Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) – John Hughes

Paramount Pictures, in time for both Canadian and American Thanksgivings, released the 30th Anniversary edition of the John Hughes classic, Planes, Trains & Automobiles. John Candy and Steve Martin portray Del Griffith and Neal Page respectively; two travellers thrown together as they try to find their way home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Watching circumstance after…

The Mind Reels & Travelers

The science fiction drama Travelers from creator Brad Wright returns for Season 2 tonight at 9pm on Showcase. And believe me you want to tune in, because wow what a start to the new season! With stunning revelations, and great characters this winner, starring Eric McCormack, Nesta Cooper, MacKenzie Porter, Jared Abrahamson, Reilly Dolman and…

Toronto After Dark 2017: The Villainess – Byung-gil Jung

The hyper-kinetic assassin thriller The Villainess, has it’s Toronto premiere this evening at Toronto After Dark, screening exclusively at Scotiabank Theatre. This South Korean film is nothing short of a high-octane thriller that recalls Besson’s La Femme Nikita with overtones of Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Ok-bin Kim stars as Sook-hee, a violent woman with a violent…

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) – Encounter at Farpoint

Captain’s log: stardate 41153.7 Set decades (78 years altogether) after the events of Kirk and company, Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired on 28 September, 1987. Launching us into the 24th century, a script by series creator Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana introduced us to an all new U.S.S. Enterprise, a Galaxy-class starship, and…

Star Trek: Mindshadow (1986) – J.M. Dillard

The Human Adventure continues on the Book Shelf this week with some more non-canon Star Trek adventures. And for the first time in a long time, this was a Trek book I enjoyed. Dillard has a knack for the characters, and while some of the beats may not have been completely inline with Trek, I…

Stephen King’s Triple Feature

Stephen King has legions of fans, and consequently, every now and again, a studio crafts another run at one of his novels, and while It! is on its way to screens in due course, Paramount Pictures and CBS DVD are releasing a collection of three of King’s mini-series in a very affordable collection. Over the…

The Twilight Zone (1961) – The Arrival, The Shelter and The Passerby

The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series from Paramount Pictures takes me further this week, as we move deeper into Season 3. First up is The Arrival, penned by series creator, Rod Serling,  this episode had its debut on 22 September, 1961. Grant Sheckly (Harold J. Stone) is an aviation investigator, but even he’s not sure…

Star Trek: Dwellers in the Crucible (1985) – Margaret Wander Bonanno

Before Star Trek V: The Final Frontier came along four years later with the concept of the Planet of Galactic Peace, Margaret Wander Bonanno presented a similar idea in her non-canon Star Trek novel, Dwellers in the Crucible, which finds its way onto the Book Shelf this week. Set before the events of Star Trek…

Alien: Covenant (2017) – Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott returns to the science fiction genre again and retreads things that have gone before in Alien: Covenant. The latest film in the seemingly indefatigable series connects the previous film, the divisive Prometheus with the first film in the series, 1979 Alien, both directed by Scott. And while I didn’t hate it, the film…