So much Trek to get through! Paramount Pictures delivers the goods with their 4K releases this week. I remember where I was the first time I saw each film, and I was a recently turned eight-year-old who sat in the theatre in CFB Borden as Christmas drew closer, and I sat and loved every minute…
Before I Wake (2016) – Mike Flanagan
Mike Flanagan’s next film, which he co-wrote with Jeff Howard, was Before I Wake. Leaving behind the real-world terrors he visited in Hush, he delves into more supernatural territory and family drama, a realm in which he truly excels. This time out, we are introduced to Jessie (Kate Bosworth) and Mark Hobson (Thomas Jane) a…
Empire of the Sun (1987) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg’s next project was an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s memoir of his time as a boy growing up in Japanese occupied China during World War II. Christian Bale, in one of his earliest roles, plays young Jamie Graham, an arrogant young English boy who is fascinated by planes, and whose life is upended in the…
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Your Kind, My Kind, Humankind, and Gatorbait
Anthony Yerkovich alongside series creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll pen the teleplay for Your Kind, My Kind, Humankind from a story by Bill Taub. It was first broadcast on 28 February, 1981. Renko (Charles Haid) and Hill (Michael Warren) deal with problems in different ways when the suspect in their shooting is released. Hill…
The Da Vinci Code (2006) – Ron Howard
Director Ron Howard pairs with Tom Hanks to bring Dan Brown’s incredibly popular novel, The Da Vinci Code to the screen. Hanks portrays symbologist Robert Langdon, who previously popped up in Brown’s novel Angels and Demons, but it was the subject matter, and the way it tied into art and some historical moments that really…
Fringe (2011) – Subject 13, and Os
Subject 13 serves as a bit of a sequel to last season’s ‘Peter’ episode. Written by Jeff Pinkner, J.H. Wyman, and Akiva Goldsman, this story was first broadcast on 25 February, 2011. We plunge back to 1985, with opening titles to reflect that, and we see what happened following Walter’s (John Noble) abduction of young…
Mission: Impossible (1972) – Crack-Up, and The Puppet
Alex McCord guest stars in Crack-Up which sees the IMF going after the mob/Syndicate (again), this time focussing on a hitman, Peter Cordel (McCord). Written by Arthur Weiss from a story by Weiss and Robert and Phyllis White this episode first aired on 9 December, 1972. Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team, Barney (Greg Morris),…
Night Call: A Walking Shadows Novel (2020) – Brenden Carlson
Brenden Carlson’s Night Call, available from Dundurn Press is set in the past, an alternate 1933, and yet in describing it, I lean towards the phrase retro-future noir. We are introduced to the cynical hard-boiled detective, Elias Roche, who is haunted by an incident in his past and walks a fine line between the law…
Fringe (2011) – Immortality, and 6B
Immortality takes us back to the other side in this episode written by David Wilcox and Ethan Gross. It first aired on 11 February, 2011. Broyles (Lance Reddick) seems to be missing so Lincoln (Seth Gabel) is in charge of Fringe Division, just as a new and horrifying case comes along and Fauxlivia’s (Anna Torv)…
1883 (2021) – Blu-Ray Review
It has been a while since I was utterly gobsmacked and left wordless following a television show, but 1883, an origin story for the hugely popular Yellowstone series (which I’ve yet to start) did that. It is available today on Blu-ray and DVD from Paramount Pictures. Written and created by Taylor Sheridan, who also created…
The Mind Reels 