Star Trek: Beyond (2016) – Justin Lin

  The latest Star Trek film, celebrating the long-lived series 50th anniversary hits screens nationwide today, and once again, film-goers are invited to Boldly go… And for the most part, it’s pretty damned enjoyable, and arguably a step up from the previous entry. While I was unsure of Lin taking the helm (I’m not a…

Quantum Leap (1989) – Star-Crossed and The Right Hand of God

  Sam’s (Scott Bakuka) leaps really get under way this week with Star-Crossed. Penned by Deborah Pratt with an air date of 31 March, 1989, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping into an English Lit professor, Gerald Bryant, in an Ohio college on 15 June, 1972. The professor has a drinking problem, and is involved amorously…

Prodigy (2013) – Marie Lu

  It’s back to the realm of Legend, as I dive into the second book of the young adult trilogy by Marie Lu. The dystopian world Lu creates, brings me back to a torn United States, divided almost in two by the Republic and the Colonies, it plunges me back into the lives of Day…

Cold Mountain (2003) – Anthony Minghella

  This beautiful, cinematic adaptation of Charles Frazier’s novel is masterfully brought to life by Minghella, who also wrote the screenplay. My last Civil War stop for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film following my screening of The Red Badge of Courage is by turns brutal, moving, and gorgeously photographed. Nicole Kidman is…

Batman: The Animated Series (1994) – Sideshow, Avatar and Trial

  Killer Croc (Aron Kincaid) is the center of the first episode this week, in Sideshow. This one had an original airdate of 3 May, 1994, and saw Croc escaping from a prison train, and finds solace and refuge with a retired circus show that takes pity on him. Amongst the sideshow carnival is May and June,…

Magnum, p.i. (1987/1988) – The Love That Lies and A Girl Named Sue

  The Love That Lies opens Magnum’s (Tom Selleck) case book this week. Originally airing on 18 November, 1987, this episode was written by Jeri Taylor (who would later go on to work on both Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager). Brenda Babcock (Eileen Brennan) hires Thomas to find the child she…

Hot Docs 2016: Life, Animated – Roger Ross Williams

  If there is a more honest, emotional and human film at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, I can’t imagine what it could be. Owen Suskind, the young autistic man who is the focus of William’s objective eye, is a brilliant soul, and we learn through the film, his story, his life, and his…

Magnum, p.i. (1987) – Laura and Out of Sync

  Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra finds himself in Hawaii this week, with the episode Laura. Written by Chris Abbott, this one aired 25 February, 1987. Sinatra is Michael Doheny, a New York cop, who in the midst of celebrating his retirement party, has his granddaughter kidnapped, and murdered by a pair of sexual predators….