TIFF ’22: On the Come Up

Sanaa Lathan delivers a powerful and emotional directorial debut with On the Come Up. Based on the novel by Angie Thomas, who also penned the powerful The Hate U Give, On the Come Up is a powerhouse coming of age featuring a strong leading performance by Jamila C. Gray who shines as Bri. Growing up…

Don’t Breathe (2016) – Fede Alvarez

I was pleasantly surprised by Don’t Breathe, though I didn’t like a single character in the film. They’re all evil in their way, and that made it hard to empathize. In fact, for the first part of the film, I sympathize with the Blind Man (Stephen Lang), until that twist of course. But it’s interesting…

Return From Witch Mountain (1978) – John Hough

Tia (Kim Richards) and Tony (Ike Eisenmann) Return From Witch Mountain in Disney’s follow-up to the enjoyable Escape To Witch Mountain. While not as entertaining as the first film, there’s still some fun to be had, and it boasts the appearance of Christopher Lee and Bette Davis as the film’s villains, Victor and Letha respectively….

Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) – Don Coscarelli

The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), Micheal (A. Micheal Baldwin), Reggie (Reggie Bannister) and Jody (Bill Thornbury) are back again as Don Coscarelli delivers us a fourth Phantasm outing in a universe that I like visiting and revisiting. Eschewing a lot of the humour that showed up in the previous film, the fourth film is probably…

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) – Don Coscarelli

The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) returns to the screen for a third time in the second sequel to the 1977 cult phenomenon, Phantasm. The film not only gives viewers a quick recap, it runs us right up to the cliffhanger conclusion of the second film, and then welcomes A. Micheal Baldwin back to the role…

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Jim Sharman

The mad scientist chapter of DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies brings me the always enjoyable, and sing a long to every song, film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. It’s a musical send-up of science fiction and horror films of the 50s and 60s, that also reveled…

Creed II (2018) – Blu-Ray Review

Creed II hits blu-ray and DVD today from Warner Brothers, and it continues to prove it is its own beast, while embracing the Rocky-universe in which it is set. And this film does so even more than the first film, because, well this time, it’s personal. Tying in directly with Rocky IV – you know…

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) – Battle Lines, and The Storyteller

Station log: stardate unknown Written by Richard Danus and Evan Carlos Somers from a story by Hilary J. Bader, this episode first aired on 25 April, 1993. It follows Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks), Major Kira (Nana Visitor) and Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) as they give the Bajoran spiritual leader, Kai Opaka (Camille Saviola) a look…

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) – Bryan Spicer

I never quite got into the Power Rangers, nor understood the appeal, but they are my next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. I never really saw much of the television show, and anything I did see, seemed fairly low-end, but the film tries to embrace a big budget theatrical look with a Point Break…

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…