Terror by Night is the penultimate adventure of Basil Rathbone’s and Nigel Bruce’s Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It lifts elements from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, The Adventure of the Empty House, The Disappearance of Lady Carfax, and The Sign of Four, but is predominantly an original story….
Tag: dialogue
Get Smart (1965) – Aboard the Orient Express, Weekend Vampire, and Survival of the Fattest
Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) are Aboard the Orient Express. It seems a number of CONTROL couriers have been murdered on the iconic train trip and it is up to this pair of agents to find out what is going on. Written by Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret, this episode…
The Naked Gun 2 1/2 – The Smell of Fear (1991) – David Zucker
Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) and the members of his Police Squad! are working in Washington and soon finds himself embroiled in another case. And encountering Jane (Priscilla Presley), who backed out of their relationship after the end of the first movie. Once again, Jane is involved with the baddies. This time around, it’s Quentin Hapsburg…
Jaws 50th Anniversary
What a great way to begin and end my TIFF experience this year. Even as TIFF celebrates its 50th year, so does my favourite movie of all time, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. I’ve told the story countless times of how it was my first ever film experience. I’ve seen this movie more times than any others…
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) – David Zucker
What with the reboot/sequel bringing comedic laughs back to the theatre, I thought I would take a look at the original The Naked Gun, which followed on the oh-to-short Police Squad! series. Leslie Nielsen is back as Frank Drebin, and if you were worried this movie wouldn’t be funny almost forty years later, you can…
Clerks (1994) – Kevin Smith
I remember when Clerks came to VHS. I was working at a video store and it resonated with everyone of us. It was like someone had taken our lives and put it on the screen. We as a crew identified so much with the film that we’d printed up labels with our names on it…
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) – Robert Mulligan
The moment I finished Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, I knew it was tome to check out the cinematic version, another hole in my viewing category. Gregory Peck headlines as Atticus, a role that garnered him an Academy Award. The film garnered two more wins, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Set/Art Dec. It received…
Anyone But You (2023) – Will Gluck
Using Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing as a template (there are quotes and references littered throughout), Will Gluck directs this delightful, and sexy rom-com that stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. Ben (Powell) and Bea (Sweeney) have a lovely little meet-cute, and have an amazing first date. One that is brought to an abrupt end,…
Top Secret! (1984) – Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams
It’s been a couple of decades since I last watched Top Secret! I remember from my time working in a video store that it was a perennial favourite of my friend Ted. And with the passing of Val Kilmer, I felt it was definitely time to take it in again. And wow, did I laugh….
Suicide Kings (1997) – Peter O’Fallon
I don’t think I gave this one the attention it was due when it first came out. I remember watching it, but not paying as much attention to it as I should. Watching it now, I enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s got a great cast, and a tight script. A group of friends find…
The Mind Reels 