The third film in the Child’s Play franchise followed very quickly on the heels of the second film, something screenwriter Don Mancini wasn’t happy about. He’d barely finished writing two when he had to dive into creating the third. And he says the third film is his least favourite because of it. The narrative leaps…
Tag: guns
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) – Chad Stahelski
I have served. I will be of service. I love these films so much. Each one has taken what we have learned in the previous film and builds on it. And John Wick (Keanu Reeves) gets pulled back, completely into the underworld of assassination that he left for five years. When the film opens, he…
Northern Exposure (1994) – Up River, and Sons of the Tundra
Up River was written by Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, and it first aired on 14 November, 1994. Maurice (Barry Corbin) sends Ed (Darren E. Burrows) up river to find Joel (Rob Morrow) after Maggie (Janine Turner) asked him to move out. And that’s sad, because they seemed on the edge of some serious potential…
Guns Akimbo (2019) – Jason Howden
Frenetic. Kinetic. and often hilarious, Guns Akimbo is an ultra-violent, gory action comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving. Radcliffe, trotting out an American accent for the role, plays Miles. He professionally baits online trolls but when he finds an online fight club that has thousands of viewers across the web, he may have stumbled…
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) – Simon Wincer
I saw Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man the summer it opened in ’91, while I was working in Toronto. Something about it just clicked for me. I like the sense of history to the characters and the world they live in. Set five years down the road in 1996, the world is going to…
The Equalizer (1989) – Making of a Martyr, and The Sins of Our Fathers
McCall (Edward Woodward), and Mickey (Keith Szarabajka) take on a problem that seemed bad in the 80s, and is so much worse now. Gun control. Making of a Martyr was written by Wayne and Donna Powers and originally aired on 11 January, 1989. Tom Noonan and Barbara Williams guest star as Brandon and Sylvia Thorton….
TIFF 2021: Hold Your Fire dir. Stefan Forbes
New York. 1973. While it looks like a different time on film, not everything has changed, and consequently, Forbes documentary, which looks at a hostage situation that featured around the clock coverage at the time is just as relevant today as it was then. There’s errors on both sides, accusations, instituionalised racism, redemption for some,…
The Enforcer (1976) – James Fargo
Clint Eastwood returns as ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan for a third time in The Enforcer, the only film in the series not to have music by Lalo Schifrin (Jerry Fielding takes over giving us a jazzy sounding film score) and for the only time, pairs Callahan with a female homicide detective, Kate Moore, played by Tyne…
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) – Stephen King
This week I continue my journey with Roland, the gunslinger, introduced to us in the first volume of The Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger. Roland is in trouble from the off when he wakes on an expansive miles-long beach that is the shoreline of the Western Sea, and immediately runs afoul of some of the…
The 15:17 to Paris (2018): Blu-Ray Review
Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort hits blu-ray today from Warner Brothers, and is based on the true story of three Americans, friends, who stopped a planned terrorist attack on a Paris bound train on 21 August, 2015. As much as I love Eastwood’s body of work, both as a director and as an actor, this…
The Mind Reels 