Steven Soderbergh is a director that likes to take chances and experiment with his craft, and Presence may be his best example of that to date. It surely won’t appeal to everyone, but there is a masterful hand at work here as the film tells its own style of ghost story. From it’s opening title…
Tag: craft
You Never Know (2024) – Tom Selleck with Ellis Henican
I’ve always enjoyed Tom Selleck as an actor, Magnum is one of my all-time favourite shows, and I’ve enjoyed his turns as Jesse Stone, loved him Three Men and a Baby, delighted in his appearance on Friends, and have a soft spot for High Road to China, and Runaway. I’ve yet to start Blue Bloods,…
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) – Spock Amok, and Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach
Spock Amok, whose title riffs on The Original Series’ Amok Time, was written by Henry Alonso Myers, and Robin Wasserman. It first debuted on 2 June, 2022. Following their encounter with the Gorn, the Enterprise has returned to Starbase One for some shore leave and minor repairs as well as a diplomatic negotiation with a…
Galactica 1980 (1980) – The Super Scouts: Part II, and Spaceball
As the children fall ill, Troy (Kent McCord) and Dillon (Barry Van Dyke) develop a risky plan to save them, and show the chemical company responsible for the pollution, represented by Stockton (Mike Kellin) the folly of his ways. The Super Scouts: Part II aired on 23 March, 1980 and was written by series creator…
TIFF ’22: The Fabelmans
I have been a Spielberg fan for as long as I can remember. The first film he saw was The Greatest Show On Earth, which affected him. Mine was Jaws, and I can say the same thing. Over the decades I have followed him on his storytelling journey, embracing each new film that came along,…
The X-Files (2002) – Hellbound, and Provenance
Reyes (Annabeth Gish) brings an unusual case to Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) in Hellbound. She also has a strange connection to it that she can’t quite figure out. Written by David Amann and first airing on 27 January, 2002, the agents find themselves a series of deaths involving ex-cons who were skinned…
The X-Files (1999) – The Sixth Extinction, and The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
Series creator Chris Carter pens the seventh season opener of The X-Files, which premiered on 7 November, 1999. Scully (Gillian Anderson) is still in West Africa, on the Ivory Coast, investigating the strange, possible extraterrestrial structure (craft?) that the ocean has revealed. The entire thing is covered in text that seems to touch on all…
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) – Alejandro G. Inarritu
Micheal Keaton shines in Alejandro Innarritu’s Birdman. He brings a level to his performance that you know is based on personal experience, and delivers an Oscar-nominated virtuoso performance as Riggan Thompson, an actor who walked away from a billion dollar superhero franchise and is now worried about his relevance while being haunted by his past….
Battle Los Angeles (2011) – Jonathan Liebesman
Aaron Eckhart leads a squad of marines in this tale of alien invasion, that owes its pedigree to the likes of War of the Worlds and Independence Day. Is it great? No. But it ends up being fairly solid entertainment, and has a pretty solid cast surrounding Nantz (Eckhart) and his marines, including Michelle Rodriguez,…
Star Trek: Short Treks (2018/2019) – Runaway, Calypso, The Brightest Star, and The Escape Artist
Captain’s log: 2257 I take on the first season of Short Treks this week which aired between the first and second season of Star Trek: Discovery, Featuring shorter tales, some that will have a direct effect on future episodes and events. The first episode, Runaway, lets Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have a bit of a moment…
The Mind Reels 