That ornament isn’t the most bizzare Star Trek tie-in merch ever. This is:

As I recall, 1776 (which he made as an independent producer after retiring from Warner’s) was viewed by him as his baby, his personal “gift” to American culture and history or whatever. When it bombed (along the lines of his other last big hurrah, Camelot), he decided it was finally time to leave the business.

Jack Warner could be one nasty sonofabitch (the story of him basically swindling his brothers out of their own company is legendary), but overall the guy’s studio consistently cranked out some pretty good movies. He also was pretty up front about the kind of guy he was.

Generations: Just a hot mess. Some nice character work from Malcolm McDowell and some nice cinematography from legend John A. Alonzo. But suffers from the presumed need to be a movie with the TOS and TNG cast when it was already past the time for that. Hot take: I’m kinda neutral about how they bumped off Kirk, but…

Season 1 of Westworld was great, but everything that followed it was so awful I’d rather forget about the whole thing to begin with.

So, I’m a pretty big Hitchcock obsessive. In my area there’s a movie house that just shows classic old movies (on film, no less!), and every year they do a Hitchcock festival. It’s a regular calendar event for me, like Christmas or the 4th of July. I’ve read several books on Hitchcock, including Robin Wood’s Hitchcock’…

True, though the first two adaptations of the Maltese Falcon were hardly classics. The Huston-Bogey version was kind of like hitting a grand slam after a ball and a strike.

1939 rivals 1999 for all time movie years

so unless some 70-80 year-olds are “reading” this slideshow, half the films here are hardly relevant for discussion.

I think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, like Saving Private Ryan suffered a bit from “presumed winner syndrome.” For whatever reason, the Academy voters don’t like it when everyone treats a particular film as a shoo-in for the award, and will frequently strike a contrarian tone. 

While it’s one of John Ford’s better films, it ain’t Citizen Kane. In fact, at this point, Valley is most memorable for being the answer to the trivia question, “Which film beat Citizen Kane at the 1942 Oscars?”

Is it, though? Not Khan?

You must have seen a very different film. It was rubbish.

as much as I love WoK, it’s a shame that it’s cast such a large shadow over the franchise that it seems like they just can’t get out from under it.

I think there was hope it would be JJ

1. I agree with the basic premise. There is just so much Star Trek going on at the moment. Some of it’s so-so, some of it’s good, some of it’s great. The “Kelvin” timeline is redundant. True, it would have been great to see more of the crew in something other than nonsensical JJ “mystery box” plots. That’s sort of…

Eh, the idea that greatness inspires, or calls for more greatness is unproven. There have always been better cop/crime shows around than the various CSI’s and Law and Orders. Those franchises keep rolling along regardless. I also thought “Strange New Worlds” blew the doors off anything they’ve been doing with their…

It’s funnier if you’re really into Hitchcock. Plus there’s all kinds of little gags I like:

Namely, more screen time for all of the youthful charm and easy camaraderie of the “Pogues for life!” kids acting like, well, kids. (Granted, in the grand tradition of teen TV, these high-schoolers are played by actors pushing 30.) The third season offers up sweet romantic moments for all of its main teen…

Perry Mason isn't a "Public Defender." A Public Defender is a lawyer appointed by the court for clients who can't afford to hire a lawyer. Mason works for a fee (or at least tries to). He's a private defense attorney.