Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) – Tim Burton

I hadn’t seen Pee-wee’s Big Adventure since it first came to home video in 1986. Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee wasn’t on my radar before that, it was all very much Back to the Future and Miami Vice for me. So when I was introduced to it one night, I found myself laughing aloud, hugely enjoying…

Quiz Lady (2023) – Jessica Yu

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh play sisters in the very enjoyable, Quiz Lady, which I missed at TIFF but was delighted to check out when it hit streaming platforms. Anne (Awkwafina) is quiet, set in her routines, and has some mental health issues that keep her confined to her job, and her couch, where she and…

Flight of the Navigator (1986) – Randal Kleiser

Disney delivers a staple of 80s childhood with a revisit to Flight of the Navigator. Watching it now, I find myself more interested in the mysteries going on at the edges of the story than the main thrust of the narrative following young David Freeman (Joey Cramer), his abduction and subsequent return eight years later,…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) – Fran Rubel Kuzui

Before she stormed the small screen for seven years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was a theatrical film that didn’t quite get what Joss Whedon was trying to do with the genre. Instead, playing more for comedy, this vampire film is the next stop in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. The cast is led by…