Barbarella (1968)
See Barbarella do her thing!
Filmmaker(s): Roger Vadim
In the far future, a highly sexual woman is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way she encounters various unusual people.
Avatar (2009)
Enter the world of Pandora.
Filmmaker(s): James Cameron
In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
16 May Avatar (2009)
Pocahontas of the Southern Hemisphere This comment is on the IMAX 3d version. There aren’t many stories, are there? There are not many good storytellers either. Nor, it turns out, many filmmakers who can make even moderately big movies with a single governing imagination. That...
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
It's a wonderful world, if you'll only take the time to go around it!
Filmmaker(s): Michael Anderson
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
16 May Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Short Story Long What astounds me is how things change. Here’s a film that was celebrated in its day. In fact, I remember my third grade class in the DC area taking the day off to go to this. (The year previously, we had gone...
Are We There Yet? (2005)
24 hours. 350 miles. His girlfriend's kids. What could possibly go wrong?
Filmmaker(s): Brian Levant
The fledgling romance between Nick, a playboy bachelor, and Suzanne, a divorced mother of two, is threatened by a particularly harrowing New Years Eve. When Suzanne's work keeps her in Vancouver for the holiday, Nick offers to bring her kids to the city from Portland, Oregon. The kids, who have never liked any of the men their mom dates, are determined to turn the trip into a nightmare for Nick.
16 May Are We There Yet? (2005)
Away from Home Alone The more I study film ideas, the more I’m amazed at how some ideas continue to live. Take the notion of humorous cruelty. Were the Stooges the first to build a franchise around this. In modern times, it is the “Home...
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Unite and fight.
Filmmaker(s): Jean-François Richet
On New Year's Eve, inside a police station that's about to be closed for good, officer Jake Roenick must cobble together a force made up cops and criminals to save themselves from a mob looking to kill mobster Marion Bishop.
16 May Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Acting by Surrounding This movie is easy to describe. It is a zombie movie. Carpenter’s world is one in which everyone is besieged by demons. It is only a matter of what shape the refuge takes. So he seamlessly maps strong movie situations to this...
Australia (2008)
Welcome to Australia!
Filmmaker(s): Baz Luhrmann
Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.
16 May Australia (2008)
The Story There’s plenty of space for others to comment on how wrong the shape of this is, and whether Nichole is too wooden. Talk like that is boring to me. I enjoyed it in spite of it working hard against success. One reason is...
Assassins (1995)
In the shadows of life. In the business of death. One man found a reason to live.
Filmmaker(s): Richard Donner
Assassin Robert Rath arrives at a funeral to kill a prominent mobster, only to witness a rival hired gun complete the job for him -- with grisly results. Horrified by the murder of innocent bystanders, Rath decides to take one last job and then return to civilian life. But finding his way out of the world of contract killing grows ever more dangerous as Rath falls for his female target and becomes a marked man himself.
16 May Assassins (1995)
Chunky Mix This project fascinates me. Donner is legendary for taking “chunks” out of genres, attaching them to characters, and jamming them together to make hits. Sometimes it works, and sometimes the experiment gets out of hand. This one is a failure, but an interesting...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Once more with feeling.
Filmmaker(s): James Gunn
Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.
07 May Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Experiments On my side, it is all about affordances. Usually I choose a film and allocate the time because I seek affordances for better living in my life. Narrative is all about affordance: what changes in the story, with mysteries and power that I can...
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Let your imagination soar.
Filmmaker(s): Frank Coraci
A bet pits a British inventor, a Chinese thief and a French artist on a worldwide adventure that they can circle the globe in 80 days.
01 May Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Production Design They took an absolutely ordinary film — even dreary in places — and wrapped it in two things that are lovely. The first is a lovely production design. Pastel watercolours that are evocative of Verne’s abstract nature. I have idea who to credit...
Arabian Nights (2000)
Targeted for assassination by his first wife and his evil brother, a young sultan must marry by the next full moon or he will lose his kingdom. His uncertainty over his newfound bride causes her to stall the sultan with a series of fantastic stories to ease the tension and stall her impending execution.
