A script based on a Micheal Crichton novel, creature effects by Stan Winston, directed by Frank Marshall who has a long association with Spielberg and Amblin, an all-star cast including Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell, Dylan Walsh and Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje. Seems like a sure-fire win right? I hadn’t watched this one since…
Author: TD Rideout
M*A*S*H (1976) – The Interview, and Bug Out
The season four finale, is a black and white episode, shot as interviews and and as a documentary (with Loretta Swit glaringly missing, she was busy on Broadway). Clete Roberts, who actually served as a war correspondent, plays the Interviewer, and the episode is a collection of interactions between him and Hawkeye (Alan Alda), B.J….
Frost/Nixon (2008) – Ron Howard
I love a film that depicts journalism taking on truth seeking and corrupt politicians. Perhaps in some corner of the multi-verse I’m a newspaperman, who knows… So when Ron Howard dramatised the incredible confrontation between Richard M. Nixon (Frank Langella) and host David Frost (Micheal Sheen) I was there from the get go. Then the…
The X-Files (1999) – Terms of Endearment, and The Rain King
Bruce Campbell pops up in The X-Files this week with Terms of Endearment. Written by David Amann, this story first aired on 3 January, 1999, and sees Spender (Chris Owens) blowing off a potential x-files investigation, that Mulder (David Duchovny) recovers, and heads off to Virginia to investigate. While Scully (Gillian Anderson) covers for him,…
Mission: Impossible (1968) – A Game of Chess, and The Emerald
The IMF team takes on yet another corrupt member of some unnamed Soviet Bloc country in A Game of Chess. Written by Richard M. Sakal, this episode was first broadcast on 14 January, 1968. Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team take on Nicholas Groat (Don Francks), a chess grandmaster who is also organising a theft…
Fletch (1974) – Gregory McDonald
I first read Fletch back in the 80s when the Chevy Chase movie was coming along, and for some reason I had problems keeping the story threads straight, as most of the text in the novel is dialogue, not action, so I would lose who said what and would have to go back, and back…
Moon Over Soho (2011) – Ben Aaronovitch
Constable Peter Grant returns to investigate the supernatural in the second novel in the Rivers of London series written by Ben Aaronovitch. Picking up about six months after the first book, the novel sees Grant still dealing with the fallout from the events of the first novel, particularly the attack that left his friend, and…
The Legend of Korra – The Complete Series Blu-Ray Review
The follow-up series to the brilliant, arguably revolutionary cartoon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, got itself a beautiful release from Paramount Pictures with a steelbook collection, containing the entire series and featuring art work by Caleb Thomas. Much like its predecessor, The Legend of Korra (which garnered itself countless awards, including…
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)- 4K Review
Paramount Canada is gearing us up for the release of Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (opens 22 July, 2021) with the release of the previous two Joe installments on newly remastered 4K. And what they give us is a sparkling picture and sound for films, that is almost as fun as playing with the toys…
Millennium (1998) – Through a Glass Darkly, and Human Essence
Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) is letting more of the grey and silver back into his hair as he confronts more darkness in Through a Glass Darkly, an episode written by Patrick Harbinson and first aired on 13 November, 1998. This is an episode that plays on expectations, and makes you reconsider everything that you think…
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 – Blu-Ray Review
Micheal Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the rest of the U.S.S. Discovery are back, boldly going, with season three hitting blu-ray and DVD today. And with the third season, the series may truly have found their groove, no longer stuck in future history, mired in established continuity, the series leaps centuries into the future, following the…
Mortal Kombat (2021) – 4K Review
Warner Brothers attempts a flawless victory with its 4K release of 2021’s Mortal Kombat, an updated take on the iconic, long-running video game series. While no one company has yet been able to crack a truly successful, and all-appealing game adaptation, everyone keeps trying, and Warner’s latest effort is solid, surprisingly entertaining, but lacking a…
