Mission: Impossible (1967) – Action!, and The Train

Dan Briggs (Steven Hill) is missing from this week’s first mission (apparently he was written out of the script as punishment for observing his religious beliefs), so Cinnamon (Barbara Bain) picks up the mission while Rollin (Martin Landau) concocts the plan in Action! written by Robert Lewin. This episode first hit the airwaves on 4…

Dark City (1998) – Alex Proyas

As much as I enjoy The Crow, Dark City may be my favourite Proyas films, it combines two of my favourite genres, the film noir and science fiction and delivers something intelligent, engaging, and fantastically put together. And yet, I hadn’t watched this one in forever, but of course, when it was time for a…

Doomsday (2008) – Neil Marshall

Writer/director Neil Marshall pays homage to Snake Plissken and Mad Max with his actioner, Doomsday, which, as I rewatched it, had an opening that seems incredibly relevant as a pandemic sweeps the UK, and as the virus spreads there are lockdowns, quarantines, and curfews – until the infected are all locked away in Scotland, a…

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) – Agatha Christie

This week’s Agatha Christie isn’t quite the romp of the previous entry, but like all her tales, is wonderfully engaging and entertaining as she weaves a tale of murder, secret marriages, servants, doctors, drugs, wayward sons, and hidden secrets and truths. And in the middle of it all, Hercule Poirot. This one is a bit…

Star Trek: Shadows on the Sun (1993) – Michael Jan Friedman

Set shortly after the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Shadows on the Sun explores some of the backstory of Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, a character that has become one of my favourites over the years. It’s interesting, as a child, and teen, Kirk was always the character for me. But as I…

The X-Files (1993) – Pilot, and Deep Throat

10 September, 1993. Man, that feels like a long time ago, despite the fact that my mind tells me that the 80s were only a couple of years ago. Weird. Sounds like an x-file. Much like my watching of Star Trek, tons has been written by other fans and critics about Chris Carter’s creation, so…

The Magician (1926) – Rex Ingram

Originally a lost silent film, The Magician is the next movie in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies’ chapter on Devil’s Works. A dark fantasy, tinged with horrific elements, the film isn’t quite up to today’s horror standards, and only features one truly standout sequence. Set in Paris, the film introduces us to sculptor Margaret…

Catch Me If You Can (2002) – Steven Spielberg

Spielberg gives us a film inspired by true life events, and puts Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Walken through their paces as I dig into another title mentioned in Ten Bad Dates With De Niro. DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., the youngest counterfeiter and fraud in American history. Before his nineteenth birthday, he’s cashed…

Hannibal (2001) – Ridley Scott

Anthony Hopkins returns to his iconic role of the cannibalistic doctor, Hannibal Lector in the sequel to the brilliant The Silence of the Lambs. This film shows up in Ten Bad Dates with De Niro on a list of films that it is painful to like. Jodie Foster and director Jonathan Demme elected not to…