Silence (2016) – Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese’s beautifully shot passion project, Silence, is unveiled on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures today. Based on the novel by Shusako Endo the film is vibrant and gorgeous, while it plays with some tough questions about religion, faith, cultures and beliefs. Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson share top billing in this film, but…

Dogma (1999) – Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith’s hilarious take on religion as two exiled (to Wisconsin) angels, Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck) find a loop hole in religious dogma that will allow them to return to Heaven. This is the final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of La Belle…

Alien 3 (1992) – David Fincher

Sure the special edition taken from Fincher’s workprint wasn’t unveiled until 2003, but it’s the only way I’ll watch the movie now, and makes the film a little stronger than its original theatrical cut. This corner of the Alien universe is my next stop on my journey with the Sci-Fi Chronicles, as it seems I’ve…

Quantum Leap (1989) – Star-Crossed and The Right Hand of God

  Sam’s (Scott Bakuka) leaps really get under way this week with Star-Crossed. Penned by Deborah Pratt with an air date of 31 March, 1989, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping into an English Lit professor, Gerald Bryant, in an Ohio college on 15 June, 1972. The professor has a drinking problem, and is involved amorously…

The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998) – Rob Bowman

  The X-Files owned the late 90s, early 00s and as the fifth season came to a close, the show was at the height of its popularity. This led to the idea of an event, a thank you for the fans, and the FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) made…

Inner Demons (2014) – Seth Grossman

  Releasing today from Anchor Bay is this little horror film that follows through on an idea I’ve often toyed with writing up myself, the idea of possession and addiction… science vs. faith, all set in one person’s life. A found footage film, a genre that has been beaten to death, resurrected like Jason, and beaten again,…

Pulp Fiction (1994) – Quentin Tarantino

  Pulp Fiction, quite possibly the best film in Tarantino’s oeuvre, is the next title in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film comedy section for me to take a look at. While not necessarily a full-out comedy, it is neither a full-out drama nor thriller either. What it does have is a fantastic…

Hot Docs 2014: Focus On Infinity (Joerg Burger)

Screening this evening at 7pm, with its international premiere at the Hart House Theatre is this documentary posits the eternal queries of who are we, where did we come from and where are we going? It doesn’t provide any answers, it’s more akin to laying on a blanket in the middle of summer and watch…

Signs (2002) – M. Night Shyamalan

  The 101 Sci-Fi Movies list is drawing to an end, and it allowed me to rewatch M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs with Mel Gibson. It’s easy to jump right to the end, and complain about the idea that if these aliens were so afraid of water, apparently it can kill them… why take a chance…