Christopher Symonds

‘It’s a mad house! A mad house!’ So it felt to me finding the entire Planet of the Apes cinematic journey in this new mammoth sized 50th anniversary set in the mail. I’ll try to keep the review succin...
We are so spoiled for choice in this day and age that sometimes brilliance and gold that should never be missed can get left in the wake of unending wave of stuff. In a world of remakes, amazing movie...
The Shining is a revered story the world over, both in film and literature. Stanley Kubrick ’s movie infamously didn’t pass muster with author Stephen King back in 1980, so the author decided to make...
With word trickling down a new Matrix entry is on the way that will include Neo ( Keanu Reeves ) and Trinity ( Carrie Anne Moss ), it feels timely to receive the 4K versions of the trilogy in the post...
There are few directors out there that have the distinction of making sequels to hit films that not only reach the quality of the original, but surpass it. James Cameron is one of them. He is an auteu...
Sylvester Stallone was infamously underrated and dismissed until he stormed the box office and got an Oscar nomination for Rocky . By 1982 he’d attained enough box office clout to name his next projec...
Young Guns successfully entertained the 1988 box office to the tune of 45 million dollars. The film chose to focus on the revenge of Billy the Kid and the regulators on his employer’s killer and once...
William H. Boney , for a 20 something misanthrope, made quite the imprint on the world. Whether it’s a sad indictment on our global culture that these types of people cement themselves into history or...
In the late 70s and early 80s, the short form ‘mini-series’ was a chance for networks to stretch their muscles with event storytelling. Long before HBO and Netflix and Amazon showed that feature film...
Stanley Kubrick was a director of unparalleled technical mastery in his time. There isn’t a film fan, or filmmaker out there that hasn’t delved deep into the many works he produced over three decades...
This reviewer is a little slow to update to new technologies. When it came time to replace some of my old equipment, I dove deep into the pros and cons of the next (and many say last) generation of ho...
This low budget ($300,000 USD) slasher film, made by a recent (in the 70s) USC graduate, would spawn countless sequels and give its backers some serious profits, the world horror auteur John Carpenter...
One look at Spielberg ’s filmography and it’s hard to imagine the man has ever set a foot wrong. But alas, just before the 1980s dawned, he took a misstep with the (at the time) expensive comedy 1941...
Back in the early Noughties, Joss Whedon was synonymous with punchy genre series that, more often than not, dealt with strong female protagonists and thrilling plots. As if cursed by his own success,...
Very early in the history of film different filmmakers sought to tell the story of the world’s infamous vampire. Bram Stoker ’s most famous creation has influenced popular culture, in all its’ incarna...