The Desert Spear (2010) – Peter V. Brett

The second book in Peter Brett’s Demon Cycle series finds its way to the Book Shelf this week, and it is as captivating as the first while continue to world build, pick up story threads, and throw now beloved characters into new scenarios and choices. A fast-paced read, Brett crafts Desert Spear with an eye…

She (1935) – Irving Pichel

I return to the action genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film. Having seen the main title, Raiders of the Lost Ark countless times, and of course, having written about it, I move now onto the recommendations following the title. Irving Pichel directs this epic adventure, She, based on the H. Rider…

Dr. No (1962) – Terence Young

It’s back to the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book to check in with the Action genre, and consequently, I get to spend some tine with secret agent 007. Bond, James Bond. Sean Connery brings Ian Flemings’s spy to the big screen in Dr. No, the first recommendation for the previously reviewed Goldfinger….

Robocop 2 (1990) – Irvin Kershner

The Sci-Fi Chronicles lets me check in with Robocop next, and since I’d previously reviewed the first film, I’m jumping right to the second instalment. This film should have a lot going for it, Peter Weller returning to the role, directed by Irvin Kershner (the last film before his death) and a story by Frank…

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) – Micheal Bay

Somehow these movies keep getting made, and even more confusing is how Michael Bay remains at their helm. This for now, is the last stop with the Transformers in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. I do like the continuity that runs through the series. After the battle of Chicago in the last film, the alliance between…

The Searchers (1956) – John Ford

John Ford and John Wayne. When it comes to westerns there are few names better, and they are my next stop in the Action section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Confederate soldier, Ethan (Wayne) returns to his family’s homestead in Texas after the end of the Civil War, where he…

The Guns of Navarone (1961) – J. Lee Thompson

Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn bring World War II excitement to the big screen in The Guns of Navarone, a recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of The Dam Busters. Based on the novel by Alistair MacLean, and adapted by Carl Foreman, the story follows…

Doom (2005) – Andrzej Bartkowiak

Karl Urban, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Rosamund Pike head to battle in this film adaptation of the hit video game Doom, my next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Strange things are happening in a research base on Mars, and a group of Space Marines, with Sarge (Johnson), kitted out to take on whatever…

Toronto After Dark 2016

It’s that time of year again, when horror, sci-fi, action, cult, and just the bizarre movies come to roost and entertain here in Toronto, with the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. 9 nights of movies that, as long as you have the right audience with you, can’t help but entertain. This year seems to be…