Mad Max and the Planet of the Apes sequels may have paved the way for it, but John Carpenter’s Escape From New York (1981) was the first movie to look at the not-too-distant future of American life and see a junk pile, an urban dream falling apart. Even the hero was falling apart: Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken wore an eye patch and a burnout scowl. The film was too crudely made to qualify as a ”vision” (that would come later, with Blade Runner and RoboCop), but what kept you watching was the novelty of the premise — Manhattan as an entropic sci-fi comic-book hell. Read More...
Chances are, if you know nothing else about John From Cincinnati, you’ve seen the TV and print ads of Bruce Greenwood, who plays a legendary surfer, levitating a few inches off the ground. It’s a paranormal touch not usually associated with the low-down humanism of series co-creator David Milch (Deadwood, NYPD Blue). But it is in keeping with the work of co-creator Kem Nunn, a surfer and novelist whose books — starting with the great Tapping the Source (1984) — have always allowed for the elemental, mystical pull of the ocean. Read More...
House of Cards star Michael Kelly says he jumped at the chance to play a CIA station chief in season 2 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: “I was like, ‘That sounds like a lot of fun, ’cause John’s awesome to work with.'” He’s referring, of course, to John Krasinski, who is back as the titular operative. But while Kelly first bonded with Krasinski over a game of darts years ago, his character, Mike November, isn’t so thrilled to spend time with Krasinski’s Jack. Read More...
