Mission: Impossible (1967) – Operation ‘Heart,’ and The Money Machine

Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team attempt to flush out a villain intent on assassinating a head of state, Rurich (Pernell Roberts) so that his country’s Western flavoured government will fall and give way to a rule under his name. To take him down, Phelps, Rollin (Martin Landau), Cinnamon (Barbara Bain), Barney (Greg…

The X-Files (1997) – Elegy, and Demons

John Shiban pens the first episode up this week, Elegy, which debuted on 4 May,1997. And, honestly, I forgot how much I liked this episode. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate a series of murders that seem connected to a bowling alley, and an autistic employee, Harold (Steven M. Porter). According to the…

The X-Files (1994) – Blood, and Sleepless

Mulder (David Duchovny) finds himself in a paranoia and violence filled town in Blood. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong from a story by Darin Morgan (who had just appeared as the monster in the previous episode), this episode first aired on 30 September, 1994. A seemingly unconnected series of violent incidents leads Mulder…

Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon (1983) – L. Neil Smith

Lando Calrissian aboard the Millennium Falcon, with his pilot droid and friend Vuffi Raa at his side finds his way into more trouble this week in L. Neil Smith’s second book in his trio of Star Wars novels that follows the scoundrel and gambler. Lando just can’t seem to make a living as a freighter…

Infernal Affairs (2002) – Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, and Alan Mak

DK Canada’s The Movie Book rolls out the What Else to Watch list following my screening of Oldboy. Infernal Affairs is up for viewing, and served as the basis for the North American adaptation, The Departed. Yes, The Departed is a solid film, the original is so much better. Tightly edited, fantastically crafted the film…

Star Trek: Voyager (1998) – Extreme Risk, and In the Flesh

Captain’s log: stardate unknown Kenneth Biller pens this Torres (Roxann Dawson) episode that first aired on 28 October, 1998. It also sees the crew, led by Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), begins building a new shuttle christened the Delta Flyer, and they must finish it before the polluting Malon beat them to a planet to recover…

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) – Wes Craven

My exploration of the zombie genre with DK Canada’s eminently enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book continues with this over-fictionalized adaption of a real anthropological exploration and documentation of real-life zombies by ethnobotanist Wade Davis. Director Wes Craven used Davis’ book of the same name as the launching point for his horror film starring Bill…

War of the Worlds (1990) – Synthetic Love, and The Defector

The morthren are still up to no good, as the War of the Worlds continues. Synthetic Love first aired on 15 January, 1990 and was written by Nancy Ann Miller. The episode sees the aliens developing a new drug to enslave humanity, from our own brain tissue! We see that narcotics have been legalized all…

Altered States (1980) – Ken Russell

William Hurt is on the search for the purest truth, and that, in this case, places him squarely in the mad scientist chapter of DK Canada’s very enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book. Eddie Jessup (Hurt) is a scientist seeking the ultimate truth, and finds himself experimenting with isolation chambers and a ritualistic, possibly hallucinogenic…