Orbit Books brings me my first real creepy novel of 2023, Episode Thirteen. Using the familiar structure of the found footage genre, something that has been co-opted successfully for all of the ghost-hunting shows that seem to plague reality television, DiLouie compiles a literary found footage film, offering up video transcripts, EVP recordings, text messages,…
Tag: jake
The Saturday Night Ghost Club (2018) – Craig Davidson
A too-short novel that handles the delicacy of memory, nostalgia, growing up in the 80s, and ghost stories. Craig Davidson’s poignant and engaging The Saturday Night Ghost Club is an emotional and compelling read. Jake, the story’s narrator relates to the reader a coming-of-age summer as he, his new best friend, the friend’s sister, and…
Sixteen Candles (1984) – John Hughes
There are lots of things that still work with John Hughes teen comedy, Sixteen Candles, but there are so many problematic things that have really begun to overshadow the story’s heart. There’s some racism, there’s some things that walk the line up to and over harassment and assault, and that really takes the shine off…
Tell Me My Name (2020) – Erin Ruddy
Dundurn Press keeps my reading pile high, and full of thrills. This week, I dug into Tell Me My Name by Erin Ruddy, a tightly-paced thriller that makes me rethink about wanting to visit cottage country, and re-examining all my past interactions with everyone around me. Ellie and Neil were going to have some time…
Silverado (1985) – Lawrence Kasdan
Occasionally a film comes along and revitalises the genre. Eastwood would return to the western trough countless times before he revitalised it with his own take on it, Unforgiven, but in the mid-80s, that shake-up was left to Lawrence Kasdan and his brother Mark. Lawrence had his fingers in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and…
The Blues Brothers (1980) – John Landis
Director John Landis teams up with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in a road movie with tunes, laughs, and style. This was the movie, that I discovered in the late 80s, that introduced me to soul music, and I loved it. Featuring a who’s who of musical legends like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Cab…
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) – Alejandro G. Inarritu
Micheal Keaton shines in Alejandro Innarritu’s Birdman. He brings a level to his performance that you know is based on personal experience, and delivers an Oscar-nominated virtuoso performance as Riggan Thompson, an actor who walked away from a billion dollar superhero franchise and is now worried about his relevance while being haunted by his past….
The Day of the Dolphin (1973) – Mike Nichols
The next title to be featured on the list of ten films that made me cry from the Ten Bad Dates With De Niro book is this Mike Nichols film from the early seventies. I won’t say that it made me cry by the ending was sad, poignant and necessary. George C. Scott headlines as…
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1999) – What You Leave Behind
Station log: stardate 52902.0 The series finale. The final episode was written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. It’s a feature length story that debuted on 2 June, 1999, and brought the arc of DS9 to its conclusion, as we dive into the last piece of The Final Chapter. Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) and…
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998) – Afterimage, and Take Me Out to the Holosuite
Station log: stardate unknown Rene Ehevarria pens this episode that first aired on 14 October, 1998. Afterimage focuses on Sisko’s (Avery Brooks) efforts to convince Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) to stay on the station, as she struggles to get to know Jadzia’s friends, especially Worf (Micheal Dorn). Garak (Andrew Robinson) engages us with a…
The Mind Reels 