Brian's Thoughts on Movies

“Come with me if you want to live” – several characters in the series The Terminator series is an example of a successful film that is strung out for too many entries, which threatens to dilute the original product.  I am glad there was never an E.T. 2; Elliot Goes to Space, or a fourth Indiana Jones film (oops, I’ll get back to that series on these days).  To me the first two Terminator installments are classic films and the rest have their moments but not the power of those first two.  James Cameron, who wrote and directed The Terminator and co-wrote, coproduced and directed Terminator 2; Judgment Day, allegedly had a nightmare of an endoskeleton walking through fire and developed a science fiction film around it.  Cameron, a visionary director who sets a budget record on almost every film he makes (T2, True Lies, Titanic, and Avatar), filled two movies with his ideas and then stepped away from the series.   A new Terminator film only comes out every seve...

As I have written reviews for the other 24 seasons here are a few thoughts on the new one.  As always, there are spoilers below so please watch the series first: 24 Legacy uses the same format (a real time thriller) and much of the same creative team.  Howard Gordon , Manny Coto, and Evan Katz were the main writers and executive producers.  Jon Cassar, who directed many of 24’s best episodes also directed several episodes of the new season.  Stephen Hopkins, who set the tone for the series as lead director in the first season and then left (Cassar took over for Seasons 2-7 and then Live Another Day), returned and directed several episodes, including the opening episode and the finale.  Hopkins’ staging was very welcome as his episodes contain the most suspenseful scenes.  Sean Callery returned as the composer and came up with some new themes but also borrowed a little from the old vault.  Overall the series largely benefited from the old team tho...