Our Film Library 2015

For the second year, Cinema365 is presenting a mini-series of four reviews based on films with a literary background. Movies based on books have been a Hollywood staple since back in the silent era and while the types of movies that come from books can be as varied as literature itself, so too can the quality. Here, we have a classic mystery, a horror story from a master of terror, an adventure novel with an oceanic bent and the conclusion to one of the most popular book series’ of all time.

It’s a varied bunch and like most books, they may connect with you or not but all of them may well take you to places you’ve never been and in the process may teach you something about life, or about yourself. A book can do that; so can a good movie.

So as you pull our first editions off the library shelf, do indulge in a quick read of my words describing the movies based on their words. Hopefully you’ll be moved to see the movie or even read the book. Reading is essential in firing up our imagination and rounding us out as people. I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the words of William Shakespeare, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, J.R.R. Tolkein, James Michener and an endless list of others who have transported me to strange worlds, shown me my own world in a different light, stirred my heart, tickled my funny bone and given me insight into the human condition.

We all need a break from life once in awhile and a book can provide that for you. So whether you read on a Kindle or a dog-eared used paperback scrounged from a used bookstore, take a few moments out of your day to exercise your brain and imagination with a book. It’s good for the soul.

Sci-Fi Spectacle 2014

It is no secret, particularly to those who have known me awhile, that I’m a science fiction junkie. My late father turned me on to the genre when I was a boy with the works of Robert A. Heinlein, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Larry Niven and I never looked back. I read everything I could get my hands on, from classics by Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury to novelizations of Star Trek movies.

I was pretty young when I discovered science fiction in the movie theater and was blown away by the movies of the time – Marooned and Silent Running among them. Later, as I got older, I was delighted by Star Wars and its antecedents and stand-alone movies like Blade Runner and E.T. to name just a few.

So when thinking of a mini-festival to run in September, science fiction seemed a natural fit. I tend to look forward to films in that genre all year long and even if the movies rarely turn out to be really good, I still love them just the same, even the bad ones.

However I do take my role as critic seriously and so my reviews will be as balanced as I can make them and the excessive affection I may feel for a movie that I know deep down is mediocre will hopefully not show through. In any case, this new festival begins today and will cover three movies that may be universally admired or barely heard of but all will hopefully tap into your sense of wonder as much as they did mine. Enjoy!