We’re just a little over the midway point of Summer 2021, so there’s plenty of time to squeeze the pulp out of the sun and fun. Summer means movies, often big movies, and Turner Classic Movies’ latest in-depth research into the best of classic and genre films continues in the new book, TCM’s Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classicsavailable now here at Amazon. Think about it–What would you recommend for the 30 best summer movies of all time? Writer John Malahy makes his selections, and pulls in an additional 30 movies as suggested “double features,” meaning you have 60 key suggestions that will either re-affirm your own picks, or more likely, provide at least a few new films you may want to try out. Over the past decade I have reviewed most of the books from publisher Running Press’s chronicle from the TCM library, and this latest is on the heels of TCM’s The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter and its sequel (reviewed here and here least year). Today I’m reviewing and previewing the new volume in what has become a major film library for the film historian. You may quibble with some of the picks, but I bet you’ll find at least 20 movies that make your own list of movies or at least help get you in the spirit of summer.
Back in the 1990s when the dot-com revolution took off, it was difficult to find a telecom, Internet, or other tech start-up business that didn’t have a CEO at the helm who drove us all to accept Hawaiian shirt Fridays as the new norm. I still have a closet full of Hawaiian shirts (historically, “Aloha” shirts, a fashion that dates back to the 1920s, popularized in the 1930s). With this crazy 2020, why not resurrect the fad again? We spotted three online outlets ready to answer the call. One hails from the family of one of your all-time favorite comedians, another is a throwback to all things good and Hawaiian, and the third is where Magnum shops today. This will have you pulling out your Israel Kamakawiwoʻole or Don Ho albums and re-start your next Magnum, p.i. or Hawaii Five-O binge. Make no mistake, despite recent fringe elements trying to usurp this traditional Friday garb and 50th state trademark wear for their own political ends, Hawaiian shirts don’t go with guns or camouflage (see instead #HawaiianshirtsforPeace).
While we’re waiting around to find out if we’ll see more of the BBC’s Sherlock, here’s something worth watching. This weekend Benedict Cumberbatch posted on Facebook a link to the unaired pilot for the series. If you’re a diehard fan, here’s a way to catch a different look at the beginning of Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman’s John Watson as they created the chemistry the show is celebrated for across the globe.
“A Study in Pink” was re-shot from the 2009 pilot, tightening up bits and pieces only slightly and in subtle ways so you may think you notice a big difference from the version that first aired in the U.S. on October 24, 2010. It’s been available on the DVD and Blu-ray releases, but only now has the show’s star pointed out the availability of the free streaming version. This version never aired in the U.K. and wasn’t part of the original airings on PBS in the States.
This early poster shows the look of the actors you’ll find in the pilot:
The now familiar music wasn’t yet integrated in such a boisterous manner. Mark Gatiss’s Mycroft Holmes–and any reference to Moriarty–are both absent from the unaired pilot. Cumberbatch’s first run at Sherlock seems to be more cheery, charismatic, slightly less blunt than the version that ended up in the series.
Or is it?
Watch the original pilot, streaming free now on Vimeo:
At a critical point in last year’s World Series the crowd drew silent and a fan in the crowd could be seen in the Jumbotron holding up a sign with three words: Never say die. The crowd erupted. And his team went on to win.
In Ice Castles a young woman overcomes blindness to become part of a successful figure skating team. In Rudy a young man fights desperately to play college football. In Caddyshack a kid picks principle over a college scholarship to compete in a round of high stakes golf. In Slap Shot and Necessary Roughness a coach tries some innovative methods to turn a losing team into a successful hockey or football team. In The Bad News Bears and The Mighty Ducks, a coach tries to make a team of youth baseball or hockey players out of a group of misfits. In The Natural, Field of Dreams, and Moneyball a has-been baseball player returns to the game to save the day. In Pride of the Yankees a professional baseball player tries to fight a terminal disease to keep playing the game. In Jim Thorpe–All American a Native American overcomes racism and class struggle to become a track, football, and Olympic icon. In Brian’s Song two professional football players move past racial differences and face a terminal illness. In Rocky and Creed a guy from the streets fights to be a contender in the boxing ring. In Cool Runnings (Jamaican bobsled), The Cutting Edge (pair figure skating), and Chariots of Fire (track) athletes overcome their personal trials to compete in the Olympics.
The underdog finally has his day.
Each of these sports movies follows a trial against adversity, whether it be a physical, mental, social, economic, or cultural barrier. Some are seriously dramatic and others comical, but most manage to include more than an ounce of humor along the way. And all incorporate plenty of heart. But they all share the theme of “beating the odds”.
A new movie from 20th Century Fox looks destined to be the next beat-the-odds sports movie triumph, and seems like it may be good enough to be added to this list of great sports films based on a new trailer. Eddie the Eagle follows a British skier who in 1988 became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping.
