It’s 1971 on the American highway. Duel gives Steven Spielberg his start, and Two-Lane Blacktop may be the purest road movie ever made. However, Duel‘s been made-for-TV, and only gradually will its reputation spread. Blacktop, after its initial run, will be plagued by soundtrack issues not resolved until the twenty-first century. The many years of too-few showings will bolster its cult status but limit its audience. The most successful road movie1 of that year is Vanishing Point, an existential car chase with enough mysticism that it also drifts across the line separating realism and fantasy, making it an unusual but appropriate choice for this Summer Weekend Review.
Category Archives: Movies
“X-Men: First Class” (2011) – Silver Screen Superheroes #33
The latest episode of Silver Screen Superheroes is up here, where I discuss X-Men: First Class and how that fits in the X-Men universe of films.
“Fantastic Four” (2015) – Movie Review
The latest film adaptation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four has been making the news for the past few days based on angry tweets and horrifically bad reviews. I checked it out on Friday, but wanted time to process before writing this review. This is not as bad as the Rotten Tomatoes scores and other news would indicate. Don’t get me wrong: we’re three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good, but it’s not as bad as you may have heard. This review will have more spoilers than usual, because I’m including some spoilerish analysis about what I think went wrong.
Greatest Fantasy Film Tournament: Week 24, Round 1
Round one ends here. Next week, we’ll have the final 128 movies starting a tournament style elimination. The eliminations to date follow.
Summer Weekend Review: Dr. X (1932)
Long before Professor X opened up his school for gifted mutants, another Dr. Xavier appeared in a horror/SF/mystery thriller. It remains famous mostly for its pre-Hayes Code elements and two-tone color process, and it is this weekend’s Summer Movie Review.
Deadpool Trailer Is Here
And it’s gloriously foul and dirty. This is a Red Band, NSFW trailer. You have been warned.
Summer Weekend Review: What We Do in the Shadows
We have a recent film up for summer weekend review this time around, an engagingly funny look at vampires, created by the duo behind Flight of the Conchords.
Greatest Fantasy Film Tournament: Week 22, Round 1
The end of our first round, setting up the 128 slot tournament for eliminations, has two weeks left. Our next round of voting takes place here, and the list of eliminations follows.
Greatest Fantasy Film Tournament – Week 22
Week 22 of the voting for the GFFT has begun. If you wish to vote (and you should), the ballot for this week is here. Blaine will be along eventually to post the eliminations and lock last week’s poll.
Summer Weekend Review: It Came From Outer Space
They’ll be other nights, and other stars for us to watch. They’ll be back.
The Man from Planet X came first, as did the The Thing From Another World, which may be the best of the genre. The War of the Worlds had a bigger budget, and The Day the Earth Stood Still has become iconic. Never mind. This film may be the archetypal 1950s alien invasion movie, and its influence on later films, and TV’s The Outer Limits, would be difficult to miss. Elements of the story also presage Betty and Barney Hill’s alleged encounter with aliens.
Look for Russell “The Professor” Johnson.