(Re) Watching Michael Mann’s disjointed supernatural film, The Keep I realised I wanted one thing from it – Mann’s original cut. Apparently clocking in at 3 1/2 hours it was trimmed down to 2 by Paramount Pictures, who then cut another half hour out of it after some rough previews. It’s not like now. If…
Author: TD Rideout
Days of Thunder (1990) – Tony Scott
Tony Scott re-pairs with Tom Cruise after their success with Top Gun, add in a score by Hans Zimmer and throw in a cast that includes Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, John C. Reilly, Micheal Rooker, Randy Quaid, and Cary Elwes, and producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, this sounds like nothing but win, but Days…
M*A*S*H (1973) – The Ringbanger, Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, and Dear Dad, Again
Leslie Nielsen guest stars as Colonel Buzz Brighton in The Ringbanger, which was written by Jerry Mayer, and first aired on 21 January, 1973. Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and Trapper (Wayne Rogers) click with one of their patients, Brighton, but are soon troubled to learn that his unit suffers the highest casualty rate, with the least…
The Ice Pirates (1984) – Stewart Raffill
1984 was an awesome year for me. I moved to a tropical country, and because there was no regular television there, and everyone else seemed to have one, my family bought it’s first VCR. And from there I was able to explore countless genre’s to my heart’s content. And seeing as there were so many…
The X-Files (1996) – Quagmire, and Wetwired
Kim Newton takes on one of my favourite subjects in this week’s X-files, the episode features some additional work by Darin Morgan and brings lake monsters into the realm of our two FBI agents, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson). The episode first debuted on 3 May, 1996, and featured the final appearance of…
Chuck (2011) – Versus the Frosted Tips, and Versus the Business Trip
Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) have some problems in Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips. This episode was written by Phil Klemmer and debuted on 11 November, 2011. The team learns that Morgan has betrayed them and gone to work for Verbanski (Carrie-Anne Moss), who in turn is eager to start something with Casey…
Ready Player Two (2020) – Ernest Cline
Reading like a pop culture infused take on The Bride of Frankenstein, author Ernest Cline takes us back to the virtual realm of the OASIS in his follow-up to the bestselling novel, Ready Player One which delighted geeks planetwide with its quest story wrapped up in movie and culture references that shaped some of our…
Star Trek: Traitor Winds (1994) – L.A. Graf
This week’s Trek novel takes us back to the The Lost Years, those years set between the end of the Enterprise’s original five year mission, and the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While some of the crew are wandering around in their TOS uniforms, the new uniforms are present as well. This time…
The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) – Agatha Christie
This week’s Agatha Christie entry to the book shelf is another delightful adventure thriller. Sure there’s a murder and suspects, but it’s definitely more akin to an adventure story, with a wonderful female heroine in the form of Anne Beddingfield. Anne finds herself caught up in an adventure that would give the cinema serials she…
The X-Files (1996) – Jose Chung’s From Outer Space, and Avatar
Darin Morgan delivers what is definitely my favourite episode of the series. This one always ends up on ‘best of’ lists. First airing on 12 April, 1996, Jose Chung’s From Outer Space takes on the alien abduction phenomena, as well as playing with the tropes and stereotypes that spring up around them, as well as…
