James Bond is back in John Gardner’s eleventh outing with the secret agent. And it was going to happen sooner or later. I just couldn’t get into this one. While I love the idea of tying Bond in with the real political landscape of the early 90s with events that would lead up to the…
Millennium (1997) – Sacrament, and Covenant
Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) confronts the darkness again this week, and this time in Sacrament, it strikes a little too close to home, and reveals that perhaps his daughter, Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) may have a bit of his dark gift to see into the mind of a criminal. Written by Frank Spotnitz, and first airing…
The Expendables (2010) – Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone stars, directs and writes (alongside Dave Callaham) in The Expendables, and he brings along a brilliant ensemble cast of classic action heroes, wrestlers and actors. Padding out a fairly simple story with some explosive set pieces this is just a mostly brainless action flick that serves as homage to the action films that…
Tango & Cash (1989) – Andrey Konchalovskiy, and Albert Magnoli
There were so many action movies made in the 80s, and even if they were just goofy fun, like Tango & Cash, if there were big names attached, the studio would pull out all the stops. And this one does that, even if the story itself isn’t so great, it’s just so much damned fun….
M*A*S*H (1974) – Henry in Love, For Want of a Boot, and Operation Noselift
Series developer Larry Gelbart and Laurence Marks put Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) in some trouble this week with Henry in Love, which first aired on 5 January, 1974. While on a quick trip to Tokyo, married man Blake meets and falls for the very young (all of twenty to his forty-four) Nancy (Kathrine Baumann)….
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) – Lamont Johnson
Produced by Ivan Reitman, a score by Elmer Bernstein, a cast that includes Micheal Ironside, Ernie Hudson, Molly Ringwald, (an uncredited) Harold Ramis, and Deborah Pratt, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is an odd little b-movie science fiction film that tried to cash in on the re-blossoming fascination with 3D back in the early…
The X-Files (1997) – Unrequited, and Tempus Fugit
Howard Gordon and series creator Chris Carter pen the teleplay for this episode from a story developed by Gordon to show that even in the late 90s the horror and worry over Vietnam POWs was still with us and haunting American society. With an original airdate of 23 February, 1997, Mulder (David Duchovny), Scully (Gillian…
Mission: Impossible (1966) – Wheels, and The Ransom
You’re mission should you choose to accept it, is to join me as I continue to explore Mission: Impossible – The Complete Series on blu-ray, available now from Paramount Canada. The first episode up this week, Wheels, was written by Laurence Heath and first aired on 29 October, 1966. Dan Briggs (Steven Hill) and his…
Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World (1978) – Glen Larson and Robert Thurston
“There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. They may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilisations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who…
The Big Four (1927) – Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot is reunited with his old friend Captain Hastings who comes to England to see his old friend, but the duo find themselves caught up in their biggest adventure yet. The Big Four moves the characters into some new territory, almost James Bondian in nature, as the pair encounter an international master criminal (well…
The Mind Reels 