It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to check in on the writings of Agatha Christie, so I settled in to play a bit of the armchair (or lawnchair) detective as I enjoyed the first novel to introduce the other famous detective Christie was responsible for introducing to the world, Ms. Jane Marple,…
Tag: artist
Flashdance (1983) – Adrian Lyne
Flashdance is an odd duck. When it first came out it was seen as this big thing, it influenced fashion, and launched the producing careers of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer who went on to produce some of the biggest hits of the 80s and 90s. Watching it now, it entertains, but it’s blatantly obvious…
The X-Files (1996) – Grotesque, and Piper Maru
Howard Gordon delivers a script for Grotesque, a monster of the week episode, that won the series an Emmy for cinematography, and gives us a moody piece that first aired on 2 February, 1996. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) are requested by Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) to help the head of the Behavioural Unit,…
Star Wars: Rebels (2014) – Spark of Rebellion, and Droids in Distress
Where The Clone Wars took us to the years between The Attack of the Clones, and The Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Rebels takes us to the time between Sith and A New Hope (as well as Rogue One and Solo). Dave Filoni who served as the showrunner of The Clone Wars, is also…
Toronto After Dark 2019: The Assent (2019) – Pearry Teo
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…
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…
