Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

The Good and the Bad: Nostalgia-Driven Cinema

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Tom Jolliffe on nostalgia-driven films… Balance is a wonderful thing. In a recipe, each ingredient plays a part. Sugar is good right? The contentious ingredient has taken the blame for so many modern health issues over the years. Let’s face it, there’s almost no nutritional value, but it’s pleasing. You need sugar to make doughnuts. […]

15 Great Cinematic Journeys

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Tom Jolliffe offers up 15 great cinematic journeys…  When it comes to cinema, the very best films will grab the audience and keep us gripped throughout the runtime. Every character goes on a particular journey that can be literal and/or metaphorical. Those literal epic journeys which might see hobbits on a quest to take a […]

Rocky IV: Original Cut vs. Director’s Cut

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Tom Jolliffe pits Sylvester Stallone’s recent Directors Cut of Rocky IV up against the original theatrical cut… Much like the iconic villain within it, Rocky IV defeats all man. A much treasured film which was always rated highly among Rocky fans, even if it might not have been objectively considered a great film. A wonderful […]

The Multiverse Era: When a Cinematic Universe Isn’t Enough

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Tom Jolliffe on the current preoccupation with the multiverse… Cinema is all about cycles. Genres flit in and out of prominence. An action landscape which was once dominated by Westerns was then temporarily displaced by gangster films, then epics, then Westerns again, then a brief parley into pessimistic cinema, before Star Wars laid a significant […]

1991: The Year in Action Movies

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Tom Jolliffe ventures back 30 years to a year well stocked in action films…  Upon revisiting the cinematic landscape of 1991 recently, I noticed something that tickled my nostalgia no end. The year was chock full of action films, with a large number of films packing audiences in cinemas and a number also keeping video […]

The Art of Giving Film Recommendations

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Tom Jolliffe on the art of giving film recommendations… You’ve got to see The Matrix! You have to! It’s 1999, and there’s a distinct transition between the recommender of The Matrix as being ahead of the curve, to a couple of months down the line when such a recommendation is lost in a cacophony of […]

Ridley Scott: All Guns Blazing

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Tom Jolliffe looks at Ridley Scott’s recent tirade against Marvel and Millennials after the box office failure of The Last Duel… It should have been simple right? Ridley Scott delivers a film for Fox (and in essence through Disney) that is heaving with star power. Matt Damon is A-list, if not box office certified predominantly […]

Running Scared vs Running Scared

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Tom Jolliffe looks back at two films with the same title, Running Scared (1986 and 2006)… 2021 brought with it several significant anniversaries. Interestingly though it brought significant anniversaries to two somewhat underappreciated films that share the same title. First of all we have Running Scared, the Peter Hyams helmed action comedy from 1986. That […]

Back to 2001: Ten Essential Movies from Twenty Years Ago

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Tom Jolliffe ventures back 20 years to 2001 and offers up 10 essential films from that year… It’s a little bit frightening but 20 years ago we had become well ensconced in the 21st century. The first apocalypse had been averted and we were slowly ambling toward 2012 hoping the Mayans were wrong (spoiler alert, […]

Back to 2011: Ten Essential Movies from Ten Years Ago

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Tom Jolliffe looks back 10 years to 2011, offering up ten essential films from the year… I’m almost dumbstruck by the fact that we’re now 10 years from 2011. To me, 2011 is the future. I’m still stuck somewhere in 2004. How in the hell are there 21 year olds born this century now? Still, […]