Magnum P.I. (2018) – Sudden Death, and Death is Only Temporary

Magnum (Jay Hernandez) helps T.C. (Stephen Hill) and one of his football little leaguers in Sudden Death. It first aired on 22 October, 2018, and was written by David Fury, and features Cyndi Lauper as a local lawyer, Vanessa Nero. Young Makoa (Zio Junk) looks for help from T.C. and Magnum when his father, Honi…

The Lone Ranger (2013) – Gore Verbinski

Gore Verbinski is a vibrant visual director, but the casting of Armie Hammer as John Reid aka The Lone Ranger, doesn’t do the film any good, and the whitewashing of Tonto with the casting of Johnny Depp makes things worse. There are some wonderful sequences, some great images, and some fun comedic moments, as the…

TAD 2023: Daniel’s Gotta Die dir. Jeremy LaLonde

I’ve been a fan of Jeremy LaLonde for some time now, and have enjoyed all of his films. He assembles great casts and tends to have very sharp scripts, his latest, Daniel’s Gotta Die, screening tonight at Toronto After Dark is no exception to that. Shot in the Caribbean during lockdown, LaLonde delivers a fun…

Scratch One (1967) – Micheal Crichton

Michael Crichton’s second novel, which he wrote under his pseudonym of John Lange, is a fast-paced thriller that plays on the familiar trope of mistaken identity. This time out an American lawyer, Roger Carr, finds himself mistaken for a high-profile hitman and finds himself stuck between opposing sides in an arms deal which has its…

TIFF ’23: The Burial

I think every actor wants to do a courtroom drama, to voice their objections, to thunder at a witness during cross-examination, to let that look play across their face that suggests they may have just found a way to win the case. Then, when you throw in the fact that the case you’re bringing to…

Amistad (1997) – Steven Spielberg

Spielberg returns to another examination of humanity and history with his 1997 film Amistad. Based on an actual event in 1839, the film explores a revolt of Mende captives aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad. When the captives take over the ship they demand that the surviving crew take them back to Africa, but instead,…

Millennium (1999) – Antipas, and Matryoshka

This week, Millennium delivers what is probably one of my favourite episodes of the third season, Antipas, written by series creator, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, it first aired on 12 February, 1999, and boasts some familiar Canadian faces like Art Hindle and Jay Brazeau. It also sees the return of Frank’s (Lance Henriksen) nemesis,…

Mission: Impossible (1967) – The Frame, and The Trial

Dan (Steven Hill) puts his team through another trying week as I explore more of Mission: Impossible – The Complete Series on blu-ray, now available from Paramount Pictures. First up is The Frame, written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, The Frame first aired on 21 January, 1967. Dan and his standard IMF team,…