Casablanca (1942) – Michael Curtiz

  As we move back to the Romance and Melodrama genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, we get to revisit one of my favourite films (many people share that opinion, and who can blame them?!) – Casablanca. It came along at just the right time, had just the right cast,…

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999) – George Lucas

  Remember, right back before the Phantom Menace came out, when anticipation was reaching a fever pitch? I miss that. Sure we had the wonderful build up to The Force Awakens, but the gap between films was no where near as long as it had been for those of us who had been invested in…

Vinyl – Season 1

  Vinyl, Season 1, recently got its home video release from HBO, and I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to take a look at it. Partly created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, who also directed the two-hour pilot, the series is set in New York during the early 70s and follows…

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) – Robert Wise

  The Sci-Fi Chronicles lets me settle in to enjoy another one of my favorites… featuring one of my favorite film scores, this one by Jerry Goldmsith, the U.S.S. Enterprise leaps from the small screen to the the theatrical one with this first film which isn’t for everyone, but the older I get, the more…

No Country For Old Men (2007) – Joel & Ethan Coen

  The last recommendation for my viewing of Night of the Hunter for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is this crime thriller from the Coen Brothers. The story follows a trio of characters, and two million dollars. When Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the fallout of a drug deal gone…

Sing Street (2016) – John Carney

  Sheer joy. There were no other words to express my experience with John Carney’s latest film. Sometimes a film comes along at just the right time in your life, and serves to reminds you of something you’ve always known but you kind of need that obvious callback. And music does that. It doesn’t matter…

Star Wars: Smuggler’s Run (2015) – Greg Rucka

  So how many times have I seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens by the time this post goes up? Who knows!!! This week on the Book Shelf I dug into the third of the new ‘Young Adult’ books written around our original heroes, set during the original trilogy, but with tie-ins to the new…

Chicago (2002) – Rob Marshall 

  Rob Marshall not only directs the next title in the recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, he also choreographed it as well, bringing the classic musical to the big screen with this Best Picture Oscar-winning version of Chicago, based on the musical play by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb….

Fringe Toronto: Caws and Effect

Being presented at the Factory Theatre is this singularly stunning piece combining music, masks, puppetry and layered projections. Chloe Ziner and Jessica Gabriel, known collectively as Mind of a Snail Puppet Company, from Vancouver, provided one of the most unique and beautiful shows on offer at this year’s festival. Assuming the personalities of two crows,…