At the recent D23 Disney convention in Anaheim, the seemingly inevitable news finally dropped; Disney/Lucasfilm is finally releasing the original, unaltered “Star Wars” (1977) to theaters next year (without the “A New Hope” subtitle added to the film in 1981 for rerelease) for the movie’s 50th anniversary in a limited release beginning February 19th. Lucasfilm…
Tag: Disney
25 years later, Disney’s “Mission to Mars” still fails to achieve escape velocity…
******PHOBOS-SIZED SPOILERS!****** 25 years ago, my wife and I went out for dinner and a movie with two married friends of ours to see “Mission to Mars” (2000); a Disney (nee: Touchstone) space opus directed by esteemed director Brian De Palma (“Carrie,” “Scarface,” “The Untouchables”), a screenplay cowritten by Graham Yost (“Speed”) with music by…
Marvel goes full Mel Brooks for its superhero satire “Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)…
******SOME SPOILERS****** As I’ve said in earlier columns, I’ve gotten away from the superhero genre lately, which more or less peaked for me with 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” Now, with the seemingly endless flood of Disney/Marvel multiverse product, my eyes glaze over whenever I’ve tried to get into a new Marvel movie or show, and I…
The Force Awaits: The anticipation of seeing “Star Wars”…
*****POSSIBLE STAR DESTROYER-SIZE SPOILERS***** Anticipation Back in the late 1970s, I saw “Star Wars” multiple times theatrically. This was back in those dark, primitive days before we watched movies on our phones and tablets three months or less after their theatrical runs. In those days, we then-young, future-oldsters learned the often difficult art of… But,…
Disney’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” 40 years later…
*****SUPERNATURAL SPOILERS!***** Adapted by my favorite author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) from his 1962 novel, the 1983 movie of “Something Wicked This Way Comes” was a troubled production. I heard this firsthand from no less than Ray Bradbury himself at San Diego Comic Con 2005. There were reported disagreements with director Jack Clayton (1974’s “The Great…
San Diego Comic Con 2023 soldiered on, despite some new challenges…
Comic Con Returns Once again, my wife and I returned to San Diego Comic Con, as we have almost every year for nearly the last two decades. The last time the event was cancelled outright came in 2020, the year the COVID pandemic changed everything, and prematurely ended millions of lives around the world. That’s…
The trailer for 2023’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” whips it good…
The Trailer. Lucasfilm/Disney has released the first trailer for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which is due to arrive in theaters on June 30th, 2023. While star Harrison Ford returns, this marks the first Indiana Jones movie to not be directed by longtime series director Steven Spielberg. Taking the reins for this adventure…
“John Carter” (2012), the unfairly maligned adaptation of the original space hero…
Before Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Luke Skywalker… I was born about a half-century too late to have been among the first generation to read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars” books, but my own first inklings of them came via Carl Sagan’s landmark 1980 PBS TV series, “COSMOS.” The late pop scientist reminisced…
DisneyPlus’ “Loki” takes a time-traveling leap into Marvel’s mischievous prankster…
Caveats and Chaos. A couple of caveats to this column. First, to my regular readers (I’m grateful for each of you) I want to apologize for the slower influx of fresh content lately. My little house in the ‘burbs has been plagued with a solid month of plumbing/electrical issues, and has only returned to something…
“The Rocketeer”: Disney’s underrated retro-rocketing adventure, 30 years later…
*****SOARING SPOILERS AHEAD!!***** In the summer of 1991, I went to the famed El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood; a gloriously gilded movie palace hailing from a different era (originally built in 1926), beautifully restored and refurbished. This old glamour of the venue was a perfect way to see “The Rocketeer”; a retro-styled, period piece-adventure set…
“Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” (2020) is not your father’s Life Day…
If At First You Don’t Succeed… 42 years ago, there was a great disturbance in the Force… CBS aired “The Star Wars Holiday Special” and it was arguably the worst thing to happen to the Star Wars universe before Jar Jar Binks. CBS and Lucasfilm created a shot-on-videotape variety special (which were insanely popular in…