Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – Denis Villeneuve

Villeneuve’s stunningly beautiful sequel to the seminal, and iconic, 1982 Ridley Scott film is released to blu-ray and DVD today from Warner Brothers. With Scott serving as executive producer, and a story by original film scribe Hampton Fancher (joined by Michael Green), Villeneuve working with cinematographer Roger Deakins brings us another tale set in the…

Apocalypse Now (1979) – Francis Ford Coppola

The brilliant, Vietnam epic, an update on the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness, is the next stop in the War genre as I continue my cinematic journey with the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. The story behind the film is almost as incredible as the film itself. Boasting a cast that…

American Graffiti (1973) – George Lucas

George Lucas’ nostalgic American Graffiti is the next stop on the list of recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Jailhouse Rock. While not a musical in the technical sense of breaking into song and dance, the music and the voice of deejay Wolfman Jack play an…

Ender’s Game (2013) – Gavin Hood

No matter what you think of Orson Scott Card’s personal politics, there is no denying that Ender’s Game is a solid, strong and involving novel. It shouldn’t have taken as long as it did for a film adaptation for this one to come along, but it finally did in 2013, and is my next stop…

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….

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) – J.J. Abrams

  Sure, the film has only been open for one weekend, but at this point, there is absolutely nothing new for me to add to the discussion of the film. I’m still processing it so much of it, I mean after 30 years we get to see what really happened to our favorite characters, and…

Toronto Screenwriting Conference 2015: Day One

  Sue and I have been very fortunate in our dealings with those folks involved in film and television here in Toronto. One of these have been the wonderful folk who are involved with the Toronto Screenwriting Conference, now going into its fifth year, and we’ve been lucky enough to cover the past two, and…