American Fiction (2023) – Cord Jefferson

I’m a little upset that I didn’t go to see this one when it screened at TIFF, but I was very happy that this was a film that my partner and I could watch together, and we greatly enjoyed it. But it’s Jeffrey Wright, the man can do anything, and play anything, and he brings…

Starman (1984) – 4K Review

Starman is on 4K and part of Sony Pictures’ release of Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection, Volume 4. I love John Carpenter movies. He’s one of my favourite directors because he’s happy to take on all genres and give his imaginative take on each of his films. Starman may have been the first Carpenter…

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) – 4K Review

Stanley Kramer’s funny, provocative, and poignant Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner from 1967 has been a hole in my viewing history for far too long. With the arrival of Sony’s release of Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 4, I was able to remedy that, and I was finally able to settle in and…

12 Angry Men (1957) – Sidney Lumet

Reginald Rose wrote the absolutely engaging and captivating script for Lumet’s 12 Angry Men from his own source material and received an Oscar nomination for it as well as a Best Picture nomination with his fellow producer Henry Fonda, both of whom deferred their salary to get the film made. The film was also nominated…

Tropic Thunder (2008) – Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller directed the ultimate Hollywood satire with Tropic Thunder. He developed the story with Justin Theroux, and the pair wrote a script with Ethan Cohen. It’s sharp, pointed, and under its endlessly quotable dialogue and performances is a skewering look at Tinsel Town. Everything seems to be a lie, from promotions to images to…

The Sniper (1952) – Edward Dmytryk

I do enjoy a good film noir, and The Sniper is one I had never heard of, and quite happily dug into, contained as it was in a Film Noir Collection I had been gifted one holiday season. Despite some very sexist trappings, it was the 50s after all, there’s a really fascinating story here….

Silverado (1985) – Lawrence Kasdan

Occasionally a film comes along and revitalises the genre. Eastwood would return to the western trough countless times before he revitalised it with his own take on it, Unforgiven, but in the mid-80s, that shake-up was left to Lawrence Kasdan and his brother Mark. Lawrence had his fingers in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and…

A Few Good Men (1992) – Rob Reiner

Aaron Sorkin pens the screenplay for Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men from his stageplay of the same name, and like the best of Sorkin’s writing, the film draws an amazing wealth of talent. When a Marine dies during an off the book disciplinary action while serving at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the JAG corp…

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) – Frank Oz

Howard Ashman and Alan Menken bring their bring science fiction b-movie musical to the big screen, ably directed by Frank Oz, in this 1986 adaptation that is the next stop in the Monstrous Aliens section of DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. Rick Moranis plays Seymour, a bit of a schlub with an affectation for…

This Sporting Life (1963) – Lindsay Anderson

Richard Harris headlines the next film in the What Else to Watch list featured in DK Canada’s The Movie Book, following the recommendation of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Harris stars as Frank Machin, a miner who eventually finds success on the rugby field, something he’s wanted for a long time. He lodges in the…