Hope. It’s something in short supply in today’s films, television and books. We as a culture of become cynically and intellectually lazy (not all of us mind, but that can-do spirit seems to have been diminished, flickering like a guttering candle), gone are the heady days of Mercury and Apollo when creativity, dreams and…
Category: Did You See That?!? (Tv & Film)
Padre Padrone (1977) – The Taviani Brothers
The next film from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book’s recommendation for my screening of Last Tango in Paris, is this rather somber film, that is based on the true story of its author, Gavino Ledda. Often dark, the film follows Gavino (Saverio Marconi), a young Sardinian, trying to be his…
What We Do in the Shadows (2014) – Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
Debuting today on VOD and iTunes with a blu-ray and DVD release next week on the 26, is this laugh-filled fang-fest from New Zealand. Shot as a documentary, the film follows a group of vampires around modern-day Wellington as they struggle with divvying up chores, keeping blood off the couch, sweeping up spinal cords, finding the…
Hellmouth (2014) – John Geddes
Also available from Anchor Bay today is this interesting tale from the writer of Pontypool, Tony Burgess and director John Geddes. This one is going to be a fairly polarizing film, you’re either going to like it or hate it, and it all depends on your mind-set going into it. There is mythology at…
The Vatican Exorcisms (2013) – Joe Marino
Releasing today from Anchor Bay is a horror film that takes on a subject I personally feel still hasn’t been treated right in either the horror genre or as the subject of a documentary, and yet it is rife with story potential. This one attempts to combine both of those genres, purporting to be…
Orphan Black s03e05 – Scarred by Many Past Frustrations
Space continues to set the standard for must-see television with Orphan Black, and this week’s episode is a corker (though sadly both Alison (Tatiana Maslany) and Donnie (Kristian Bruun) are absent this week). Helena (Maslany) and her scorpion Pupok (also Maslany) learn they have a new neighbor in the compound they are being held…
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) – Hugh Hudson
The Oscar-nominated Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is the next film suggestion from the Sci-Fi Chronicles as I continue my time with Edgar Rice Burroughs most famous creation, in this version portrayed by Christopher Lambert. This film is based in more reality than earlier explorations of the character, and by…
Evolving with Wango Films
Intensely loyal, wonderfully creative and collaborative, down to earth, and constantly setting new challenges for themselves. With their new feature, 88, hitting theaters, we thought it would be an ideal time to reflect on the progress, and our association with Wango Films, known to us as April Mullen and Tim Doiron. Sue was there…
Tarzan and His Mate (1934) – Cedric Gibbons
Continuing the exploration of the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, we settle in with the most famous of Edgar Rice Burroughs creations, Tarzan. I’d previously reviewed Tarzan the Ape Man, so I jumped forward to the next title recommendation in the book, the first sequel in the successful series. Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) is returning to…
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – George Miller
It’s been 30 years since Max wandered into the sunset after Thunderdome, but director George Miller shows that the character, now played by Tom Hardy, is still at home on the big screen. And while factoring in Hardy’s age and portrayal, he is definitely not the character 30 years older than when we last…
