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December 31, 2015
Written by Roger MalcolmThe-Hateful-Eight-Banner

We open on wide sweeping panavision shots of beautiful snow-covered landscapes encompassing the wild frontier of Wyoming in the dead of winter.  The camera eventually cuts to a cross with a snow-covered Jesus, it’s a long shot with no cut as the camera slowly comes down as we see a six-horse team pulling a stagecoach through the winter snow.  As the stagecoach passes disappearing off frame right a breeze of snow passes right to left of frame before the cut of this beautifully constructed shot.  A magnificent s̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ start and we haven’t even been introduced to a single character as of yet from The Hateful Eight.

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December 21, 2015
Written by Roger Malcolmstar-wars-the-force-awakens

Starting much like the original Star Wars: A New Hope, we find ourselves on a desert planet with a droid being given a map of the location of the long lost Luke Skywalker.  In the opening message to the audience we read that after the Empire’s downfall, the First Order has risen out of its ashes.  The Rebellion is now referred to as the Resistance and their leader is General Leia (still played by Carrie Fisher). (more…)

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Clue Title
Written by Erin Lynn

Clue (1985)

Director: Jonathan Lynn

Producer: Debra Hill

Screenplay: Jonathan Lynn

Cast: Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), Mrs. Peacock (Eilenn Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Wadsworth the Butler (Tim Curry), Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving), Yvette the Maid (Colleen Camp)

A stormy night rages while a group of strangers converge on a dark and mysterious mansion. Nobody understands why they’ve been invited to a party here, and everyone has been instructed to remain cloaked in the pseudonyms assigned them by their “unknown host”. As if this opening isn’t enough to hook the viewer, the tale gets ever more curious as the story unfolds. As the tagline says, “it’s not just a game anymore”. (more…)

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Written by Roger Malcolmh-p-lovecraftBorn August 20, 1890, Howard Phillip Lovecraft contributed greatly to the literary world of horror fiction,  which even more after his death on March 15, 1937 he has inspired generations of story-tellers to retell and borrow elements for their own tales of terror.  However most film directors tend to struggle when directly adapting Lovecraft to screen as much of Lovecraft’s exquisite prose gets lost in the translation, yet others have found more success it seems when only borrowing elements to compliment their more original tales.  Regardless, Lovecraft has infiltrated our modern culture to degrees only he would have believed his Cthulhu mythos to have reached in his world of literary fiction. (more…)

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Dagon   Spain | 98 mins | Fantasy/Horror/Mystery/Thriller | Color

Written by Roger Malcolmaffiche

A shipwrecked couple raft to a local fishing town on the Spanish coast for help, only the residents of Imboca aren’t quite what they were expecting.  Based off Lovecraft’s The Shadow of Innsmouth, it is named after Lovecraft’s short story Dagon, which borrows elements for the film.  Dagon is the fourth film based off Lovecraft directed by Stuart Gordon, the others being Re-Animator, From Beyond, and Castle Freak.   The screenplay was written by Dennis Paoli, who also has writing credits on all three films just mentioned.   Gordon and Paoli had originally intended Dagon to be filmed in 1985, yet instead it would be in some form of production for over 15 years.
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The Haunted Palace (1963) USA / 87 min / Horror / Color

Written by Roger Malcolmf43191987037dbd7f5049da555505c7c

From the pit came a horror of unknown origins, which would lead to a curse on the New England town of Arkham.  Based on Lovecraft’s ‘The Case of Charles Dexter Ward’, starring Vincent Price and Lon Chaney Jr., and directed by Roger Corman, The Haunted Palace derives its title from an Edgar Allan Poe poem.  Notably the credits purposely misspell Poe’s middle name “Allan” to “Allen”.  The studio American International Pictures forced Corman into changing the film’s original title “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” to connect it to Corman’s Poe films of previous success. (more…)

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By H. P. LovecraftLovecraft-Felis

Being told of the cat-and-dog fight about to occur in the Blue Pencil Club—a new thing for your circle, perhaps, though not unfamiliar to amateurdom as a whole—I cannot resist contributing a few Thomasic yowls and sibilants upon my side of the dispute, (more…)

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I was reading an article where Gary Berton makes a defensive argument, being also a critique of Maier’s American Scripture, that Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ gave birth to the Declaration of Independence.  I find this humourous as I believe that not only did Paine give birth through writing ‘Common Sense” but by the more direct route of actually writing the original Declaration of Independence document itself before I suspect he handed it over to his close friend Thomas Jefferson to rewrite.

