Category Archives: This Month In . . .

Jurassic Park featured

This Month In . . . 1993 (June)

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June 1993 was all about one movie: the long-anticipated adaptation of Michael Crichton’s prehistoric Techno-thriller Jurassic Park.

In hindsight, it is hard to imagine anyone other than Spielberg at the helm of such a big-money extravaganza, but everyone from Tim Burton to Richard Donner were clambering for the hotseat until Universal finally won out and snatched the rights. Naturally, they presented their prize asset to the man who gave birth to the summer blockbuster […]

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This Month In May 1991 featured

This Month In . . . 1991 (May)

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The month of May was packed full of high-grossing box office hits, but the opening week was most notable for a stylish low-key comedy with a big heart. Based on a crime novel by Chester Himes, Bill Duke’s Rage In Harlem is a touching tale about an ingenuous churchgoer named Jackson (Forest Whitaker), who wins the heart of a salacious female grifter (Robin Givens) after becoming a key component in her latest con […]

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This Month In April 1985 featured

This Month In . . . 1985 (April)

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April was a month packed with frat pack comedy, but the box office would throw up some memorable sleepers as we approached the busy summer season.

One of those was tongue-in-cheek horror compendium Cat’s Eye. Based on short stories by a red hot Stephen King, the film would throw up a mixed bag backed by a plethora of notable stars including E.T.’s Drew Barrymore as a cutesy infant confronting a troublesome demon in ‘The General’ […]

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Robocop feat

This Month In . . . 1988 (March)

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Storming the box office charts for March was Mike Nichols’ comedy-drama Biloxi Blues. Adapted from a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the movie would star Ferris Bueller’s Matthew Broderick as a young army recruit attending boot camp during the Second World War.

Broderick would create the role of Eugene on Broadway, a character with three goals in life: to become a writer, lose his virginity and fall in love. It would also explore bigotry and racial segregation […]

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Rocky III Featured

This Month in . . . 1983 (February)

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The month of February would get off with a bang for horror fans. Released on the same day, The Entity would go head-to head with David Cronenberg’s body horror classic Videodrome. Directed by Palm D’or nominated director Sidney J. Furie (The Ipcress File), The Entity was based on the real life Doris Bither case and tells the story of a malevolent poltergeist who purportedly raped and tormented her for years […]

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This Month in . . . 1984 (January)

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Traditionally, January is a slow month at the Box Office, and 1984 was no different following a busy festive period which included Clint Eastwood’s fourth outing as Dirty Harry and Brian De Palma’s seething gangster epic Scarface. January 13th would see the release of Hot Dog . . . The Movie,  a racy, teenage comedy lost in the overabundance of Porky’s clones which saturated the mid-1980’s.

The movie would star An American Werewolf in London’s David Naughton […]

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This Month in . . .1985 (December)

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The first week of December would see a limited theatrical release for Golan-Globus thriller Runaway Train. Based on a screenplay by innovative Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, the movie is also notable for the debuts of Heat’s Danny Trejo and Tommy “Tiny” Lister, who would become a professional wrestler for a brief time in the late 1980’s after starring alongside Hulk Hogan in infamous WWF stinker No Holds Barred (1989). So badly received was the World Wrestling Federation’s first foray into the movie business that CEO Vince McMahon . . .

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This Month in . . .1987 (November)

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The Cannon Group releases its fourth instalment of the Charles Bronson-led Death Wish series. Titled Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, the movie would lose original trilogy director Michael Winner along with a chunk of its usual budget, resulting in a much more limited release. Winner would refuse to return for the sequel after clashing with Bronson during the filming of Death Wish 3. Cannon had also begun belt-tightening thanks to […]

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