Toronto After Dark 2016: Train to Busan – Sang-ho Yeon

Train to Busan, the Korean zombie film that played to great acclaim at Cannes was the second feature of Toronto After Dark’s Zombie Night at Scotiabank Theatre Saturday night. A big budget, bloody kills, cool special effects and a solid story made for an engaging screening that saw zombie lovers out in force in the…

Star Trek: Corona (1984) – Greg Bear

A xenophobic, small planet reporter, Mason, is assigned a story aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, and finds herself caught up in an eye-opening adventure as I continue to Boldly Go with the non-canon Star Trek novels from Pocket Books that have been coming out since 1979! Penned by Greg Bear the story takes place just after, or…

The Passage (2010) – Justin Cronin

  Epic, majestic, terrifying and engrossing. And heartfelt thanks to Amanda for pushing it in my direction! These words perfectly define The Passage by Justin Cronin. A massive novel, coming in at 879 pages in paperback, the tale it unfolds is massive, engaging, and is almost mythic in nature. With a vast cast of characters,…

Into the Wild (2007) – Sean Penn

  The final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of American Beauty is this drama that casts Emile Hirsch in the role of Christopher McCandless. A top student, a promising athlete, Christopher, upon his graduation from Emory University, gives away his money to charity, and begins a…

Morning Star (2016) – Pierce Brown

  Pierce Brown’s epic science fiction trilogy comes to an explosive, and emotionally satisfying conclusion with Morning Star, this week’s title on The Book Shelf. After the stunning cliffhanger of Golden Son, I was left to wonder what Brown would do to finish off the story, and what would the cost be to characters I’ve…

Star Wars: Aftermath – Life Debt (2016) – Chuck Wendig

  Chuck Wendig takes us back to a galaxy far, far away  with his second instalment in his Aftermath series. Covering the event and years after the events of Return of the Jedi, Wendig seems to be much more at home in the universe this time around, and crafts an involving stories as we catch…

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Henry Selick

  The final recommendation from The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of It’s A Wonderful Life is this modern day cult classic, that has found its way into the mainstream consciousness and has been stuck there since the film’s initial release, celebrating Christmas and Halloween in that macabre and…

Golden Son (2015) – Pierce Brown

  The second novel in Pierce Brown’s science fiction trilogy that began with Red Rising is on the Book Shelf this week, and if I liked the first one (which I did), I loved this one! The story picks up a couple of years after the events of the first book, and sees Darrow on…

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) – Frank Capra

  It’s the middle of summer, so what better time to take a look at a holiday classic as I dive into the Family genre of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Holiday film or not this one is undeniably a classic, and James Stewart is simply perfection as George Bailey, a…

Toronto Screenwriting Conference 2016 Day 2

  The creativity and writing began early as day 2 of the Toronto Screenwriting Conference got underway this morning with showrunner Stephen Falk (Orange is the New Black, Weeds, and You’re the Worst) took to the stage to talks about how to break a season, or specifically how he and his writer’s room, break a…