M*A*S*H (1979) – The Party, Too Many Cooks, and Are You Now, Margaret?

Burt Metcalfe and Alan Alda pen the script that closes out the seventh season, The Party. It first aired on 12 March, 1979. While the 4077th gets orders to move (and again) as the Chinese have broken through, B.J. (Mike Farrell) hits on the idea of organizing a reunion, but not for the members of…

TIFF 2021: Dune dir. Denis Villeneuve

Magnificent. Triumphant. THIS is the movie I saw in my mind’s eye when I first read Dune in 1984 when I was anticipating the Lynch film (which I love for its own reasons). The visual aesthetic, the sound and production design, the score (I swear Hans Zimmer isn’t the only one throwing a few nods…

A Fool There Was (1915) – Frank Powell

The new big book I’m working my way through, simply called Movies, overseen and edited by Phillip Kemp is going to bring me a whole bunch of films I’ve never seen, and probably a whole bunch I’ve already reviewed. So I’m back in the era of the silent film, and A Fool There Was is…

The White Ribbon (2009) – Micheal Haneke

I’m finishing up the main body of DK Canada’s exceptional The Movie Book, and Haneke’s The White Ribbon is a fantastic film to wrap up the main section of the book. Set a few short years before the First World War, this Golden Globe winning film is a somber, thoughtful affair on sins, youth, tradition,…

Star Trek: Voyager (1998) – Hunters, and Prey

Captain’s log: stardate 51501.4 Jeri Taylor pens this episode that first aired on 11 February, 1998. After briefly introducing the Hirogen in the previous episode, this one brings them right to the fore, as the Voyager enters Hirogen space and finds all manner of grief. They are like the Predator of the Star Trek universe,…

V – The Miniseries (1983) – Part One

Writer/director Kenneth Johnson gave us a modern retelling of the Nazi Third Reich in the event mini-series that so impacted me, and countless others, when it first debuted on 1 May, 1983. It was all I talked about in school, finishing up the sixth grade. I didn’t get to see it all when it aired,…

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series

It’s here! Amassed in one small slip-case, the adventures of Aang (Zach Tyler), the Last Airbender – The Complete Series comes to blu-ray for the first time. Over the course of 9 discs and 66 episodes the brilliant, and beloved Nickelodeon series comes home in the perfect collection. Included in the set are a mass…

Ugetsu (1953) – Kenji Mizoguchi

The next title recommended by the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of Ran, is this brilliant film that follows the fortunes of two peasant families during a civil war. Operating a kiln, and making wares, Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) sees a chance to get rich with the selling of his…

Seven Fallen Feathers (2017) – Tanya Talaga

Seven Fallen Feathers is a defining book. It is a haunting, distressing and angering discourse on racism and loss in Northern Ontario, and across Canada. Talaga, a dedicated and insightful journalist turns her investigative eye, shining it like a spotlight onto a piece of Canadian life that many of us are loathe to discuss, accept,…