Tim Conway and Don Knotts return as the hapless comedic pair Amos and Theodore in the sequel to the 1975 Disney family/comedy/western The Apple Dumpling Gang. This time around the pair, and the script are unfettered by everything that went before it, though the characters from the previous film are mentioned. This time, Amos and…
Tag: family
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) – Norman Tokar
Like most people my age, I grew up with the Carol Burnett show and delighted in the antics of the comedic genius that was Tim Conway, so when he and Don Knotts found themselves in a family/comedy/western film for Disney alongside Bill Bixby, and familiar names and faces like Susan Clark, Harry Morgan, Slim Pickens,…
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) – James Cameron
It’s been thirteen years since writer/director James Cameron introduced to the distant world of Pandora, and its blue-skinned, lean humanoid inhabitants the Na’vi, who live in harmony with their planet. It’s been thirteen years since we left Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their family has grown, with three children…
Tangled (2010) – Nathan Greno, and Byron Howard
Tangled, a Walt Disney animated film is somehow twelve years old and is still incredibly fun to watch, and is one of those Disney films that have now become iconic and has gained an enduring amount of love. A spin on the classic tale of Rapunzel (voiced here by Mandy Moore) the computer-generated imagery that…
Hill Street Blues (1982) – Of Mouse and Man, and Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement
There’s a lot going on this week when a prominent public defender is murdered in a robbery gone wrong, something that shakes Joyce (Veronica Hamel) to her core, and makes her question her own future, and if she wants to keep working as a lawyer. Of Mouse and Man was written by Steven Bochco, Anthony…
TAD 2022: Evil Eye dir. by Isaac Ezban
Spookiness abounds at Scotiabank Theatre tonight as Toronto After Dark continues. Having its Canadian premiere this evening Is the Mexican film, Evil Eye, a creepy entry that blends childhood terror with fairy tales and family. The fear of being in a big house that has memories that aren’t yours but is connected to your family,…
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Cranky Streets, and Chipped Beef
Robert Crais pens the teleplay for Cranky Streets from a story by Michael Kozoll and Steven Bochco. It first debuted on 10 December, 1981. With city and union negotiations faltering tensions are running high on the hill. Renko (Charles Haid) and Hill (Michael Warren) find themselves assigned to be training officers. When Renko pulls a…
TIFF ’22: The Fabelmans
I have been a Spielberg fan for as long as I can remember. The first film he saw was The Greatest Show On Earth, which affected him. Mine was Jaws, and I can say the same thing. Over the decades I have followed him on his storytelling journey, embracing each new film that came along,…
Empire of the Sun (1987) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg’s next project was an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s memoir of his time as a boy growing up in Japanese occupied China during World War II. Christian Bale, in one of his earliest roles, plays young Jamie Graham, an arrogant young English boy who is fascinated by planes, and whose life is upended in the…
The Color Purple (1985) – Steven Spielberg
Was Steven Spielberg the right person to shoot the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s powerful novel? He was an interesting choice for the project, and it definitely wasn’t the dramatic material that he was associated with in the 80s, having delivered a number of blockbusters at that point. And while there were a number of…
The Mind Reels 