“But you don’t have to take my word for it,” (more…)

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Written by Roger Malcolmdiamond_dallas_page-yoga

I got off work a little after 2:30 am I believe and didn’t get to bed until slightly after 4am Saturday morning.  My lovely lady E woke me for breakfast at what seemed like 8am and I was soon off to be at my sister’s house at 10am to teach several of the women in my family DDP Yoga.  I arrived slightly late to see everyone there and ready.  I played a few tracks off the new Wu-Tang Clan’s A Better Tomorrow while everyone got situated and to let my mother and sisters hear a few things in particular.  Ironically enough this and a couple texts to my mother on Tuesday led her to say “Yeah, I’d really like to listen to their music.”  What?!  I replied “I never expected to see that!”  and I don’t believe I have figured it out yet either. (more…)

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Written by Roger Malcolm
Colourful 2014 in fiery sparklersStarting with just playing basketball more in 2013, I’ve ended up becoming very proud of my new year resolutions as a way to remind myself of what is or was important to me at the time.  I’m learning to quit being so hard on myself, instead looking at all the positive progress I have accomplished, which I hope may inspire someone else along the way.  My intentions behind all of my work whether it be writing, exercising or any other activity I do is to inspire others to believe in themselves.  Whether that is as much as I believe in myself or more, I know the power of paying it forward, especially positivity.  A little hard work goes a long way, so a lot of hard work will certainly get you to where you are going or at least close enough to continue on.

As I set 5 tasks for my 2014, I have taken the time to review what I accomplished, where I fell short and where I will continue on from.  Through the following link, at the end of this sentence, you can read my article for my 2014 resolution goals.  Without further adieu…
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Beowulf (modern English translation)

By Anonymous

Translated By Frances B. Grummere

LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
To him an heir was afterward born,
a son in his halls, whom heaven sent
to favor the folk, feeling their woe
that erst they had lacked an earl for leader
so long a while; the Lord endowed him,
the Wielder of Wonder, with world’s renown.
Famed was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him,
son of Scyld, in the Scandian lands.

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steven-spielberg-directing-style-114After making Directing Inspiration in 2013, I’ve decided to put together another list of 10 directors that I enjoy very much.  It was easy for me to pick my top 3 picks on my last list and then it became a little more time consuming narrowing down my top 10 personal favourites.  My list was way over-bloated of course, so now it’s time for Part II.  This time I haven’t dedicated any time to ranking the filmmakers, deciding instead to just list them in the order they came to me.  Basically, this is a list who all really deserved to be on my first if only there were more spots.  Since there weren’t, I felt somewhat guilty as they too inspire me a great deal.  However, I have tried to rank each film from top to bottom in accordance to my preference.

Roger Malcolm’s Directing Inspiration Top 10 Part II

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Written by Roger Malcolmrobinhooderrol

What is an anti-hero?  Well, it seems almost everyone has an opposing opinion drifting from reluctant hero to complex villain, however neither of those are accurate.  Though an anti-hero’s character might be reluctant to become involved heroically, they’re more importantly not so reluctant when it comes to achieving their goal by any means necessary.  Where-in a conventional hero does no wrong, an anti-hero typically makes the audience question their allegiance to the character on-screen.  An anti-heroes character is flawed, yet they still strive to rise up out of their imperfections to attempt a heroic fate. (more…)

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Written by Roger MalcolmGlobalforcewrestlling I’ve been watching pro wrestling since I was 4.  I was a teenager during the time of pro wrestling known as the Attitude Era and have always seen 1997 as my favorite year.  After 10 years of watching, 1997 just seemed to come together so perfectly to me.  Bret Hart, leading the Hart Foundation, was a heel in the U.S. and still a babyface in Canada, which made for great television and diverse crowds.  Stone Cold Steve Austin, where as he was never a favorite of mine, began his meteoric rise to super-stardom.  Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley formed D-Generation X.  Though perhaps the most important factor of all these former WWF personalities performing in 1997 was the announcing by Jim Ross.  (more…)

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King Kong (1933) USA / 104 min / Adventure Fantasy Horror / B/W

Written by Roger MalcolmKing Kong (1933) France_2The greatest monster film ever, unrivaled in spectacle is the classic King Kong.  The premise is based on an idea by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace.  Cooper alongside Ernest B. Schoedsack would co-direct though both would be uncredited.  The screenplay was written by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose.  Creelman would write the screenplay for The Most Dangerous Game (1932) which was filmed simultaneously on the sets of King Kong as both would feature Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong.  Rose would go on to write the screenplay for Mighty Joe Young (1949) which Schoedsack would also direct as well as directing Kong’s sequel Son of Kong (1933) released fittingly only 9 months later to capitalize on the success of it’s predecessor.

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