The Twilight Zone (1963) – In His Image, and The Thirty-Fathom Grave

It’s time for Season 4 to get underway as I continue digging into The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. Beginning with Season 4, the series episodes became 50 minute affairs instead of 25, and things got underway with In His Image on 3 January, 1963 with this story by Charles…

Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) – Shane Meadows

Director Shane Meadows and star Paddy Considine wrote this script together that is the last recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Point Blank. Considine is Richard, a soldier returning to his home town. But this homecoming isn’t one of joy, it is with a singular purpose….

Star Trek: The Original Series (1968) – Spectre of the Gun and Day of the Dove

Captain’s log: stardate 4385.3 Spectre of the Gun is a bit of an interesting episode. Written by Gene Coon, under a pseudonym the episode premiered on 25 October, 1968.  When the Enterprise trespasses into Melkot space, the alien race punishes some of the crew including Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley),…

Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleston) – Rose and The End of the World

Almost a decade after the Paul McGann television movie, Russell T. Davies brought the series back to life with Christopher Eccleston taking the role of the Doctor, and this time around the new Time Lord is joined by a new Companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Davies continued to shift the story focus so that Doctor…

Star Trek: The Original Series (1967) – Mirror, Mirror and The Apple

Captain’s log: stardate unknown. The iconic episode, Mirror, Mirror is up first this week. Written by Jerome Bixby, this episode first aired on 6 October, 1967. The story is a lot of fun, Kirk (William Shatner) and a landing party, including Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Scotty (James Doohan) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are victims of a…

Toronto After Dark 2016: As the Gods Will – Takashi Miike

Things got nigh on bizarre this evening at Toronto After Dark, as it continues to entertain at the Scotiabank Theatre here in Toronto. It was Japanese cinema night, and sadly, thanks to work constraints, I was only able to make one screening today, but what a screening! If you aren’t familiar with Miike’s work, it’s…

Quantum Leap (1989) – Play It Again, Seymour and Honeymoon Express

  Season 1 of Quantum Leap comes to a close this week with Play It Again, Seymour. This nod the noir films of yesteryear was penned by Scott Shepard and Bellisario from a story by Shepherd, Bellisario and Tom Blomquist. It had an original airdate of 17 May, 1989. Sam (Scott Bakula) leaps into trouble…

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) – Zack Snyder

  The Hero’s Code. It apparently means nothing to Batman (Ben Affleck). It apparently means nothing to Superman (Henry Cavill). And that’s troubling, because as a child, they were two of the characters I grew up with that taught me what it was. But even worse, the creative forces behind the scenes of the latest…

Black Christmas: Season’s Grievings Editon (1974) – Bob Clark

  Some people love the happy joyous type of films at Christmas, and while there is something to be said for all that good-will, happy endings and schmaltz that seem to highlight most of them, that morbid, macabre underside of humor and the holidays seem to be more appealing… As much as I loved Scrooged,…