Weekends at Fan Expo are a melange of crowds, celebrities and shopping. Those geeks who had to work all week, those families who were waiting for some time off, all descend on the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to get their geek on. The word of the day, for both Saturday and Sunday, is patience. Shoulders…
Author: TD Rideout
Stir of Echoes (1999) – David Koepp
Stir of Echoes got lost in the theatres when it went up against the ghost story The Sixth Sense. Based on the novel by Richard Matheson and adapted by Koepp who settled into the director’s chair as well, the film lets Kevin Bacon just shine, and features some well-executed visuals including the hypnotism sequence featuring…
Eraser (1996) – Chuck Russell
Arnold Schwarzenegger fights to save Vanessa Williams and stop an arms deal with terrorists in Eraser. The big guy is John Kruger, a U.S. Marshal who specializes in working the Witness Relocation Program. The opening sequence sets up his abilities and the aspects of the job which see him erasing Johnny C (Robert Pastorelli) to…
Fan Expo 2024 Day 2
Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was laid out before the exploring geek as an adventure of discovery and treasure-hunting. And it also served as a bracer for what was to come on Saturday, large crowds weaving along the pathways between booths, and the walkways that connected the North and South Building. I work…
Dark Skies (1996) – Inhuman Nature, and Ancient Future
1964 continues to roll on, and John Loengard (Eric Close) and Kim Sayers (Megan Ward) continue their hunt for answers and truth as Bobby Kennedy (James F. Kelly) reveals his longterm plans and what that means for their continued scramble across the country to fight The Hive. This time around, the series explores the cattle…
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) – Burt Kennedy
James Garner is at his charming best in Support Your Local Sheriff! Jason (Garner) rides into a small gold rush town, which we see spring up through the opening credits after Prudy (Joan Hackett) and her father, Olly Perkins (Harry Morgan) discover gold partway through a funeral – and that should tell you all you…
Fan Expo 2024 Day 1
It’s that time of year in Toronto again. The summer is winding down, there is the first hint of the crispness of fall in the cooling evening air, which can mean only one thing. No not pumpkin spice lattes, it’s time for the CNE, TIFF, back-to-school prep, and the gathering of geeks from all over…
Stargate SG-1 (1997) – Brief Candle, and Thor’s Hammer
After Emancipation, I think Brief Candle is my least favourite first season episodes (outside of the clip show near season one’s end, of course). It’s not that it’s a bad episode, but it’s just an episode that doesn’t resonate with me. Written by Katharyn Powers from a story by Steven Barnes, this episode was first…
Northern Exposure (1990) – Russian Flu, and Sex, Lies and Ed’s Tapes
Joel (Rob Morrow) is super-excited that his fiancée, Elaine (Jessica Lundy) is coming up to Cicely for a visit. Unfortunately, the pilot he hired, not Maggie (Janine Turner) has come down with a virus and it seems to be spreading around the town quickly. Russian Flu was written by David Assael and debuted on 9…
The Maid (2022) – Nita Prose
The Maid is a fantastic engaging read that introduces the character Molly Gray, a young woman who is on the spectrum and finds herself caught up as the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Molly, who is recovering from the death of her beloved Gran, the only caretaker she has in her life, struggles to…
The Mind Reels 