Spielberg takes on the Executive Producer role in J.J. Abrams 80s-filled nostalgia thrill ride which is the next stop on the journey through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Having Stranger Things to compare it to isn’t necessarily fair, they get to tell their story over a season, Abrams and company only had a two hour…
Tag: mother
Hell or High Water (2016) – David Mackenzie
Director David Mackenzie and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) update the western for the modern age, while tweaking and twisting it into this crime drama. Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine) are brothers. Tanner is a career criminal, and Toby, like those in his family before him, is dirt poor. Like so many places…
It Runs In the Family, presented by Drayton Entertainment
If you missed its run at the Drayton Festival Theatre, the British farce, It Runs In the Family runs deliciously amuck on the King’s Wharf Theatre stagein Penetanguishene starting today, and running to the 27th. Written by Ray Cooney, and directed by Alex Mustakas, the farce is at its best when it reaches Howard…
Quantum Leap (1989) – What Price, Gloria? and Blind Faith
Deborah Pratt writes her first episode of the series, What Price, Gloria? and becomes one of the strongest voices of the show, so much so that when the new introduction is put in place, it’s her voice selling the show. Airing on 25 October, 1989, the episode finds Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) leaping into…
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – Steven Spielberg
The Sci-Fi Chronicles brings me another Spielberg film to cover that I previously hadn’t for the blog. A.I. This one proved to be a very divisive film for a lot of viewers, originally planned to be a Stanley Kubrick film a lot of film fans believe that Spielberg over-sentimentalizes it and makes it a…
Quantum Leap (1989) – Disco Inferno and The Americanization of Machiko
Sam (Scott Bakula) may have his hands full with this week’s pair of episodes! Up first is Disco Inferno, penned by Paul Brown, this episode aired 27 September, 1989. Sam finds himself in the body of Chad, a bit of a charmer and stunt person, on 1 April, 1976, working on a terrible disaster…
Deep Impact (1998) – Mimi Leder
Releasing the same year as Michael Bay’s big budget, small story, extravaganza, Armageddon, Deep Impact got a little lost in the rubble. But with Steven Spielberg’s name attached to it as executive producer, it’s my next stop on the Sci-Fi Chronicles. Eschewing the flash-bang, style over substance, popcorn nature of Bay’s film, Deep Impact, ably…
Stranger Things (2016) – Season 1
Picture a Stephen King novel directed by Steven Spielberg, with a score by John Carpenter, and a beautifully balanced touch of nostalgia and you have the wondrous, scary, funny, and exciting ride that is Netflix’s latest winner, Stranger Things. Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, the series is set in Indiana in the year,…
Queen of Spades: The Dark Rite (2015) -Svyatoslav Podgayevskly
It’s always interesting to see what genre films look like from other countries, and this Friday at select cities across the country, and on VOD on the 19th, we can have a look at Russia’s Queen of Spades. A riff on the Bloody Mary urban legend that is seemingly as old as mankind, the…
Magnum, p.i. (1987/1988) – The Love That Lies and A Girl Named Sue
The Love That Lies opens Magnum’s (Tom Selleck) case book this week. Originally airing on 18 November, 1987, this episode was written by Jeri Taylor (who would later go on to work on both Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager). Brenda Babcock (Eileen Brennan) hires Thomas to find the child she…
The Mind Reels 