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YEAR OF THE COMET – Hummie Mann
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the more little-known ‘mainstream’ films of 1992 is Year of the Comet, directed by Peter Yates and written by William Goldman, who was inspired to write it because of a desire to combine two of his personal loves: red wine and traveling. His script first hit Hollywood in 1978, and originally Goldman wanted Robert Redford and Glenda Jackson to star as the leads in what he envisioned as a ‘romantic adventure comedy thriller’ in the vein of Charade, wherein the protagonists embark on a chase from London to the Scottish Highlands to the French Riviera, in search of the most valuable bottle of wine in history. The title of the project relates to the year the McGuffin wine was bottled, 1811, which was known for the Great Comet of 1811, and also as one of the best years in history for European viticulture. The film sat un-made for almost 15 years, until eventually Goldman was able to leverage his success off the back of writing The Princess Bride and Misery and put it into production; Timothy Daly and Penelope Ann Miller were eventually cast as the leading pair, but despite some handsome production values and lovely location shooting, the film was a box office disaster, a critical flop, and almost immediately sank into obscurity. Read more…
THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD – Hummie Mann
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When the Reverend W. Awdry first created the characters that feature in his children’s tales of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, I bet he never imagined that one day they would be made into a feature film starring Hollywood heavyweights Alec Baldwin and Peter Fonda – but that is exactly what has happened here with this children’s movie, the first from writer/producer/director Britt Allcroft. In what can only be described as a psychedelic twist, the film concerns Mr. Conductor (the aforementioned Baldwin who, thanks to political correctness, is no longer fat or a controller), who has lost his magic dust and soon will no longer be able travel backwards and forwards from the island of Sodor, which is populated by talking trains, and Shining Time, a village in the “real world”. Meanwhile, a young girl named Lily (Mara Wilson from Matilda) is visiting her grumpy grandpa (Fonda), and discovers a magic railroad which links Sodor and Shining Time that looks like it will allow Mr. Conductor to continue his mystical travels. However, an evil train named Diesel has other ideas, and it falls to the ubiquitous Thomas to save the day. Read more…
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