Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) is Torn in this episode written by Carleton Eastlake from a story by Maurice Hurley and Joel Surnow. It first aired on 5 February, 1986. McCall is asked by a young girl, Laura (Melissa Joan Hart) to help her and her mother, Jessie (Caitlin Clarke) from her abusive father, O’Toole (Robert…
Author: TD Rideout
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972) – Amando de Ossorio
The Spanish/Portuguese horror classic Tombs of the Blind Dead finally found its way into my viewing schedule. It was a fun and interesting watch, with some curious things going on with the treatment of female characters, but the dead Templar zombies are pretty cool. Virginia (Maria Elana Apron) – arguably the most attractive actor in…
V/H/S/99 (2022) – Flying Lotus, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Johannes Roberts, Joseph Winter, and Vanessa Winter
The most recent installment of the continuing found footage franchise, V/H/S/ feels like a bit of a miss to me. There are some interesting story ideas here, but they either take too long to develop, the camerawork is TOO shakey, or they tried to do too much. This time out there is five tales, none…
Hill Street Blues (1982) – Rain of Terror, and Officer of the Year
It’s Renko’s (Charles Haid) birthday, and his friends at the precinct go all out to make sure he has a good time though it partly backfires, in Rain of Terror. The present is a call girl, something Renko doesn’t realize at first and then is angry about before reaching a slightly amicable ending. Written by…
Transporter 2 (2005) – Louis Leterrier
Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is back as the Transporter. The first film was a fun European action film, the second sees the locale changed to North America, specifically Florida, which isn’t a bad thing, but the film’s incredibly short runtime, and its employment of really bad computer-generated visual effects doesn’t do it any favours and…
The Equalizer (1986) – Dead Drop, and Wash-Up
When an innocent bystander, flower shop owner Barry (James Murtaugh) gets involved in a smuggling operation that is using mailed packages as a dead drop, he’s targeted for a quick end. But McCall (Edward Woodward) may be up to the task of helping him in Dead Drop. Written by Maurice Hurley and Joel Surnow, this…
The Expanse (2017) – The Weeping Somnambulist, and Cascade
While the scientific expedition to Venus makes a surprising and worrying discovery, the crew of the Rocinante and the politicians of Earth and Mars delve deeper into the incident on Ganymede. The Weeping Somnambulist was written by Hallie Lambert and first aired on 22 March, 2017. Holden (Steven Strait), Amos (Wes Chatham), Naomi (Dominique Tipper)…
Quantum Leap: Knights of the Morningstar (1994) – Melanie Rawn
Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci find themselves in the middle of a medieval joust?! Sam hasn’t leapt outside of his own life, he’s leaped into a renaissance faire, a group of weekend knights competing in league battle in 1987. Sam quickly finds himself as Phil Larkin who is in the middle of a potential romantic…
The Equalizer (1985/1986) – Back Home, and Out of the Past
It’s Christmas in New York, but that doesn’t mean Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) is expecting a silent night. Back Home was written by Joel Surnow and Maurice Hurley from a story by Neil Cohen, and it first aired on 18 December, 1985. His son, Scott (William Zabka) is still in Paris, and trying to organize…
Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) – John McPhail
A Christmas Zombie Horror Musical Comedy sounds like a definite win. I missed Anna and the Apocalypse when it played at Toronto After Dark a few years ago, and I was a little bummed about it. But now that the holidays have rolled around, I figured I could take a look at it and figure…
The Mind Reels 