TIFF ’22: Weird – The Al Yankovic Story

Daniel Radcliffe dons loud aloha shirts, straps on an accordion, and brings parody artist Weird Al Yankovic to uproarious life in Weird – The Al Yankovic Story. Directed by Eric Appel, who co-wrote the film with Yankovic, the film is laugh-out-loud funny as it tells a twisted, dare to be stupid version of Yankovic’s life…

TIFF ’22: On the Come Up

Sanaa Lathan delivers a powerful and emotional directorial debut with On the Come Up. Based on the novel by Angie Thomas, who also penned the powerful The Hate U Give, On the Come Up is a powerhouse coming of age featuring a strong leading performance by Jamila C. Gray who shines as Bri. Growing up…

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…

Rambo: Last Blood (2019) – Adrian Grunberg

Sylvester Stallone is back for one last go-round as John Rambo. It has to be, it’s right there in the title! Once again Stallone involves himself in the film’s script, crafting a story that shows that Rambo, no matter the age, is still the same man he has always been, but he’s just better at…

Fringe (2010) – The Bishop Revival, and Jacksonville

Glen Whitman and Robert Chiappetta penned The Bishop Revival which first aired on 28 January, 2010. Someone is using a toxin to target specific groups of people and as Olvia (Anna Torv), Peter (Joshua Jackson), and Walter (John Noble) investigate, they realize that it is someone using an old formula. One that was created by…

M*A*S*H (1982) – Promotion Commotion, Heroes, and Sons and Bowlers

Promotion Commotion by Dennis Koenig first aired on 1 March, 1982. It’s just a fun goofy episode, though there’s a nice story that develops between Potter (Harry Morgan) and a wounded soldier, Danielson (Jim Boyce) who is catching flak from the rest of his unit because he wants to stay faithful to his girl at…

Crimson Peak (2015) – Guillermo del Toro

The first time I watched del Toro’s gothic tale I didn’t pay attention as much as I should and consequently, I grew bored with it. The advertising had made it look more akin to a horror film which is what I thought I wanted. I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of lurid colors, and what…

The Prisoner (1968) – The Girl Who Was Death, Once Upon a Time, and Fall Out

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) is back to being a superspy in swinging London, as he matches wits with a deadly female assassin, Sonia (Justine Lord), who is looking to off him, and protect her slightly crazed father, Schnipps (Kenneth Griffith), who is planning on destroying London and establishing him as its new Napoleon-esque leader. All…

Beneath Her Skin (2021) – C.S. Porter

Nimbus Publishing, under its Vagrant Press, brings a new voice, C.S. Porter to the mystery genre, with their first novel, Beneath Her Skin, a lean, brisk, thriller. With the sub-title A Kes Morris File, one can assume that this will be Porter’s first foray into a series around their creation of Kes Morris, a female…