There’s a Barker/Lovecraftian feel to the gritty dirtiness of this entry in the Toronto After Dark film festival. Couched in a house covered in unnerving art, and filled with troubling apparitions and visions there is an aggressive edge to The Assent in the way it is shot, and the way the story unfolds. Mostly. Halfway…
Tag: artist
Moonlighting (1985) – Portrait of Maddie, and Altas Belched
It’s a different kind of case for Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis) this week as Kerry Ehrin and Ali Marie Matheson pen this episode that aired on 26 November, 1985. For the first time ever, the Blue Moon Detective Agency is in the black, but the funds are soon gone when Maddie buys…
War of the Worlds (1989) – He Feedeth Among the Lilies, and The Prodigal Son
This week, War of the Worlds attempts to tie into the alien abduction phenomena, in He Feedeth Among the Lilies. Written by Tom Lazarus, this episode first debuted on 30 January, 1989. Team Blackwood begins to look into stories of close encounters, and discover the morthren are abducting people, implanting them with a device that…
The Vault of Horror (1973) – Roy Ward Baker
Taking its cue from the EC and Horror comics of the 1950s, The Vault of Horror is an anthology film and is the next stop in John Landis’ Monsters in the Movies book, available now from DK Canada. While I’m still in the Vampire section of the book, this film only features one vampire tale,…
Disney/Pixar’s Coco Blu-Ray Review
The Golden Globe winning (and Oscar nominated) film from Pixar, the stunningly beautiful Coco is released to blu-ray and DVD today. Over the course of nineteen films Pixar has established itself as the foremost makers of family entertainment. Entrenched in a faithful and gorgeous representation of Mexican beliefs and traditions, the story follows a young…
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1992/1993) – Passion for Life
British East Africa, 1909. Matthew Jacobs pens the first episode, from a story by George Lucas, that makes up the first half of this television movie that aired, as an episode, on 18 March, 1992, and as a movie on 18 September, 2000. Why the story wasn’t set in 1908 to tie in with the…
Marvel Spider-Man: Inside the World of Your Friendly Neighborhood Hero (2017) – Matthew K. Manning
Spider-Man. For a lot of kids, myself included, Web-Head is our first introduction to the world of superheroes. Over time some of us may leave him behind, some of us stay with him our whole lives, and some come back to check on him time and again, like an old friend. I think, whether we’re…
Quantum Leap (1993) – Blood Moon and Return of the Evil Leaper
It’s 10 March, 1975 and Sam (Scott Bakula) finds himself under a Blood Moon. Written by Tommy Thompson the episode first screened on 9 February,1993. As Nigel Corrington, Sam finds himself in the form of an eccentric artist who takes on a number of vampiric affectations, and who Al (Dean Stockwell) believes is the living…
The Iron Giant (1999) – Brad Bird
The Sci-Fi Chronicles now brings me Brad Bird’s now classic animated tale of a young boy, Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) who meets a robot (Vin Diesel) from outer space, and the government agent, Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) who is trying to capture them. Set in the late 50s, the film gives adult viewers an…
The A-Team (1983) – Children of Jamestown and Pros and Cons
Here’s where the series gets really underway, this week’s episodes see the A-Team falling right into the groove, or the jazz, that we know they’ll be following for the next couple of seasons (to the point where it will become predictable, perhaps even cliché). First up is Children of Jamestown, written by Cannell with…
Supergirl (1984) – Jeannot Szwarc
As my time with those denizens of the destroyed planet of Krypton continue with my exploration of the fantastic Sci-fi Chronicles book, I leave Kal-El for a film (apparently he’s travelling to a distant galaxy according to a radio announcer), and join his cousin, the lovely Kara (Helen Slater). Let’s be clear, the Salkinds screwed…
Nocturne (2014) – Saul Pincus
It’s the last evening for the Canadian Film Fest, and the first evening show at the Royal Cinema on College St is well worth seeing. The main feature, Nocturne, is preceded by Gaybasher, directed by Ron Leach, a rather dark and violent short about a beating in an alley, a fight against bigotry, and…
