Adam Selvidge's Website Blog
Secret of the Incas: Directed by Jerry Hopper. With Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell. An adventurer searchers for hidden treasure in the Peruvian jungles. A film mentioned in a book I read recently, “California Tiki”, “Secret of the Incas” features the singing of Yma Sumac, well known for her “Exotica” album work. As a happy coincidence, one of my favorite silver screen actresses is here too, Glenda Farrell is here, but to be honest I didn’t even catch on to that fact until after the movie was over, some super sleuth I’d be! More apparent though is...
After World War II, suburbs proliferated around California cities as returning soldiers traded in their uniforms for business suits. After-hours leisure activit It should be no surprise that I found this book to be both entertaining and informative, as I’ve long has a fascination with what I knew of pop tiki culture since I was in high school and was introduced to it through MTV’s Beachhouse Tiki God. The MTV version was terrible on nearly every level, but it was the seed that grew into wanting to know more and forming an identity for myself. I’m the proud owner of...
War of the Worlds: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin. An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival. After getting home from seeing the latest “Top Gun” film, Netflix suggested that I watch “War of the Worlds”, which I remember as being a fine movie, but that there’s been a couple better made adaptations of the story in recent memory from 2019 period piece mini series to the 2019 ongoing modern series. I also remember that I had...
Club Paradise: Directed by Harold Ramis. With Robin Williams, Peter O’Toole, Rick Moranis, Jimmy Cliff. A retired Chicago firefighter partners with a reggae singer to turn a seedy Caribbean nightclub into a resort for affluent tourists. Another movie from early in Robin William’s career, this is much better than the last couple I checked out. Weird thing about this one is that I don’t think there was a single brassiere in the entire film. It’s only rated pg-13, but if brassiere-less women is your thing, this is the place to be. As a PS, a few hours after I wrote...
Top Gun: Maverick: Directed by Joseph Kosinski. With Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly. After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. The most shocking part of this film isn’t that Tom Cruise came back for it, nor that it’s doing exceptionally well, but that the story is a heartfelt look into the life of a guy that knows were he belongs and does everything he can do...
I Am Curious (Blue): Directed by Vilgot Sjöman. With Maj Hultén, Vilgot Sjöman, Lena Nyman, Börje Ahlstedt. Told in a quasi-documentary style, this companion piece to Jag är nyfiken – en film i gult (1967) deals with topics such as class society, religion, sex, contraceptives, and the Swedish prison Kumla. Still a controversial film to anyone that would care about it, this is the other side of the coin to the “I Am Curious: Yellow” version of the film, which I’m somewhat uncomfortable calling “versions” because they’re completely different and are unique and separate films. They’re more like companion pieces...
Firestarter: Directed by Keith Thomas. With Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Michael Greyeyes. A young girl tries to understand how she mysteriously gained the power to set things on fire with her mind. I’ve still not seen the original film with Drew Barrymore, and I had only just barely been made aware of the basics of the story, so I was somewhat shocked to learn this is straight up a super hero film with pyrokinetics, telepathy, and telekensis. It’s a perfectly watchable film and I had a good time watching it, but there’s something flat about the film...
Top Gun: Directed by Tony Scott. With Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards. As students at the United States Navy’s elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom. I watched this again because it was included on Paramount Plus and I was about to go see it’s sequel in a few hours. It still holds up as one of Tom Cruises finest roles. It’s pure American propaganda, but I’m ok with that. Buy On Amazon!
Mainstream: Directed by Gia Coppola. With Maya Hawke, Andrew Garfield, Kalena Yiaueki, Nat Wolff. In this cautionary tale, three people struggle to preserve their identities as they form an eccentric love triangle within the fast-moving internet age. Not everyone can be famous, and most of the people that become famous had little personal input on what happened to their fame after they became famous. Some people don’t want to be famous at all, yet are famous because the world doesn’t care about your feelings, the world just wants to be entertained, maybe even a little shocked at what you’re doing....
Directed by Rob Lindsay. No Responders Left Behind is a feature documentary following 9/11 responder & activist John Feal who, along with comedian Jon Stewart and FDNY hero Ray Pfeifer, fought the U.S. Congress to ensure that thousands of terminally ill 9/11 First Responders got the health care This was released back in 2021, but I just now found a stream of it, and I promise you, I’ve been looking! It’s every bit as emotionally frustrating as I expected it to be, with the same obvious players making life difficult for everyone around them, using morally corrupt reasoning to cause...
