Lost Man’s Lane (2024) – Scott Carson

Scott Carson delivers a book I just couldn’t put down with Lost Man’s Lane. Combining nostalgia for the end of the 20th century with a twist of supernatural thriller, the tale is a coming-of-age story that is by turns frightening and beautifully told. Marshall and his mom are living their lives in quiet Bloomington. When…

Gorky Park (1983) – Michael Apted

I remember seeing the book cover for Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith everywhere in the early 80s. I suppose had I wanted to I could have read it then. My parents were pretty liberal with letting me read whatever I wanted, and I had just started delving into mysteries, I read a couple of…

TIFF24: Santosh dir. Sandhya Suri

“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” The entire runtime of Sandhya Sur’s Santosh that line of dialogue circulated through my brain repeatedly, as the film plunged the viewer into a morally grey world that was frightening and horrifying as its narrative threw us right into the brutal caste system of rural India, and the ongoing sexism…

R.I.P.D. (2013) – Robert Schwentke

I wanted to see this movie when it first came out, but after it got a drubbing by the critics and the viewers I stayed away from it. Despite the casting of Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds, this one didn’t hit with the audiences. But I finally gave in, and checked it out. And honestly…

The Sugarland Express (1974) – Steven Spielberg

Before Spielberg was the box-office titan that he would become with 1975’s Jaws , he made his North American theatrical debut (Duel, a television movie had been released theatrically in Europe) with 1974’s Sugarland Express. Based on an actual event that occurred in 1969, the story follows Lou Jean (Goldie Hawn), her husband Clovis (William…

Millennium (1999) – Darwin’s Eye, and Bardo Thodol

Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) finds himself unexpectedly partnered with Baldwin (Peter Outerbridge) when Hollis (Klea Scott) elects for some leave in Darwin’s Eye, written by Patrick Harbinson, which first aired on 16 April, 1999. When a homicidal young woman, Cass (Tracy Middendorf) escapes a mental institution, committing a murder to do it, she takes a…

Bride of the Gorilla (1951) – Curt Siodmak

DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies continues allows me to continue my journey through the jungle of monstrous apes, and this time brings me a couple of familiar faces in a very familiar story. Raymond Burr and Lon Chaney Jr. star in this film that sees Burr playing Barney Chavez, a plantation manager deep in…

The Institute (2019) – Stephen King

It doesn’t say it directly, but The Institute, the latest King book I’ve read, could exist in the same world as The Shop from Firestarter, and one wonders if perhaps there’s a connection to the Dark Tower and the breakers or The Dead Zone. The tale follows young Luke Ellis, a bit of a boy…

Miami Vice (1988) – Redemption in Blood, and Heart of Night

The Sonny Burnett arc comes to a close this week with Redemption in Blood. Written by Scott Shepherd and Ken Solarz from a story by Robert Ward, this story first debuted on 11 November, 1988. Vice detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) still believes he is his undercover alter ego, Sonny Burnett, and has done some…

Blue Velvet (1986) – David Lynch

The next big title up for viewing in DK Canada’s highly enjoyable, The Movie Book is the David Lynch classic, Blue Velvet. It features a lot of familiar faces to Lynch fans, and in fact served as the launching point of inspiration for Twin Peaks. The Norman Rockwell facade of small town America (the town…