I was there in 1982. I remember sitting in the Odeon in Kingston. It was me, my sister, and my father. It wasn’t my dad’s thing. I was gobsmacked by the idea of being able to go inside a computer, and live in this new world of video games, which, at the time, were just…
Tag: callbacks
On His Majesty’s Secret Service (2023) – Charlie Higson
007 returns for one more mission as Charlie Higson delivers the latest and last, as of this date, James Bond literary adventure. Set in the modern era, M informs Bond of a possible coup attempt during the coronation of King Charles. It’s 007’s job to pick up where 009 left off before he was discovered…
Trigger Mortis (2015) – Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz takes over the 007 mantle with his novel Trigger Mortis. Using some material written by Ian Fleming, Horowitz sets his novel two weeks after the events of Goldfinger, the book not the film, in 1957. James Bond has returned to the UK, accompanied by Pussy Galore, though that’s not going to turn out…
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) – Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) return for a fourth time in Bad Boys: Ride or Die,. While I like the franchise, and I like the characters and the way the series has expanded, this one felt a little slower and not exactly top heavy but not as engaging as it should have been….
22 Jump Street (2014) – Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
With some sly remarks about sequels, more of the same, but bigger, 22 Jump Street takes Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) to college. Once again, the film walks a fine line between raunchy/silly comedy to delivering a commentary on relationships, bromance, and box-office budgets. When the pair are shipped off to college for…
Magnum P.I. (2019) – Day the Past Came Back, and Murder is Never Quiet
The series keeps that continuity running and introduces another legacy character, MacReynolds (Ammie Masterson) in Day the Past Came Back. Written by Peter M. Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim. It first debuted on 18 February, 2019. With callbacks to the series premiere, Magnum (Jay Hernandez) is kidnapped and taken back to the shipwreck of stolen Iraqi…
The Equalizer (1986) – Dead Drop, and Wash-Up
When an innocent bystander, flower shop owner Barry (James Murtaugh) gets involved in a smuggling operation that is using mailed packages as a dead drop, he’s targeted for a quick end. But McCall (Edward Woodward) may be up to the task of helping him in Dead Drop. Written by Maurice Hurley and Joel Surnow, this…
TIFF ’22: Pearl
Ti West and Mia Goth shot X, and its prequel film, Pearl back to back. In both Mia plays Pearl. In X she’s a psychotic octogenarian, but in Pearl, we get to see her as she was, when she too dreamed of getting off the farm and chasing dreams of fame to become a star….
Battle Royale II (2003) – Kenta Fukasaku and Kinji Fukasaku
Battle Royale II is very much a different creation from its predecessor. Set three years after the events of the first movie this film moves the film mythology forward. Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko (Aki Maeda) have made their escape, and Shuya has now started what the rest of the world calls a terrorist organization,…
Diablo Mesa (2022) – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Grand Central Publishing was kind enough to send me the latest Preston & Child thriller, Diablo Mesa, which came out in February. It had been a long time since I dug into a Preston & Child book, but back in 2014, I was plowing through their Pendergast series until my pile of To Be Read…
The Mind Reels 