TAD 2022: International Shorts Program

Festival directors and Scotiabank Theatre invites After Dark fans to attend the International Shorts Progam this afternoon. Take in an offering of strange and unusual entries from around the world that will bemuse, beguile and befuddle. Bug Bites, directed by Daniel DelPurgatori is a bizarre little short about what we are led to believe, initially…

TAD 2022: Canadian Shorts Program

This afternoon, Toronto After DarkWE is showcasing its Canadian Shorts Program at Scotiabank Theatre. Shorts can be a lot of fun because even if you don’t like one, there will be another one along in a few minutes. And whether you like them or not, you can always recognize the quality of work and talent…

Robin Hood (2010) – Ridley Scott

Director Ridley Scott does away with the romp and romantic adventure that has permeated the Robin Hood myth down through the ages, and through a number of onscreen iterations to tell a more historical-based version of the tale. He packs it with stars, but the lack of derring-do may have kept audiences away, who knew…

TAD 2021: Super Z dir. Julien de Volte, and Arnaud Tabarly

Zombie features at Toronto After Dark are never your run of the mill selections. With so many entries in this horror sub-genre, and so many ways to adapt the subject matter to social commentary, it’s unusual to find a unique offering in the field. France’s Super Z is definitely unique. Having its World Premiere virtually…

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…

Casino Royale (1953) – Ian Fleming

Some twenty years ago, my sister gifted me with six of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond adventures. First printings from the Macmillan Company, these wonderful little hardcovers were in great condition but sans books jackets. I hadn’t read any of the Fleming Bonds since my early teens, when I was in the midst of discovering…

Jules et Jim (1962) – Francois Truffaut

The Directory, the final part of DK Canada’s The Movie Book continues to bring me exemplary films to expand my cinematic education, and today it brings me a classic Truffaut film. Adapting the novel of the same name by Henri-Pierre Rochem, Truffaut serves not only as director but writer and producer as well. The film…

Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth (1997) – Max McCoy

1934 This week’s book shelf sees me continuing to seek out adventure with one of my favorite heroes, Indiana Jones, in the third novel by Max McCoy. Having previously enjoyed McCoy’s two previous forays into action with the globe-trotting archaeologist, I was quite looking forward to some Nazi punching and delving into hollow Earth theories…