Jake is off to high-flying melodrama and adventure in this week’s installment of Tales of the Gold Monkey! The first episode originally aired 24 November 1982 and was written by Danny Lee Cole, Jeff Ray, William Driskill and George Geiger. It starts back in 1937, with Jake (Stephen Collins) still serving in the Flying Tigers,…
Trailer Tracks: First Blood (1982) – Ted Kotcheff
Fresh off the successes the Rocky series, Sylvester Stallone took on the role of Vietnam vet John Rambo, a wanderer who is pushed too far by a small town sheriff played by Brian Dennehy. Richard Crenna co-stars as Rambo’s former commander, and despite the violent looking trailer, the body count in this film is an…
Hot Docs 2014: I Am Big Bird – The Carroll Spinney Story (Chad Walker & Dave LaMattina
There are times when everything comes to a perfect moment, when a film resonates with you, and echoes not only through the memories in the rooms of your mind, but also through the chambers of your heart. The last time it happened to me was Patrick Read Johnson’s 5-25-77, it happened again the other night,…
Hot Docs 2014: Focus On Infinity (Joerg Burger)
Screening this evening at 7pm, with its international premiere at the Hart House Theatre is this documentary posits the eternal queries of who are we, where did we come from and where are we going? It doesn’t provide any answers, it’s more akin to laying on a blanket in the middle of summer and watch…
Trailer Tracks: Contact (1997) – Robert Zemeckis
I read this novel by Carl Sagan a long time ago, and was very eager to see the movie when it was released. For me it was well worth the wait, it was a very human story, set against the backdrop of possible contact with an alien species. With a well-rounded cast including Jodie…
The Rockford Files (1975) – Gearjammers Part I & II
This two-parter, written by Don Carlos Dunaway from a story by Cannell, originally aired 26 September, and 3 October, 1975, and sees Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) in some serious trouble. The phone gag features someone calling to talk to Jim about the state of the car he borrowed, yes he kept the battery charged…
Hot Docs 2014: Everything Will Be (Julia Kwan)
This evening at 7pm, at the Lightbox, there is the world premiere of Julia Kwan’s gorgeous documentary, Everything Will Be. Set in Vancouver’s Chinatown, the film shows both the beauty and the grit of a dying locale, as condos and new businesses begin to take up residence in what was once a thriving and colorful community….
Trailer Tracks: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) – Steven Spielberg
I love the wonder and awe in this film, the gorgeous score by John Williams, and despite some scares of about the unknown, the idea that everything is going to be okay at that moment when we encounter an intelligence from out there somewhere… I love the fact that it has to give a…
Hot Docs 2014: The Homestretch (Anne de Mare & Kirsten Kelly)
Screening for the second time this afternoon at 3:30 at the ROM, as well as one final time on 4 May at 7 at Scotiabank is this strong documentary that shines a light on a heartbreaking subject. Opening with some terrifying stats, like there are between 2,000 and 3,000 homeless youths on the streets of…
Hot Docs 2014: Divide In Concord (Kris Kaczor)
Screening for the 2nd time today at the Lightbox, with one final screening 3 May at 11am at the Isabel Bader Theatre is this wonderful David and Goliath tale, set against the reenactment of the opening shots of the American Revolution in a small town called Concord, Massachusetts. Jean Hill is on a mission. She’s…
