The View From The Mountain

While I thought Angelina Jolie was near perfect as Lara Croft, Tomb Raider extraordinaire, in the two Lara Croft films that she made in the early 2000s, those movies were far from perfect overall. Based on the popular series of videogames where a gun-toting female archeologist battles everything from mercenaries to death traps in the ancient tombs that she raids, the Jolie-led Lara Croft films were fun, but they often slipped into extreme silliness, as if the filmmakers couldn’t quite bring themselves to take their subject matter seriously. And after all, why should they, since the games had a woman running around tombs in just a tank top and shorts? But the Tomb Raider videogames were completely rebooted in 2013, with a photo-realistic Lara (who actually wore practical clothing) in a far more gritty adventure. The movies followed suit, giving us Tomb Raider , this time starring Alicia Vikander ( Ex Machina , The Man From Uncle remake) as a younger Lara who’s new to the tomb raid...

Harold Sakata is best known as Odd Job, the intimidating henchman to the titular character in the classic James Bond film Goldfinger . With his steel-rimmed bowler hat and impressive strength and martial art skills, Odd Job was more than a match even for Sean Connery’s Bond in his mid-60s prime. The character was so popular that Odd Job had his own toys and a figure model kit. Sakata, who was born in Hawaii, got his first acting job with Goldfinger , but it certainly wasn’t his last. I was watching an oddity on Amazon Prime recently called Operation Gold , which Amazon Prime has listed as being made in 1980. But while viewing the film, a broad comedy about the hunt for a valuable scepter, I thought the movie had looked like it was much older than 1980. I also thought the actor who played the museum curator looked a lot like Odd Job. It turned out I was right on both counts. Despite the “1980” date that Amazon has listed, Operation Gold was actually released in 1966 under its origina...

Note, this review has spoilers. The Russo Brothers are probably the best things to happen to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These sibling directors did an outstanding job turning Captain America: The Winter Soldier into a gripping action film that was genuinely exciting. They worked their same magic on the sequel, CA: Civil War , turning what could have been a mish-mash of superhero cameos into another enthralling thriller. When I heard that they were directing the final two Avengers films, I felt confident that the future of the Avengers saga was in good hands. And when I saw Avengers: Infinity War , I was not let down. After teasing us with a glimpse of Thanos at the end of the first Avengers film (as well as at the end of the second Avengers movie) we get a full blast of the legendary Marvel Comics villain, who was created by writer/artist Jim Starlin, here in Infinity War . No longer content with letting others do his bidding, Thanos goes on a personal crusade to collect the ...