“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” The entire runtime of Sandhya Sur’s Santosh that line of dialogue circulated through my brain repeatedly, as the film plunged the viewer into a morally grey world that was frightening and horrifying as its narrative threw us right into the brutal caste system of rural India, and the ongoing sexism…
Tag: arrest
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) – Burt Kennedy
James Garner is at his charming best in Support Your Local Sheriff! Jason (Garner) rides into a small gold rush town, which we see spring up through the opening credits after Prudy (Joan Hackett) and her father, Olly Perkins (Harry Morgan) discover gold partway through a funeral – and that should tell you all you…
Starman (1986/1987) – The Gift, and The System
Jane Wyatt, who played Spock’s mother in Star Trek, The Original Series and The Voyage Home, plays Paul Forrester’s (Robert Hays) mother in The Gift. Written by Peggy Goldman, this is the series holiday episode and was first broadcast on 12 December, 1986. Paul and Scott (Christopher Danie Barnes) receive a letter from Stella, Paul’s…
The Bass Reeves Trilogy: Follow the Angels Follow the Doves (2020), Hell on the Border (2021), and The Forsaken and the Dead (2023) – Sidney Thompson
After watching Paramount’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves and seeing in the opening credits that it was based on two books in a historical fiction trilogy written by Sidney Thompson, I had to hunt them down and dig into this historical personage that no one seems to know about. Over the course of three novels, Thompson documents…
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Book 2: Earth (2006) – The Secret of the Fire Nation (The Serpent’s Pass, and The Drill), and City of Walls and Secrets
The Serpent’s Pass, and the series’ following episode, The Drill were initially aired back to back as a Nickelodeon Special called The Secret of the Fire Nation. The first episode, The Serpent’s Pass, was written by Joshua Hamilton and one of the series creators’ Michael Dante DiMartino. This and the following episode first aired on…
A Case of Need (1968) – Micheal Crichton
Micheal Crichton’s writing, one time, as Jeffrey Hudson, delivers his first medical thriller filled with a number of themes that are still sadly too relevant today. Dr. John Berry is a pathologist working at Boston Memorial who finds himself trying to help out a friend and fellow doctor, Dr. Lee, when he is arrested for…
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) – All Those Who Wander, and A Quality of Mercy
All Those Who Wander is the penultimate episode of the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and it is determined to make the Gorn the scariest aliens in the Trek universe. Written by Davy Perez, this episode first aired on 30 June, 2022. The Enterprise, which is on a priority mission, receives another…
Batman (1968) – The Joke’s on Catwoman, and Louie’s Lethal Lilac Time
The episode opens with Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) saving herself, for a delightful change, from Joker (Cesar Romero) and Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) and gears up to send the Dynamic Trio after the supervillains (once again). The Joke’s on Catwoman was written by Stanley Ralph Ross and first aired on 4 January, 1968. The villains continue their…
Hill Street Blues (1986) – I Come on My Knees, and Say Uncle
I Come on My Knees first aired on 6 November, 1986 and was written by David Milch. There’s a lot going on in this episode, and once again the silly melodrama has been pushed aside. Sure there are fun character moments, but as a whole the series seems to be determined to finish incredibly strong….
The Punisher (2004) – Jonathan Hensleigh
2004’s take on The Punisher was a huge step up from the 1989 film, though it changed the locale from New York to Florida. It also boasted an incredibly recognizable cast led by Thomas Jane. It included John Travolta, Will Patton, Roy Scheider, Samantha Mathis, Rebecca Romijn, Ben Foster, Laura Harring, The film delivers an…
The Mind Reels 