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WolfmanOz at the Movies #27
Bogie Born on Christmas Day in 1899, Humphrey DeForest Bogart, affectionately known as Bogie, is probably the ultimate American movie icon, and, in 1999, the American Film Institute selected him as the greatest male star of classic American cinema – few could disagree. What makes Bogart so unusual is that he became a major star…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #21
In space no one can hear you scream One of the downsides (I’m sure there’s many others) of the internet is that the surprise element in movies is very much negated. In addition, releases are now pretty much worldwide, especially as so many films are then released onto a streaming service within weeks of their…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #20
Broadsword calling Danny Boy Post WWII, one of the most popular genres for approx. 30 years was the war adventure/action film where, whether it be land, sea or air, the films would provide escapist entertainment reinforcing the image of the Allied victory against both the Germans and the Japanese. The anti-war messages tended to be…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #15
Inspector Callahan Or Dirty Harry, is one of Clint Eastwood’s most iconic film characters, along with The Man With No Name. There were five films produced between 1971 and 1988 featuring the San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector Harry Callahan; in which the character became notorious for his unorthodox, violent and utterly ruthless actions…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #14
The Woke Oscars Next Monday (Australian time) the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will “honour” the “best films” released between March 1st and December 31st, 2021. Not that long ago, say 10-15 years ago, there was a time where you could actually enjoy watching the Oscars as the films being honoured were generally…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #12
So who was Anthony James ? Movies have a peculiar power to transfix and mesmerise us, planting their images in our sub-conscious that for a variety of reasons remain there in which time does not dim. We all have movies and/or scenes that for whatever reason frightened us when we were much younger, and have…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #11
Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown . . . is the final line from Roman Polanski’s brilliant 1974 mystery thriller Chinatown. Polanski is obviously a polarising film-maker given that in 1977 he was arrested and charged with raping and drugging a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to a lesser offence of unlawful sex with a minor…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #10
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Up and until yesterday I was half way through writing my weekly post when with current events rapidly escalating I decided to change the topic. What could be more appropriate now then to take a look at Dr. Strangelove or: I How Learned To Stop…
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WolfmanOz at the Movies #9
This is The End Jim Morrison’s lyrics are the first words you hear in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 seminal and epic psychological Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now as US helicopters strike in the jungle with a napalm attack whilst Captain Willard hallucinates in a drunken haze in his Saigon hotel. Willard is then dragged from…