Mary Poppins (1964) – Robert Stevenson

poppin It’s time to dig into more family fare in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as i delve into the recommendations for my screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. Disney based the film on P.L. Travers’ series of books, and created an icon. They added a bunch of classic songs, Julie…

Quantum Leap (1989) – Star-Crossed and The Right Hand of God

  Sam’s (Scott Bakuka) leaps really get under way this week with Star-Crossed. Penned by Deborah Pratt with an air date of 31 March, 1989, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping into an English Lit professor, Gerald Bryant, in an Ohio college on 15 June, 1972. The professor has a drinking problem, and is involved amorously…

Doctor Who (Peter Davison) – Enlightment

  We come to the conclusion of the Black Guardian Trilogy this week as the 20th season continues. This four part story was written by Barbara Clegg and aired from 1 to 9 March, 1983. Turlough (Mark Strickson) comes to a choice as the TARDIS finds itself involved, peripherally, in a race around the planets,…

Star Trek (2009) – J.J. Abrams

  It’s time to boldly go with the latest incarnation of Star Trek, as I continue my journey with the cinematic version of the U.S.S. Enterprise for the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. I won’t lie, I enjoyed this one, and while it may not be Star Trek as it was intended or created by Gene Roddenberry,…

Magnum, p.i. (1988) – Legend of the Lost Art and Transitions

  This is it, the penultimate entry for Magnum (Tom Selleck). This week’s installment starts off with a great sense of fun with Legend of the Lost Art. Selleck was originally in line to play Indiana Jones before Universal optioned the series, and this seems to be a little bit of a nod to that….

Hot Docs 2016: Operation Avalanche – Matt Johnson

  It’s right there in the title, Operation Avalanche, it’s a snow job. This faux documentary is played straight, pretending to be a film edited together from film shot by a pair of agents (Matt Johnson and Owen Williams) posing as filmmakers, working on a documentary about the Apollo program at the height of the…

Spectre (2015) – Sam Mendes

  The new James Bond film opens today, with Daniel Craig’s fourth outing as Ian Fleming’s special agent, 007. And as an avid Bond fan, I had to be there. So what did I think? Gorgeous locations… check. Beautiful women… check (though Monica Bellucci is extremely under-used, as well as Naomi Harris’ Moneypenny). Style… check….

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) – Ryuhei Kitamura

  It’s time to dive back into the Sci-Fi Chronicles book… and spend some more time with that big green monster, Godzilla. This time around, it’s his 50th anniversary, and the 2004 feature wanted to pull out all the stops as Godzilla confronts almost all of his old enemies but also a new one known…

Toronto After Dark: Tales of Halloween (2015) – Various

  The opening night film for the 10th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival was the anthology film, Tales of Halloween, featuring familiar names behind and in front of the camera, the collection which slowly won over the audience, is amusing, bloody and reminds the viewer that Halloween is supposed to be fun. Boasting names like…