Scott's Movie Reviews – A Century of Cinema: Reviews by Scott Schirmer

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

[7] Charles Laughton plays H.G. Wells' mad scientist in the first film version of The Island of Dr Moreau. It's a reasonably faithful adaptation until the halfway point, where it gets as loose as the Demi Moore version of The Scarlet Letter.…

November 15, 2026

2012 (2009)

[5] No filmmaker is willing to justify mass destruction and cinematic mayhem with flimsier excuses than Roland Emmerich. Emmerich got away with earlier in his directorial career because the films counterbalanced their stupidity with a fair measure of unbridled fun -- like…

November 15, 2026

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

[6] Walt Disney combines Charles Perrault's original 1697 fairy tale with the Brothers Grimm's 1812 'Briar Rose' to form the storyline for Sleeping Beauty. The story echoes Disney's Snow White and Cinderella, centering on the cursed princess Aurora, doomed by the scorned…

November 14, 2026

Rambo III (1988)

[4] The muscles and the explosions are bigger than ever, but the story and characters are running on fumes in Rambo III. 1982's First Blood, or 'Rambo 1' for the uninitiated, is a genuinely terrific action-drama with a flawed, tragic hero at…

November 13, 2026

Sabotage (1936)

[7] Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka star in this Alfred Hitchcock suspense yarn about a movie theater owner (Homolka) who is conspiring to set off a bomb in London. While a Scotland Yard detective (John Loder) tries to identify and arrest the…

November 12, 2026

Vampire Circus (1972)

[6] A mysterious circus troupe comes to a small town while a deadly plague sweeps the land. While the citizenry is entertained by the circus performances, its children begin to disappear -- but from the plague, or by something else? Vampire Circus…

November 11, 2026

The Lion in Winter (1968)

[10] Which of King Henry II's three sons will succeed him on the throne? This question is rife with political intrigue, personal vendettas, and intense family drama in The Lion in Winter. The inter-familial relationships in this film are fascinating to watch…

November 9, 2026

Alfred Hitchcock

Hammer Films

Disney Animation