The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto is a gorgeously appointed theater that was completed in 1919, and seats under 1500 people, and on the evening of September 20, 2013, I settled into my fourth row seat, putting me in spitting distance of the stage (though why would you want to?). I was getting ready…
The Rock (1996) – Michael Bay
Michael Bay finds his way back onto the 101 Action Movies to see before you die, and brings an impressive cast with him, in this, my favorite of his films. With his usual pacing and editing, Bay makes a full-out action movies with a surprisingly sympathetic villain. Ed Harris plays General Hummel, who has lost…
Catching Up With Kevin Hanchard
The highly enjoyable video selfies from Fan Expo continue as Sue and I catch up with the fantastic Kevin Hanchard from Space Channel’s brilliant series Orphan Black!
Mission: Impossible (1996) – Brian De Palma
“You’re mission Mr. Phelps, should you choose to accept it, is to continue working your way through the 101 Action Movies list, by watching Brian De Palma’s big screen remake of the Bruce Geller created, beloved, television series…. this message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, he and his team, under…
The Gold Rush (1925) – Charlie Chaplin
Welcome to a new book for me to work my way through , this time it’s Great Movies, 100 Years of Film. The book itself is broken into genres and each genre has about 10 films, but with each recommendation (many of which I’ve seen), there are 5 or more additional titles that tie-in…
The Newsroom S02E09 – Election Night Part II
And just like that Season 2 comes to a close. Sigh. Clocking in with 9 episodes this season, the season finale of Aaron Sorkin’s fantastic show, comes to a close by really telling relationship stories this time around as the jobs of everyone at News Night hangs in the balance. As November 8, 2012…
GoldenEye (1995) – Martin Campbell
Welcome back to the 101 Action Movies list 007. After a number of years that had Pierce Brosnan’s name bandied about for taking over the role of James Bond, he finally takes on the coveted role and makes it his own. It also features one of my favorite pre-credit sequences in the Bond saga,…
Da Vinci’s Demons Season 1 – Blu-Ray
Anchor Bay Canada was kind enough to send me a copy of the first season of Da Vinci’s Demons, which was released on September 3. I was a little behind, even with our peripheral coverage of TIFF. But no sooner did I start this series when I was completely hooked. From David S. Goyer,…
TIFF 2013: Gerontophilia – Bruce La Bruce
I wanted to see this one primarily because the lovely and talented Katie Boland is in it, and additionally because there really aren’t many films out there which examine the gerontophilia fetish – certainly not from such an intimate and beautiful standpoint, at any rate. As director Bruce La Bruce stated during the Q&A…
Desperado (1995) – Robert Rodriguez
101 Action Movies brings Robert Rodriguez into the fold with this sequel/remake/self-homage follow-up to his shoestring budget independent action film, El Mariachi. Desperado has a two ridiculously good-looking leads amongst an all-star cast. Antonio Banderas takes over the role of the Mariachi, and Salma Hayek is Carolina. The first time I saw this movie was the first time I had…
The Mind Reels 