TheRetroCritic

Several years before Tim Burton rebooted Lewis Carroll's surreal masterpiece with all the 3D bells and whistles, we got this Alice In Wonderland TV movie in 1999 as an all-star cast took on the classic story. There was something irresistible about this interpretation of Alice In Wonderland as, not only would it be packed with great actors in familiar roles but it was the perfect opportunity to explore parts of the tale the older versions never explored and show off some creative new visuals. The film starts very differently from the book, which is a little off-putting at first, but soon enough Alice goes to Wonderland and the story finally begins in a faithful way with some added moments from "Through The Looking Glass" thrown in. The first thing you'll notice is Tina Majorina (known for  Napoleon Dynamite and Veronica Mars ) feels somewhat miscast as Alice: her performance is much too awkward, her English accent isn't convincing and that yellow dress she&#

Long before Samuel L. Jackson made the Marvel character his own and assembled The Avengers , David Hasselhoff was Nick Fury: Agent Of SHIELD in a 1998 film which saw Fury come back to SHIELD after leaving the organisation to take on Hydra. While "The Hoff" may sound like a goofy casting choice today and, it frankly did even back then, it's hard to deny that he does fit the look of the character in the comics at the time so could it be that the film was dismissed by critics and audiences solely based on Hasselhoff's reputation and past work? If not solely, then certainly partly because, while the actor gets to say some pretty cheesy lines throughout this film, his performance actually works: he's believably tough and wears the iconic eyepatch well. We first meet Nick Fury at a point in time when he's left SHIELD and is reluctant to join the organisation again but when Hydra kills an old partner of his, he is hired back and is soon ready to kick ass. The f

As we prepare for Marvel's new Doctor Strange movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the iconic sorcerer, I take a look back at an early attempt to bring the character to the screen. Dr. Strange is a TV movie from 1978 that was meant to be the Pilot episode for a potential series but it was never picked up. Stan Lee worked as consultant on the project so the goal was definitely to stay somewhat true to the comics but a low-budget, a dull script and some wooden performances all around contributed to a film which is forgotten for a good reason. Reviewing it is, in fact, no easy feat since very little actually happens in the film story-wise: there's an evil witch, she wants to defeat a wizard, she doesn't, the end. The witch is Morgan Le Fay, played by a glamorous and over-the-top Jessica Walter who tries to make the film entertaining but fails due to an underwritten character that's hardly a genuine threat at all. Dr. Stephen Strange is played by Pete

Based on Richard Matheson's short story, Duel is a 1971 TV movie about a guy being taunted by a big truck on the road for no apparent reason. It stars Dennis Weaver and is directed by then newcomer Steven Spielberg who made the film on a 500K budget. Duel is often quoted as being the best TV movie out there and, although on paper it doesn't sound like much, it's easy to see why once you do check it out. It's not so much the story which makes Duel as memorable as it is but the suspense and the cinematography, Spielberg using every Hitchcockian trick in the book to not only keep the film entertaining but make the vehicular antagonist into a convincing threat. The movie opens with everyman David Mann (Weaver) driving across the Californian desert for a business trip in his red Plymouth Valiant casually listening to a radio show where Dick Whittington can be heard conducting silly interviews. Eventually, a rusty tanker truck pulls up in front of him, blocking his way,

After the original Star Wars trilogy, somehow the idea of an Ewok spin-off got tossed around and eventually became a thing. As if Return Of The Jedi didn't have enough puppets and furry creatures, we were then graced with not one but two made-for-TV movies all about the Ewoks. And of course I rented the hell out of those movies as a kid because... I was unhinged, I guess. Of course the point was to select some kid-friendly characters from the movies and give younger viewers something to keep them quiet at home post-Star Wars but, as we all know, kids would have probably much preferred a Boba Fett spin-off or, at the very least, some show about C-3PO and R2-D2 getting into all sorts of wacky adventures. But no: we got Ewoks and a mostly unwatchable Holiday Special. Thanks. Luckily, the blandly titled Caravan Of Courage: An Ewok Adventure , which was somehow released in theatres in Europe, at least had some sort of story and dialogs a human could understand. On the o