Based on the novel by Rod Whitaker and directed by star Clint Eastwood, The Eiger Sanction centers around Dr. Jonathan Hemlock (Eastwood), a former government assassin whose specialty was to sanction, or do away with anyone the government suspected of…
Twenty-five years old, Galaxy Quest remains one of the best sci-fi comedies ever made. To call it a simple spoof of Star Trek is belittling. Written by David Howard and Robert Gordon and directed by Dean Parisot, the film has…
Released in 2014, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar ranks as one of the greatest contemporary science fiction films. In my 2015 release of the Blu-ray, I wrote that seeing it “at home on a television will not have the same effect as…
It runs neck-and-neck with Young Frankenstein, but for me, Blazing Saddles is Mel Brooks’ greatest film. If there’s anyone out there who hasn’t seen this brilliant satire, here’s a bit of a synopsis: It’s 1874, and an expanding railroad operation…
I’ve always considered Alfred Hitchcock one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. As such, I find it impossible to say which of his more the fifty films is the best. However, I can say that 1959’s North…
A wanderer in the desert, Hogan (Clint Eastwood) is on his way to meet Mexican rebels when he stumbles across Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine), a nun being attacked by three drunken bandits. The two end up going the same way…
The top grossing film of 1954, White Christmas retains classic holiday status, even though the main story has very little to do with Christmas. The film stars Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby as army buddies Bob Wallace and Phil Davis,…
Clint Eastwood made his directorial debut in 1971 with Play Misty for Me. Shot in just twenty-one days, Eastwood stars as Dave Garber, a popular late night disc jockey for a small station in Caramel, California. One night, a regular…
By the time A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984, the slasher flick phenomenon was already in full swing. Halloween and the Friday the 13th films had already made Michael Meyers and Jason Voorhees leading icons of the…
Set in 1920’s China, Farewell My Concubine opens with a boy named Douzi abandoned by his prostitute mother at a Peking Opera school. There, he receives training that borders on abuse. Douzi is taught to play the female parts. While…