The View From The Mountain

There have been so many films made about Robin Hood that it’s impossible not to hit one of them if you were to randomly shoot an arrow into a field. Hell, even Doctor Who has done a fun episode, Robot of Sherwood , that deals with the Robin Hood legend. But the most recent big-budget Robin Hood film, starring Taron Egerton--along with a weird assortment of costumes that looked like they were ripped off from a Star Trek episode--was a huge bomb, which might as well have brought the noble Legend of the Hood to an abrupt end. But Robin Hood is an extremely tenacious fellow who should never be counted out, as proven in Robin Hood: The Rebellion , a thoroughly enjoyable and scrappy little film with a big heart that stars Ben Freeman as the Prince of Thieves. Finding out that his beloved Marian (Marie Everett) has been taken captive by the Sheriff of Nottingham (James Oliver Wheatley), Robin Hood plots a rescue. However this rescue involves storming the Sheriff’s castle stronghold. The ...

Warning, this here review has spoilers. Terminator: Dark Fate was a big bomb at the box office back when it was released to theaters in November of 2019. And that’s a shame, because I thought the film was very good. Perhaps it was the film’s extremely dark opening, where they kill off John Connor within its first five minutes, that turned some people off. This is understandable, since the previous film that DF is supposed to be a direct sequel to, Terminator 2: Judgment Day , is now considered a classic of the SF/action film genre. And for DF to coldly kill off one of T2 ’s main characters must have made its detractors think: “what was the point of wiping out everything that had gone down in T2?” But the Terminator series has always been about the underdog. Each Terminator movie--at least the better ones--deal with a disparate group of people who come together to try and prevent a nightmarish dystonian future from ever happening. And killing off John Connor was the right move, b...

The release of Terminator: Dark Fate on physical media last week got me thinking about this Terminator diorama that I made several years back. This is a 1/32 scale metal figure of the Terminator from Andrea Models, a figure kit company that's based in Spain. After I assembled it, I painted it using hand brushes. I built the diorama around this figure, basing it within a small diorama box that was originally made to display toy cars. The walls and floor are styrene sheet; the large cans and air pressure rig are from 1/35 scale diorama sets. A clear plastic cover protects the scene from dust. And, judging from the dust seen in this picture, it's doing a very good job. I've had this diorama for just about fifteen years, now. Being a big fan of the Terminator films, I'm very happy I picked up this figure.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood , Quentin Tarantino’s ninth (and, according to him, his second to last film) is a really groovy trip through the Hollywood of 1969. Starring Leonardo Decaprio as Rick Dalton, a fading TV star who’s desperate to keep his career going, and Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, his friend and stuntman, whose career is also circling the drain. Rick was the star of a popular western TV show before it got cancelled, and now he’s doing guest starring parts on other TV shows--which Rick thinks is beneath him. Even meeting with a movie producer (Al Pacino), who wants him to star in Italian-made westerns, drives Rick into further despair. Decaprio does a great job in creating this worry wart who’s constantly obsessing--as well as whining and crying--over whether he’s doing the right thing every waking moment. In sharp contrast is Pitt’s cool as a cucumber Cliff, a rough and tumble type who just lives for the moment (and who may have murdered his wife). But while Cliff may be...

“Broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn't ya, you bastard!” I was reminded by a Twitter post that the movie Tremors just recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. I had seen this movie back when it first came out (in the olden days when we went to the video store to rent movies on VHS), and had enjoyed it very much then. Seeing that Tremors was playing on Netflix, I decided it was time for a re-watch. And I was very glad I revisited the little town of Perfection, Nevada once more. Tremors is a great, remarkably smart horror/comedy about a pair of handymen named Earl and Valentine, superbly played by Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon, respectively, who come across massive killer subterranean worms under the dirt of their one-horse desert town. If this sounds silly, it is. But the movie works so well because it leans into the goofiness of its situation and characters by playing up the humor of the eccentricities on display. However, the film (well-directed by Ron Underwood--...

I recently saw Star Wars Rebels for the first time, and fell in love with a TIE fighter that was on the show. It was a converted TIE fighter with the front panels cut off, and painted yellow. This class of fighter was used by the Mining Guild on Star Wars Rebels . It would make sense for mining operations in the service of the Empire to have their own fighter squadrons for protection. I had an old 1/48 scale TIE fighter model lying around in pieces--I had always meant to fix it up again, and so I did: but as the Mining Guild version of the TIE fighter. I like the design. It's simple enough to convert. Cutting off the panels was easily done, and the yellow paint job really helps to give it a distinctive look. And being 1/48 scale (it's the old TIE fighter kit from Revel) it's bigger than the 1/72 scale TIE models out there. If you're interested, I have this up for sale. --SF

It’s interesting that, just as I sit down to watch Ready Or Not , there’s a huge flare up in the media about how Royal lovebirds Meghan and Harry have made the decision to step back from their duties as members of the British Royal family, and will only stay in England part time from now on. As a fan of the democratic process, I was never a cheerleader of royalty, but when I heard that Meghan and Harry had basically said, “Thanks, but no thanks,” I was actually pleased to hear this. All through history, the British Royal family have proven themselves to be one of the biggest pack of scumbags to ever slither across the earth. The original thirteen colonies had a revolution just to get away from them, after all. And if Meghan and Harry really want to put some distance between themselves and these demented dipshits, all I can say is “Godspeed, kids, and keep running….” And I'm not the only one who feels this way. Some folks have taken this view even further. 2019 saw the release ...