Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in his seventh Mission: Impossible outing Dead Reckoning Part One which comes home on 4K and physical media today from Paramount Canada. It’s epic and brings in a number of story and character threads from the entire franchise and, of course, looks absolutely stunning in 4K. This…
Batman (1968) – The Great Escape, and The Great Train Robbery
Shame (Cliff Robertson) is back, escaping from prison with the help of Calamity Jan (Dina Merrill) and her mother, Frontier Fanny (Hermione Baddeley), who is also interfering in their potential romance, but that won’t stop Shame for preparing for his latest caper. The Great Escape was written by Stanley Ralph Ross and first aired on…
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) – Tommy Lee Wallace
Halloween III surprised audiences when it came along. There was no Micheal Myers, which had already become synonymous with the holiday, and there was a strange combination of the supernatural and science fiction in the third entry in the franchise. A convoluted behind-the-scenes story affected the script and the filming, and with no Micheal, the…
Halloween II (1981) – Rick Rosenthal
And this is where the problems with the Halloween sequels start. Is it canon? Is it not? How do you define canon? John Carpenter got himself a producer’s credit for this film, as well as having a hand in editing and the music for the film, but the biggest indicator, no matter what he thought…
Hill Street Blues (1986) – Amazing Grace, and Falling From Grace
The character of Grace (Barbara Babcock) returns this week, and she’d been gone so long that I didn’t even make the connection with the episode’s title! She returns with a bit of a shocking change of character, she’s become a nun! Amazing Grace was written by Robert Ward from a story by Ward and David…
The Boogeyman (2023) – Rob Savage
Sometimes Stephen King adaptations work, sometimes they take the core of the idea and do something completely different with it, and sometimes it comes off better than the original story. Not this time. But sometimes. This time around they took Stephen King’s short story, The Boogeyman as featured in the Night Shift collection and used…
Batman (1968) – Nora Clavicle and the Ladies’ Crime Club, and Penguin’s Clean Sweep
Somehow a Women’s Right’s Activist, Nora Clavicle (Barbara Rush) is a villain in Nora Clavicle and the Ladies’ Crime Club. Written by Stanford Sherman this episode first aired on 18 January, 1968. Nora gets Gordon (Neil Hamilton) ousted as Commissioner taking on the role herself, and installing all female officers (which sounds progressive, but they…
Family Ties (1984) – Don’t Kiss Me, I’m Only the Messenger, Help Wanted, and Karen II, Alex 0
While Elyse (Meredith Baxter) goes to an architects’ convention, Skippy (Marc Price) falls for Mallory’s (Justine Bateman) friend Jane (Michelle Meyrink) in Don’t Kiss Me, I’m Only the Messenger. Written by Ruth Bennett, this episode first aired on 29 November, 1984. And while Mallory deals with the sudden realization that Skippy isn’t interested in her…
Star Trek: Discovery – Somewhere To Belong (2023) – Dayton Ward
Simon & Schuster Canada take me to the 32nd century with the crew of the Discovery as another Star Trek adventure unfolds in a great read by Dayton Ward. Set shortly after the events of the third season, with the Burn story arc resolved, the crew of the Discovery find themselves a new mission by…
Batman (1968) – The Joke’s on Catwoman, and Louie’s Lethal Lilac Time
The episode opens with Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) saving herself, for a delightful change, from Joker (Cesar Romero) and Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) and gears up to send the Dynamic Trio after the supervillains (once again). The Joke’s on Catwoman was written by Stanley Ralph Ross and first aired on 4 January, 1968. The villains continue their…
The Mind Reels 