William Zabka is back as Robert McCall’s (Edward Woodward) son, Scott, and there’s a television debut for Bradley Whitford, Ed O’Neill shows up as a local doctor, and Dana Barron from National Lampoon’s Vacation is this week’s person in need of help from McCall’s Equalizer. The Children’s Song was written by Howard Chesley, Joel Surnow…
Tag: assassination
Lincoln (2012) – Steven Spielberg
Daniel Day-Lewis takes the titular role in Spielberg’s masterful film about the iconic president and his struggle to pass the 13th Amendment in support of his Emancipation Proclamation, even as the Civil War continues to tear the country apart. Filled with themes and ideas that are still sad, and frighteningly relevant, this looks at a…
TIFF ’22: Hunt
South Korean action star Lee Jung-jae makes his directorial debut with the brilliant action thriller, Hunt. Set in the 1980s when tensions were heightened between North and South Korea, the film is a white knuckle ride that sees two government rivals, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park (Lee) and Domestic Unit head Kim (Jung Woo-sung) working…
The Prisoner (1967) – It’s Your Funeral, and A Change of Mind
Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) finds himself ensnared in an assassination plot in It’s Your Funeral. Written by Michael Cramoy this episode was first broadcast on 8 December, 1967. There’s a new up and coming Number Two (Derren Nesbitt), he’s a bit of a heir apparent, and a different type of Number Two than we’ve seen,…
Mission: Impossible (1970) – Flight, and My Friend, My Enemy
Hey look! Sam Elliott is in the title credits, Willy (Peter Lupus) is nowhere to be seen, and John Colicos is back as a guest star in Flight. Written by Harold Livingston from a story by Leigh Vance, this episode first premiered on 17 October, 1970. A coup is going to be attempted on a…
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964) – Ishiro Honda
UFOs, political assassinations, alien possession, the Shobijin (Emi and Yumi Ito) and alien monsters see the known kaiju on Earth, all located around Japan, unite for the first time to combat King Ghidorah, a three-headed space beast which destroyed an alien civilization on Venus centuries ago, and has now arrived on Earth via meteor. This…
Mission: Impossible (1968) – The Phoenix, and Trial by Fury
Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team are back out in the field this week as I dive into another pair of assignments in Paramount Canada’s Mission: Impossible – The Complete Series on blu-ray. The Phoenix written by John D.F. Black from a story he created alongside Edward DeBlasio is first up, originally broadcast on…
Mission: Impossible (1967) – Operation ‘Heart,’ and The Money Machine
Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team attempt to flush out a villain intent on assassinating a head of state, Rurich (Pernell Roberts) so that his country’s Western flavoured government will fall and give way to a rule under his name. To take him down, Phelps, Rollin (Martin Landau), Cinnamon (Barbara Bain), Barney (Greg…
Never Send Flowers (1993) – John Gardner
James Bond is back, and while I’ve enjoyed Gardner’s efforts with Ian Fleming’s 007, with the minor exception of The Man From Barbarossa, this entry, his thirteenth (of sixteen) feels like a real stumble. It seems to want to be more in line with the cinematic 007, but without a solid story, or set pieces…
F/X (1986) – Robert Mandel
Bryan Brown plays Roland Tyler, one of the top special effects people working in the business. He’s built a name for himself as well as a brand, but he’s just been approached for a special kind of gig in Robert Mandel’s F/X. He’s approached by a member of the Justice Department to help out on…
The Mind Reels 