Rocky IV (1985) – Sylvester Stallone

There are some flaws in the fourth entry in the Rocky series (I’m looking at that ridiculous robot) and I’m not sure the themes of East vs. West, hubris, and capitalism carry through all the way, because, despite all of the things Rocky (Sylvester Stallone who also wrote and directed) gives up during the course…

TIFF 2021: Dear Evan Hansen dir. Stephen Chbosky

Mental health. Suicide. Depression. Loss. Grief. Loneliness. These issues are usually trapped in the individual, and though a number of us share in these things, it’s never a shared experience. We are held in the prison of our issues, in a society where social media presentation, the illusion of life being better than it is…

Chuck (2010) – Versus the Nacho Sampler, and Versus the Mask

Chuck (Zachary Levi) has lots on his plate this week, as he trains a new Nerd Herder, Hannah (Kristin Kreuk) in Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler. Written by Matthew Miller and Scott Rosenbaum, this episode first debuted on 1 February, 2010. With stuff going on at the BuyMore, Chuck also has his spycraft, he has…

The Mountain Master of Sha Tin (2019) – Ian Hamilton

I’ve been hooked on Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee books since I first discovered them. I devour them voraciously as I follow the brilliant, and brave young woman on her adventures. She continues to work, somewhat, as a forensic accountant, but her life has changed a lot since I first met her, and she has become…

Christine (1983) – Stephen King

This week, I dug into a Stephen King classic that I hadn’t read for over thirty years. In fact it was definitely in the first half dozen King novels that I read when I first discovered him in my teens. It’s amazing how much of it I forgot, and how much of it got blurred…

Ginger Snaps (2000) – John Fawcett

Werewolf movies get the Canadian treatment with the cult classic, Ginger Snaps. The next werewolf title featured in the immensely enjoyable Monsters in the Movies by John Landis, and available now from DK Canada provides a unique spin on the mythology of the lycanthrope when tying in the cycle of the werewolf with that of…

Rumble Fish (1983) -Francis Ford Coppola

The next title on the What Else to Watch list following DK Canada’s The Movie Book’s recommendation of The Godfather is Coppola’s adaption of S.E. Hinton’s classic novel. Boasting an all-star cast, Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Dennis Hopper, Diane Lane (one of my first ever crushes that continues to this day), Laurence Fishburne, Vincent Spano,…

Boy’s Life (1991) – Robert McCammon

I remember reading this book in paperback when it first came out. It was summer, and I was in Toronto working to save (a little) money for my post secondary education. I was delighted in the nostalgia in it, and recalled being moved by the tale within its pages. When I came across it in…

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) – Phil Johnston and Rich Moore

When I was growing up, Disney films meant the holidays for me, and it wouldn’t matter if they were all Disney released films or not, they were collectively known in my home as Disney movies, and this implied that they would be suitable for the entire family, and presented the possibility of an evening’s entertainment…

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) – Micheal Moore

A failed democracy. Democrats and Republicans not representing the working class who are forced into voting for people picked by the party ‘elites.’ Despotism. Nazism. Parkland. Flint. Greed. Racism. Micheal Moore’s films usually have a comedic hint to them to balance the bitter pill of reality that is being displayed by the documentary filmmaker, Fahrenheit…