Countless people read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school, or couldn’t read it because people fought to get it banned. In high school, for me, it was all about Le Petit Prince and The Catcher in the Rye. I’ve had a huge hole in my literary field. But I was finally glad to fill…
Tag: context
Family Ties (1988) – The Spirit of Columbus, The Blues Brother, and Read It and Weep: Part 1
Charles J. Schlotter pens The Spirit of Columbus which first debuted on 17 January, 1988. Alex (Michael J, Fox) sees an opportunity when Nick (Scott Valentine) sells one of his pieces at a flea market for $200. However, when Alex keeps pushing him to work harder and harder to churn out more pieces Nick begins…
Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World (2022) – Ryan Britt
I have one complaint about Ryan Britt’s examination of Star Trek, it’s too short! It goes by at warp speed, sharing anecdotes new and old, and taking us through Trek’s entire timeline up to 2022. The series, the movies, the fandom are broken into separate chapters and Britt delivers an easy-to-read, occasionally brilliantly funny examination…
Memento (2000) – Christopher Nolan
I haven’t watched Memento since it first came out. I remember everyone talking about it, specifically my sister who told me she’d just seen this great movie. It ended up being the last time she knew about a Christopher Nolan film before I did because that film guaranteed a passionate fan. So it’s weird that…
The Lone Gunmen (2001) – Pilot, and Bond, Jimmy Bond
The second X-Files spinoff series launched on 4 March, 2001, and was written by Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, John Shiban and Vince Gilligan, all of whom share a created by credit for it. The series follows Mulder’s ‘friends’ Frohike (Tom Braidwood), Langly (Dean Haglund), and Byers (Bruce Harwood), their magazine, The Lone Gunmen, and their…
Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook (2021) – Jenn Fujikawa, and Marc Sumerak
A long time ago, in 1978, in a galaxy not so far away, many of us were scarred for life, by watching, with our indulging families, The Star Wars Holiday Special, an abomination that has never been re-aired, though it’s animated sequence introduced us to Boba Fett before he arrived in 1980’s The Empire Strikes…
Ladyhawke (1985) – Richard Donner
I don’t think I’ve seen Ladyhawke since it came out in 1985, and re-watching it for the blog I was struck by a couple of things. With a few tweaks, this film could have been huge! The film looks gorgeous, and has a solid cast, led by Rutger Hauer, Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer, but…
Un Chien Andalou (1929) – Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali
The Directory in DK Canada’s The Movie Book is going to provide me with a number of films I’ve never seen, or a chance to revisit old friends. Having said that I’m not sure where Un Chien Andalou fits. True I had never seen the entire short, running twenty-one minutes, but I feel that everyone…
21 Grams (2003) – Alejandro G. Inarritu
The next title on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book, following my screening of The Sweet Hereafter is 21 Grams, which has a strong emotional punch to its unique storytelling narrative. Filled with flash forwards and flashbacks, the tale reveals terrible emotional moments throughout, and then lets us build…
The Wild Bunch (1969) – Sam Peckinpah
The next big stop in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as I return to the Historical chapter, is Peckinpah’s ultra-violent, wonderfully bloody take on the Hollywood Western. A group of professional outlaws out of step and out of time looking for one last score find themselves fatally wandering the line between…
