Jean-Jacques Annaud’s adaptation of Umberto Eco’s novel, The Name of the Rose, is an engaging tour-de-force with a fantastic cast, an intriguing mystery, and a fantastic setting. Amazingly, Sean Connery’s career was in a bit of a lull when he lobbied for the part, one which, it seems, much like Bond, and Indy’s father, he…
Tag: faith
TIFF ’23: Sleep
Midnight Madness at TIFF is always a lot of fun, and some great genre films get scheduled that are designed to deliver to the late-night audience. Sleep hopes to do that this week. A Korean entry to the film festival from writer/director Jason Yu. It’s his first feature film, and Yu creates a tense, moody…
Wonderfalls (2004) – Karma Chameleon, and Wound-up Penguin
Jaye (Caroline Dhavernas) gets single white femaled in Karma Chameleon. Written by Tim Minear this episode aired second, on 19 March, 2004, when it was actually the third in the narrative order. When a fish in the bar, and a stuffed chameleon tell Jaye to help ‘get her words out’ when it comes to a…
TIFF ’22: Women Talking
Writer-director Sarh Polley lends her powerful voice to bringing Miriam Toews’ brilliant and acclaimed novel to the screen. What Polley delivers is a stunning, conversation-starting piece that examines patriarchy, power, faith, hope, and dreams for the future. In a remote Mennonite community, a gathering of women takes place to figure out their future. They’ve been…
Ararat (2017) – Christopher Golden
Ararat is a horror novel that moves along at breakneck speed whether you believe in the subject matter or not. And that puts the reader in exactly the same situation that the characters in the book find themselves in. When an avalanche reveals an impossibility on the mountain known as Ararat a pair of adventurers…
M*A*S*H (1980) – Goodbye, Cruel World, Dreams, and War Co-Respondent
Klinger (Jamie Farr) has enough, and almost makes a disastrous mistake while one of Hawkeye’s (Alan Alda) patients, Michael Yee (Clyde Kusatsu) is having some serious issues, and attempts to take his own life, necessitating a visit from Sidney (Allan Arbus) in Goodbye, Cruel World. Written by Thad Mumford and Dan Wilcox, this episode first…
The X-Files (2018) – Nothing Lasts Forever, and My Struggle IV
The series penultimate episode, written by Karen Nielsen, and first airing on 14 March, 2018, is a bit of a monster of the week episode, while also pontificating on aging, belief and faith. And the fact that the I Want To Believe tag is removed from the opening credits and changed to I Want to…
M*A*S*H (1978) – Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde, Major Topper, and Commander Pierce
Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde is the ‘drugs are bad’ episode of M*A*S*H. Written by Ronny Graham, Ken Levine and David Isaacs, it first debuted on 27 February, 1978. The 4077th in the midst of an onslaught of patients, and everyone is doing there best to just survive, get through, and give their patients the…
Apostle (2018) – Gareth Evans
There’s a lot to unpack in Gareth Evans’ film, Apostle, there are concepts of religious tenets, blood, sacrifice, family, worship, deification, and faith, all of it wrapped up in a character driven tale starring Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen. If you try to take it as the straightforward tale that the film’s plotline offers, you’re…
The X-Files (2000) – Signs & Wonders, and Sein und Zeit
Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) head to Tenessee to investigate a strange death (countless snake bites though none were found at the scene) in Signs & Wonders. Written by Jeffrey Bell, this episode first debuted on 23 January, 2000. As the story plays out, it almost feels like a companion piece to the…
The Mind Reels 