It’s that time of year in Toronto again. The summer is winding down, there is the first hint of the crispness of fall in the cooling evening air, which can mean only one thing. No not pumpkin spice lattes, it’s time for the CNE, TIFF, back-to-school prep, and the gathering of geeks from all over…
Tag: steampunk
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) – Hayao Miyazaki
The final entry on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book following my screening of Spirited Away is another brilliant Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle. This was my first time watching this one, and I can now admit to rating this one as high as I do Spirited Away. It’s…
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) – Hayao Miyazaki
Following my screening of Spirited Away as recommended by DK Canada’s The Movie Book, I was delighted to move on to the What Else to Watch list and dive into a number of Miyazaki films I was aware of, but had never seen. Today, I dug into Laputa: Castle in the Sky. And found myself…
Van Helsing (2004) – Stephen Sommers
After his fairly positive success with two Mummy movies, and the cult favorite Deep Rising, Stephen Sommers looked to do an homage to the Universal Monsters and hopefully launch a new tentpole franchise with the Hugh Jackman led Van Helsing. This is the next recommendation from DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies by John Landis,…
First Men in the Moon (1964) – Nathan Juran
My time with DK Books’ The Movie Book pays off big time with the What Else to Watch list associated with Melies’ A Trip to the Moon – it brought me this 1964 oddity, which is based on H.G. Wells’ story. A multi-national crew is making the first manned landing on the moon. Imagine the…
Doctor Who (Paul McGann) – The Movie
Seven years after Sylvester McCoy’s last story, Survival, a weird co-production involving Fox television and the BBC, introduced Paul McGann as the Doctor when McCoy regenerated into him after being shot in San Francisco (actually Vancouver), at the end of the 20th century. The story is deeply flawed, conflicts with canon in a number of…
The Dining and Social Club for Time Travellers: Book One – Divine Intervention (2016) – Elyse Kishimoto
Word On The Street, here in Toronto is a wonderful book festival that highlights authors, publishing companies, and smaller book stores, and when it took over the Harbour Front for its event last weekend, I was eager to see what they had in store for me this year. Amongst the young adult readers I found a…
Doctor Who (Colin Baker) – The Mark of the Rani
The Master (Anthony Ainley) returns to menace the Doctor (Baker) this week in The Mark of the Rani. This one was written by Pip and Jane Baker, and aired in two parts from 2 to 9 February, 1985. The Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant) arrive in 19th century England in the small village of…
Wild Wild West (1999) – Barry Sonnenfeld
Ahh, the late 20th century, when Will Smith the comedic actor was at the top of his game having come off of the incredibly successful Men In Black, which was directed by Sonnenfeld, who was having a string of good luck himself, with MiB, Get Shorty, and the Addams Family movies. So, they paired…
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) – Stephen Norrington
The Sci-Fi Chronicles plunges us into the world of Alan Moore’s graphic novels with this film adaptation of his work directed by Stephen Norrington, which suffers from a bit of a haphazard script that hinted at great potential, and just failed horribly to have it pay off. It’s a great idea (mostly), using characters…
The Mind Reels 