The View From The Mountain

I first saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the theater back when it first came out thirty five years ago this week. I was nineteen in the summer of 1984, and I loved the Temple of Doom so much then that I promptly watched it three times in the theaters (movies coming out on home video at that time was a little sketchy; so if I really liked a movie, I usually had to see it as often as I could in the theater). I was a huge fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark (and still am), and, back in 1984, I considered watching Temple of Doom almost like revisiting an old friend. I’ve seen Temple of Doom several times since on home video, first on VHS and then DVD, and I have to admit that each time I re-watched the film my love for it has lessened more and more. When I recently saw it again in preparation for this 35th anniversary review…well, to be honest, while I still enjoyed certain aspects of Temple of Doom , overall, the film is not one of my favorites. One of the reasons that it doesn...

The first Fantastic Beasts movie was an enjoyable lark that tried to extend the popularity of the Harry Potter universe, now known as the “Wizarding World” in the all-important theme parks. The first film succeeded on both counts, introducing us to the new characters led by Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterson) in this prequel cinematic series that takes place in the 1920s, long before Harry Potter was a gleam in his parents’ eyes. The second film, The Crimes of Grindelwald , focuses on the main villain, played by Jonny Depp with his usual razor sharp intensity--yet he lacks the dark menace that Colin Farrell brought to the role in the first film. Written by Potter creator J.K. Rowling, the second film is a grimmer tale that dives right into its main story, setting up a daring prison escape for Grindelwald, who publicly claims to be merely leading a peaceful revolution against the wizards’ unfair status quo. However, Rowling drops very telling hints ...

I was looking forward to seeing The Predator , but not because I was a big fan of the Predator film series. While I enjoyed the original 1987 Predator --with Arnold Schwarzenegger and a cast of manly men squaring off against an alien hunting them in the jungles--the sequel was atrociously bad, and I enjoyed the first Aliens Vs. Predators movie more because I’m a huge fan of the Alien film series, but the AvP sequel was also another inferior entry, too. And I admit to never really being a big fan of the Predator itself, either; as a movie monster, the Predator never really felt strong enough to carry its own film series. The real reason I was looking forward to seeing The Predator , which was released in the fall of 2018, was because it was directed by Shane Black. Shane Black is a writer/director who gave us such marvelous movies as Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang , and The Nice Guys . And he also managed to make a decent Iron Man sequel with the third entry in that series. Black got his s...

Warning: Spoilers! Coming on the heels of the far superior Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek III: The Search for Spock had a lot to live up to--and, to be blunt, the third film in the Star Trek film series (released 35 years ago this year) is sorely lacking when compared to Wrath of Khan . However, Search For Spock , while far from being a great film, does fulfill some important fan service duties to the Star Trek canon. As its name implies, The Search for Spock goes looking for the popular character, who was played by Leonard Nimoy in the classic Star Trek TV series that aired in the late 1960s. But it’s not an easy search; Spock famously died at the end of Wrath of Khan --which was reportedly at the behest of Nimoy, who had grown tired of playing the half human/half Vulcan after three seasons of Star Trek , as well as the first Star Trek film, The Motion(less) Picture , which was released to lackluster reviews (from both critics and fans) in 1979. Yet when Wrath of Kha...