TIFF ’23: Hell of a Summer

Long-time friends Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk share directing, producing, writing and starring credits in their enjoyable and goofy riff on camp slasher films. It’s summer, and Camp Pineaway is gearing up for another round of campers and counsellors. In fact, the counsellors gather the weekend before camp opens to prepare, get reacquainted, drunk, high,…

TIFF ’23: Poolman

Chris Pine stars, directs and co-wrote Poolman, a sun-baked film noir that never quite finds its tone in spite of its best efforts, and feels like the love child of Chinatown and The Big Lewbowski. A pastiche of the eccentricities and lifestyles of LA, Pine populates his film with characters you could only find in…

Wonderfalls (2004) – Wax Lion, and Pink Flamingos

This week, I’m diving into the classic Bryan Fuller series, Wonderfalls. The show definitely did not get the love it deserved at the time, mainly because Fox, in their usual way of screwing over genre shows, aired them out of order. In fact, they only aired four episodes, leaving nine unaired, but the series found…

5 Against the House (1955) – Phil Karlson

The stunning Kim Novak joins Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore, and Kerwin Matthews in this noir thriller, 5 Against the House. Once again, this was a film I hadn’t heard of, but rather enjoyed it as I settled in for it. A group of Korean war vets are getting the most out of the…

M*A*S*H (1976) – The Colonel’s Horse, Exorcism, and Hawk’s Nightmare

James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum pen The Colonel’s Horse which was first broadcast on 7 December, 1976. When Colonel Potter (Harry Morgan) gets a week’s leave in Tokyo, where he will be joined by his wife, who caught a flight from State-side, Frank (Larry Linville) is left in charge, much to everyone’s dismay. Radar’s (Gary…

The X-Files (1999) – Arcadia, and Alpha

Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) take on their first case now that they have been reassigned to the X-files in Arcadia. Written by Daniel Arkin, this episode was first broadcast on 7 March, 1999. The pair go undercover into a gated, rule-abiding community to investigate some mysterious disappearances. Posing as a married couple,…

Super 8 (2011) – 4K Review

Paramount Pictures delivers a MINT! 4K version of J.J. Abrams’ nostalgia drenched, Spielberg homage, Super 8, and while I know some people take issue with his visual style, especially those lens flares, and aren’t always keen on his storytelling, this film delighted me, and spoke to me, as I could see myself up there on…

Congo (1995) – Frank Marshall

A script based on a Micheal Crichton novel, creature effects by Stan Winston, directed by Frank Marshall who has a long association with Spielberg and Amblin, an all-star cast including Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell, Dylan Walsh and Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje. Seems like a sure-fire win right? I hadn’t watched this one since…

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) – David Leitch

It’s incredibly wild to me that a movie that played like the Point Break version of illegal street car racing spawned a successful, and highly entertaining film franchise. And on top of that, it delivered its first spinoff film in 2019 that launched some of the characters into full blown comic book mode. Fan favourites…

Six of Crows (2015) – Leigh Bardugo

I came across this title on a list of fantasy novels that are must reads, and though I hadn’t read the other books set in the same universe, the Shadow and Bone series, that help compose what has become known as the Grishaverse, I figured I would dig in and see what it was all…