The Medium (2021) – Banjong Pisanthanakun

Thailand delivers a moody, atmospheric character piece, shot in documentary fashion that explores spirituality, faith, belief, family and vengeance. Initially, the ‘documentary’ is supposed to be about shamnisim and focuses on Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), and how she serves as a vessel for a goddess that has selected females of her family for generations. Through Nim,…

The Lovely Bones (2009) – Peter Jackson

Director Peter Jackson adapted Alice Sebold’s heartbreaking novel, The Lovely Bones, to the big screen alongside his collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and while there are a lot of differences from the book to film (the novel definitely has more adult themes, and things were toned down for the teen, twenty-something audiences), and some…

The X-Files (2018) – Ghouli, and Kitten

You See What I Want You To See replaces the usual tag of The Truth Is Out There in the opening credits for the episode Ghouli, written and directed by James Wong. First airing on 31 January, 2018, we are led to believe before the opening credits that this may be a cool monster of…

Fletch’s Moxie (1982) – Gregory McDonald

Fletch is back! In the fifth book of the series, Gregory McDonald brings investigative reporter, and accidentally wealthy, I.M. Fletcher to Florida, where he has been summoned by his on again off again romance with actress Moxie Mooney who is on location shooting a truly horrible movie. During prep for an on-camera interview, her manager…

Mission: Impossible (1970) – The Choice, and The Martyr

This week we close out the fourth season of Mission: Impossible. The penultimate episode of the season is definitely the stronger of the two, and lets Leonard Nimoy do a little character work as he plays both IMF agent Paris, and the episode’s nemesis, Emile Vautrain (which you should probably read as Rasputin). In a…

The X-Files (2018) – Plus One, and The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat

Series creator Chris Carter pens Plus One, which first aired on 17 January, 2018. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) get pulled into a weird one, when they hear about a rash of phenomenon relating to the appearance of doppelgängers, and they all seem to relate to a pair of twins, Chuck and Judy…

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) – Jun Fukuda

There are more alien problems in Godzilla vs. Gigan, which, like the previous films, combines some of the monster destruction, and kaiju shots from previous films (which causes a couple of continuity errors, but nothing to detract from one’s enjoyment of the monster mash). This time out, we join a manga artist (and honestly what…

Triangle (2009) – Christopher Smith

Posters and promotional images can do a lot to sell a film. The poster for Triangle that I had always come across on whatever streaming service it was on was completely uninspiring. It’s not until it started popping up on a variety of lists that I paid it any mind, and then learned that it…

M*A*S*H (1979) – Mr. and Mrs. Who?, The Yalu Brick Road, and Life Time

While the 4077th tries to deal with an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever, Charles (David Ogden Stiers) arrives back in camp completely pickled, and a complete amnesiac when it comes to discussing his time in Tokyo. Happily, he took pictures, and Klinger (Jamie Farr) gets them developed in Mr. and Mrs. Who. Written by Ronny Graham,…