Hill Street Blues (1987) – City of Refuse, and Der Roachenkavalier

City of Refuse may be my favourite episode of the season so far. Written by Peter Silverman, it first debuted on 20 January, 1987. Hunter (James Sikking) gets to put on his tactical uniform for the first time since his demotion when he joins Goldblume (Joe Spano) in dealing with a hostage situation. Why was…

Isle of Dogs (2018) – Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson delivers another highly-enjoyable stop-motion animated feature with Isle of Dogs. He penned the script from a story he developed with Jason Schwartzman, Kunichi Nomura, and Roman Coppola. Set in a not-so-distant future in Japan, the story follows young Atari (Koyu Rankin) who travels to an island to seek out his missing canine, Spots…

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) – Renny Harlin

The fourth entry in the Elm Street series has a pretty cool pedigree behind the camera. A young, up and coming director, who would go on to make some solid 90s action films, Renny Harlin helms the film, and the story was developed by Brian Hegeland and William Kotzwinkle, before Heglenand, Jim Wheat and Ken…

Flight of the Navigator (1986) – Randal Kleiser

Disney delivers a staple of 80s childhood with a revisit to Flight of the Navigator. Watching it now, I find myself more interested in the mysteries going on at the edges of the story than the main thrust of the narrative following young David Freeman (Joey Cramer), his abduction and subsequent return eight years later,…

Tell Me My Name (2020) – Erin Ruddy

Dundurn Press keeps my reading pile high, and full of thrills. This week, I dug into Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy, a tightly-paced thriller that makes me rethink about wanting to visit cottage country, and re-examining all my past interactions with everyone around me. Ellie and Neil were going to have some time…

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021) – Quentin Tarantino

Man am I divided on this one. I love that Tarantino has given us his first novel, and allows it to expand on his film of the same name. It has a pulpy style to it that fits perfectly with the era, and the aesthetic of the film story he told. It also lists movie…

The Snoopy Collection – Blu-Ray Review

Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can recall reading the paperback compilations of Charles M. Schulze classic strips. The Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the only holiday specials that I must watch every year. I imagined my childhood was…

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) – Rob Hedden

Jason Takes Manhattan aka Jason Takes a Cruise aka Jason Takes Vancouver is probably the weakest entry in the Paramount Pictures run on the series, they sold the franchise to New Line Cinema who made three sequels until the 2009 Paramount remake/reboot came along. The upside to the film is that it features another turn…