Author: John Welsh

I brought two prejudices to watching The King, the new film about England’s Henry V. This was Shakespeare’s Henry V, and the Henry V of history. The King is not Shakespeare, and is certainly not history. It is however, a mildly enjoyable film. In the beginning, the film has Prince Hal or Harry, the future…

Spoilers Follow I want you to know how much I enjoyed your miniseries adaption of Shirley Jackson’s iconic novel, The Haunting of Hill House. All story elements were tied-up at the end. The door that could not be opened leading to different rooms for different people was inspired. It had many scary moments. OK, Doctor…

Terminator: Dark Fate bears the visual stamp of James Cameron, regardless of the screen credit. Cameron understands a good action sequence is made with little bits of film; shots of only a few frames, that when edited together moves the action faster than the eye can behold, creating the action more in the mind of…

The Triumph of the Servant’s Hall It begins with news of a royal visit and ends with a waltz. In between you see romance, duty, honor, intrigue, respect for tradition and hope for the future. You hear that rarity in today’s movies, literate dialogue. It is a joy to watch. The cinematography has natural look…

Dances with Wolves. Welcome to Fort Sedgewick (1990) We are introduced to Costner’s Lt. Dunbar as he lay on the surgeon’s table somewhere in Tennessee, waiting to have a foot removed before it goes the way of all gangrene.In those days amputation was the treatment for severe arterial or bone damage. A bone smashed by…

We are in familiar territory here. The story of Billy the Kid has been told several times. Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid suffered from confused story with actors too old for the characters they played. Kristoffer Kristofferson was 37 and looked 47, far too old to play the 21-year-old Billy. Bob Dylan…

In the spirit of full disclosure I must confess I am a Woody Allen fan. I was a fan of his stand-up comedy, and was delighted when he moved into making motion pictures. His brand of humor was stamped on Take the Money and Run, and Bananas. Love and Death was a satire on bleak…

I saw The Hateful Eight upon its release a few years ago, despite the fact it was a Quinten Tarantino film. I am not a fan of his, but it was advertised as a Western and I am a huge fan of Westerns. However, considering Ruthless’ own Goat seems to like it, I allowed it…