Damian Lewis narrates text by George Orwell, as director Raoul Peck profoundly demonstrates that we as a society, and a planet, are living smack dab in the middle of Orwell’s 1984. Intercutting with the various adaptations of 1984 and Animal Farm, Peck includes documentary and news footage charting the new rise of fascism, authoritarianism, and…
Author: TD Rideout
TIFF25: Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier
Sentimental Value was recommended by my classmate Betsy, who got a look at it last week at the Telluride Film Festival. She told me to run, don’t walk to see this one. So I changed my viewing schedule for the first day of the festival to start with this. And wow. A beautiful and poignant…
Stargate: Atlantis (2006) – The Tower, and The Long Goodbye
Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) and his team travel to an agrarian world whose ruler resides in a tower, which looks like the central spire of Atlantis, and protects them from the Wraith, in return for their service, of course. The Tower was written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie and it debuted on 3 February, 2006….
Get Smart (1965) – Our Man in Toyland, Now You See Him, Now You Don’t, and Washington 4, Indians 3
Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) discovers that KAOS is shipping classified information about a national defense system known as SkyBlast to foreign countries through talking dolls. Special agent 86, Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and 99 are on the case! They head to the department store responsible for shipping the information and work to uncover what is…
James (2024) – Percival Everett
Percival Everett offers a fresh perspective on Mark Twain’s adventure of Huck and Jim. Filled with humor, heartbreak, horror, and irony, Everett’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel is captivating, powerful and entertaining. Jim, as one will remember, is a runaway slave, and is later thought to have murdered Huck. The pair travel down the Mississippi tumbling…
Stargate SG-1 (2006) – Ethon, and Off the Grid
SG-1 returns to Ethon, last seen in the episode Icon after Jared Kane (Matthew Bennett) comes to Stargate Command to see Daniel (Michael Shanks). It seems the Ori have arrived there and given his people a superweapon to use against their enemies in return for conversion to Origin. Written by Damian Kindler from a story…
The Monkey (2025) – Osgood Perkins
Theo James and Christian Convery pull double duty as the older and younger versions of twin brothers Hal and Bill in Osgood Perkins horror comedy, The Monkey. Using the original Stephen King short story as a launching point Perkins delivers a gory tense ride, that releases with every gruesome kill and then ratchets the tension…
The Scarlet Claw (1944) – Roy William Neill
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) find themselves in Quebec, Canada (read as the Universal backlot) for their next adventure, The Scarlet Claw. An original story, this adventure sees the dogged duo working to solve a murder that may or may not have paranormal trappings. While Watson is played up for humor again,…
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004) – Episodes 1
On October 17, 2004, eighteen months after that heartbreaking ending to the series, Farscape returned to screens. The Peacekeeper Wars was a two night miniseries written by series creator Rockne S. O’Bannon and David Kemper. Brian Henson directs the first feature length episode that sees John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) reassembled,…
Casino Royale (1967) – Val Guest, Ken Hughes, Robert Parrish, Joe McGrath, and John Huston
It’s been a long time since I watched Casino Royale, a spoof of 007 films, which had originally been developed as a serious adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel. When the Bond filmmakers, and Sean Connery didn’t want to be involved, the producers held onto the rights and went with a comedy instead. With five…
The Mind Reels 