Oh, How We Danced written by John Rappaport, and with an original airdate of 23 February, 1981, has a fantastic A-story, that really touches the heart (even as it messes with series continuity), and a completely forgettable B-story. The B-story first then. Charles (David Ogden Stiers) delivers a substandard sanitation rating to a nearby American…
Tag: director
M*A*S*H (1981) – No Sweat, Depressing News, and No Laughing Matter
The heat is getting to everybody in No Sweat. Written by John Rappaport, we join the 4077th for a sweltering night. First airing on 2 February, 1981, we find various members of the camp unable to sleep because of the heat, and the things they are doing to occupy their time instead. B.J. (Mike Farrell)…
The Nice Guys (2016) – Shane Black
With the exception of The Predator, I love me some Shane Black. From the moment I first saw Lethal Weapon, I knew I had found a writer (and later a director) that I would enjoy following. Keeping in the vein of his other film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys plays with the detective…
M*A*S*H (1981) – Tell It to the Marines, Taking the Fifth, and Operation Friendship
Harry Morgan directs Tell It to the Marines, which first aired on 12 January, 1981, and was written by Hank Bradford. Charles (David Ogden Stiers) takes over as CO while Potter (Morgan) is away, and turns Klinger (Jamie Farr) into his personal attaché, and seems intent on living in a means he’s more accustomed to….
House (1985) – Steven Miner
Directed by Steve Miner, who gave us Friday the 13th Parts 2 and 3, and Sean S. Cunningham who gave us the first film, and was the producer for its sequels, gives us a different kind of horror (tinged with comedy) starring William Katt and George Wendt, and while there’s an interesting concept here, a…
M*A*S*H (1980/1981) – Death Takes a Holiday, A War for All Seasons, and Your Retention Please
Mike Farrell directs this episode that he wrote alongside John Rappaport, and Dennis Koenig from a story by Thad Mumford, Dan Wilcox, and Burt Metcalfe. It aired on 15 December 1980 and was used as that year’s Christmas episode. Farrell knows how to pack his story with emotional impact without being super sappy about it….
Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire (2019) – Stephen Cognetti
Found footage can be hit or miss. To attempt a trilogy what works solely with that sub-genre is pretty ambitious, and I think, for the most part, writer/director Stephen Cognetti pulls it off. And if you watch all three films in close succession, as I have, they flow a lot better, and he wraps everything…
M*A*S*H (1980) – Letters, Cementing Relationships, and Father’s Day
Dennis Koenig pens Letters, which is a bit of a vignette show, that first aired on 24 November, 1980. In the midst of a huge rainstorm that is bringing down camp spirits, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) gets a slew of letters from his hometown of Crabapple Cove, Maine. One of the schoolteachers there has had her…
The Prisoner (1968) – The Girl Who Was Death, Once Upon a Time, and Fall Out
Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) is back to being a superspy in swinging London, as he matches wits with a deadly female assassin, Sonia (Justine Lord), who is looking to off him, and protect her slightly crazed father, Schnipps (Kenneth Griffith), who is planning on destroying London and establishing him as its new Napoleon-esque leader. All…
Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel (2018) – Stephen Cognetti
Y’know what? I’m not gonna lie. I had a pretty good time with the first film, Hell House LLC, so I figured I would dive into the sequels – I mean it’s the same writer/director through all of them, so we know that no matter how they play out, this is Cognetti’s story the whole…
The Mind Reels 