Category Archives: On Movies

May 4: Audrey, and Star Wars

Unrelated except by calendrical coincidence, it’s Audrey Hepburn’s birthday… …and, thanks to the pun May the Fourth be with you, it is also STAR WARS Day.  

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National Poetry Month, day 27: A Lesson from Mr. McLeod on “slipping the surly bonds of Earth”

I suppose there’s an entire genre that can be summed up as “Young person meets the teacher who unlocks their potential”. It’s a type of story that I’ve always warmed to, from Luke Skywalker seeking the wisdom of Ben Kenobi … Continue reading

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“I get why you shot him.” “Well, everyone tries at least once.” — Thoughts on NO TIME TO DIE

(NOTE: As this review heavily references ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, I have revised and reposted my long essay about that film as well.) After a series of production false-starts, headaches, and then a global pandemic, No Time To Die, the … Continue reading

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“Thy dawn, O master of the world, thy dawn….”

A repost, with some revisions and additions throughout, to accompany my review of NO TIME TO DIE, which is coming tomorrow. I wrote this more than ten years ago, and if anything, my esteem for ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE … Continue reading

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“I’d rather have fewer spectacular theaters than tons of cheap little multiplexes.” –Douglas Trumbull

Filmmaker and special effects guru Douglas Trumbull died earlier this month. His body of work is not large, but its influence is gigantic. For filmgoers of a certain age and a certain disposition to genre–say, 50ish and inclined to fantasy and … Continue reading

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“So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it’s gratifying to have something you have done linger in people’s memories.” — John Williams

John Williams was born ninety years ago today. I’ve written many times in the years I’ve been blogging about John Williams’s influence on my creative world. He has been a central figure in the cinematic stories that shaped my life … Continue reading

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“I never joke about my ranking, 007!”: The Official and Correct Ranking of the James Bond Movies, conclusion

And at last, here we are: the top five James Bond movies. I like that my top five has quite a bit of variety: it spans more than 40 years of films, and five of the six men who have … Continue reading

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Licence to Rank: The Official and Correct Ranking of the James Bond Movies, part 4

So here we go: the first half of my person Top Ten James Bond movies! Let’s refresh our rankings to this point: Part One: 26. LIVE AND LET DIE 25. DIE ANOTHER DAY 24. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME 23. GOLDFINGER 22. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER … Continue reading

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A View to a Ranking: The Official and Correct Ranking of the James Bond Movies, part 3

With this entry, we move from my bottom half of the Bond rankings into the top half. It’s worth remembering that this is all relative: there’s only one movie, Live and Let Die, that I find basically unwatchable. Every one of … Continue reading

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Live and Let Rank: The Official and Correct Ranking of the James Bond Movies, part 2

Continuing my Official And Correct Ranking of the James Bond films! This time we will go from Number 20 to Number 16. Our first entry contained the one Bond film I outright dislike, followed by several that just don’t do … Continue reading

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