Category Archives: Movies

Untimely Movie Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Tom Garrett

For about 25 minutes, there’s not a single line of dialogue in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yet, Kubrick, using only a phenomenal, classical score (WHOOOO!) and striking, brutal, beautiful, and sometimes alarming visuals produces a remarkably well-told story. As a … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged 2001, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Commentary, HAL9000, Movies, Reviews, Stanley Kubrick, Warner Bros., Warner Brothers | 4 Comments

Untimely Movie Review: Cool Hand Luke

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Tom Garrett

With my renewed, pandemic-commitment to reviewing the Warner Brothers 50 Film Collection, I moved on to the next film in the collection, Cool Hand Luke. Like Doctor Zhivago and numerous other titles in the set, Cool Hand Luke is based on a book I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Commentary, Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Don Baker, Movies, Paul Newman, Reviews, Strother Martin, Warner Bros., Warner Brothers, Wayne Rogers | 5 Comments

Untimely Movie Review: Doctor Zhivago

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Tom Garrett

I thought there could be no better time to resume my on-again, off-again relationship with the Warner Brothers 50 Film Collection than during a global pandemic. In fairness to me, the reason I hit pause after the most recent few … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Alec Guinness, Commentary, Communism, Julie Christie, Movies, Omar Sharif, Reviews, Rod Steiger, Russia, USSR, Warner Bros., Warner Brothers | 2 Comments

Timely Movie Review: The Rise of Skywalker

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Tom Garrett

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD* “The dead speak!” The first line of The Rise of Skywalker‘s opening crawl was an immediate red flag. In Episode IX, the dead don’t just speak. They give speeches. Much as I did with The Last Jedi, I made … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Adam Driver, Commentary, Daisy Ridley, Episode IX, Episode VII, Episode VIII, Finn, JJ Abrams, John Boyega, Kylo Ren, Movies, Nerd Alert, Rey, Rise of Skywalker | Leave a comment

Untimely Movie Review: How the West Was Won

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Tom Garrett

As part of my flagging recommitment to this blog, I’ve dusted off my Warner Brothers 50 Film Collection, which I purchased back in early 2014. I fairly regularly provided reviews of the films in that collection, which I’ve gradually watched … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Carroll Baker, Commentary, Debbie Reynolds, George Peppard, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, How the West Was Won, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Movies, Reviews, Warner Bros., Warner Brothers | 2 Comments

Timely Movie Review: Avengers – Endgame

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Tom Garrett

The culmination of a 22-film franchise, Avengers: Endgame represents one of the most ambitious projects in filmmaking history—if not the most ambitious. Providing a thorough synopsis of a complex, multifaceted, three-hour film is both overly cumbersome and unnecessary for a review like this … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies | Tagged Avengers, Captain America, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Commentary, Endgame, Infinity War, Iron Man, Marvel, MCU, Movies, Reviews, Thor, Timely Movie Reviews, Tony Stark | 1 Comment

Untimely Movie Review: Ben-Hur

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Tom Garrett

There’s a moment, about two hours into Ben-Hur, when Charlton Heston’s title character tells Esther “We stood here before,” to which she replies “a long while ago,” and Heston responds, “Four years ago,” at which point I replied, “Feels longer.” That’s the … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Ben-Hur, Charlton Heston, Commentary, Movies, Reviews, Warner Bros., Warner Brothers | 3 Comments

Timely Movie Review: The Last Jedi

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Tom Garrett

I’m proud to say that I made it to The Last Jedi spoiler-free. But I did collect one bit of relevant information prior to seeing it. I saw that the Rotten Tomatoes score was a strong 93%, with a robust sample size … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Movies, Reviews | Tagged Adam Driver, Commentary, Daisy Ridley, Episode VII, Episode VIII, Finn, JJ Abrams, John Boyega, Kylo Ren, Laura Dern, Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, Movies, Nerd Alert, Oscar Isaac, Poe Dameron, Reviews, Rey, Rian Johnson, Rogue One, Snoke, Star Wars | 2 Comments

Spy vs. Spy

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Tom Garrett

In this episode, I examine one of the most infamous and protracted intellectual-property battles in entertainment history. The war over the rights to James Bond—specifically, the story and script for Thunderball—took over half a century to resolve fully. Luckily, this podcast … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Movies, Podcasts | Tagged Ian Fleming, Intellectual Property, James Bond, Kevin McClory, Literature, Movies, Never Say Never Again, Podcasts, Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Storytelling, Thunderball | 1 Comment

Timely Movie Review: The Force Awakens

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Tom Garrett

We’ve all seen it by now, right? With this week’s blu-ray / digital release of The Force Awakens indicating that a reasonable time has elapsed, and since nobody else in the world has written anything online about Episode VII, I … Continue reading →