Canada delivers its own Shorts programme for Toronto After Dark, with 9 selections, that like the International Shorts features a variety of styles, sensibilities, and genre mashing. There’s some great work in here, and despite the fact that none of the films were as laugh out loud as the highly enjoyable Shiny New World, there…
Tag: style
Parable of the Sower (1993) – Octavia E. Butler
Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction tale, that follows a young woman of colour on her quest to understand herself, the ideas of god, and the destiny of humanity. Within pages of this novel, I was completely swept up in Butler’s storytelling style, her characters, and the world she created. And here’s the thing, the world…
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) – Don Hall, Carlos Lopez Estrada, Paul Briggs, and John Ripa
Trust, hope, faith in ourselves and in one another. Walt Disney’s latest hero’s journey seems to be the right film at the right time, and has the perfect message for getting through the pandemic that like the druun in the film seems intent on ravaging our world, and keeping all of us apart. A beautifully…
The Blues Brothers (1980) – John Landis
Director John Landis teams up with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in a road movie with tunes, laughs, and style. This was the movie, that I discovered in the late 80s, that introduced me to soul music, and I loved it. Featuring a who’s who of musical legends like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Cab…
DC Comics Cover Art (2020) – Nick Jones
Neal Adams. Jack Kirby. George Perez. Alex Ross. Dave Gibbons. Amanda Conner. Jim Lee. John Byrne. The tip of the iceberg on a long list of distinguished and exceptional artists who have created iconic images through the years for DC Comics, aiding in the transition of the medium from being seen as ‘just for kids’…
James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) – Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood who penned the screenplay for Roger Moore’s The Spy Who Loved Me, also took it upon himself to write the novelisation, with the expanded title, ‘James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me’ in order not to be confused with the original Ian Fleming title. The adaptation is a curious blend of the Bonds…
Bad Boys For Life (2020) – Adil El Arbi & Bilail Fallah
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for a third go round as those Bad Boys, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett in Bad Boys For Life. It’s been seventeen years since we last saw these Miami PD cops ride together, they’re older, the world has changed and so have their lives. Marcus is now a grandfather…
The Bourne Identity (2002) – Doug Liman
Matt Damon takes on the role of Robert Ludlum’s most famous creation in the 2002 adaptation of his novel. While it could be argued that Paul Greengrass perfected the Bourne storytelling style with Supremacy and Ultimatum, Liman introduced all the visual language of that style in the first film. When compared to its sequels, even…
Clueless 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray Review
Clueless is 25 years old today, and I have a hard time believing that for a couple of reasons. 1) That would mean I’m about 15 years older than I think I am and 2) the film still endures, is still relevant, and damned funny. Paramount Canada is celebrating the date by a 25th Anniversary…
The White Gorilla (1945) – Harry L. Fraser
Well, as one of my favourite music groups will tell you, sometimes, bad is bad. This entry in the chapter called Monstrous Apes in DK Canada’s highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies book is pretty horrid. It marries footage from a 1927 silent three hour epic called Perils of the Jungle, which clashes with the…
Heavenly Creatures (1994) – Peter Jackson
I’m closing in on the end of DK Canada’s The Movie Book, as I explore its last section, The Director. And it brings me a Peter Jackson film that isn’t set in Middle Earth (it is in New Zealand, however, and I recognise a lot of the names in the credits as those he has…
Foresight (2020) – Ian Hamilton
This week, Ian Hamilton takes us back to another chapter in ‘Uncle’ Chow Tung’s life. Originally created for the Ava Lee book series, Uncle served as Ava’s mentor and partner. Now with this new series, Hamilton continues to fill out this character’s back story with his signature whip smart dialogue and frenetic story pacing. It’s…
