As a nerd, I am a huge fan of ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’ After the TV series got canceled in 1969, it was awesome to see the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise return to the big screen a decade later. Capitalizing on the popularity of science fiction movies like ‘Close Encounters of the Third […]
The ‘Rocky’ movies are some of my favorites, and the films probably would be in my Mount Rushmore of movie franchises. ‘Rocky III’ is probably my favorite. One-time opponent Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, decides to train Rocky, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, after Rocky’s trainer, Burgess Merideth’s Mickey, suddenly passes. During the training montage, […]
My son got a membership to a golf course this year and has golfed more rounds this summer than I probably have in the last 10 years combined. He’s made me proud, as he’s inherited my game: he hits the ball a mile, only nowhere near the fairway. We’ve had a little trouble finding the […]
Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, a commonly used trope by villains in movies and on TV was hypnotism. The bad guys would pull out a pocket watch and swing it back and forth in front of the face of their intended target. They would then say, “empty your mind, only listen to the […]
This summer a new biopic on Elvis Presley is being released. Aptly named ‘Elvis,’ the film explores the complex relationship between the King of Rock’n’Roll, played by Austin Butler, and his longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker, portrayed by Tom Hanks. As Cliff Claven from ‘Cheers’ would say, it’s a little-known fact that in 1948, Parker […]
A while back, my son and I watched ‘The Raven,’ a thriller starring John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe. In the film, people are murdered in the same fashion as depicted in Poe’s writings. While he’s initially a suspect, Poe is ultimately cleared and then cooperates with the police to find the real killer. Like […]
When I was little, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ would air once a year on TV, usually on a Saturday night. My buddy, Pearl, and I would alternate sleeping over at one another’s homes to watch. We would stay up too late, eat lots of sugar, get freaked out by the flying monkeys, and get very […]
In the spring of 1986, I was 13 years old and finishing up 7th grade. On May 16, ‘Top Gun’ was released, and my buddies and I saw it at the mall. I still vividly remember feeling the vibrations in the speakers from the sounds of the jets, and the surround-sound made it feel like […]
While channel surfing the other night, I came across ‘Stand By Me,’ the classic ‘80s coming-of-age movie directed by Rob Reiner and based on the novel by Stephen King. The flick is set in 1959 in rural Oregon, and is about four 12-year-old buddies who go looking for a local boy who has been missing […]
About 50 years ago, a landmark event occurred that would alter history. Today, a possible law change may have a gigantic impact on that occurrence. Of course, I’m talking about the moon landing. Last month, Canada introduced an amendment to its criminal code to allow for the prosecution of crimes committed by Canadian astronauts “on, […]