Writer/director Mike Flanagan has been on my one to watch list since Occulus, I love how he tells his tales of the supernatural, and when he adapted The Haunting of Hill House, I had to share that with everyone, as I was sucked in by each episode, and was left an emotional wreck by the…
Month: November 2021
Hotel Mumbai (2018) – Anthony Maras
Hotel Mumbai plays out as a white knuckle thriller, made all the more breathless because it is based on an actual event. The terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008, At the story’s center is the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, the lap of luxury for its guests, with a staff that are devoted to making sure…
The Wandering Earth (2019) – Frant Gwo
Liu Cixin who penned The Three Body Problem series of novels, also wrote the book that is the basis of The Wandering Earth, a massive cinematic undertaking from China. An epic tale that easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the epic end of the world films like Armageddon. In this film, the world is in…
M*A*S*H (1978) – Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde, Major Topper, and Commander Pierce
Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde is the ‘drugs are bad’ episode of M*A*S*H. Written by Ronny Graham, Ken Levine and David Isaacs, it first debuted on 27 February, 1978. The 4077th in the midst of an onslaught of patients, and everyone is doing there best to just survive, get through, and give their patients the…
In the Heat of the Night (1967) – Norman Jewison
In the Heat of the Night shouldn’t be as timely and relevant as it still is. You’d think we could have moved beyond such levels of racism and prejudice, and yet, sections of society seem worse than ever before, and it seems to be both hidden and overt. Featuring powerhouse performances by Sidney Poitier and…
The X-Files (2001) – Per Manum, and This Is Not Happening
Series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz pen Per Manum, a tale that puts Gillian Anderson’s Scully front and center, as Doggett (Robert Patrick) brings her a case that seems to match her own abduction experiences exactly, and plays out horrifically for the abductee. First airing on 18 February, 2001, the episode also featured an…
Mission: Impossible (1969) – Illusion, and The Interrogator
Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team go undercover in an Eastern European country, that looks like it gets its uniforms from the Nazis, in Illusion. Written by Laurence Heath, this episode first aired on 13 April, 1969. The team are seeking to remove two political officers, who are scheming against each other for control…
Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook (2021) – Jenn Fujikawa, and Marc Sumerak
A long time ago, in 1978, in a galaxy not so far away, many of us were scarred for life, by watching, with our indulging families, The Star Wars Holiday Special, an abomination that has never been re-aired, though it’s animated sequence introduced us to Boba Fett before he arrived in 1980’s The Empire Strikes…
Star Trek: Picard – The Dark Veil (2021) – James Swallow
Simon & Schuster delivers another tale set before the first season of Star Trek: Picard with The Dark Veil by James Swallow, this time centering the story on the U.S.S. Titan, and her captain William T. Riker, its counsellor, and the captain’s wife, Deanna Troi, their young sun Thaddeus (which makes what we learn of…
The X-Files (2001) – The Gift, and Medusa
Mulder (David Duchovny) is back! At least in flashbacks he is, as Doggett (Robert Patrick), Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) continue their search for the missing agent, and a case he was working on before his disappearance. Frank Spotnitz pens The Gift, which first aired on 4 February, 2001. While Scully continues to…
The Mind Reels 