Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021) – Quentin Tarantino

Man am I divided on this one. I love that Tarantino has given us his first novel, and allows it to expand on his film of the same name. It has a pulpy style to it that fits perfectly with the era, and the aesthetic of the film story he told. It also lists movie…

Millennium (1997) – Wide Open, and The Wild and The Innocent

Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) steps back into the darkness this week as Charles D. Holland pens Wide Open, which first aired on 3 January, 1997. Frank is called in to assist on a case that seems to defy logic, a series of murders taking place in homes with top of the line security systems. Cathy…

You Only Live Twice (1964) – Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming’s penultimate James Bond novel, there is one more to come, and then a collection of short stories, was the last one published before his death in August of 1964. Picking up nine months after the events of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service we find 007 a broken man. Still in a deep state…

Star Trek: Enterprise (2002) – Minefield, and Dead Stop

Captain’s log: date unknown John Shiban pens this episode that first debuted on 2 October, 2002. The Enterprise triggers a cloaked mine, planted by Romulans, and it’s up to Reed (Dominic Keating) to work another one free of the hull plating. The explosion causes a number of injuries, and it all seems a bit of…

Toronto After Dark 2016: Train to Busan – Sang-ho Yeon

Train to Busan, the Korean zombie film that played to great acclaim at Cannes was the second feature of Toronto After Dark’s Zombie Night at Scotiabank Theatre Saturday night. A big budget, bloody kills, cool special effects and a solid story made for an engaging screening that saw zombie lovers out in force in the…

The Twelve (2012) – Justin Cronin

Justin Cronin’s vampiric trilogy continues in the fast-paced, raising of the stakes (pun intended?) second book, The Twelve. It’s been five years since the events of the previous book, The Passage., and things have changed for a number of our characters. We check in with Sara, Peter, Michael, Hollis, Alicia, and of course Amy, and none…

Crash (2004) – Paul Haggis

  Walking away with the Academy Awards for Best Picture (controversially – as Brokeback Mountain was the presumptive winner), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, writer/director Paul Haggis’ tale of a cross-section of denizens of Los Angeles, tied together by race, loss and redemption come together in Crash, my next recommendation from the Great Movies…

War of the Worlds (2005) – Steven Spielberg 

  I dive back into more HG Wells cinematic adaptations with the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, settling in to rewatch the Spielberg take on the classic invasion tale, done so well in the previously reviewed 1953 film. Spielberg’s updated take on the story is a modern, post 9/11 version which tries to walk the line, mostly successfully between modern sensibilities…