Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) – Dean Parisot

Bill & Ted came along at just the right time in my life. In 1989, I was a senior in high school, and the characters, their speech, and their general attitudes resonated with me. I joined them on their Excellent Adventure a couple of times in theaters, and in 1991 when they went on a…

Parable of the Sower (1993) – Octavia E. Butler

Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction tale, that follows a young woman of colour on her quest to understand herself, the ideas of god, and the destiny of humanity. Within pages of this novel, I was completely swept up in Butler’s storytelling style, her characters, and the world she created. And here’s the thing, the world…

Man On Wire (2008) – James Marsh

In 1974, Phillipe Petit walked on a highwire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. His story, which walked away with the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009, is the next big film in DK Canada’s entertaining tome, The Movie Book. Filled with interviews of all the people involved, archival footage…

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995) – Destiny, and Prophet Motive

Station log: stardate 48543.2 David S. Cohen and Martin A. Winer pen this Sisko (Avery Brooks) episode that first aired on 13 February, 1995. A joint Bajoran, Cardassian and Federation science mission to establish a permanent communications relay through the wormhole runs into problems when an ancient Bajoran prophecy centred around the Emissary – Sisko…

The Amber Spyglass (2000) – Philip Pullman

The final novel in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is on the book shelf this week, and I was curious to know if it would have the same effect on me as it did when I first read it eighteen years ago. I remembered nothing of the final half of the book after a…

The Subtle Knife (1997) – Philip Pullman

This week I returned to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy by diving into the sequel, The Subtle Knife. It picks up right after the first novel, The Golden Compass, as we follow young Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon on her adventures. She finds herself in a strange world, having passed into another realm, unlike…

The Twilight Zone (1961) – Back There, The Whole Truth and The Invaders

Paramount Pictures makes sure that you know the signpost is up ahead as they continue shepherding me through The Complete Series on blu-ray. Up first this week is Back There. With an airdate of 13 January, 1961, this episode was penned by Rod Serling.  The story follows Russell Johnson’s (back for another tour) Pete Corrigan….

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999) – George Lucas

  Remember, right back before the Phantom Menace came out, when anticipation was reaching a fever pitch? I miss that. Sure we had the wonderful build up to The Force Awakens, but the gap between films was no where near as long as it had been for those of us who had been invested in…