Hannibal (2001) – Ridley Scott

Anthony Hopkins returns to his iconic role of the cannibalistic doctor, Hannibal Lector in the sequel to the brilliant The Silence of the Lambs. This film shows up in Ten Bad Dates with De Niro on a list of films that it is painful to like. Jodie Foster and director Jonathan Demme elected not to…

The A-Team (1984) – Deadly Maneuvers and Semi-Friendly Persuasion 

  Hannibal (George Peppard) and the team are in trouble in the first episode up this week. Deadly Maneuvers was written by Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas E. Szollosi. It aired, originally on 28th February, 1984. In today’s terms of television, this type of episode would be the culmination of a season long arc, but here…

The A-Team (1984) – Chopping Spree and Harder Than It Looks

  You know if they didn’t follow the predictable arc of needing to make something in the last act of each episode, both of these stories this week could have been really solid. I mean they work for A-Team stories, but if they had played with their formula just a bit… I had a bit…

The A-Team (1984) – Pure-Dee Poison and It’s a Desert Out There

  I hate to say it, seeing as I’m not quite through season 2 yet, with three seasons to go, but it’s slowly getting tougher to get through these episodes. Following the formula is one thing, but wow… Anyway, first up this week is Pure-Dee Poison. This episode was written by Chris Bunch and Allan…

The A-Team (1984) – The Maltese Cow and In Plane Sight 

  The A-Team comes to the aid of a friend in The Maltese Cow. This episode was written by Thomas E. Szollosi and Richard Christian Matheson, and had an original airdate of 3 January, 1984. With some of their earnings, Hannibal (George Peppard) has asked Face (Dirk Benedict) to invest in their friend, Sam Yeng’s…

The A-Team (1983) – Steel and The White Ballot

The A-Team gets into all manner of trouble in this week’s double episode… First up is Steel, written by Frank Lupo, with an original airdate of 29 November, 1983, our boys find themselves hired by Randy Stern (Mary-Margaret Humes), when her uncle, Mickey (Norman Alden) encounters problems in his construction job. The team agrees to…

The A-Team (1983) – The Taxicab Wars and Labor Pains

  The A-Team continues to be on the run from the devious Decker (Lance LeGault) in this pair of episodes. First up is The Taxicab Wars, which was written by Cannell with an airdate of 1 November, 1983. Once again we find Mr. T in another (D.C.) cab. This time our heroes are on their…

The A-Team (1983) – When You Comin’ Back, Range Rider? Parts 1 & 2

  This week’s installment of the A-Team brings us a two-parter that aired as one big double episode on the 25th of October, 1983. It was penned by Frank Lupo and parts of it seem reminiscent of the episode Desperado, from The Greatest American Hero (also written by Lupo, with Cannell) – of course it was…