TheRetroCritic

Before we lost Adam West in 2017, the iconic actor gifted us one last performance as Batman in animated sequel Batman vs. Two-Face . Based on the original 60's TV series, it introduced Harvey Dent/Two-Face who is voiced by William Shatner. The preceding movie, Batman: Return Of The Caped Crusaders , was a fun, silly homage with everything you'd expect from the classic show like lots of classic villains, an over-the-top storyline and a cast including Burt Ward and original Catwoman Julie Newmar. Batman vs. Two-Face also captures the spirit of the show perfectly with lots of funny mistakes left on purpose, silly labels on everything and onomatopoeia-filled fight scenes. The animation is a little less stiff than it was the first time around and there's a lot more emphasis on the story as this new take on Two-Face keeps you guessing throughout. We're introduced to Harvey Dent early on, his friendship with Bruce Wayne prompting some jealousy from Dick Grayson, of cours

Partly a project started by Adam Nimoy and his father focused on the Spock character's conception and cinematic journey, partly a crowdfunded homage to the late actor, For The Love Of Spock is a new documentary tribute with a lot to say and a lot of heart. Chronicling the impact of Star Trek , the birth of Spock and the ups and downs of Leonard Nimoy's career, the film takes great care to touch upon different aspects of the actor's journey from his films to his family life, other interests like directing, theatre or photography and what he and his iconic character means to the fans. A lot of emphasis is put into showing how all kinds of fans have gravitated towards the stoic Vulcan from the 60's to today as we get interviews from cosplayers, celebrities (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jason Alexander) and NASA employees who all explain what the character means to them. Of course, the key members from the Original Series' cast are all there to talk about on and off-set s

In this seventh episode, fellow film buff Jamie and I discuss movie news, review a recent release ( World War Z , this time) and rewind back to more retro cinematic topics. Guess what song was being sung in the "I Shat Myself" segment and get a shout-out in the next episode! You can email your answer here: bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below. @TheRetroCritic retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com

After two outings heavily reliant on comic relief and having a lighter tone altogether, The Undiscovered Country comes in with the director of The Wrath Of Khan at hand and a much more political plot far easier to take seriously than anything involving whales or crazy cat ladies. This was a return to form for the series which had become more cute and campy than legitimately involving sci-fi. Here we have what is basically the Cold War in space but with Shakespearian Klingons, sexy shape-shifting aliens and... Vulcan Kim Cattrall. All weird, wonderful stuff so far, I think you'll agree. This time, the overall tone mixes serious with playful much more convincingly and it never really goes too far one way or the other making this the most balanced Star Trek flick in a while. It has its fun moments with Kirk and McCoy having to deal with being unjustly exiled to some snow/desert planet and Uhura trying to get to grips with the Klingon language but it takes itself somewhat seriou

Ah Star Trek V ... Just thinking back to it is a joy! This William Shatner-directed outing for the Star Trek gang sees interesting ideas being merged with some truly silly ones to create what is quite probably the goofiest non-whale-related movie of the franchise but also one of the most entertaining and memorable. The film opens on a desert planet where a prophetic Vulcan called Sybok appears to have the power to heal others of their fears. It's a promising start and just when it looks like this might develop into a really cool plot involving magical Vulcans and stuff, we meet the Star Trek (old) boys who are on shore leave just bumming around, being wacky. You've got Kirk climbing mountains, super-Spock showing off his brand new rocket-boots and McCoy joining both of them for a drink and a "Row Row Your Boat" sing-along over a camp fire. It's cute and you do feel like these guys really have become a family but it's pretty cartoonish considering

After the relatively slow-paced, somewhat psychedelic, Kubrick-esque first movie outing for the Star Trek gang, they all returned for The Wrath Of Khan , a far more action-oriented sequel with a significant villain who isn't a giant space anus. Though personality-wise, he's not far off. This sequel is often on people's Best Star Trek Movies list, right at the top, and it's easy to see why: you've got a cruel enemy out for revenge, Chekov with brain bugs in his ears, Kirk screaming "KHAAAAN!", a doomsday machine of sorts, that infamous ending but, most importantly, it's just very entertaining and much closer to the Star Trek blockbuster format fans were hoping for. Ricardo Montalban is what most people remember about this one, mostly because of the ridiculous attire his character, we assume, made for himself during his banishment on a barren planet but also because of that glorious mullet, those weirdly toned old-man-pecs, his sadistic hate for C