Adam Selvidge's Website Blog
Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire: Directed by Zack Snyder. With Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman. When a peaceful settlement on the edge of a distant moon finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, a mysterious stranger living among its villagers becomes their best hope for survival. Zack Snyder is back in another undeniably Zack Snyder film which features all the things that Snyder is well known for: slow motion, plot elements that swing for the fences, over the top action scenes, and enough dangling story threads that would require...
Humans and elves, dwarves and gnomes, wizards and warriors all live and do business in the thriving, overcrowded port city of Cliff’s End, to say nothing of the tourists and travelers who arrive by land and sea, passing through the metropolis on matters of business or pleasure – or on quests. The hard-working, under-appreciated officers of the Cliff’s End Castle Guard work day and night to maintain law and order as best they can. A new drug called Bliss is sweeping across the slums of Goblin Precinct. It makes people feel better – but if they take too much, they...
The Wheel of Time: Created by Rafe Judkins. With Rosamund Pike, Daniel Henney, Zoë Robins, Madeleine Madden. Set in a high fantasy world where magic exists, but only some can access it, a woman named Moiraine crosses paths with five young men and women. This sparks a dangerous, world-spanning journey. Based on the book series by Robert Jordan. The first season was good enough to get me to watch the second and the second is just good enough to get me to watch the third, which feels like a backhanded compliment, but I honestly found the show has way too...
Hero Mode: Directed by A.J. Tesler. With Chris Carpenter, Mira Sorvino, Philip Solomon, Bret Harrison. A teenage coding genius has just 30 days to create the world’s greatest video game or his family loses everything. No pressure. This is a family values, family friendly wish fulfillment story with a main lead still in highschool that 1 – looks exactly like Ryan Reynolds and that’s all I thought about the entire movie 2 – was put in charge of design and development of an entire company’s output 3 – was the son of the owner 4 – was the functional manager...
Man of the Year: Directed by Barry Levinson. With Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black. A comedian who hosts a news satire program decides to run for president, and a computerized voting machine malfunction gets him elected. Another step on my journey to watch (or rewatch as in this case) all of Robin Williams’ films and as I believe I mentioned last time this one came around, this is an obvious ‘what if we just elect Jon Stewart to be president” wish fulfillment story with the comedic genius of Mr Williams as the comedy host turned politician. Oddly...
I Love Trouble: Directed by S. Sylvan Simon. With Franchot Tone, Janet Blair, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens. P.I. Stu is hired to investigate the past of a millionaire Johnson’s wife who is missing. Stu finds that the wife had left her home town with an actor, went to college using a stolen identity and purloined $40,000 from a night club. Starring Franchot Tone as a slick talking private eye on a seemingly small time case that turns into something much larger and a series of some of Hollywood’s most beautiful women from the time: Janis Carter, Janet Blair, Adele Jergens,...
Beacon 23: Created by Zak Penn. With Lena Headey, Stephan James, Wade Bogert-O’Brien, Natasha Mumba. A man living in the 23rd Century works at a remote “lighthouse” in space that serves as a beacon to help passing ships. I had no clue that MGM had their own streaming service and I don’t think I knew that Lena Headey was doing a hard science fiction series until about a week before it started. It’s a well done short season with one or two sets, but with multiple groups of actors, I don’t think there was a single episode where it was...
The Muppet Christmas Carol: Directed by Brian Henson. With Michael Caine, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson. The Muppets present their own touching rendition of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. The gold standard for Christmas movies and in my humble opinion the very best adaptation of the Christmas Carol, a story that’s about 180 years old, being first published in 1843 by Charles Dickens with hundreds of different versions being adapted for every single type of media that you can imagine, including over 20 movies made in the last 80 years. This is by no means a neutered version of the...
A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa: Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher. With Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, Eric Jacobson. When Gonzo accidentally diverts three letters to Santa, he talks Kermit and his friends into delivering them to the North Pole personally. A “made for tv movie” this isn’t the best Muppet content that I’ve ever seen, but it’s also not the worst, that sorta recent tv office comedy they did certainly takes that case. There’s a few fun guest stars and the songs are passable enough, but there’s no real bangers here like there are in the Muppet’s Christmas...
Faraway Downs: With Shea Adams, Eddie Baroo, Ray Barrett, Tony Barry. An aristocrat, Sarah has a cattle station in Australia. Following death of her husband, a barons plots to take her land but she joins forces with cattle drover Jackman to protect her station. it’s been a bit since I’ve seen the original movie, but this episodic version of the story is different in great ways, like how each episode has a real focus, but worse in others, like that new theme song that you get to listen to several times over. It’s worth checking out, especially if you already...
