One of my favorite films of the late 70s is Peter Hyams' Mars mission conspiracy thriller, Capricorn One . I'm also a fan of his next film, the World War II romantic drama  Hanover Street , starring a still-rising superstar Harrison Ford. So I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to revisit his next effort, frequently referred to as High Noon in outer space — Outland . I have a pretty clear sense of why it didn't resonate with me in the VHS home video era. Imagine Ridley Scott's  Alien  in which they don't receive the distress call. My expectations were for a "Sci-Fi" film, not a western that just happened to be set on a mining outpost on a moon of Jupiter.  The film actually has a lot going for it. It's got a great cast led by Sean Connery, who plays O'Niel, a newly arrived Marshal in the colony run by Sheppard (Peter Boyle). O'Niel's wife leaves him shortly after his arrival, catching a shuttle back to Earth with his teen son bec...

Despite the fact that Steven Spielberg directed my favorite film of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark , there are still a number of films in his oeuvre that I have yet to see. 1941 was one example that I had never seen in its entirety, so I decided this series was the perfect opportunity to make up for that oversight. The self-proclaimed 'Comedy Spectacular' was written by the fresh out of USC dynamic writing duo of Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale (the Two Bobs), with producer John Milius sharing a story credit. Loosely inspired by true events, the film humorously details the hysteria surrounding the fear of an imminent attack by the Japanese in California in the weeks following the Pearl Harbor attack.   Though the film was poorly received both critically and commercially, the players involved, and the fact that it fell between Spielberg's classics  Jaws / Close Encounters and Raiders gave me plenty of reasons to refuse to believe that it had no merit. It's an over-the-...

Vonna and I have gotten in the habit of listening to podcasts when we go on road trips, with some favorites being Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary's Video Archives podcast and the Pure Cinema Podcast. Recently, Last Night in Soho director Edgar Wright was on Pure Cinema to discuss overlooked British horror films, and one he discussed was the Freddie Francis film Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly , or as it was more commonly known in the states, Girly . When I told Vonna I had Girly on DVD, she suggested that we watch it for our 'M' movie, since it wouldn't be the first time we went with an alternate title to meet our 52 Pick-Up alphabet requirements.  Imagine my surprise when watching the 'alternate title sequence' on the disc before watching the feature, it showed the onscreen title Girly . Turns out that the main feature does include the full British title,  Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly . So no excuses required! MNS&G falls somewhere between The Texas...

Wow. This was an experience. I don't recall where I first saw the trailer for  Last Year at Marienbad , but I was immediately compelled to order a copy, as well as a box set of films by Alain Robbe-Grillet.  Take a look at this shot below. Study it. If you find it particularly compelling, this movie is for you. If you are not impressed, then this film is probably not for you. It's no secret that I'm a big David Lynch fan. Or that a number of films that I love challenge the viewer by not explaining everything that they're seeing. Last Year at Marienbad is a film that I expect we'll revisit to explore the elements (some observed, some overlooked) that we may not have understood as we made our way through it the first time.  I generally prefer to watch films in their original language, subtitled in English rather than dubbed, though I will admit that I was disappointed having to take my attention away from what I was seeing in the frame in order to read the subtitles;...

  Considering how much I like Matthew Vaughn's films Stardust and The Kingsman , I'm surprised it has taken me so long to make time for his Kick Ass films. When we considered this for one of our 52 Pick-Up selections, it seemed a perfect opportunity to schedule another double-feature, so we could take in the sequel right after finishing the first film. Based on a comic book of the same name, Kick Ass is the story of a high school kid (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who decides it's time someone take on the mantle of a super-hero, and he adopts the name "Kick Ass" for his alter ego. He soon finds himself over his head, getting his ass routinely kicked, when he stumbles across a pair of similar super heroes who are far more prepared than he is: ex-cop "Big Daddy" (Nicholas Cage) and his pre-teen daughter who goes by the name "Hit Girl" (Chloe Grace Moretz in a scene-stealing role). They eventually team up to fight a local crime lord (another fantastic ...