Let it begin! Voting for the first round of our annual Reelie Awards is now open! This year, there will be only ONE round of voting per category, so make sure to keep coming back all week long to make sure YOUR favourite wins! You can vote as often as you like, and for as many…
Tag: drama
55 Days at Peking (1963) – Nicholas Grey and Guy Green
Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven headline this recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Lawrence of Arabia. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 is at the heart of the story, as a cast of characters are swept up into the drama, and terror of the siege…
Allied (2016) – Robert Zemeckis
Available today from Paramount Pictures is director Robert Zemeckis’ wartime romantic thriller, Allied. Opening in French Morocco, the film is a deliberate throwback to the romantic war films of yesteryear. In the first half of the film there are intentional callbacks to films like Casablanca and Notorious, calling to mind our memories and emotions…
Star Wars: Catalyst – A Rogue One Novel (2016) – James Luceno
This weekend, new names will be added to the Star Wars cinematic universe, those of Orson Krennic, Galen, Lyra and Jyn Orso. But Star Wars readers get to know these characters already, through James Luceno’s new canon novel Catalyst. Set during the closing years of the Clone Wars and those following it, as the Rebellion…
Quantum Leap (1991) – Southern Comforts and Glitter Rock
It’s 4 August, 1961 and Sam (Scott Bakula) has leapt into the owner of a brothel in Southern Comforts. Written by Tommy Thompson this episode aired on 3 April, 1991. As Gilbert LaBonte, the proprietor of the long family-owned New Orleans-based business, Sam is there to help a young woman named Gina (Georgia Emelin). She’s…
The Dam Busters (1955) – Michael Anderson
As I return to the war genre I plunge into the events of World War II and the creation of a ‘bouncing bomb’ that would help the Allies against the Nazis. The film is based on two books, one by Paul Brickhill about the creation of the weapon, and the other by Guy Gibson about…
Toronto After Dark 2016: The Lure -Agnieszka Smoczynska
The last night of the Toronto After Dark film festival got underway at Scotiabank Theatre with the Polish musical/drama/horror The Lure. Taking its cues from the original Hans Christian Anderson tale, The Little Mermaid, as well as playing with mermaid mythology this one toys with expectations, sexuality and strange lyrics in a kind of fevered…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) -Where No Man Has Gone Before and The Naked Time
Captain’s Log: Stardate 1312.4 The famed second pilot for the proposed series, Where No Man Has Gone Before was written by Samuel Peeples from Gene Roddenberry’s creation and found its way to the television sets everywhere on 22 September, 1966. This was an episode that I loved, and continue to love. It fostered the sense…
Quantum Leap (1990) – Freedom and Good Night, Dear Heart
Sam (Scott Bakula) engages in more time travelling adventure this week as he leaps into a young Native American, George Washaki in Freedom. This episode was penned by Chris Ruppenthal and aired 14 February, 1990. It’s 22 November, 1970, and Sam finds himself on the run with George’s grandfather, Joseph (Frank Salsedo), with an…
From Here to Eternity (1953) – Fred Zinnemann
An all star cast brings James Jones sprawling book to the big screen, and is my next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my revisit with Casablanca for the Romance and Melodrama genre. Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Claude Akins and Jack Warden bring…
The Mind Reels 