Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – Vonda N. McIntyre

This week’s Book Shelf brings me to the movie adaptation of Star Trek IV, as I continue to enjoy, discover new stories and revisit old ones with the Pocket Book novels. Working from the film’s original script, McIntyre expands on the film’s story, as well as tying it more strongly into her own stories and…

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) – Lonely Among Us, and Justice

Captain’s log: stardate 41249.3 Lonely Among Us is another mixed bag episode that shows the series is still trying to find its feet. Written by D.C. Fontana from a story by Michael Halperin, this episode first aired on 2 November, 1987. The Enterprise is ferrying delegations (necessitating the introduction of the new dress uniform) to…

Faust (1926) – F.W. Murnau

DK Canada’s The Movie Book brings me some more F.W. Murnau. The film highlighted in the book is Sunrise, which I’d previously reviewed, and I’ve viewed his Key Movies, so I moved on to What Else to Watch and dug into his adaptation of the classic tale of Faust. Taking into account the time in…

The Accusation (2017) – Bandi

Due out this week from Anansi Press is this beautiful collection of stories, the first fiction to come out of North Korea. They say write what you know, and while I recognise that these stories are fiction, they have their roots in the real world, and as such, give the reader a fascinating glance inside…

The Devil’s Advocate (1997) – Taylor Hackford

The final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of La Belle et La Bete is this 1997 legal thriller with supernatural overtones that lets Keanu Reeves take on a scene-chewing Al Pacino. Charlize Theron co-stars as Reeves’ wife Mary Ann, while Keanu plays Kevin Lomax, a not…

Quantum Leap (1990/1991) – A Little Miracle and Runaway

Sam (Scott Bakula) is Reginald Pierson, the valet of one Michael Blake (Charles Rocket), a Scrooge-like character in Quantum Leap’s take on A Christmas Carol. A Little Miracle aired 21 December, 1990 and was penned by Sandy Fries and Robert Wolterstorff. It’s Christmas Eve, 1962, and Sam is feeling a little flustered serving Blake, who…

Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) – Michael Coldewey & Michel Lemire

Almost 20 years after the first film, Heavy Metal 2000 returns with more animated science fiction, as I continue to work my way through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. While the animation may be stronger this time around, everything else seems to suffer. Eschewing the anthology format that served the first film so well, not to…