Harold Ramis passed away Monday, and one of the best comedy geniuses left us. Caddyshack, Stripes, Animal House, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Orange County, Meatballs. You just can’t count the total number of laughs we would have missed without this guy. Millions? More like billions. The entire Earth would probably be swinging differently but for the impact of the writer, director, actor, comedian. He understood comedy like no other–nobody–and one of the best proofs of this can be found in this 2009 interview.
I don’t know why that line is so damned funny, but it is. All hail Harold Ramis.
Not long ago the idea of having all your favorite movies available for viewing instantly was as far out there as hover cars. With streaming options like Netflix you can have access to thousands of movies and TV series in a flash, only limited by the speed and quality of your own home access and viewing technology. But just like online news will never replace the physical daily newspaper, streaming will never replace the home video library.
You may find Ian Fleming’s third James Bond novel, Moonraker, to be a surprising, refreshing read for several reasons.
First, it is new to those who have only watched the movie adaptations. Moonraker the novel has very little relationship to the 11th Bond film, starring Roger Moore, where Moore’s Bond is trying to prevent a global conspiracy involving the Space Shuttle.
Second, Bond is humanized. The impressive perfection of Bond in Casino Royale is smoothed out and Ian Fleming, after two other Bond novels, is easing into this super spy’s mystique, his aura, and the nature of this suave and sophisticated man of mystery. The uncomfortable 1950s racial elements of Live and Let Die are thankfully completely absent here. Here we see Bond at home, Bond buying a car, Bond’s daily life as Agent 007, including reviewing forms as any government analyst might do. We get to see that Bond’s life, outside the novels, is routine. It’s a Bond you may never thought you would get to see, if all you have seen are the films.
Third, Hugo Drax is a fantastic villain. Even James Bond admires Drax and acknowledges it to other characters throughout Moonraker. Bond’s preoccupation with Drax’s looks, his facial hair and the odd close-cut workers and their own myriad variety of moustaches is simply intriguing.
Fourth, we get to see Bond commiserate away from the Secret Service offices with M himself. M invites Bond to an exclusive club called Blades, one of the most perfectly described locations in the Bond universe. One might think we’ve seen Bond already do the card game bit in Casino Royale, yet Moonraker‘s card war is strangely epic.
Fifth, you’ll find some classic supporting villains that could be found in classic Hollywood mystery stories, including Krebs, a Wormtongue-toady type who at one time could have been played smartly by Peter Lorre. There’s even a classic mad scientist.
Moonraker finds Bond summoned to M’s office where M proceeds to explain the need for a personal favor. A certain member of the oldest gentleman’s club in all of jolly old England has been caught cheating at cards. What kind of a man–a man who could afford to play the highest stakes of games in a club so exclusive only 200 members are ever allowed on the roster–would risk his reputation and membership on such arrogance and stupidity?
M calls on Bond because he is known around the service as the card player to beat, with a background knowledge of every trick in the book, and Fleming goes to some lengths in explaining the games and the ruses, not in any overdone way but just enough to immerse the reader in Bond’s world. The club has the high brow feel of the club of Duke & Duke in Trading Places, and throughout the novel I wondered if any of Moonraker‘s vivid descriptions directly inspired movie script locations like the exclusive Bushwood Country Club in Caddyshack.
It doesn’t take long for Bond to figure out a way to foil the great cheating millionaire. But this millionaire, Sir Hugo Drax, is key to the British government’s most important pet project–he is the mind behind the Moonraker missile project. Moonraker is Great Britain’s first nuclear weapon and the future of the UK’s national defense system. The significance of the first test of said missile causes M to pull Bond in when a member of the security team is killed at the launch site. Bond takes over the role, which forces him to work one on one with Drax.
At first Bond loathes Drax and continuously finds ways to criticize him to M, yet once he follows Drax to examine his new creation he is rightly impressed with his ability to pull together a team of researchers and support staff, including 50 Germans, to complete this monumental project. His work on site causes him to partner with the obligatory Bond girl of this novel, Gala Brand, a Scotland Yard agent posing as Drax’s personal assistant.
Moonraker is full of good action scenes–Bond chasing after Brand when she is kidnapped, Bond and Brand hiding with the missile silo walls, more than one murder attempt against Bond, the grand card game, and uncovering the secret purpose of the Moonraker rocket. Where Casino Royale was exciting from a plot standpoint but not so much in-depth as far as character is concerned, and where Live and Let Die is now somewhat dated, Ian Fleming’s writing in Moonraker is vivid, rich, and compelling.
Moonrakerwould be ideal as a film remake today. With Dame Judith Dench as M, it would be fascinating to see how Bond could be a friend of sorts assisting M after hours on more of a social mission than a political one. And translating the V-2-inspired rocket and Cold War themes into something compelling today would be a fun challenge for the keepers of the James Bond mantle.
More borg.com James Bond novel “Retro-reviews” can be found here and here.
