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…

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…

Hell House LLC (2015) – Stephen Cognetti

The found footage sub-genre of the horror realm can be hit or miss. You not only have to be willing to be swept up into the tale, and the reality it presents, it also has to be engaging enough to keep the viewer involved. Therefore it has to have an interesting story, and at the…

Meatballs (1979) – Ivan Reitman

With a script that involved Harold Ramis, a score by Elmer Bernstein, Ivan Reitman, his first major motion picture, directs Bill Murray in his first starring role in the Canadian-made summer classic, Meatballs. Does it all stand up? It really doesn’t. But is there a lot of fun to be had in the film, yeah…

M*A*S*H (1972) – Chief Surgeon Who?, The Moose, and Yankee Doodle Doctor

Larry Gelbart who developed M*A*S*H for television pens Chief Surgeon, Who? which first aired on 8 October, 1972. The episode features the first appearance of Jamie Farr as Cpl. Klinger, a soldier intent on being sectioned out of Korea by dressing in women’s clothing. The character became so popular he shortly became a series regular….

Queen Kong (1976) – Frank Agrama

This bizarre, musical number filled send up of the classic film King Kong is the next entry in the Monstrous Apes chapter of DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. This British film is so incredibly bad that it does actually come around to good again. In fact it rides it like a merry-go-round racing around…

Keep ‘Em Flying (1941) – Arthur Lubin and Ralph Ceder

The next title in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies features that great comedic duo, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. They make an appearance in the chapter on Monstrous Apes, as Abbott encounters a gorilla (a man in a suit) partway through this rather patriotic picture. The pair serve as ground crew to Jinx Roberts…

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – Gore Verbinski

The third volume of Disney’s theme park attraction turned tentpole franchise is the next selection in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book as I explore the chapter on Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales. I’ll admit this instalment in the series is a little top heavy with a convoluted plot, but as showcased in the…

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) – Joe Dante

Is the mad scientist behind the camera or in front of it in this, the next film to be recommended by DK Canada’s highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book? Joe Dante, the film’s director has always seemed wonderfully mad, his love of Looney Tune cartoons, and wacky humor always makes his films enjoyable from…