Season two of Hill Street Blues came to a close on 13 May, 1982 with Invasion of the Third World Body Snatchers which was written by Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, Jeffrey Lewis and Michael Wagner. Renko (Charles Haid) is left reeling upon learning his father has died, but matters are complicated when the vehicle the…
Tangled (2010) – Nathan Greno, and Byron Howard
Tangled, a Walt Disney animated film is somehow twelve years old and is still incredibly fun to watch, and is one of those Disney films that have now become iconic and has gained an enduring amount of love. A spin on the classic tale of Rapunzel (voiced here by Mandy Moore) the computer-generated imagery that…
The Equalizer (1985) – The Children’s Song, and The Distant Fire
William Zabka is back as Robert McCall’s (Edward Woodward) son, Scott, and there’s a television debut for Bradley Whitford, Ed O’Neill shows up as a local doctor, and Dana Barron from National Lampoon’s Vacation is this week’s person in need of help from McCall’s Equalizer. The Children’s Song was written by Howard Chesley, Joel Surnow…
The Expanse (2017) – Home, and Paradigm Shift
Eros has moved and is now on a direct course for Earth. And, somehow, it’s speeding up. The Rocinante pursues while its crew, and Miller (Thomas Jane), who is still on Eros, try to find a way to stop it in Home. Written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, this episode first aired on 22…
Quantum Leap: Prelude (1994) – Ashley McConnell
Ashley McConnell’s fourth Quantum Leap novel, Prelude, reworks some of the events seen at the beginning of the pilot, ties directly in with her second novel, Too Close For Comfort, and takes us back to when Doctor Sam Beckett and a newly retired Admiral Al Calavicci reconnected following the shutdown of Project Starbright to focus…
The Equalizer (1985) – Lady Cop, and The Confirmation Day
Lady Cop, the fifth episode in The Equalizer’s first series boasts some pretty big and interesting names. It was written by Maurice Hurley and Joel Surnow from a story created by Hurley, Surnow and Kathryn Bigelow(!). It first aired on 16 October, 1985 and sees Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) continuing to wrestle with his inner…
Barbarian (2022) – Zach Cregger
Wow. Writer/director Zach Cregger blew me away with this one, completely subverting my expectations while playing with the traditional horror rules in this fantastic thriller of a film. From his framing to camera movement to casting to the way he doles out the story, Cregger plays with an increasingly film-savvy and educated horror audience and…
West Side Story (2021) – Steven Spielberg
When I first heard that Spielberg was taking on the classic musical, West Side Story, previously immortalized on celluloid by iconic director Robert Wise, I was a little dubious. Not that I didn’t trust Spielberg. Even with some of his weaker films (BFG) he arguably does something unique and noteworthy, even if it just demonstrates…
Hill Street Blues (1982) – Personal Foul, and The Shooter
The Hill Street Precinct deals with a lot of personal things this week in Personal Foul. First airing on 25 March, 1982, Personal Foul was written by Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, Jeffrey Lewis and Michael Wagner. With a basketball game with the local community (and its gangs) waiting in the wings, Renko (Charles Haid) deals…
Space Battleship Yamato (2010) – Takashi Yamazaki
When I was a kid I would occasionally come across the odd anime cartoon, I always found them fascinating, there was the Americanization of Gatchaman that I adored until I discovered how much cooler the original was. And every now and then I would stumble across Star Blazers which took what looked like a naval…
The Mind Reels 