Baywatch (2017) – Seth Gordon

I’ll be honest, I quite enjoyed the big screen adaptation of the cult favorite Baywatch. One could argue it’s not as entertaining as the 21 Jumpstreet films, but it ended up being damned fun, and pokes fun at the entire series, while honoring it at the same time. And it’s got a beautiful-looking cast to…

Bad Tourists (2024) – Caro Carver

Simon & Schuster delivers the perfect beach read for your summer enjoyment. Bad Tourists by Caro Carver is a compulsive page-turner whose last third is a non-stop rush, and whose first two-thirds are filled with twists, turns and keeps you guessing the whole way through. Darcy, Kate and Camilla are close friends, united by a…

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Book 3: Fire (2008) – Sozin’s Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King, Part 2: The Old Masters, Part 3: Into the Inferno, and Part 4: Avatar Aang

Avatar: The Last Airbender came to a close on 19 July, 2008. Four episodes, airing back-to-back brought the story to an epic close. Choices are thinning, and after an initial beach break, Zuko (Dante Basco) convinces Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) and Team Avatar that they really need to up their game in time to confront…

Fletch (1974) – Gregory McDonald

I first read Fletch back in the 80s when the Chevy Chase movie was coming along, and for some reason I had problems keeping the story threads straight, as most of the text in the novel is dialogue, not action, so I would lose who said what and would have to go back, and back…

Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966) – Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming’s final James Bond book, the second published posthumously and the fourteenth 007 book overall is a collection of previously published quartet of short stories. And it’s a great collection to go out on, though of course Bond would continue to live on under other authors, and of course, as an ongoing film franchise….

The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) – Jon Hall

Sometimes bad is bad, but sometimes, sometimes it’s so bad it’s good, and I had a great time with this title which is the next one featured in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. Filled with a swingin’ beach soundtrack, this one ended up being delightful, and had me laughing out loud as a dangerous…

Killer Ape (1953) – Spencer Gordon Bennet

I knew that they all can’t be winners, but this one was scrape off the bottom of your shoe bad. Killer Ape with one time Tarzan, Johnny Weismuller as Jungle Jim is the next film in DK Canada’s always enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book. This entry, in the chapter on monstrous apes, was just…

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) – Stephen King

This week I continue my journey with Roland, the gunslinger, introduced to us in the first volume of The Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger. Roland is in trouble from the off when he wakes on an expansive miles-long beach that is the shoreline of the Western Sea, and immediately runs afoul of some of the…

POPnology at the Ontario Science Centre

It’s summer vacation, time for camps, bike rides, beaches, family trips, seemingly endless days spread out before the young to enjoy, to forget the long reach of scholastic achievement, teachers, and books. So how can you make learning fun, and ensure that the entire family is entertained? Combine education with entertainment, with movies, and pop…

People On Sunday (1930) – Robert Slodmak & Edgar G. Ulmar

People On Sunday is the next big stop in DK Canada’s The Movie Book. Called a film without actors, the film is fluid and natural, following five people on a Sunday. Erwin, a taxi driver, Brigitte, a retail, clerk, Wolfgang, a wine trader, Christl, a film extra, Annie, a model,  are the film’s subjects, as…