Category: Movie Review

The Best Movie Sequels of All Time

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The Best Movie Sequels of All Time

Before I begin, here are a few basic facts about me that you might already know by now:

I love movies.

I love genre movies — thrillers, action, adventure, horror, science fiction.

I love sagas, series, and trilogies. Call them what you want; I love to revisit characters and storylines that captivated my attention in the first film.

The Greatest Trifectas in Film History

 

The Greatest Trifectas in (Recent) Film History by TSJ

While writing the blog entry “Where Has the Character-Driven Action Film Gone?” (found here) I mentioned the idea of a trifecta — or “triple” — in film history. There are few directors who can create successful film after successful film. Having one critical and commercial hit is difficult enough. Having two in a row is even harder. And three? Nearly unheard of.

I decided to create a list of the greatest triples in film history. Even the concept seemed absurd, however — what gives me the right to create such a list? Who am I to say one director created a “better” trifecta than another? Moreover, how does one define success or failure in the creative/artistic industry? Sometimes a box office hit can be a critical failure, or vice versa. Well, to be blunt, this is my blog. I’ll write what I want. However, to identify triples and narrow the field it was necessary to create a list of criteria that I would follow.

TSJ’s Top Three Movies of All Time

 

People often ask me about my favorite movies. I try to watch a lot of thrillers and horror, especially in the Science Fiction genre, I like to talk about movies, and I enjoy reviewing great ones on my blog. So, I figured that this might be a good place to write an article about my top three films of all time.

Counting down from Three to One …

Writer Timothy S. Johnston takes a trip back in time to review EDGE OF TOMORROW on DVD and Blu

 

Title: LIVE DIE REPEAT: EDGE OF TOMORROW
Runtime: 113 min
Theatrical Release: 6 June 2014
Domestic Gross: $100 million
International Gross: $370 million
DVD/BLU/Digital Release: 7 October 2014
MPAA: PG-13
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton
Director: Doug Liman
Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth

SF Author Timothy S. Johnston Looks Back at STAR TREK (2009)

STAR TREK (2009): A PERFECT REBOOT AND A SOARING THRILL-RIDE

(Originally published by TrekWeb on 14 February 2012)

J.J. Abrams and writers Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman did in 2009 what I thought impossible: they rebooted a franchise with over forty years of history, including seventy-nine episodes, six motion pictures, four spinoffs, an animated series, countless books, comics, video games, and references in popular culture. It seemed a task that only a fool would tackle. To face the criticism of rabid fans — a group in which I include myself — and the most critical eyes focused on every bit of the film, including story, f/x, sound, acting and music, a failure could have potentially resulted in complete disaster for the franchise and also the death of careers. But J.J. & Co. faced it head on, with fresh eyes, a new perspective, and with intense creativity.

Decoding THE IMITATION GAME: Fact and Fiction in the Film and Alan Turing’s Place in the SF Genre

“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”

The above phrase is spoken no less than three times in the film, and once in the trailer. It’s an important part of the movie THE IMITATION GAME, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly. Put more simply, it could be said that sometimes people ignored early in life can end up surprising you.