The X-Files (2001) – Salvage, and Badlaa

These two entries in The X-Files, while solid, failed to engage me as the previous stories of the season, and the series did. It’s not for lack of performances, I just wasn’t captivated by them, and they both seemed to circle around concepts of revenge. Salvage was written by Jeffrey Bell, and first aired on…

TAD 2021: Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break dir. Nick Gillespie

Closing out the Toronto After Dark Film Festival today is the UK film Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break. And what a way to close the festival! Without disclosing too much, this sure fire crowd pleaser follows Paul Dood (Tom Meeten) in his pursuit of a glimmer of internet fame by auditioning for internet sensation Jack…

The X-Files (2000) – First Person Shooter, and Theef

William Gibson and Tom Maddox pen First Person Shooter, an episode which first aired on 27 February, 2000.There are some elements of sexism and toxic masculinity throughout this story, because it has permeated the game culture that is at the episode’s heart. When a young man dies while playing an immersive First Person Shooter, evidence…

TIFF 2021: Saloum dir. Jean Luc Herbulot

The frenetic, genre jumping Saloum from Jean Luc Herbulot combining action beats with a revenge thriller, and dancing on the line of supernatural horror. Three bad-ass mercs, Chaka (Yann Gael) Rafa (Roger Sallah), and Minuit (Mentor Ba) who each exude a laconic cool in their own ways, are guns for hire, and getting a drug…

Furious 7 (2015) – James Wan

Paul Walker’s final Fast and the Furious franchise due to his untimely death, who died during production, and caused the creative team to decide whether to work a way around that, or scrap the film entirely. Obviously, they worked around it, and the film itself is a huge action film that also gives Walker’s character,…

Death is Forever (1992) – John Gardner

After The Man From Barbarossa, I was nervous about digging into another Gardner 007 novel, but this time, the author returns to the Fleming roots of the character and storytelling style, and in Death is Forever, James Bond is back in action. Gardner’s twelfth novel featuring the secret agent is a fast-moving tale that takes…

The X-Files (1997) – Memento Mori, and Kaddish

Series creator Chris Carter penned Memento Mori which first aired on 7 February, 1997. It brings Scully’s (Gillian Anderson) cancer to the fore as the tumour becomes more aggressive and sends Mulder (David Duchovny) into an investigation of the MUFON group Scully met last year, a group of women who claim to be abductees and…

Chuck (2011) – Versus the Santa Suit, and Versus the Baby

The Omen Virus has been released, someone is breaking out of prison, and Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) is trying to throw together a perfect Xmas party and celebration for Baby Clara’s first Christmas in Chuck Versus the Santa Suit, which was written by Amanda Kate Shuman and first aired on 23 December, 2011. We learn pretty…