The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) – Don Taylor 

  The journey into the Sc-Fi Chronicles continues as we move onto the cinematic interpretation of the work of  H.G. Wells. A prolific author who has created some amazing tales, the next one that we take a look at is The Island of Dr. Moreau , I’d previously taken a look at the Island of…

Hot Docs 2015: The Visit – Dr. Michael Madsen

If alien life landed on our doorstep, would we be ready? Would we know how to handle it? Are there procedures in place? The simulated experience of an alien’s (the audience) arrival on Earth is put up onto the screen by Madsen, as he puts the United Nations in the spotlight, as the only body in the…

Hot Docs 2015: Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi – Neal Broffman

Screening today at the ROM theatre at 7:00pm is this amazing, important, and emotionally involving film that introduces us to the Tripathi family. In the early months of 2013, their youngest son, Sunil, a Brown University student left his home in Providence one night, and disappeared. The family was distraught, but organized, and welcoming the help of friends and volunteers…

Hot Docs 2015: The Nightmare – Rodney Ascher

Eschewing objectivity, or any real investigation into the phenomena and instead focussing on sharing the experience, The Nightmare is quite possibly the first true horror documentary. Director Rodney Ascher sits down and chats with 8 people, Jeff, Ana, Kate, Korinne, Stephen, Chris, Connie and Forrest, people who suffer from the terrifying phenomena of sleep paralysis. I’ve been…

Hot Docs 2015: Possessed by Djinn – Dalia Al Kury 

  Hot Docs is well underway, and today, I got a look at this intriguing offering, Possessed by Djinn, which screens at the ROM Theatre today at 6:00. Director Al Kury takes us inside the dark superstitious corners of the Islamic faith, that no one seems to talk about, but innumerable people believe. One could…

Hot Docs 2015: Deep Web – Alex Winter

  Planetary may have been the most important film at the festival in terms of our species and its relation with our tender planet, but Alex Winter’s documentary, Deep Web, brings to the screen the topical, and argumentative subject of internet privacy. The digital frontier is turning into the latest battleground, a wild west shootout,…

Hot Docs 2015: Journey with Prabhat – Samarth Dixit & Jessica Sadana

Film preservation, and cinematic history are a huge part of Western culture, as we restore, and catalogue our seemingly endless collection of films, so I was rather interested to see how things played out in other countries. Prabhat Studios was a big and well-recognized Indian studio when talkies came along. After that, though it fell…

The Time Machine (2002) – Simon Wells

  My foray into the Sci-Fi Chronicles book continues as we cath up now with the cinematic work inspired by the works of HG Wells. I’ve previously reviewed two of the titles recommended in the book, the 60s version of The Time Machine, and the Nicholas Meyer thriller Time After Time. So it was time…