Emma Thompson stars in this white-knuckle thriller that features a layered performance, and some stand-out moments. With Finland standing in for Minnesota, Thompson braves the cold as Barb who sets out for Lake Hilda for personal reasons. A goodbye needs to be made. Along the way, she has an unnerving encounter with a man in…
Tag: character beats
The House of Fear (1945) – Roy William Neill
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back for their tenth outing together in The House of Fear. Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Five Orange Pips, this one leans into using the Universal Monsters sets and, consequently has a very gothic feel to it. When a gathering of gentlemen, known as the…
Farscape (2000) – Bone to Be Wild, and Family Ties
While Moya, her baby, and her crew are hiding out in an asteroid field to elude Crais (Lani John Tupu) and Scorpius (Wayne Pygram), Pilot (voiced by Tupu) receives a weak distress call begging for help. Written by David Kemper and series creator Rockne S. O’Bannon, Bone to be Wild was first broadcast on 21…
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) – Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks settles comfortably into the the director’s chair to lead Anna Kendrick and her fellow Bellas through the sequel to the beloved Pitch Perfect. Some of it is a bit of a rehash, once again Beca (Kendrick) has to grow as a character, learning to realize that the Bellas are an essential part of…
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) – Colin Trevorrow
I adore Aubrey Plaza, so I was more than ready to sign up for this genre-defying film. Plaza stars as Darius an intern for a magazine run by Bridget (Mary Lynn Rajskub) who sends a reporter, Jeff (Jake Johnson), Darius and fellow intern, Arnau (Karan Soni) to investigate an ad seeking a companion for time…
Farscape (1999) – Back and Back and Back to the Future, and Thank God It’s Friday… Again
When Moya brings aboard a couple of scientists from a disintegrating research station things start to get bizarre and a little temporal in Back and Back and Back to the Future. Written by Babs Greyhosky it was actually the third episode broadcast, first airing on 2 April, 1999. Verell (John Clayton) and his assistant, Matala…
Stargate SG-1 (1999) – Deadman Switch, and Demons
SG-1 finds themselves captured by a bounty hunter, Aris Boch (Sam J. Jones!) in Deadman Switch. Written by Robert C. Cooper, this episode was first broadcast on 6 August, 1999. It seems O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Carter (Amanda Tapping), Teal’c (Christopher Judge) and Daniel (Michael Shanks) have a price on their heads from causing so…
Stargate SG-1 (1999) – Into the Fire, and Seth
Season Three of SG-1 got underway on 25 June 1999 with Into the Fire. Written by one of the showrunners, Brad Wright, General Hammond (Don S. Davis) learns that SG-1 is being held captive by Hathor (Suanne Braun). While Major Davis (Colin Cunningham) stays at the SGC, Hammond joins Teal’c (Christopher Judge) and Bra’tac (Tony…
Magnum P.I. (2023) – Appetite for Danger, and Night Has a Thousand Eyes
While Kumu (Amy Hill) documents a dark part of Hawaiian history, doing interviews with Cade (Martin Martinez) as her cameraman, with survivors of the Japanese internment camps in Hawaii following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sab Shimono, the wonderful actor, plays George, and tells his story, something Shimono went through himself. It’s a great story…
2 Guns (2013) – Baltasar Kormakur
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg star in 2 Guns, based on the comic series of the same name, a fun little actioner where everyone seems intent on betraying every one else over forty-three million dollars. Posing as buyers, Bobby (Washington) is actually a DEA agent, Stig (Wahlberg) is in the Office of Naval Intelligence, and…
The Mind Reels 