MAGIC MOVIE MOMENTS

MAGIC MOVIE MOMENTS

December 15, 2022 Alan Royle 0

  MAGIC MOVIE MOMENTS                    Few people who know me, family included, would describe me as particularly emotional, especially when it comes to the movies. An understandable assessment, of course, given my disillusionment with the industry and many (but certainly not all) of its employees and employers. However, every once in […]

‘LIFEBOAT’ (1944) – ‘THE PHANTOM’ (1996)

‘LIFEBOAT’ (1944) – ‘THE PHANTOM’ (1996)

December 12, 2022 Alan Royle 0

  LIFEBOAT (1944)                This Alfred Hitchcock directed drama focuses on the aftermath of a confrontation in the Atlantic between a merchant ship and a German U-Boat during World War Two. Survivors from various walks of life are left adrift in a lifeboat on the ocean and the tension heightens considerably […]

MOVIES – ‘Hidden Figures’ & ‘The Little Mermaid’.

MOVIES – ‘Hidden Figures’ & ‘The Little Mermaid’.

November 30, 2022 Alan Royle 0

  HIDDEN FIGURES (2016)             This is a fine film, although considerable liberties have been taken throughout with the truth and the facts. The movie focuses (with some exaggeration) on the issues that faced African-American women involved in the early days of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), at a […]

HOLLYWOOD: DO YOU AGREE?

HOLLYWOOD: DO YOU AGREE?

November 18, 2022 Alan Royle 4

  WOMAN IN GOLD (2015)               This is a fine historical drama about the efforts of a Los Angeles lawyer named Randy Schoenberg (played by Ryan Reynolds) and an octogenarian Jewish refugee from Austria named Maria Altmann (Dame Helen Mirren) to sue the Austrian Government in an endeavour to reclaim five […]

LGTTM – ‘A CLOCKWORK ORANGE’ (1971)

LGTTM – ‘A CLOCKWORK ORANGE’ (1971)

November 6, 2022 Alan Royle 1

  A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)              Stanley Kubrick directed only sixteen movies in his lifetime. I unreservedly admired two of them – Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960), the rest I could take or leave. I remain at a loss, however, to understand the […]

‘ARACHNOPHOBIA’ (1990) – ‘DOWN PERISCOPE’ (1995)

‘ARACHNOPHOBIA’ (1990) – ‘DOWN PERISCOPE’ (1995)

October 28, 2022 Alan Royle 0

     ARACHNOPHOBIA (1990)             Times have most certainly changed since the days when trip-wires were used to bring down, maim, and kill horses in movies. Today, all animals, birds, fish, even insects and arachnids, are treated with extreme care. The 1990 movie Arachnophobia is proof of this. Not one spider […]

‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF’ (1969)

‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF’ (1969)

October 19, 2022 Alan Royle 2

  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (1969)         In the opinion of this writer, the screenplay for Support Your Local Sheriff is the funniest ever written for a western. Given that it was the brainchild of William Bowers, the quality of his writing should not come as a surprise for many readers, […]

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES – ‘FROM HELL’ 2001

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES – ‘FROM HELL’ 2001

September 25, 2022 Alan Royle 0

  FROM HELL (2001)              This ‘Jack the Ripper’ Victorian England drama was filmed in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, not in London’s prohibitively expensive East End. The Czech capital provided a convincing impression of 1880s London at a far cheaper cost. Great care […]

‘THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE’ (1967)

‘THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE’ (1967)

September 13, 2022 Alan Royle 4

  THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE (1967)         The actual garage in Chicago in which the real massacre took place in 1929, was torn down just three months after this picture’s release in 1967. Gangland killings had been commonplace in Chicago during the 1920s, but the execution of seven men by […]