Guy Ritchie’s follow-up to his take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic creation, Sherlock Holmes, brought to life entertainingly by Robert Downey Jr., plays with some familiar elements, characters and story moments. It gives us a rousing second film that builds on the first and makes things personal for Holmes in his pursuit of Professor Moriarty…
Author: TD Rideout
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) – Ryan Coogler
The MCU’s newest entry, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is Ryan Coogler’s follow-up to his 2018 entry, Black Panther, which launched its star, Chadwick Boseman, to the status of beloved icon. Taken from us far too soon, Wakanda Forever is about the characters processing the loss of their king, T’Challa as much as it is about…
Fringe (2013) – The Boy Must Live, Liberty, and An Enemy of Fate
This is it, the last trio of episodes of Fringe. How will things turn out? Will timelines be restored? Will the Observers be wiped out? Let’s find out. The Boy Must Live was written by Graham Roland and first aired on 11 January, 2013. It puts a reveal on a line often heard from the…
The Expanse (2017) – Safe, and Doors & Corners
Season two of The Expanse got underway with a two-episode premiere on 1 February, 2017 with Safe and Doors & Corners. Safe was written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and plunges us right back into the realm of the Rocinante and the protomolecule, and the possibility of system-wide war. While Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) begins…
Quantum Leap: The Wall (1994) – Ashley McConnell
Ashley McConnell turns in another Quantum Leap novel, and except for a quick moment when we are given another limbo moment for Sam between leaps it is a really powerful tale about domestic abuse, alcoholism and breaking the cycle. Sam leaps into Missy, a six-year-old girl (something that couldn’t have been pulled off believably in…
Fringe (2012) – Black Blotter, and Anomaly XB-6783746
Walter (John Noble) is in crisis. He’s trying to recall his plan to defeat the Observers and along the way, he decides to drop some LSD that he’s rediscovered in his lab. What follows is a troubling confrontation with himself as he, Astrid (Jasika Nicole), Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) continue in their…
The Green Knight (2021) – David Lowery
The Green Knight is a stunning and lyrical film that completely blew me away with its storytelling and visuals. Using the 14th-century poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as its launching basis, Lowery’s tale is fantastical and beautiful, telling the tale of a young Gawain (Dev Patel) looking to make his way in the…
The BFG (2016) – Steven Spielberg
This one seemed like a surefire winner, you’ve got Spielberg working from a script by Melissa Matheson who wrote E.T. The story is adapted from Roald Dahl’s story, and Mark Rylance brings The Big Friendly Giant to life. But no matter how good, the computer-generated images were, combining the computer characters with live-action ones, specifically,…
Hill Street Blues (1982) – Of Mouse and Man, and Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement
There’s a lot going on this week when a prominent public defender is murdered in a robbery gone wrong, something that shakes Joyce (Veronica Hamel) to her core, and makes her question her own future, and if she wants to keep working as a lawyer. Of Mouse and Man was written by Steven Bochco, Anthony…
Sherlock Holmes (2009) – Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie brings his trademark rough and tumble style to the iconic Arthur Conan Doyle creation, Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey Jr. steps into the titular role, and while the script plays with the literary canon and text, it remains a fun interpretation of the character. Jude Law plays the loyal Doctor John Watson, Rachel McAdams…
The Mind Reels 