Movie Reviews

Death is a part of life. The longer we live, the more people around us will die; and it is important for us to accept this reality. However, regardless of how omnipresent death is in human existence, we don’t understand it very well, and philosophers and theologians have vigorous debates about human mortality and what it means to be a human being living and dying on this planet.  

Predator was the first installment in the Predator franchise. It was directed by John McTiernan and was released in 1987, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of a paramilitary rescue team who encountered a deadly technologically advanced alien warrior in a Central American rainforest. The warrior, known as the “Yautja,” stalked the soldiers in order to take them as trophies. Initial reviews of the film were mixed, but it has since been considered a classic of the science fiction genre. Predator was followed by three sequels: Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), and The Predator (2018).   

Harvey Weinstein was one of the most famous producers in Hollywood. His production company Miramax, churned out quality films though the 90s and early 2000s, including Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Emma, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Dogma, and Scream. He also helped to kickstart the careers of distinguished actors and directors such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith.

In 1939 Lucille Ball was hired by RKO Pictures to play small parts in a number of low budget films. Her career had little success until she was cast in the 1948 radio show My Favorite Husband which was very successful and attracted the attention of CBS and the cigarette company Philip Morris who suggested the show be adapted to television.

Cyrano’s story has touched the hearts of many people and has been adapted to film many times. Among those to play Cyrano on the silver screen were José Ferrer (1950), Christopher Plummer (1962), Gérard Depardieu (1990) and Kevin Kline (2008). The most memorable modern version is 1987’s Roxanne. Written by and starring a 41-year-old Steve Martin the film also starred Daryl Hannah. The principal character is not a French Army cadet but is instead a small-town fireman named Charlie “C.D.” Bales.

The moon is Earth’s only satellite. At about one-quarter the diameter of the Earth, it lacks any significant atmosphere, hydrosphere, or magnetic field, and has a surface gravity about one-sixth that of Earth’s. It orbits the Earth at an average distance of 384,400 km and its gravitational influence is the main driver of the Earth’s tides. During each synodic period of 29.5 days, the visible surface illuminated by the Sun varies, resulting in the lunar phases that form the basis for the months of the lunar calendar.

Diana Frances Spencer was born to parents John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp on July 1, 1961. She was the fourth of five children and grew up a member of the British royal family. In 1981 while working as a nursery teacher’s assistant, she became engaged to Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Charles was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne. After their marriage she became Princess of Wales and undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen.  

In 1993, Groundhog Day was released. It was the heartwarming tale of a supremely arrogant Pittsburg weatherman who, after getting stuck in a time loop and enduring a small town’s annual Groundhog Day celebration over and over again, earns the love of a good woman and redeems himself. The film has become a cult classic, so it is no surprise that other filmmakers have taken its basic plot and built their own movies around the theme

The devil is a central figure in Western culture. The ultimate rebel, he challenges God’s very polished, very tidy status quo, and at least in North American popular culture, gives voice to the anarchic, anti-establishment voices that exist in all of us. Whether Lucifer is portrayed as evil, as is the case in films like The Devil’s Advocate and The Prophecy, or comedically as he was in Bedazzled, he is always entertaining to watch. It has to be said, however, that truly sympathetic portrayals of the devil are rare to non-existent, at least in Hollywood.
 

Sherlock Holmes is one of England’s most famous cultural exports. This genius detective was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British medical doctor and writer. Doyle was a prolific writer whose works included fantasy and science fiction stories, plays and historic novels. He created the character of Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson.