Easy Rider is a film I never managed to see from beginning to end despite its status as a cultural touchstone - so when The Nuart screened a digitally restored 35mm print, I decided it was time to finally sit down and give the film its due.
First of all, this is unquestionably one of the best restorations I’ve ever seen. Why? Because it’s just about impossible to tell that the film was restored. Scratches and dirt have been removed, torn frames have been repaired, the color has been balanced, but it still looks like a low-budget film made in 1969, replete with film grain. Kudos to the people at Sony Pictures for showing admirable restraint.
The film follows the cross-country adventures of two bikers, Captain America (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) as they travel from Los Angeles to Mardi Gras on motorcycles with a fortune in drug money hidden in the gas tanks. Along the way they stop at a hippie commune, get tossed in jail, pick up an alcoholic small-town lawyer named George (Jack Nicholson) and, of course, get stoned a lot. They also encounter an increasing amount of prejudice as they move further east.
I’m glad I waited to see Easy Rider on the big screen, because despite its low budget the film is part travelogue, and some of its pleasures might not have been as enjoyable on my decidedly un-HD television set. Also, the film is an unintentional time capsule - you can almost touch and smell the era in which it was made, and in a darkened movie theatre the experience was immersive.
In other ways, the film is a consciously deliberate time capsule. With a certain degree of self-pity, the film postulates that society will eventually crush the free-spirited hippies it depicts, using violence if necessary. It’s a film made by young people living in a chaotic time, so it has all the flaws and virtues of young people. It’s full of energy, rebellion, confusion, it breaks the rules… it’s also self-absorbed and melodramatic.
But that’s not a criticism. It’s part of what makes the film endearing. Lord knows I prefer the young, passionate, insane Dennis Hopper I saw in Easy Rider to the indifferent middle-aged actor I saw slumming as villains in Speed and Waterworld for fat paychecks. In an odd way, the trajectory of Hopper’s career invalidates the message of Easy Rider. The hippies weren’t crushed by society, they were paid off and absorbed.
It reminds me of a line Glenn Close says in The Big Chill, which deals with that very issue - “Was it all just fashion?”
The only bad thing about seeing Solomon Kane early is… you have to wait even longer than the rest of the world for the sequel. 
Actor James Purefoy makes for a terrific Solomon Kane. He sinks his teeth into the role, as he did with Mark Antony on the HBO series Rome, and doesn’t let go, deftly portraying a violent man who strives to be peaceful, but can’t stand idly by while good people are made to suffer. Director Michael J. Bassett not only drew solid performances out of everyone - Purefoy, Pete Postlethwaite, Alice Krige, Max Von Sydow (!) - but he kept the film moving at a good clip and showed a steady hand with the action scenes. 
I hesitate to discuss the plot in any detail since the film won’t be released for some time yet, but a number of story beats were plainly inspired by Star Wars and Conan The Barbarian. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. 
Once you get past the absurd concept that the protagonist of Danger Man, John Drake (Patrick McGoohan), is supposed to be an American secret agent, you’ll have a good time with this series. McGoohan is many things, but an American he is not.
Each episode is half an hour, so the pacing is brisk. A typical episode begins with Drake journeying to a foreign country on a mission (i.e. stock footage followed by a small set in England doubling for the location). Sometimes Drake recovers a stolen piece of microfilm. Sometimes he breaks up a spy ring, or a band of drug smugglers. Sometimes he solves a murder, or prevents one - but he rarely commits one. 
On a side note, fans of The Prisoner - 
Is it good? Yes, it is. Is it as good as everyone thinks it it? No, it isn’t. Much like The Dark Knight, people have such love for this franchise they’re not seeing the film, they’re seeing what they want to see. 
That being said, the film does what it sets out to do - it clears the decks and sets the franchise back at zero again. Since I loathe every iteration of Star Trek that followed the original series, it pleases me to see the franchise return to its roots. Hopefully, the people in charge of making the inevitable sequel will avoid the modern compulsion to retread old ground and tell some new stories instead. After all, the idea is to “boldly go where no man has gone before” - so if I see Javier Bardem playing Khan in the sequel to this film, I’ll content myself with the original episodes and movies. But for the time being, let’s say I’m cautiously optimistic.