Val Kilmer absolutely owns the role of Simon Templar in this big-screen adaptation of the classic novels and 60s television show. And while the film isn’t as strong as it could have been, Kilmer is nicely on point, and shares some wonderful chemistry with his co-star, Elizabeth Shue. Simon is a high-profile thief that can…
Author: TD Rideout
Starman (1987) – Starscape: Part 2, and The Test
The television series is on its last two episodes. In one sequence we learn that the events of the movie, in this version, were supposed to take place in 1972, explaining how Scott (Christopher Daniel Barnes) can be fourteen a couple of years after the events in the movies (which were definitely set in the…
The Movie Man (2024) – Matt Finlin
Cottage Country. That phrase conjures a specific image for residents of Ontario, Canada. The calls of loons, sitting on boat docks and enjoying the peace of the lakes, an escape from the hubbub of city life; cottage country is a Canadian summer tradition. You wouldn’t expect to find a multiplex amongst the forests, the bears,…
Final Destination 2 (2003) – David R. Ellis
Those pesky kids have avoided Death again, and now it’s coming for them one at a time. This time out, the anniversary of the flight crash in the first film is coming up, and maybe that’s what triggers a vision for Kim (A.J. Cook). She sees a huge pile-up that will claim the life of…
Magnum P.I. (2023) – Appetite for Danger, and Night Has a Thousand Eyes
While Kumu (Amy Hill) documents a dark part of Hawaiian history, doing interviews with Cade (Martin Martinez) as her cameraman, with survivors of the Japanese internment camps in Hawaii following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sab Shimono, the wonderful actor, plays George, and tells his story, something Shimono went through himself. It’s a great story…
Family Ties (1989) – They Can’t Take That Away From Me: Part 1 and 2, and Rain Forests Keep Fallin’ On My Head
Marc Lawrence pens this two-parter, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, the first installment aired on 2 April, 1989. Lauren (Courtney Cox) has to go away for a conference for a few weeks, and Alex (Michael J. Fox) is teaching an economics class to complete his degree and graduate. While Jennifer (Tina Yothers) wrestles…
Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Captain’s Honor (1989) – David and Daniel Dvorkin
I’m not quite sure how Sejanus made captain of a starship, especially one in Starfleet, and that is one of my biggest problems with the next book in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series from Simon & Schuster. Released back in 1989 the television series was about to launch its third season, but this…
Magnum P.I. (2023) – Hit and Run, and Three Bridges
Jin (Bobby Lee) opens the episode with a ridiculous interpretation of Robin Masters’ new book as the group takes turns visiting with T.C. (Stephen Hill) as he settles into a veteran’s hospital in an attempt to get used to the possibility of being stuck in a wheel chair and paralyzed below the waist for the…
2 Guns (2013) – Baltasar Kormakur
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg star in 2 Guns, based on the comic series of the same name, a fun little actioner where everyone seems intent on betraying every one else over forty-three million dollars. Posing as buyers, Bobby (Washington) is actually a DEA agent, Stig (Wahlberg) is in the Office of Naval Intelligence, and…
Angel Has Fallen (2019) – Ric Roman Waugh
This time it’s personal. The second sequel in the ‘Has Fallen’ series is probably the worst of the bunch and lacks the scope of the first two films, and while there are a couple of interesting action sequences there’s nothing matching the scale of the previous entries. Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) is now the president, there’s…
The Mind Reels 