious survival necessity, missing in the original), and search for a cure to the plague that eliminated 95% of humanity. Well produced as it is this backstory is mostly filler, with good actions scenes, and the evocation of pathos for the lonely isolation of Neville. I...

The movie (1942) In 1942 another new Warner Brothers movie was released into the world from the maw of the industrious Hollywood movie machine, along with over a hundred others of that year. Most of these movies are long forgotten, yet one, "Casablanca", the story of disparate refugees in the eponymous Moroccan city at the outbreak of World War Two, is still popular, still screened, and still appreciated a lifetime after its first screening. There are many and varied reasons for this success, and a great deal of ink, both digital and otherwise, has been expended analysing this popularity. Personally, it is a movie that I have increasingly come to appreciate as my taste in movies has developed over the years. Thus, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a few moments and attempt to uncover just why "Casablanca" is as popular as it is. To begin, what is the movie about? The answer normally given is that the movie is about a war time romance, ...

I have been a lifelong fan of Ridley Scott, and I have just seen his latest movie 'Prometheus', so thusly it falls upon me to review this movie. What do I think? The answer—good, I enjoyed it, entertaining, but if any reader is sensing any hesitation in my answer, you are correct. While it was a good SF movie, with all of the expected twists and turns, and a few not so expected, it lacked originality. Admittedly, it is hard to be original in a prequel, and certainly a prequel to a franchise with so many different episodes as this, but, even so, it was just a little bit of a let down—so much hype to live up to... The movie was billed as something that would discuss the origins of humanity. Well, it did not. There were some unexplained scenes in the movie that hinted at this, certainly the opening scene where one of the aliens drinks/eats something, his body/DNA dissolves, and he falls into a waterfall (presumably on Earth—but are there not less deadly ways to spread DNA?), ...

One Hundred and One Great Movies ! Greatness is subjective. Thus determining the ‘greatest’ one hundred and one movies, out of the myriad of movies made, is a task intrinsically mired within the limits of one’s own experience, interests and biases, however, to recognise this reality is to also recognise the reverse, that all categorisation is partly subjective, but ensconced, hopefully at least, around a core of objective criteria. Therefore, it is within this framework, a mix of objective criteria, mediated by personal preference, and my viewing history, that I offer to you, the reader, my list of the greatest movies (which includes the occasional TV show) ever made. Those movies, which, I believe, entertain, enthral, and even, to some extent, however small, enlighten. Yet, let us start at the beginning. Movies are by definition, fiction. Fiction, by definition, is not real, however, fiction is (mostly) based upon reality, in that its relies upon existing facts and beliefs fo...