I remember when Clerks came to VHS. I was working at a video store and it resonated with everyone of us. It was like someone had taken our lives and put it on the screen. We as a crew identified so much with the film that we’d printed up labels with our names on it…
Tag: black and white
Get Smart (1965) – Mr. Big, Diplomat’s Daughter, and School Days
In the 1960s, spies were everywhere! They were in novels, comics, on the big screen, and had spread to television. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart debuted on 18 September, 1965 and introduced us to CONTROL’s agent 86, Maxwell Smart (Don Adams). Filled with goofy gadgets, like the shoe phone, Smart is…
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) – Sidney Lanfield
I’ll be honest, I had never seen one of Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes before. So I figured why not go back to the beginning and check out his first film, and perhaps explore more of his turn as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic character – he did fourteen films. And joining him as Watson, who…
Lake Michigan Monster (2018) – Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
I loved Hundreds of Beavers so I was eager to check out an earlier film from the creative duo behind it, Lake Michigan Monster. Sharing some of the film’s creative styles, it’s shot in black and white, made to look like a throwback to yesteryear, and has a goofy sense of humor that slides from…
TAD 2023: Canadian Shorts After Dark
Saturday afternoon at Toronto After Dark gives Canadian filmmakers a chance to showcase their genre shorts, and this time around, there are nine shorts for your spine-tingling enjoyment. There is Bird Hostage written and directed by Lauren Andrews and features her and fan favourite Jay Baruchel in this eccentric little tale that sees Lauren (Andrews)…
Ed Wood (1994) – Tim Burton
I don’t think there’s another director that could have done a biopic on the eccentric, imaginative, and terrible director that was Ed Wood than Tim Burton. Burton’s love and use of miniatures, dark themes and humour, and his eye for casting. Leading the story on screen is Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. Depp has a…
M*A*S*H (1978) – Peace On Us, Lil, and Our Finest Hour Part 1
Bad news on the peace talks front leads Hawkeye (Alan Alda) to drastic action in Peace On Us. Written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, this episode first aired on 25 September, 1978. Along with that news, is the reveal that they’ve upped the number of rotation points that need to be earned before surgeons,…
The Color Out of Space (2010) – Huan Vu
H.P. Lovecraft, despite his racist tendencies that pop up in his writings, was a master of unnerving cosmic horror, and in 2010, Huan Vu adapted the classic novella, The Color Out of Space into a moody and ominous thriller. A German made film whose only problem lays in some of its special effects, but more…
TIFF 2021: Belfast dir. Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh delivers a stand out event at TIFF with his beautifully and lovingly made, Belfast. Featuring a gorgeous score by Van Morrison, this cinematic jewel is something to behold. Equally awash in nostalgia as it is with the realities of the time, Belfast guides us to a little street that is the midst of…
M*A*S*H (1976) – The Interview, and Bug Out
The season four finale, is a black and white episode, shot as interviews and and as a documentary (with Loretta Swit glaringly missing, she was busy on Broadway). Clete Roberts, who actually served as a war correspondent, plays the Interviewer, and the episode is a collection of interactions between him and Hawkeye (Alan Alda), B.J….
The Mind Reels 