I was stunned when I first saw Saving Private Ryan on opening day, 24 July, 1998. I had never seen war depicted so realistically, so heart-breaking, graphic, and impactful. I held onto the names of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks like a mantra through the film, to guide me through it, to make everything be…
Tag: France
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1995) – Attack of the Hawkmen
Indiana (Sean Patrick Flanery) takes to the air, and fights behind the lines in the next adventure he finds himself on. This television movie first aired on 8 October, 1995, and follows Indy’s time in Africa. 1917 The script, written by Matthew Jacobs, Rosemary Anne Sisson, and Ben Burtt sees our young hero serving now…
Charade (1963) – Stanley Donen
The next title on the What Else to Watch list following the recommendation of Casablanca from The Movie Book, released by DK Canada, is this delightful romp starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Also featuring turns by Walter Matthau and James Coburn, this romance mystery, with a healthy dose of comedy has a score by…
The Trial (1962) – Orson Welles
I return now to DK Canada’s The Movie Book, where their next big title recommendation is Orson Welle’s opus, Citizen Kane. Having previously reviewed it, I moved right along to the What Else to Watch section, and discovered a Welles film that I hadn’t watched or reviewed before. Based on Kafka’s novel, The Trial features…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1990) – The Best of Both Worlds Part II, and Family
Captain’s log: stardate 44001.4 How do you follow up a cliffhanger like the one that closed the third season of The Next Generation? Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is firing on the Borg, intent on destroying them, even if it costs the life of the abducted, and ‘enhanced’ Picard (Patrick Stewart) now known as Locutus. Michael Piller…
Home Alone (1990 ) – Chris Columbus
I return to the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book and venture back into the family genre. And despite the fact that it’s May, it’s apparently time for a Christmas movie. I’m a little bit divided on this one. It has so much working for it. It’s written and produced by John Hughes,…
The Dining and Social Club for Time Travellers: Book One – Divine Intervention (2016) – Elyse Kishimoto
Word On The Street, here in Toronto is a wonderful book festival that highlights authors, publishing companies, and smaller book stores, and when it took over the Harbour Front for its event last weekend, I was eager to see what they had in store for me this year. Amongst the young adult readers I found a…
Casablanca (1942) – Michael Curtiz
As we move back to the Romance and Melodrama genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, we get to revisit one of my favourite films (many people share that opinion, and who can blame them?!) – Casablanca. It came along at just the right time, had just the right cast,…
Magnum, p.i. (1985) – Ms. Jones and The Man From Marseilles
It’s a fun week for Thomas (Tom Selleck) in Hawaii with this pair of episodes. Up first is Ms. Jones, which had an airdate of 7 march, 1985 and was written by Phil Combest. Over the course of the series, Thomas has encountered Ms. Jones (Margie Impert), a records clerk, a couple of times, and…
The Mind Reels Chats: TIFF15 – Les Revenants Showrunner Fabrice Gobert
If you missed the amazing French series, Les Revenants (The Returned) when it aired on the CBC, you can chain-watch all 8 episodes of season 1 now on Netflix. That’s what I did as soon as Sue and I were offered the chance to chat with showrunner Fabrice Gobert during TIFF. We chatted about…
The Day of the Triffids (1963) – Steven Sekely
The Sci-Fi Chronicles brings me yet another film I’ve never seen, and yet feel I know, because it shows up everywhere, The Day of the Triffids. based on the classic science fiction tale by John Wyndham. This adaptation fairly mangles the original novel, tagging on a Hollywood Happy ending, or as happy as a…
The Missing (2014) – Season 1
Releasing today from Anchor Bay, on both DVD and Blu-Ray is the Starz/BBC co-pro miniseries, The Missing, starring James Nesbitt, Frances O’Connor, and Tcheky Karyo. Over eight episodes, beautifully presented in HD on blu-ray, with an incredibly sharp and clear image, the viewer is put through a taut, brutal, honest and emotional journey that…
