Whether Canadian film-makers Rob Grant and Mike Kovac movie is fact or fiction isn’t the point of their latest cinematic effort. What is important is the film’s subject matter, and the commentary it makes on film, violence in cinema and the responsibility of the film-makers. Opening Friday at the Carlton here in Toronto, Fake Blood,…
Tag: sexuality
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991) – The Host, and The Mind’s Eye
Captain’s log: stardate 44821.1 Airing on 13 May, 1991, The Host is another episode that doesn’t do justice to Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden). This is yet another episode that centres around her character that is just a little too shabby. Written by Michel Horvat, the episode follows Crusher as she has a relationship with Ambassador…
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – Arthur Penn
As I return to the thriller category of Great Movies – 100 Years of Film, I got to settle into a film that I haven’t seen since my film classes in university. Bonnie and Clyde. The film stars Warren Beatty as Clyde and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie in this cinematic retelling of the famous criminals…
Quantum Leap (1991) – 8 1/2 Months and Future Boy
Sam (Scott Bakula) leaps into a very pregnant teenager this week in the episode 8 1/2 Months. It was penned by Deborah Pratt and had an original airdate of 6 March, 1991. It’s 15 November, 1955 and Sam is Billie Jean Crockett, 16 years old. And he’s there to not only make sure the baby…
Toronto After Dark 2016: The Lure -Agnieszka Smoczynska
The last night of the Toronto After Dark film festival got underway at Scotiabank Theatre with the Polish musical/drama/horror The Lure. Taking its cues from the original Hans Christian Anderson tale, The Little Mermaid, as well as playing with mermaid mythology this one toys with expectations, sexuality and strange lyrics in a kind of fevered…
The Blue Angel (1930) – Josef von Sternberg
The next section I`m jumping to in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, is Romance and Melodrama, and this has provided me with my first introduction to the films of Marlene Dietrich, specifically, The Blue Angel. A bit of a superior-type professor, Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings), runs a tight ship in the classroom,…
Wizards (1977) – Ralph Bakshi
Sometimes you just want to watch something different… and Ralph Bakshi’s films have always been that, and this one is no exception. Set in a far distant future when humanity has blown itself from the face of the Earth, and any survivors have become radiated mutants, constantly devolving into new nightmares, the fairies and…
Guidance (2014) – Pat Mills
Having its premiere at TIFF today, is this delightful Canadian film that definitely enjoys itself. Pat Mills is a triple threat in the film, writing, directing and starring as David Gold, a former child star, with a drinking problem, a rent problem, an employment problem, and a little denial about his sexuality. With no…
Bitter Moon (1992) – Roman Polanski
The final recommendation for Pandora’s Box from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, is this darkly comic study of sex, desire, greed and cruelty from Roman Polanski. Nigel (Hugh Grant) and Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) have been married for seven years, and are on a Mediterranean cruise as an anniversary present, and…
Leon – The Professional (1994) – Luc Besson
Luc Besson returns to the 101 Action Movies list, bringing the exemplary Jean Reno with him in a role that was inspired by his turn in Besson’s Nikita. Mathilda (Natalie Portman) is an 11 year-old girl living with her family in a New York apartment building, she smokes, swears, and flirts with her blossoming sexuality, and…
The Mind Reels 