Hot Docs 2016: Cheer Up – Christy Garland

  Having its World Premiere this evening at Scotiabank at 7pm is this charming, emotional, little gem, that takes us to northern reaches of Finland’s Arctic Circle, and into the lives of some wonderful young women, cheerleaders, who have big hearts, and bigger dreams. Led by their coach Miia, this cheerleading team tries to win…

Magnum, p.i. (1987) – Solo Flight and Forty

  It’s back to Hawaii! This week we start off with Solo Flight, which originally aired on 4 February, 1987, and was written by jay Huguely. When Thomas (Tom Selleck) can’t resolve a case and is fired from it, he decides to take some alone time, and after spotting an old World War II fighter…

Gone With The Wind (1939) -Victor Fleming, George Cukor and Sam Wood

  A gorgeous score by Max Steiner welcomes me to this towering four hour epic based on Margaret Mitchell’s classic (albeit incredibly racist) tale of the south. This was one I had never seen, but as I dove back into the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, specifically the romance and melodrama section,…

Titan A.E. (2000) – Don Bluth

  The next tale from the Sci-Fi Chronicles book that Joss Whedon had his hand in was this animated feature that featured the voice talents of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo, and Tone Loc. Humanity is struggling to survive in a galaxy that has seen the destruction of…

The A-Team (1984) – Chopping Spree and Harder Than It Looks

  You know if they didn’t follow the predictable arc of needing to make something in the last act of each episode, both of these stories this week could have been really solid. I mean they work for A-Team stories, but if they had played with their formula just a bit… I had a bit…

Magnum, p.i. (1985) – Deja Vu

Season 6 of Magnum, p.i, gets underway with this two-hour opener, that sees Thomas (Tom Selleck) and Higgins (John Hillerman) travelling to England to oversee the staffing and opening of Robin Masters’ recently purchased castle, which he’s promptly named, Robin’s Keep. Deja Vu was written by Bellisaro and Chris Abbott and had an airdate of…

Steamboy (2004) – Katsuhiro Otomo

  I can’t seem to pull myself away from the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, and was very appy to settle in for this one that combined anime and steampunk, and ran with it. Now, don’t judge me, but I watched the dubbed version, I usually prefer watching a film in the original language, but I only…

Magnum, p.i. (1985) – Professor Jonathan Higgins and Compulsion

  There are shades of Pygmalion for Higgins (John Hillerman) and Thomas (Tom Selleck) this week, in the episode Professor Jonathan Higgins, which was written by Jay Huguely from a story by Mary Lee Gaylor. This one originally aired on 10 January, 1985. Higgins is expecting his cousin Sally Ponting ( Jillie Mack) to arrive in preparation for her…