The Reel World

"When someone is shooting at you, you know their intentions."

Submarines have had their own fascinations since Leonardo da Vinci first designed one. Jules Verne took us 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and used a fantastical submarine to inspire and dazzle readers for centuries. Even television has gotten into the act as Irwin Allen took us on a Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. But it's the cinema that truly captured the idea of submarine warfare, from the German classic Das Boot to the equally classic Run Silent Run Deep. Modern films like Crimson Tide and The Hunt For Red October took advantage of modern f/x technologies to bring us even closer to the perilous depths.

By John Delia, Jr

In Johnny English Strikes Again, English brings back his hilarious antics. The world’s security is threatened by an internet thief, and there is only one person who can save us all. This clumsy, blundering character who always manages to get the job done, even though it may not be with the intentions he set out to perform, is back in action. The greatest British agent of all time, Johnny English, is back, and he brings us more slapstick comedy than ever.

When Robert Redford first announced that The Old Man and the Gun was going to be the last film he was going to be acting in, it became a film that shot to the top of my must-see list.  Since that announcement he’s backed off on his comment, but if this were his last film, this would be one heck of a way to close out an amazing career. What writer and director David Lowery has delivered here is sort of a love letter to all of Redford’s greatest hits, and by the time the credits end, well, you simply know you’ve watched something special.  It’s a film from another era, when special FX didn’t come out of a camera, and cinema just was different.

"I always knew he'd come back. In this town, Michael Myers is a myth. He's the Boogeyman. A ghost story to scare kids. But this Boogeyman is real. An evil like his never stops, it just grows older. Darker. More determined. Forty years ago, he came to my home to kill. He killed my friends, and now he's back to finish what he started, with me. The one person who's ready to stop him."

I was 17 years old when John Carpenter released The Shape, aka Michael Myers, on the world in 1978. It was a milestone film. Of course we didn't know we were watching something that would become so culturally huge.

I was quite reluctant to attend the screening for The Oath. My reluctance wasn't based on my willingness to see the film. People like us will go to any kind of a movie. I love films. My issue was the impression I received from the trailer. The film appears to be ripped from today's political climate and quite possibly to be a close parody of the actual present political situation. No matter on what side of that issue I might personally happen to fall, we here at Upcomingdiscs try our best to keep our politics out of our work. It's not fair to fellow writers for them to be brushed with any other writer's ideals, and it's simply unnecessary to create a hostile environment here for any of our readers or staff. So I approached the screening with the caveat that I might not actually review the film. When the studio agreed to those terms, I set out to experience The Oath. I'll give you a little "inside baseball" into the movie review business.

"That's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind."

July 20th, 1969. If you were alive and even somewhat old enough to be aware of your surroundings, you likely still remember that date. There are many such dates in history; unfortunately so many of them revolve around tragic events like 9-ll or the attack on Pearl Harbor. But on that night I was eight years old, and I know exactly where I was. I was watching Walter Cronkite on television as he brought us the first landing on the surface of the moon. Today that's a bittersweet memory.

These days when the studios are cutting together trailers to promote their upcoming films, I feel one of the number one complaints people have is that the trailer gives too much away, so why bother shelling out the cash to see it on the big screen?  When it comes to the trailer for Bad times at the El Royale, it gives you a glimpse at what is to come, but the result is something clever and ambitious, but unfortunately feels a bit too familiar.  This is the second feature film from writer and director Drew Goddard, who first made a splash onto the screen with his hit film Cabin in the Woods.  While I enjoyed his first romp that played with many of horror’s stereotypes, I still felt the film fell a bit flat.  Unfortunately, though I enjoyed this fun little noir film he’s put together, I feel it too falls a bit flat, but mostly this is due to its 140 minute runtime.

When I was in elementary school, R..L. Stine was the author all the kids were reading.  For me Goosebumps was sort of a gateway that opened me up to horror, and I’ve been a bit obsessed with the genre ever since.  If you were a kid of the 80’s, I don’t think it’s possible for you to not know who R..L. Stine is. Even if you somehow never managed to read one of his books, there was also the successful TV series that came out in the early 90’s.  For years I would have said Stine would always be the most successful writer for kids. Well, that all changed once a certain wizard hit the scene and changed pop culture.

"Eyes. Lungs. Pancreas. So many snacks. So little time."

The Marvel Venom character started simply enough with a desire to change the look of Spider-Man's costume in the 1980's. Spider-Man along with a collection of Marvel's heroes were abducted by a character called The Beyonder to fight on a battle planet. It's much like the iconic Planet Hulk story, which was used for the recent Thor film. When Spider-Man returns to Earth, he has a new black and white suit that he found in space. For quite a while the new look for the Web Crawler caused a debate in Marveldom about the hero’s new look.

When I first heard that Bradley Cooper would be making his directing debut with A Star is Born, honestly, I kind of groaned.  It’s not because I didn’t believe he’d have the chops; after all, he’s worked with many successful directors over the span of his career. I groaned because I believed the world didn’t need yet another remake of the film.   This will be the fourth incarnation of the film, and while many can debate on which version is their favorite, the film was pretty much a relic I felt should have stayed in the past.  I mention this and want to also put out there even after some of the trailers I had caught for the film; my excitement level was pretty low going into this.