Toronto After Dark delivers a gaslighting character thriller with The Free Fall, enjoying its Canadian premiere, and comes in as one of my favorite films of the festival. That being said, I saw the truth of what was going on before everything was revealed, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable ride. Sara (Andrea…
Tag: fear
TAD 2021: Canadian Shorts
Canada delivers its own Shorts programme for Toronto After Dark, with 9 selections, that like the International Shorts features a variety of styles, sensibilities, and genre mashing. There’s some great work in here, and despite the fact that none of the films were as laugh out loud as the highly enjoyable Shiny New World, there…
The X-Files (2000) – Closure, and X-Cops
This episode tells us, in its opening credits to “believe to understand” instead of the usual “the truth is out there” as we dive into the conclusion of a two-parter which finally gives some resolution to Mulder (David Duchovny) in regards to his sister’s abduction. Written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, this…
TIFF 2021: Violet dir. Justine Bateman
With her feature debut, writer/director Justine Bateman delivers an oppressive but ultimately rewarding emotional powerhouse that brings the everyday inner monologue and life struggle that each of us experience to the screen. In this case, it’s Olivia Munn’s Violet, a film producer, who has for too long sacrificed her own wellness, and life to the…
Millennium (1998) – TEOTWAWKI, and Closure
Remember when the Y2K bug felt like a semi-legitimate fear? That’s what the first episode of Millennium is about. Written by Frank Spotnitz and series creator, Chris Carter, this story, which also takes on school shootings, first debuted on 16 October, 1998. Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) settling back in a little further back at the…
M*A*S*H (1975) – The Bus, Dear Mildred, and The Kids
Hawkeye (Alan Alda), B.J. (Mike Farrell), Radar (Gary Bughoff), Frank (Larry Linville) and Potter (Harry Morgan) find themselves lost in The Bus. Written by John D. Hess, this episode first aired on 17 October, 1975. The group is coming back from a medical gathering, but have somehow got lost on the way back to the…
The X-Files (1995) – Irresistible, and Die Hand Die Verletzt
Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) find themselves investigating a death fetishist who elevates his obsession to kidnapping and murder with the introduction of Donnie Pfaster (Nick Chinlund) in Irresistible. Written by series creator, Chris Carter, the show demonstrates how the human monster can be the most terrifying, though in a moment of fear,…
Magic (1978) – Richard Attenborough
Somehow this title has slipped through the cracks of my viewing, and I had never seen it before I threw it on for the next misadventure with Killer Dolls as featured in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book. Its directed by Richard Attenborough, written by William Goldman, based on his own novel, stars Anthony…
The X-Files (1994) – Little Green Men, and The Host
The x-files have been closed down. Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been separated and reassigned. Mulder is on a routine listening assignment, and Scully is teaching at the Academy (and Anderson is still very pregnant). They are forced to meet surreptitiously and Scully realises how broken Mulder may be at this…
Star Trek: Picard (2020) – Blu-Ray Review
The latest iteration of the long enduring Star Trek franchise, Picard, comes to blu-ray this week from Paramount Canada, and it’s gorgeous. While the series could be construed as a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation and the The Next Generation films as it focuses on the show’s lead character, Jean-Luc Picard played by…
Star Trek: Short Treks (2019) – Q&A, The Trouble with Edward, Ask Not, Ephraim and Dot, and The Girl Who Made the Stars
Captain’s log: 2254 Micheal Chabon pens the first Short Trek of the second season. This short traps Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Spock (Ethan Peck) in a turbolift, shortly after the young science officer has joined the Enterprise crew – his first day in fact. Trapped together, the two slowly get to know one another….
Star Trek: Discovery (2019) – Saints of Imperfection, and The Sound of Thunder
Captain’s log: stardate unknown Kirsten Beyer pens Saints of Imperfection which first aired on 14 February, 2019. What starts off as an episode that we think may finally deliver the goods and give us Spock (Ethan Peck) as Discovery has picked up the warp trail of his stolen shuttle, leads instead to an exploration of…
