TIFF24: The Wild Robot dir. Chris Sanders

I closed out my TIFF run this year, with the latest animated effort from Dreamworks. Based on the children’s book by Peter Brown, Sanders not only directed the film, but adapted the story as well, and it’s going to be a family classic to be sure. When a robot, Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) awakes from her…

TIFF24: Nightbitch dir. Marielle Heller

Amy Adams stars in this sharp-toothed film about the trials of motherhood and societal expectations around that role. Delivering a biting inner monologue Adams is completely engaged as an exhausted and angry Mother. She’s left her aspirations of being an artist behind to be a stay-at-home mom while her next-to-never-there husband (Scoot McNairy) continues with…

Throw Momma from the Train (1987) – Danny DeVito

Danny DeVito seems to have a very dark, and very enjoyable sense of humour. He pairs up with Billy Crystal and Anne Ramsey, along with Star Trek’s Kate Mulgrew, Rob Reiner Branford Marsalis, Kim Greist, and Olivia Brown to deliver a fantastically dark comedy that seems to deliver a nice nod to Hitchcock and also…

Dark Skies (1996) – Hostile Convergence, and We Shall Overcome

Series creators Bryce Zabel and Brent V. Friedman developed the story for Hostile Convergence which Javier Grillo-Marxauch wrote the teleplay for. It debuted on 7 December, 1996, John Loengard (Eric Close) ends up in Socorro, New Mexico in April 1964 as he investigates the infamous Lonnie Zamora (Robert Carradine) UFO sighting. The original sighting is…

Klara and the Sun (2021) – Kazuo Ishiguro

I was completely floored by how much I enjoyed Klara and the Sun, a beautiful novel filled with emotion. It is a completely engrossing read and offers perspectives on love, hope, faith, family, and relationships. Klara is an AF, an Artificial Friend, and she spends her day watching the sun, and the people go by…

Magnum P.I. (2023) – Hit and Run, and Three Bridges

Jin (Bobby Lee) opens the episode with a ridiculous interpretation of Robin Masters’ new book as the group takes turns visiting with T.C. (Stephen Hill) as he settles into a veteran’s hospital in an attempt to get used to the possibility of being stuck in a wheel chair and paralyzed below the waist for the…

Magnum P.I. (2023) – Birthright, and Dark Skies

While Higgins (Perdita Weeks) starts work on the latest case, which involves the robbery of an elderly man, Gus (Lawrence Pressman) suffering from Alzheimer’s, whose daughter, Kerry (Bethany Anne Lind) now looks after him, while her brother, Brent (Jordan Belfi) doesn’t understand all the strain Kerry and her father are under. Magnum (Jay Hernandez) is…

Bad Tourists (2024) – Caro Carver

Simon & Schuster delivers the perfect beach read for your summer enjoyment. Bad Tourists by Caro Carver is a compulsive page-turner whose last third is a non-stop rush, and whose first two-thirds are filled with twists, turns and keeps you guessing the whole way through. Darcy, Kate and Camilla are close friends, united by a…

Starman (1986/1987) – The Gift, and The System

Jane Wyatt, who played Spock’s mother in Star Trek, The Original Series and The Voyage Home, plays Paul Forrester’s (Robert Hays) mother in The Gift. Written by Peggy Goldman, this is the series holiday episode and was first broadcast on 12 December, 1986. Paul and Scott (Christopher Danie Barnes) receive a letter from Stella, Paul’s…

Magnum P.I. (2022) – Judge Me Not, and Run, Baby, Run

Rick (Zachary Knighton) is preparing for fatherhood, and the arrival of a restaurant efficiency expert to help increase profits at La Mariana, while Higgins (Perdita Weeks) and Magnum (Jay Hernandez) work on their new case. Judge Me Not was written by David Slack, and it first aired on 28 January, 2022. The duo are approached…