Allan Fish (1973-2016) The darkest day at Wonders in the Dark

Today is truly one of the darkest days of our lives. We lost our British friend Allan Fish after his long battle with cancer. Allan was just 43 years old. We met online in 2005 after an e bay transaction and the rest as they say is history. Movie lovers, we connected immediately, and Allan and I spoke practically every single day for eleven years. He and I co-founded the blogsite WONDERS IN THE DARK, where we both wrote film and arts reviews over that long interval. Allan visited our home twice in 2008 and 2009 staying both times for almost a month. He grew very close with my wife and all the kids, particularly my eldest daughter Melanie, who became a soul mate of his and vice versa. We spent two weeks in 2013 in London at at his Kendal, U.K. home, enjoying the most incrible time of our lives with his saintly mum Sue Fish, beautiful Aunt Anne Cafferkey, family friends Martyn Roberts and Gianmarco Tremble, cat Suki and all the ducks of Kendal, who grandly benefited by Allan’s generous spirit. Indeed many around the world received gifts from Allan,  a mercenary of the cinema who regularly incurred shipping expences sending out the film rarities he regularly acquired. He was an incredible talent, and the world will see the staggering fruits of his labor when his massive film tome is published. He was the greatest writer I have ever known, and the most passionate adherent of the movies. As a friend we had our share of quibbles -our world views were disperate, but there was a mutual love crossing the Atlantic – a deep and abiding concern for each of our well beings – indeed Allan this past week said some of the most beautiful things anyone has ever done about my family, and how much we meant to him. A friend like this is a once in a lifetime experience. Till the end of our own days we will have you with us every minute, every day, suffusing our thoughts, our memories and the very essence of our being. Dear Allan, you will never know just how much we loved you, and how our lives will never be the same, and how that meaning has been compromised with your untimely departure. You impacted so many lives, meant so much to so many, and left an incomparable legacy for the human race. I simply can’t imagine the world without you beloved friend. I cannot accept your departure. With every drop of blood in our veins we love you and will for all-time.

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46. The Terminator (1984)

by Adam Ferenz

1984. Written by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd. Directed by James Cameron. Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Paul Winfield.

Present day, Los Angeles, 1984. A hulking, naked male figure arrives in a flash of light in an alley, soon followed by another man, slimmer, also nude. The first man proceeds to kill a punk and steal his clothing, before vanishing into the night. The other steals the clothing off a homeless man and slips away from a pursuing police office. Later that day, Sarah Connor, a young waitress, is having a truly miserable day at work. It is about the get a lot worse.

The two men are from the future, where the machines of a defense system have taken control and systemically eradicated the majority of the human population, whose survivors are lead by John Connor, the as-yet-to-be-born son of Sarah, and, as we find out, Kyle, the second man to arrive. John sent Kyle back, to trace his mother and protect her from the Terminator, the first man, a cybernetic being sent to kill her. The Terminator begins by killing two other Sarah Connors, as the data from the future did not specify which Sarah Connor was the mother of the leader of the resistance. Only her name and city, and a year.

As one can expect, Sarah only gradually believes Kyle’s story, while the police never do. Not even after the Terminator upends the precinct, sending Sarah and Kyle once again on the run from the Terminator, who follows them. During the 24 hours they run from the killing machine, they build a small arsenal and make love-thus making their son-before the Terminator locates them. Kyle dies trying to stop the machine, which Sarah finally does, by crushing the construct in a steel press. At the end of the film, she is seen driving into a storm, somewhere in Mexico, a young boy having just snapped the photograph that John had apparently given Kyle in order to properly identify her.

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