Screening today at the Hart House theatre at 9:30 is a documentary that completely encapsulated my youth and filled me with awe, and a fire to create. Back in 1981, a film came along that changed many a young viewer, myself included, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. It affected a number of…
Tag: family
Hot Docs 2015: Jesus Town USA – Julian Pinder and Billie Mintz
Screening today at the Isabel Bader theatre at 9:15pm is this documentary that plays more like a feature film in its construction than a documentary, it has that wonderful mockumentary Christopher Guest feel to it. The setting is a small town in Oklahoma, not so very far from the Holy City of the Wichitas, a…
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) – William Cottrell, David Hand, Wildred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce and Ben Sharpsteen
Leaving the war genre behind, temporarily, the next genre to be examined by the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is that of family. And it all begins here, the amazing legacy that Walt Disney created, with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was among the first full-length animated features created…
The Pinkertons S01E01- Kansas City
If you’ve missed the US broadcasts, starting this evening in the Great White North on local CHCH channels, from co-creators Kevin Abrams and Adam Moore, is this western series that follows the cases of the legendary Pinkertons, the original detective agency. Leading the charge is the always delightful Martha MacIsaac as Kate Warne, a smart, capable…
Big Hero 6 (2014) – Don Hall and Chris Williams
I’ve had a tough time getting out to the theater this year, but I knew I had to see this one. Disney’s latest animated feature film is based on a Marvel comic book series and shows that their animated department can keep us just as involved as their live action entries into the Marvel…
The Sopranos: The Complete Series
Releasing from HBO today, available for the first time on Blu-ray, is the critically acclaimed mobster family drama that wowed and wooed fans and critics alike around the world. HBO was kind enough to give me an early look, and I was happy to dive in. Over the years I’d tried to get into this…
Trailer Tracks: *Batteries Not Included (1987) – Matthew Robbins
This Spielberg produced family/sci-fi/drama didn’t really make much of an impact when it came out, and honestly, I haven’t seen it since I rented it from Vision Video one weekend. Still, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and little aliens!
La Dolce Vita (1960) – Federico Fellini
The strong recommendations from my viewing of Rules of the Game for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book continue with this beautifully made film. Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) is a journalist who runs all over Rome from evening to dawn collecting tabloid stories alongside his sometimes photographer Paparazzo (Walter Santesso). He’s a…
Trailer Tracks: Space Camp – Henry Winer
Now this – THIS movie is what my dreams were made of! I wanted to go to space – at least to Space Camp – so that I could learn all I needed to know about becoming an astronaut. The effects were actually pretty good for the time, and don’t look completely ridiculous today. …
Trailer Tracks: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – Steven Spielberg
In my eyes, this is one of the world’s perfect movies. As a child, it filled me with wonder and ignited my imagination for apparently the rest of my life (so far, at least). As an adult, that wonder is still there, but is now accompanied by an appreciation for some of the more…
The Mind Reels 