Taken (2002) – High Hopes

The Taken miniseries aired over ten consecutive weekday nights. High Hopes, the third feature-length episode, aired on 4 December, 2002. Leslie Bohem continues to script the narrative, interweaving his fictional families around alleged UFO encounters and historical events. Set in October of 1962, things are developing for both the Keys family, the Crawfords and the…

Red Sonja (1985) – Richard Fleischer

It’s too bad this one wasn’t better. It could have been a lot of fun. Insttead, it’s releegated to cult status and is a delightful, but flawed romp. Arnold Schwarzenegger is obviously playing Conan, but they can’t call him Conan in this sword and sorcery adventure that introduced the world to Brigitte Nielsen, the towering,…

Seed of Chucky (2004) – Don Mancini

Don Mancini, the driving force behind the Chucky movies, having written all the scripts, finally gets to settle in to the director’s chair as he continues to take the series in fun and interesting directions. This one definitely plays a little more meta than other entries. Chucky (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) are back,…

Smallville (2004) – Bound, and Scare

The episode Bound first debuted on 17 November, 2004. It was written by Luke Schelhaas. There’s a lot of character stuff going on in this one as Lex (Michaeal Rosenbaum) finds himself caught up in a sex/murder scandal. He wakes up next to a murdered woman, Shannon (Cobie Smulders), whom he met the previous night….

Bride of Chucky (1998) – Ronny Yu

Don Mancini pens a script that takes Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) in a whole new direction. This one definitely leans into comedy and is very self-aware. Directed by Ronny Yu, who would direct Freddy vs. Jason a few short years later, there is a lot of fun to be had in this entry. The…

Taken (2002) – Jacob and Jesse

The second feature-length episode of Taken, presented by Steven Spielberg, first debuted on 3 December, 2002. It was written by series creator Leslie Bohem. The story opens during the winter of ’57 and guides us through 1958. Russel Keys (Steve Burton) has left his wife, Kate (Julie Benz), who has remarried, in an effort to…

Taken (2002) – Beyond the Sky

I’m writing this in May long before Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day comes out. I love when Spielberg plays in the science fiction genre, and I am very excited to see what happens in his new film. But I also realized it had been forever since I watched the Leslie Bohem created miniseries that he executive…

Child’s Play 3 (1991) – Jack Bender

The third film in the Child’s Play franchise followed very quickly on the heels of the second film, something screenwriter Don Mancini wasn’t happy about. He’d barely finished writing two when he had to dive into creating the third. And he says the third film is his least favourite because of it. The narrative leaps…

National Lampoon’s: Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) – Gene Quintano

I hadn’t watched this one since it came out, and I don’t remember loving it. That was over twenty years ago, and I watched it anew. And man, I loved it. It’s so funny. The sight gags are great, the cameos are hilarious, and the cast is perfect. Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson lead…