Deep Impact (1998) – Mimi Leder

Releasing the same year as Michael Bay’s big budget, small story, extravaganza, Armageddon, Deep Impact got a little lost in the rubble. But with Steven Spielberg’s name attached to it as executive producer, it’s my next stop on the Sci-Fi Chronicles. Eschewing the flash-bang, style over substance, popcorn nature of Bay’s film, Deep Impact, ably…

Queen of Spades: The Dark Rite (2015) -Svyatoslav Podgayevskly

  It’s always interesting to see what genre films look like from other countries, and this Friday at select cities across the country, and on VOD on the 19th, we can have a look at Russia’s Queen of Spades. A riff on the Bloody Mary urban legend that is seemingly as old as mankind, the…

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…

Magnum, p.i. (1987/1988) – The Love That Lies and A Girl Named Sue

  The Love That Lies opens Magnum’s (Tom Selleck) case book this week. Originally airing on 18 November, 1987, this episode was written by Jeri Taylor (who would later go on to work on both Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager). Brenda Babcock (Eileen Brennan) hires Thomas to find the child she…

Hot Docs 2016: Life, Animated – Roger Ross Williams

  If there is a more honest, emotional and human film at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, I can’t imagine what it could be. Owen Suskind, the young autistic man who is the focus of William’s objective eye, is a brilliant soul, and we learn through the film, his story, his life, and his…