Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s been a while since I did one of these Disney+ Roundups. Mainly because I’ve been very busy with attending conventions these past couple of months, including Exeter in October and London in November. Anyway, let me share what I’ve seen on Disney+ lately.

I’ve seen four films. The first was the 1950 film ‘Treasure Island’, starring Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins and Robert Newton as Long John Silver. I’m familiar with ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ as an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel more than the 1950 film.

I did see the 1950 film as part of my research for writing my ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Junglos 4198’, which has elements of ‘Treasure Island’ featured in it. I enjoyed seeing the 1950 ‘Treasure Island’ film recently on Disney+, and it could be more faithful as an adaptation.

Bobby Driscoll is very good as Jim Hawkins in this film. You might recognise him for being in Disney films like ‘Song of the South’ and ‘So Dear to My Heart’. He also voiced Peter Pan in the 1953 Disney film. It’s a pity he didn’t have Luana Patten joining him in this film.

Robert Newton is equally very good as Long John Silver. Apparently, Newton’s portrayal of Long John was what helped to popularise the portrayal of a pirate in pop culture. There’s also Basil Sydney as Captain Smollett as well as Walter Fitzgerald as Squire Trelawney.

There’s Denis O’Dea as Dr. Livesey and Finlay Currie as Captain Billy Bones. Apparently, John Laurie from ‘Dad’s Army’ plays Blind Pew in the film and there’s Francis de Wolff as Black Dog. Patrick Troughton from ‘Doctor Who’ even makes a small cameo in the film. 🙂

The second Disney+ film I saw was ‘The Sentinel’, a 2006 political action thriller film. The film stars Michael Douglas and he plays a veteran United States Secret Service special agent who’s suspected of treason after an attempted assassination of the US president.

I must admit, I couldn’t quite follow what was going on in the film, especially with the political atmosphere being set up. There are echoes of the film ‘Shadow Conspiracy’, which I saw on Disney+ in 2022. The more I watched it though, I enjoyed the action thriller scenes. 🙂

As well as Michael Douglas, there’s Kiefer Sutherland who plays Secret Service Agent David Breckinridge, who happens to be the protégé of Michael Douglas’ character. There’s Eva Longoria who plays a rookie Secret Service Agent named Jill Marin in the film.

Kim Basinger also plays Sarah Ballentine, the First Lady to David Rasche as President John Ballentine. It was nice to see Kim Basinger, since I enjoyed her as Vicki Vale in the 1989 ‘Batman’ film with Michael Keaton. I’m pleased I’ve seen her in more than one thing.

In the film, Michael Douglas and Kim Basinger’s characters have an affair. I enjoyed how that was unveiled in the film and how the consequences of their actions were depicted in the film’s finale, especially after Michael Douglas’ character helped stop the assassins.

The third Disney+ film I saw was ‘Hocus Pocus’, a 1993 fantasy comedy film. My parents and I saw this film a day after Halloween in October. It’s a pretty enjoyable film about a villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy. 😮

The witches include Bettie Midler as Winifred ‘Winnie’ Sanderson, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson and Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson. It’s unfortunate that the three witches are resurrected on Halloween night in Salem, Massachusetts in this certain film.

The teenage boy who resurrected the witches is Omri Katz as Maximilian ‘Max’ Dennison. He’s joined by Thora Birch as his sister Danielle ‘Dani’ Dennison. I’ve seen Thora Birch before in films like ‘Monkey Trouble’ and ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. I enjoyed her in this. 🙂

There’s also Vinessa Shaw as Allison Watts, Max’s love interest and classmate. I like how the semi-romance was developed between Max and Allison in the film. The antics of the trio of Max, Dani and Allison thwarting the three witches at every turn was also fun to see.

Apparently, ‘Hocus Pocus’ has a legacy since it came out, including a theme park attraction, a TV special, a short film and a sequel on Disney+. I don’t know if I’ll be seeing ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ anytime soon. I probably might watch it later this year or in the New Year.

The fourth and final Disney+ film I saw lately was ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’, starring Sean Connery. This happens to be based on a comic series by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill of the same name. Apparently, it wasn’t well-received by critics.

The film also happens to be Sean Connery’s final live-action film before he retired in 2006. Having not reading the comic series myself, I enjoyed ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ on some level, although I believe I would’ve restructured the narrative better.

Essentially, this film is a bit like Marvel’s ‘Avengers’, except the heroes are an assortment of fictional literary characters and it all takes place in the 19th century. Sean Connery plays Allan Quatermain, a legendary adventurer and hunter created by H. Rider Haggard.

There’s also Naseeruddin Shah as Captain Nemo, Peta Wilson as Dr. Mina Harker who has vampiric abilities, Tony Curran as Rodney Skinner a.k.a. the Invisible Man, Stuart Townsend as Dorian Gray, Shane West as Tom Sawyer and Jason Flemyng as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

There’s also Richard Roxburgh who plays M in the film. I can’t say ‘LXG’ is anything spectacular, but I enjoyed seeing it when I did on Disney+. I get the impression that there was supposed to be a continuation after that, but it didn’t really come to anything here. 😦

I’ve enjoyed these four films on Disney+ lately. It’s hard to decide which ones the best, though I suppose I could say ‘The Sentinel’ is the weakest, then it’s ‘Hocus Pocus’, then ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ and it’s 1950’s ‘Treasure Island’ that wins. 🙂

Stay tuned for another Disney+ Roundup on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ soon. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