At The Movies with Bryan, the Wannabe Filmmaker

When film critics talk about influential movies they often rattle off titles like: Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey,  King Kong, Breathless,The Gold Rush, Psycho, etc. However, a title that you never find in their lists is the 1953 film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. What? Are you kidding? How can anyone even think of putting The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms in the same company as these great films? It's just a silly 1950s sci-fi film made for children!!! While, it's true that The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is not in the same league as the titles I listed, it is nonetheless one of the most influential movies of all time; at least in the science fiction genre. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is important for two reasons: 1) It would establish the template that many science fiction films of the decade would follow. 2) It helped launch the career of special effects master Ray Harryhausen, who turn would influence many great future filmmakers. It wasn't made by a cinematic

I was hoping to have this review up before Christmas, but encountered a few technical problems. Hence the reason why it is being posted on December 26th, 2012.  A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens in 1843 and has been adapted to screen countless times ever since the cinema has started.  One of the oldest surviving prints is from 1907 made by the Edison Company; it's a ten minute short that recreates scenes from the novella through dated, but nonetheless effective special effects. It's also interesting to note that the same actor portrays the Spirits of Christmas. Even though the silent film condenses a great deal of Dickens' story, it's nonetheless captures the essence of it. A Christmas Carol is a very simple and straightforward story; a lonely miser, through the intervention of deceased partner Marley and three Spirits, is given a second chance at life. He learns that life's great rewards come when you in invest in people, rather than money. It&#

It's probably not an exaggeration when I say that practically every kid in my generation (or least in my class) watched He-Man and She-Ra religiously after school, and owned almost every action figure.  The best thing about He-Man action figures was that you could pulls off the limbs and easily put them back on again, hence when you had battles you could make them as graphic as you wanted.  Or, you could swap the arms and legs of He-Man with that of another Masters of the Universe action figure; the possibilities were endless. No words can describe just how excited my six year-old self was when it was announced that there was going to be a He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special. I thought I might had died and gone to heaven. A He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special?! Surely, this would be the Christmas Special to end all Christmas Specials. No offense Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer or Charlie Brown, but there's no way you could hope to compete with the sheer juggernaut that

When one thinks of Hammer Studios the image of a fanged, blood shot eyed Christopher Lee will probably be the first thing that comes to mind. In the 1950s and 60s, Hammer was king when it came to horror films, producing such titles like Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Gorgon, and Curse of the Werewolf , to name a few. However, by the mid 60s Hammer began to broaden their output by producing a whole sub genre of Lost World films; these films were characterized by either setting the films in modern times and having an expedition stumble upon an ancient society hidden deep in the jungle/desert ( She, Prehistoric Women), or setting the films in prehistoric times where cave people struggled to survive ( One Millions Years B.C., When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth) . The other common trope found in these movies was the sight of gorgeous women running around in fur bikinis; Raquel Welch's bikini clad performance in One Million Years B.C. made her an international sex symbol. N

1986 – While watching the television, the family sees a commercial for an upcoming comedy that features a talking plant and stars the geek from Ghostbusters; even better Bill Murray is in it. My sister and I were huge fans of Ghostbusters (and still are) as kids, so we implore our dad to take us to this movie and he eventually acquiesces. We drive on down to Northtown cinemas and 90 minutes later leave the film completely stunned; what had we just watched?   However, my sister and I eventually agree that Little Shop of Horrors was a fairly good movie, despite Bill Murray’s limited screen time; the TV ads completely played up Bill Murray’s role in the film. We explain to our cousins the scene in which Seymour (Rick Moranis) chops up the dentist Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin) and feeds him to the plant and their response is, “They actually chopped up Steve Martin?” Nope, just the character he played.   Flash forward to 1989- I’m br