You can spend your weekend at Comic-Con wandering the exhibit floor looking for mass market collectibles, talking with dealers of original art, talking with writers and artists of current and classic comic books, attend panels and see comic and other creators, TV and movie stars and get the low-down on coming projects, go offsite for parties and studio and publisher events–the biggest problem is doing all you want when there is nowhere close to enough time to do it in. If you’re in for only a few days, you really have to pick up your pace and narrow down what you want to see. Since I spent a whole day in panels and did not stay for the entire weekend, any encounters I had with creators and studio celebrities were pretty much based on happenstance this year. Many creators are now friends, others I gawk at like everyone else from afar. So who did I see?
First of all, in panels I saw the cast of Community, Firefly, and the new series Arrow, including guys I’d love to talk in person someday–Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin, David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel from Bones,and the guy you may know as Bud from Married with Children, David Faustino, who is doing voice work now for Nickelodeon, and he voiced the character Mako as part of the Legends of Korra panel. As I mentioned earlier in the week, waiting in line allowed me to meet and get a photo with Joss Whedon.
The Soup host Joel McHale, Firefly star Nathan Fillion, former Angel star David Boreanaz and Korra’s David Faustino really stood out as funny guys in these panels–surprisingly quick-witted people who got the crowd cheering with everything they said.
I saw the main cast of the Syfy Channel series Haven during their signing session. They really looked like they were having a good time–like they really get along with each other. Also signing in the Sails Pavilion were Richard Anderson, who was the classic character Oscar Goldman from one of borg.com’s favorite borg shows: The Six Million Dollar Man, and Cindy Morgan from the original Tron and Caddyshack. I hoped to run into Bruce Boxleitner, JK Woodward and Scott and David Tipton but my panel schedule caused me to miss meeting them.
On the exhibit floor I watched Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) talk with fans and sign autographs.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was coming into the hall and I staked out a photo op location but his handlers moved him out of the hall so I missed seeing him.
As a Star Trek fan, I was very happy to finally meet and have a nice conversation with Brent Spiner. He was a great guy who was as nice in person as you’d hope him to be from years of watching his lovable character Data. I also had a brief chat at day’s end with Levar Burton, also a friendly guy, signing photos of Geordi LaForge for fans. I’d met Marina Sirtis before so I didn’t chat with her this round, but she was also signing Counselor Deanna Troi photos in the hall.
Earlier this year I reviewed Table Top, a new, fun Web series hosted by Wil Wheaton with the Geek and Sundry creators. I met him near a Starbucks and shared my feedback with him on his show. We talked about some of the games and he graciously introduced me to his wife and friends.
Wheaton is truly “one of us” and a really personable guy. Of everyone at the Con, he is probably my first pick of someone you’d like to wander the Con halls and chat with. Another show host, Blair Butler was attending the Con from the popular genre cable channel G4.
Of the comic book realm, I met Cat Skaggs, a well-known comic book artist who was signing cover prints to Smallville Season 11 #1 and she sketched a great Green Arrow bust for me.
I also met Neal Adams–a comic book legend who created the look of the Silver Age Green Arrow and I finally was able to add one of his sketches to my folio. Neal was sketching non-stop for fans just like the newer, younger artists in Artist Alley–a real “working artist” even after all these years.
I ran into my friend Freddie Williams II also, and he also was busy sketching for fans throughout the Con and selling original art from his various DC Comics series.
David Petersen, known best for his Mouse Guard work, was working on commissions for attendees and selling shirts and art at his booth in Artist Alley. I also lucked into getting a sketch from him and enjoyed talking with his wife, who manned the booth when he was doing signings elsewhere.
I ran into Frank Cho again this year and he said he is still expecting to get Guns & Dinos out soon. He was selling a great pin-up calendar featuring Brandy and the Liberty Meadows gang. More on that in future posts. A nominee for the Eisner in two categories this year, Rachel Rising creator Terry Moore was busy talking with fans.
As with last year, Jim Lee could be found at several panels and signing throughout Comic-Con.
As with Freddie Williams, I met up with several folks from back in the Midwest. I ran into artist Ande Parks and met his wife, while hanging with Sean and William from Elite Comics and Chris Jackson who runs Planet Comicon. Parks was chatting with his frequent cover artist Francesco Francavilla, this year’s Eisner cover artist of the year winner, and someone we have talked about here at borg.com all year long for his great cover art. I ran into Star Trek author Kevin Dilmore twice on the exhibit floor–my third year seeing Kevin at the Con. It’s crazy how you can be in your hometown and never run into anyone, and then fly to San Diego and see so many people from back home.
from Warner Bros. to the eight-film 
, to be a surprising, refreshing read for several reasons.
is smoothed out and Ian Fleming, after two other Bond novels, is easing into this super spy’s mystique, his aura, and the nature of this suave and sophisticated man of mystery. The uncomfortable 1950s racial elements of 
are thankfully completely absent here. Here we see Bond at home, Bond buying a car, Bond’s daily life as Agent 007, including reviewing forms as any government analyst might do. We get to see that Bond’s life, outside the novels, is routine. It’s a Bond you may never thought you would get to see, if all you have seen are the films.
