Batman (1967) – The Bloody Tower, and Catwoman’s Dressed to Kill

Batman (Adam West), Robin (Burt Ward) and Batgirl’s (Yvonne Craig) Londinium adventure comes to a close with this episode, wrapping up the trio of stories that were written by Elkan Allen from a story Allen wrote with Charles Hoffman. It debuted on 7 December, 1967. Batman, Robin and Alfred (Alan Napier) escaped the bridge winch…

Odds On (1966) – Michael Crichton

While Michael Crichton was in med school he wrote a series of novels under the pseudonym John Lange, and that seemed like a good place to start if I was going to explore Crichton’s writing, revisit some I knew (like Sphere the other week) and discover some new favorites. Odds On is a crime thriller…

The Impossible Fortress (2017) – Jason Rekulak

I loved Rekulak’s Hidden Pictures, so when I checked to see what else he’d written and discovered he’d penned a coming-of-age story in the 80s with characters who were exactly the same age I was in the year 1987, I had to check it out. And I LOVED it. The Impossible Fortress takes us into…

Batman (1966) – Fine Finny Fiends, and Batman Makes the Scenes

The final two-part story of the first season of Batman was written by Sheldon Stark, part one, Fine Finny Fiends, was first broadcast on 4 May, 1966. The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) is back! This time he plans to heist the goods from a secret multi-millionaire dinner which includes Bruce Wayne (Adam West) and his ward,…

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…

TAD 2022: H4Z4RD dir. Jonas Govaerts

Noah (Dimitri Thiviaos) is about to have a very bad day in H4Z4RD an energetic action film from Belgium that boasts a really dark sense of humour and serves as the second film in Toronto After Dark’s opening lineup, having its Canadian Premiere. Driven by a Euro-pop-techno beat, we catch up with Noah, who loves…

Sorcerer (1977) – William Friedkin

Iconic director William Friedkin took on an adaptation of The Wages of Fear, creating his own nerve-biting version of the French film, and novel. The film stars Roy Scheider as one of four unlucky men from around the globe who have found themselves, for one reason or another, stuck in a Latin American country that…

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…

The X-Files (1999) – Trevor, and Milagro

John Diehl guest stars in Trevor, an episode written by Jim Guttridge and Kenneth H. Hawryliw that first aired 11 April, 1999. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) have an x-file on their hand when a convict, Pinker Rawls (Diehl) escapes from a prison camp during a tornado, after having killed the warden, by…

48 Hrs. (1982) – Walter Hill

It has been a number of decades since I watched 48 Hrs. In fact I remember watching it on videotape after I had put some kid, who I was babysitting, to bed. Watching it now, in 2021, I was stunned at how harsh, homophobic and racist the film comes across as. It also has a…