The Directory, filling out the last section of DK Canada’s marvellous The Movie Book, brings me a 90s action classic. One that set the standard for Honk Kong cinema, and found fans all over the world with its style of balletic violence, beautifully crafted shots, and fantastic set pieces. Not to mention, the exemplary Chow…
Tag: body count
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) – Bombad Jedi, Cloak of Darkness, and Lair of Grievous
“Heroes are made by the times” For the first time, we see Rodia depicted onscreen as Padme Amidala (Catherine Taber) is headed there on a diplomatic mission with Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels). The episode, Bombad Jedi, was written by Steven Melching, Henry Gilroy and and Kevin Rubio. It debuted on…
30 Days of Night (2007) – David Slade
Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Steven Niles and Ben Templesmith, 30 Days of Night, is a fun, and bloody film that is the next vampire flick to come up in John Landis’ Monsters In The Movies, available from DK Canada. Barrow, Alaska, is a remote and isolated Alaskan town. Every…
Point Blank (1967) – John Boorman
Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson headline the next stop in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as we return to the Thriller & Crime genre. Marvin is Walker, a criminal left for dead when he is double-crossed by his partners, Reese (John Vernon) and his own wife, Lynne (Sharon Acker). He sets…
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon (2011) – Michael Bay
It apparently just doesn’t stop, and Michael Bay never seems to learn. My time with the Transformers continues as I dive into the third film in the series as I explore the Sci-Fi Chronicles. This time around the Decepticons led by Megatron (Hugo Weaving) and the Autobots led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) are involved…
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) – Michael Bay
Hasbro and Michael Bay bring the Autobots and Decepticons to the screen for a second outing, as I continue my time with the Transformers in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. This one took a lot of flak for its racist stereotypes illustrated throughout the film even as our heroes both human and robot fight to save…
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) – Steven Spielberg
The next stop for me in the Sci-Fi Chronicles is the dinosaur franchise that began with a novel, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and became a blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg. He followed up that first film from 1993, with The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997. While it lacks the discovery and the sense…
Toronto After Dark 2016: As the Gods Will – Takashi Miike
Things got nigh on bizarre this evening at Toronto After Dark, as it continues to entertain at the Scotiabank Theatre here in Toronto. It was Japanese cinema night, and sadly, thanks to work constraints, I was only able to make one screening today, but what a screening! If you aren’t familiar with Miike’s work, it’s…
Black Christmas: Season’s Grievings Editon (1974) – Bob Clark
Some people love the happy joyous type of films at Christmas, and while there is something to be said for all that good-will, happy endings and schmaltz that seem to highlight most of them, that morbid, macabre underside of humor and the holidays seem to be more appealing… As much as I loved Scrooged,…
The Killing (1956) – Stanley Kubrick
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my viewing of Rififi is this classic Kubrick film, which before today, I’d only heard of and never seen. That being said, I can now say I’ve seen and enjoyed it, and love the way the film shuffles back and…
The Thing (2011) – Matthijs van Heijningen jr.
The Sci-Fi Chronicles book brings me to the remake/reboot/prequel to one of my all time favorite John Carpenter films, The Thing. I love both previous cinematic incarnations of this film, the paranoia and isolation that permeates the story and characters of Carpenter’s film, and the crackling dialogue and pacing of the 50s version, The Thing From Another World. So…
Trailer Tracks: First Blood (1982) – Ted Kotcheff
Fresh off the successes the Rocky series, Sylvester Stallone took on the role of Vietnam vet John Rambo, a wanderer who is pushed too far by a small town sheriff played by Brian Dennehy. Richard Crenna co-stars as Rambo’s former commander, and despite the violent looking trailer, the body count in this film is an…
