Hitchcock pairs with writer Frederick Knott to bring his stage play, Dial M for Murder to the big screen in this captivating and thrilling adaptation. The film features a top-tier cast, the luminous Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings and John Williams. Everyone has secrets in this engaging film. Kelly is Margot Wendice, a wealthy…
Tag: crime
Farscape (1999) – DNA Mad Scientist, and They’ve Got a Secret
Getting hooked on PK Tech Girl was the beginning. DNA Mad Scientist cemented my Farscape addiction, because in this episode we see what some of Moya’s crew will do to get home, and how much it may cost them. Written by Tom Blomquist, this episode was first broadcast on 18 June, 1999. When the crew…
The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944) – Ford Beebe
John Carradine plays a scientist, Drury, who has perfected an invisible serum, though it has no relation to the work that the Griffin family was working on in previous films. We are introduced to him when an escaped psychotic murderer, Robert Griffin (Jon Hall) – no relation escapes to the U.K. It seems that he’s…
TIFF24: Santosh dir. Sandhya Suri
“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” The entire runtime of Sandhya Sur’s Santosh that line of dialogue circulated through my brain repeatedly, as the film plunged the viewer into a morally grey world that was frightening and horrifying as its narrative threw us right into the brutal caste system of rural India, and the ongoing sexism…
Training Day (2001) – Antoine Fuqua
I forgot what a tightly crafted, perfectly executed film Training Day was. I knew it was excellent, I remembered it as gritty and intense, but I hadn’t seen it since 2001. Watching it afresh over twenty years later, and one is struck by the intensity of the performances, Denzel Washington deservedly won an Oscar for…
Starman (1986/1987) – The Gift, and The System
Jane Wyatt, who played Spock’s mother in Star Trek, The Original Series and The Voyage Home, plays Paul Forrester’s (Robert Hays) mother in The Gift. Written by Peggy Goldman, this is the series holiday episode and was first broadcast on 12 December, 1986. Paul and Scott (Christopher Danie Barnes) receive a letter from Stella, Paul’s…
22 Jump Street (2014) – Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
With some sly remarks about sequels, more of the same, but bigger, 22 Jump Street takes Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) to college. Once again, the film walks a fine line between raunchy/silly comedy to delivering a commentary on relationships, bromance, and box-office budgets. When the pair are shipped off to college for…
Hill Street Blues (1986) – Amazing Grace, and Falling From Grace
The character of Grace (Barbara Babcock) returns this week, and she’d been gone so long that I didn’t even make the connection with the episode’s title! She returns with a bit of a shocking change of character, she’s become a nun! Amazing Grace was written by Robert Ward from a story by Ward and David…
Batman (1967) – The Ogg Couple, and The Funny Feline Felonies
Egghead (Vincent Price) and Olga (Anne Baxter) are back in The Ogg Couple. Written by Stanford Sherman this episode was first aired on 21 December, 1967. The episode was initially written to be part of a three-part episode tying in with The Ogg and I, and How to Hatch a Dinosaur but was re-edited to…
Batman (1967) – The Joker’s Last Laugh, and The Joker’s Epitaph
The Joker (Cesar Romero) is back, and he’s ready to cause more problems for Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) in this two-part episode. The first one, The Joker’s Last Laugh, first aired on 15 February, 1967 and was written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. from a story by Peter Rabe. It seems the wealthy…
The Mind Reels 