A Closed and Common Orbit (2016) – Becky Chambers

I couldn’t wait. I had to dig into the second book of the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers. The first book was just so powerful in its portrayal of friendships and family set against the stars and sensibilities of space opera. I didn’t want to wait and read something else, I had to devour the…

WarGames (1983) – John Badham

I hadn’t seen Wargames since we watched it on SuperChoice one weekend when I was a kid. I remember thinking it was okay, and fun, and man I wished I had a computer (did you see the size of those floppy discs?) and I figured it was definitely time to check this one out again….

A Case of Need (1968) – Micheal Crichton

Micheal Crichton’s writing, one time, as Jeffrey Hudson, delivers his first medical thriller filled with a number of themes that are still sadly too relevant today. Dr. John Berry is a pathologist working at Boston Memorial who finds himself trying to help out a friend and fellow doctor, Dr. Lee, when he is arrested for…

The X-Files (1994) – Lazarus, and Young at Heart

Trouble finds its way into Scully’s (Gillian Anderson) life again this week in Lazarus. Written by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, it first aired on 4 February, 1994. Scully is working a bank robbery job with another agent, and former boyfriend, Agent Jack Willis (Christopher Allport). When the arrest goes wrong and both the suspect…

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) – Chan-wook Park

The What Else to Watch list of DK Canada’s The Movie Book continues to serve me well. Following my screening of Oldboy I dug into the list and was very happy to see another of Park’s Vengeance Trilogy in there. I have seen this movie only once before, when it first came to home video,…

Mean Streets (1973) – Martin Scorsese

Some people, when you say New York, think Woody Allen. Me, I think, Scorcese, gritty 70s images, and tough guys like Pacino, DeNiro, Keitel and Walken. The next film on the What Else to Watch list from DK Canada’s The Movie Book following its recommendation of Taxi Driver has four of those things, Scorsese, 70s,…

Black Moon Rising (1986) – Harley Cokeliss

My time with John Carpenter continues as I delve further into the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. This time around it’s an action thriller that Carpenter penned and sees Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn caught up in the action. Jones is Quint, a professional thief, who is hired by the FBI to gather evidence…

Magnum, p.i. (1984) – Tran Quoc Jones and Luther Gillis: File #001

  It’s back to Paradise for the Thursday visit with Thomas and company… Up first is Tran Quoc Jones. This episode was penned by Chris Abbott and had an airdate of 29 November, 1984. The titular character, Tran Quoc Jones (Roland Harrah III), is an illegal Amerasian boy, who sells knick knacks on the streets…

Hot Docs 2015: Chuck Norris Vs Communism – Ilinca Calugareanu

  Screening today at the Hart House theatre at 9:30pm is this masterful, and highly enjoyable documentary that plays like a Cold War thriller. The year is 1985. The place, Romania, a country under strict control by its socialist/communist government, there’s one television channel for the nation, and it broadcasts nothing but state propaganda. The…

Hot Docs 2015: The Queen of Silence – Agnieszka Zwiefka

Screening today at the ROM theatre at 7pm, is this beautiful, joyous and heartbreaking film… With an objective eye, Zwiefka plunges into the reality of an illegal, tiny Roma slum on the outskirts of a Polish suburb. Families struggle to survive, living in their shanty town, their children dumpster-diving for clothes and toys, while their parents…