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: love
TIFF ’26: Love is the Monster dir. Neto Villalobos Brenes
How far would you go for love? Would you do something truly monstrous? Director Neto Villalobos Brenes delivers a female-driven narrative (men only show up a couple of times throughout the film, and each time makes an impression) that lands the viewer in a not-so-distant, dystopian-leaning future. The men are gone. They left two years…
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,…
TIFF ’26: Coward dir. Lukas Dhont
Instead of retreading antiwar themes so brilliantly evoked in films like All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, 1979, and 2022) Lukas Dhont’s third feature film delivers a poignant character film that explores hope, love, the horrors of war and the shattering of youth and the illusions they hold for their lives. Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia)…
Star Trek: #20 – Giri (1985)
For issue 20 of DC Comics ongoing Star Trek series, which was on stands until November 1985, Wenonah Woods pens a Sulu story that saw Tom Sutton on pencils and Ricardo Villagran on inks. This will be the third issue exploring supporting character stories, which is good, I just hope it’s a solid tale. Let’s…
Singles (1992) – Cameron Crowe
I remember when Singles came out, and while it was popular amongst friends, it never really appealed to me. I was partial to rom-coms, I just wasn’t keen on this one for some reason. So it took a number of years for me to finally get around to it. Having said that I do like…
Pennies From Heaven (1981) – Herbert Ross
People weren’t ready for this side of Steve Martin in 1981. They wanted the wild and crazy guy, and were rather shocked and surprised when Pennies From Heaven wasn’t a comedic role, and was, in fact, an early 80s spin on the classic musical, and used tunes from the 20s and the Depression Era to…
Six Days Seven Nights (1998) – Ivan Reitman
I’ve always been a Harrison Ford fan, and I remember seeing this in the theatre when it came out and not quite loving it. There was a lot of stuff overshadowing it at the time, if I recall. Consequently, I haven’t watched it since it came on. But I felt now was the time. And…
The Midnight Train (2026) – Matt Haig
Matt Haig seems to have a predilection for tales about death and reimagining of one’s life choices to find a better way to live, love, and be well… better. I was given an advanced reading copy of Haig’s latest novel, The Midnight Train, but it sat for awhile on my To Be Read pile (like…
Get Smart (1968) – 99 Loses Control, The Wax Max, and Operation Ridiculous
Perhaps 99 (Barbara Feldon) got tired of waiting for Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) to make his move. In 99 Loses Control 99 seems to be in love, and agrees to marry her new beau, Victor Royal (Jacques Bergerac) in this episode that debuted on 17 February, 1968. It was written by William Raynor and Miles…
