The mid-80s had Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer, and I saw both of them innumerable times on home video. They were just so much fun, and they completely matched with my sense of humour. I hadn’t watched One Crazy Summer in years, so it was definitely time for a revisit, and damn if…
Tag: humour
TIFF ’26: The Stunt Driver dir. Michael Dowse
There’s always time for some Canadiana at TIFF, and The Stunt Driver delivers it fantastically with lots of humour and great performances, and explores a small but fascinating corner of Canadian pop culture history that I had no clue about. In the late 70s, it seems everyone knew who Evel Knievel (Ben Foster) was. Heck,…
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) – Second Contact, Envoys, and Temporal Edict
On 6 August, 2020, we were introduced to the USS Cerritos, a California-class Starfleet vessel, in the Star Trek franchise’s second animated series, Lower Decks. Written by the series showrunner, Mike McMahan, we are introduced to the crew as they go about conducting a Second Contact with the inhabitants of the planet Galar. Ensigns Boimler…
How to Survive Camping: The Man With No Shadow (2025) – Bonnie Quinn
Cozy horror is apparently a thing. I was happy to dig into something unique and fun, and Bonnie Quinn delivers with the first book in her How to Survive Camping series. The book, and the series, started out as a collection of posts on the No Sleep forum on Reddit. The story centers around Kate,…
Battlestar Galactica (2005) – Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down, and The Hand of God
Both Tigh (Michel Hogan) and Adama (Edward James Olmos) have major problems this week in Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down. Written by Jeff Vleming and directed by Olmos, this episode was first broadcast on 4 March, 2005. Following the Cylon interrogation in the last episode, Roslin (Mary McDonnell) begins to harbour suspicions that Adama…
Something in the Dirt (2022) – Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
I do enjoy the films of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. I like the way they play with time, horror and ideas. And this time, they also throw themselves into the mix, taking on roles in their own film. Written and shot during the COVID lockdown the pair cooked up a fun tale that once…
Tequila Sunrise (1988) – Robert Towne
I enjoyed seeing Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer in The Madison, and then I remembered they’d worked together in Tequila Sunrise. Written and directed by Robert Towne, the film is a neo-noir film that entertains. The pair are joined by Mel Gibson (and makes me lament what he’s done to himself) and Raul Julia. Dale…
Child’s Play 3 (1991) – Jack Bender
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…
Star Trek: The Devil’s Isle of Space (1968)
The second issue of Gold Key’s Star Trek comics hit spinners on June 1968. It once again featured Dick Wood as writer and Nevio Zaccara as the artist. The story ends up being a familiar science fiction trope. The prison planet. The Enterprise arrives in an asteroid field, some of which are glowing. On them…
Death at a Funeral (2007) – Frank Oz
Frank Oz directs this uproariously funny film that puts the ‘fun’ in funeral, and amps up the hilarity by setting it in England. There’s just something horrendously funny about things going wrong around Brits, as they try to maintain some manner of decorum, dignity and civility. Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) is mourning the loss of his…
The Mind Reels 