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WolfmanOz at the Movies #85
Watch the skies. Was the working title for Steven Spielberg’s 1977 science fiction classic Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Anticipation was very high for this film as it would be Spielberg’s follow-up to his hugely successful 1975 horror thriller Jaws. Was Jaws just a one-off fluke or was a new and exciting director now…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #84
Opening Credits. Something a little different this week. There are many things I dislike about movies today and one of my pet hates is the incessant production credits at the beginning of a movie which can take around 5 minutes to unfurl. So five minutes into a movie the audience is already bored whilst they…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #83
Tears in rain. Released in 1982, there were high expectations for Blade Runner. Directed by Ridley Scott it was his next film after the hugely successful science fiction horror classic Alien. Anticipation was extremely high but Blade Runner underperformed in North American theatres and polarised many critics; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #82
They fought like seven hundred. The Magnificent Seven (released in 1960) is an American western directed by John Sturges which is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai, which in turn took its inspiration from American westerns. Seven Samurai is often hailed by film critics as one of the greatest films ever made but I’ll will…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #81
Feed the French. Kill the Germans. Well its been over a month since I lasted posted and I feel sufficiently refreshed and with time on my hand again to resume posting. So to start the ball rolling again I’ve selected a movie that has been requested by a number of Cats. Set during the World…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #80
Songs My Mother Taught Me Was the autobiography of actor Marlon Brando. Considered one of the greatest actors of the 20th century he is credited with being one of the first actors to bring the Stanislavski system of acting and method acting, to mainstream audiences. Born on April 3rd, 1924 and by the time he was…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #79
Nuts am I ? The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (released in 1948) written and directed by John Huston is a brilliantly sharp-edged study of the effects of greed on otherwise normal men, and one man in particular – Fred C. Dobbs, superbly realised by Humphrey Bogart. Dobbs and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) are down…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #78
You must just remember this. Casablanca arguably remains Hollywood’s finest moment, a film that succeeds on such a vast scale not because of anything experimental or deliberately earthshaking in its design, but for the way it adhered to and reaffirmed the movie-making conventions of its day. This is the film that played by the rules…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #77
Charles Calthrop. From start to finish, The Day Of The Jackal (released in 1973) is one stylish thriller that qualifies among the best of its genre. Based on Frederick Forsyth’s best-selling novel and handsomely photographed it is impressively acted by the entire cast, whilst showcasing Edward Fox as The Jackal in a performance of smooth…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #76
The Return of the Great Adventure With the impending release of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny it’s opportune to look back at the film that started it all Raiders Of The Lost Ark released way back in 1981. Nowadays we keep forgetting how magnificent blockbusters can be. Too much CGI makes everything possible…