Burt Reynolds stars as Gator McClusky, who feels like he may be a more rough and tumble relative of the Bandit. And speaking of Smokey & the Bandit, Hal Needham, who went on to direct that classic film, served as the second unit director on this film. Gator is in prison, and he’s a model…
Tag: corrupt
Rebel Ridge (2024) – Jeremy Saulnier
Jeremy Saulnier wrote and directed this tense little thriller that retreads familiar territory, but does it in a very entertaining way. Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) has cashed out of his job and heading to a small-town to bail out his cousin, and then buy a truck so the pair of them can start their own…
Little Eve (2018) – Catriona Ward
I loved Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street so when a friend asked me to dive into Little Eve, I was more than willing to. Gothic in the truest sense of the word, Little Eve is filled with gloom, mystery and hints of horror. Set on a tiny Scottish island, the story moves between…
Monkey Man (2024) – Dev Patel
Dev Patel directs and stars in Monkey Man, an action revenge film that makes sure to add in emotion, trauma, as well as some commentary on religion and politics. It’s all done without losing the driving, pulse-pounding action sequences that make this film incredibly enjoyable and watchable. As the nameless hero of the film, known…
TIFF ’23: The Dead Don’t Hurt
Viggo Mortensen wrote and directed this Western drama that is filled with recognizable Western tropes but Moternsen neither completely rejects them nor subverts them, he simply uses them to fill out his story about an immigrant couple that finds themselves living and loving on the edge of a corrupt Nevada town in the 1860s. The…
Paradise 1 (2023) – David Wellington
Orbit Books takes the reader to a far-distant solar system and exposes them to fear in the new novel, the first in a series, by best-selling author David Wellington. An officer of the Firewatch, Petrova, and a doctor, Zhang, who may not be all there, are shipped off on an AI-controlled ship, accompanied by a…
Mission: Impossible (1972) – Double Dead, and Casino
Hey look everyone, the IMF is going after the mob (again). This time out, there are a couple of complications for the team as their mission takes them to the Islands (supposedly Hawaii), in Double Dead. Written by Jackson Gillis and Laurence Heath from a story by Gillis, this episode debuted on 12 February, 1972….
Mission: Impossible (1972) – Committed, and Bag Woman
The IMF are taking on the criminal underworld (again) in Committed. Written by Arthur Weiss from a story by Laurence Heath this episode first aired on 22 January, 1972. It seems Nora Dawson (Susan Howard) is the only one brave enough to testify against crime boss Chandler (Bert Freed). Unfortunately for her, it seems Chandler…
Tank (1984) – Marvin J. Chomsky
1984. A few short months before my family would be posted to a new home in the middle of the ocean, I was of an age that I was allowed to go see movies in the theatre with my friends (despite the fact that the theatres were in the city proper and not on the…
Foundation and Empire (1952) – Isaac Asimov
The second book in the foundation series ups the stakes for humanity a bit, as we get a glimpse inside the still crumbling Empire, and the reclusive Foundation and the traders that have sprung from it. We learn that the Foundation is in someways becoming corrupt as well, as some despotism is occuring, and it…
The Mind Reels 