Ashgrove (2022) – Jeremy LaLonde

Haunting and elegant. There’s a heartrending beauty in the character of Jennifer who is brought to life by Amanda Brugel in Jeremy LaLonde’s latest film, Ashgrove. Set against a backdrop of a global pandemic that threatens extinction, an intimate character drama plays out that could change everything. There is a thread running through LaLonde’s films,…

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) – Unexpected, and Terra Nova

Captain’s log: unknown Rick Berman and Brannon Braga pen this episode that puts Trip (Connor Trinneer) in a fun place with something Kirk never had to go through(as far as we know) in Unexpected. It first aired on 17 October, 2001. Trip, in an effort to foster relations, is helping out an alien race repair…

Those Across the River (2011) – Christopher Buehlman

This week’s Book Shelf brings me another horror novel, this one from a list of scary books that I hadn’t read yet. Set after the end of the First World War, Orville Francis Nichols, and the young woman soon to be his wife, Eudora, move to a small town in Georgia, Whitbrow. A town that…

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995) – Destiny, and Prophet Motive

Station log: stardate 48543.2 David S. Cohen and Martin A. Winer pen this Sisko (Avery Brooks) episode that first aired on 13 February, 1995. A joint Bajoran, Cardassian and Federation science mission to establish a permanent communications relay through the wormhole runs into problems when an ancient Bajoran prophecy centred around the Emissary – Sisko…

The Birch Wood (1970) – Andrzej Wajda

As I return to DK Canada’s The Movie Book, I dive into the What Else to Watch list following my screening of Ashes and Diamonds. Directed by the same film maker, Andrzej Wajda, The Birch Wood is a gentle character piece set in prewar Poland. The story follows Stanislaw (Olgierd Lukaszewicz), a young man suffering…

Nocturne (2014) – Saul Pincus

  It’s the last evening for the Canadian Film Fest, and the first evening show at the Royal Cinema on College St is well worth seeing. The main feature, Nocturne, is preceded by Gaybasher, directed by Ron Leach, a rather dark and violent short about a beating in an alley, a fight against bigotry, and…