The most painful title to admit to liking on a list I’m working on in Ten Bad Dates With De Niro is the saccharine sweet Love Actually from writer/director Richard Curtis. Telling a plethora of love stories, the film features a stellar cast of top-notch British actors, and that alone makes the film worth a…
Tag: Christmas
Moonlighting (1986/1987) – It’s a Wonderful Job, and The Straight Poop
Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) gets to riff on It’s a Wonderful Life in this episode written by Debra Frank and Carl Sautter. It debuted on 16 December, 1986. Maddie begins to regret (again) taking on the Blue Moon Detective Agency. The staff are unhappy, everything seems to be going badly, Maddie wants out. So her Guardian…
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) – Stephen King
Stephen King’s fantastic epic adventure gets underway with this stellar, yet surprising short entry into what will be a massive tome, The Gunslinger. Starting with the iconic line. “the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed” one can’t help but be swept up in the epic western style fantasy. The Man…
Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – Last Christmas, and The Magician’s Apprentice
Steven Moffat pens the Christmas special that launched the ninth series, and the Doctor (Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) find themselves reunited on Christmas Day, 2014, for what may be their last Christmas. It seems there is something strange going on at an Arctic base, and as they try to figure out what is going…
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Blu-Ray Review
Hitting blu-ray and DVD today from Disney is the latest instalment in the Skywalker Saga, The Last Jedi, director/writer Rian Johnson’s follow-up to 2015’s The Force Awakens. Johnson delivers a strong film that has proven divisive with some fans, but for yours truly, it’s up there with The Empire Strikes Back, it sends characters in…
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The Day of the Doctor, and The Time of The Doctor
The Day of the Doctor, the big 50th Anniversary episode of the iconic science fiction series was written by Steven Moffat and aired fifty years to the day after the premiere episode of The Unearthly Child, 23 November, 2013. The Doctor (Smith) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) are summoned by UNIT and their commander, Kate Stewart…
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) – Ernst Lubitsch
Remade in 1998 as You’ve Got Mail, the original classic, The Shop Around the Corner, starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan is the next title on the What Else to Watch list following the recommendation from The Movie Book, available now from DK Canada, for the screening of To Be or Not To Be. Stewart…
The Black Hole (1979) – Alan Dean Foster
I remember having this novel as a child. In fact, the soundtrack, the first recorded digitally, was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money as a child. The film has been a favourite of mine for some time, flaws and all, so when I came cross the novel at a…
Gremlins (1984) – Joe Dante
Practical effects, matte paintings and a dark, playful sense of humour… They just don’t make them like the used to. I was delighted when I returned to the Family section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book that Joe Dante’s horror comedy Christmas movie (it’s set at Christmas therefore it IS a…
South Park: The Complete Third Season
The fun, comedy, and sheer insanity of what is South Park Season Three blazed across my screen this week, as I delved into The Complete Third Season of the Comedy Central show available now on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. Over the course of seventeen episodes the small Colorado town of South Park is explored through…
Home Alone (1990 ) – Chris Columbus
I return to the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book and venture back into the family genre. And despite the fact that it’s May, it’s apparently time for a Christmas movie. I’m a little bit divided on this one. It has so much working for it. It’s written and produced by John Hughes,…
The Twilight Zone (1960/1961) – A Most Unusual Camera, The Night of the Meek and Dust
Paramount Pictures guides me deeper into The Twilight Zone with their Complete Series on blu-ray. Up first this week is A Most Unusual Camera. Written by Rod Serling, this episode premiered on 16 December, 1960. When Chester (Fred Clark) and Paula (Jean Carson) rob a curio shop they get more than they expected with a…
