The Cannonball Run (1981) – Hal Needham

They don’t make cast-packed comedies like The Cannonball Run anymore. That doesn’t mean it’s all good, but it is damned enjoyable. Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds were coming off Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper, and this road movie was a fun next step. Originally designed as an action film for Steve McQueen, when the…

Stargate SG-1 (2000) – Point of No Return, and Tangent

Willie Garson guest stars in Point of No Return, a fun SG-1 adventure with a comedic bent. Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, it first debuted on 8 September, 2000. O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Daniel (Michael Shanks), Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Teal’c (Christopher Judge) are summoned by General Hammond (Don S. Davis) when Stargate…

Ready or Not (2019) – Matt Bettinelli-Opin and Tyler Gillett

It took me way too long to get around to watching Ready or Not. I’ll say thanks to Mike Flanagan, and his podcast, Director’s Commentary for putting me on to it. And I should have watched it long ago, as it has a few friends of the blog in it, the wonderful Kristian Bruun, Mark…

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…

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) – Charles Lamont

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello make their final Universal Monster movie with Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I’m not sure if I think this one is better, worse or equal to Meet the Invisible Man. I do know that Meet Frankenstein is their best. This time out, the pair are a couple of would-be…

The Mummy’s Hand (1940) – Christy Cabanne

I dig into more Universal monsters this week to the first sequel to The Mummy. Released in 1940, The Mummy’s Hand features Tom Tyler as the Mummy. It’s hard to come down on anyone’s side on this one nowadays. The ‘heroes’ are led by an archeologist, Steve Banning (Dick Foran) who is a snappily-dressed American…

The Fall Guy (2024) – David Leitch

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt deliver a fun action-comedy that reinvents the classic 80s television show and pays homage to a stunt work (which still doesn’t have an Oscar category!). Colt Seavers (Gosling) is a high-profile stunt performer, arguably the best, and he’s been working as Tom Ryder’s (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) stunt double for years. He…

TIFF24 Visionaries – Steven Moffat

The Toronto International Film Festival offers a number of industry panels through the course of the week, and they got started this week with their Visionaries program, and their first one featured Steven Moffat – there was no way I was going to miss that! Set in the Glen Gould Studio at the CBC, the…

Love and Monsters (2020) – Michael Matthews

The charming and likeable Dylan O’Brien stars in the adventure comedy Love and Monsters which serves as a bit of a coming-of-age tale for his character, Josh. Seven years ago, Earth was able to launch enough missiles to stop an asteroid from wiping out the planet, unfortunately, the chemicals used perverted the environment and mutated…