Smallville (2002) – Heat, and Duplicity

The second episode of season two drops us right back into the freak-of-the-week cycle, while continuing to develop the overall character and mythology arcs. Heat first aired on 1 October, 2002 and was written by Mark Verheiden. Clark (Tom Welling) discovers his heat vision, which gets out of control pretty quickly, and hurts Lana (Kristin…

Smallville (2001) – Cool, and Hourglass

Sure it’s another freak-of-the-week episode, but the series is still finding itself, and building its characters and narratives. Cool first aired on 13 November, 2001 and was written by Michael Green. This time out, Sean (Michael Coristine) apparently drowns in ice-covered Crater Lake. At the bottom of that crater, kryptonite-infused rocks (as usual) which give…

Hill Street Blues (1986) – Das Blues, and Scales of Justice

Belker (Bruce Weitz) and Robin (Lisa Sutton) finally tie the knot at city hall, and Howard (James Sikking) suffers a fall, and believes he’s a prisoner on a Russian ship, one that has been spotted in the harbor, when in actuality he’s in the basement of the precinct, and causing a number of problems in…

Thief (1981) – Michael Mann

Michael Mann is a fantastic director. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen by him, but for some reason, I had never gotten around to checking out his 1981 film, Thief, starring James Caan. Featuring Mann’s iconic shooting style, gritty, neon-lit city life, the film follows Frank (Caan), a master thief who is intent on pulling one…

Heat 2 (2022) – Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner

Iconic Holywood writer/director Michael Mann pairs up with acclaimed novelist Meg Gardiner to revisit and expand on the world of cop Vincent Hanna, thieves Neil McCauley and Chris Shiherlis and the pursuit of their goals before and after the events portrayed in the 1995 film. Coiled like a spring, this crime thriller ratchets up the…

Heat (1995) – Michael Mann

I continue my time with Ten Bad Dates With De Niro, as I explore a list of Ten Scenes Where Shouty Al Shows Up, and yes, Pacino does yell a lot in this movie, but it is also a masterful epic that, for the first time, saw Al Pacino and Robert De Niro sharing scenes…

Star Trek: Enterprise (2003) – Dawn, and Stigma

Captain’s log: date unknown Roxann Dawson directs this Trip (Connor Trinneer) episode written by John Shiban. Originally airing on 8 January, 2003 this episode riffs on the science fiction classic, Enemy Mine. Of course, it’s also been done previously in Trek, most notably in The Next Generation episodes, Darmok and The Enemy. And they were…

Star Trek: Enterprise (2002) – Fallen Hero, and Desert Crossing

Captain’s log: 9 February, 2152 Supposedly on their way to Risa, the pleasure planet, the Enterprise gets a different mission that keeps shore leave a couple of episodes away. Written by Alan Cross from a story by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Chris Black, this episode first aired on 8 May, 2002. Archer (Scott Bakula)…

Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) – Shigeo Tanaka

The kaiju battles continue as I delve deeper into the chapter on dragons and dinosaurs in DK Canada’s fabulous Monsters in the Movies. With some fun modelwork, and man in a monster suit action this one is fairly predictable, and the human story gets too much in the way of the monster action, but it’s…

Cool Hand Luke (1967) – Stuart Rosenberg

Paul Newman is Cool Hand Luke, the next title up for watching as I delve into the What Else to Watch list of DK Canada’s The Movie Book following my screening of The Shawshank Redemption. Featuring an all-star cast including George Kennedy (who took home Best Supporting Oscar), Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper (though I…