I can remember a time in my life before Star War and Star Trek. There’s a few years of my childhood in the 70s that were untouched by the pop culture events that would play such a huge part in my life. But when I finally ventured to the final frontier, I was drawn into…
Tag: toys
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) – Tim Burton
I hadn’t seen Pee-wee’s Big Adventure since it first came to home video in 1986. Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee wasn’t on my radar before that, it was all very much Back to the Future and Miami Vice for me. So when I was introduced to it one night, I found myself laughing aloud, hugely enjoying…
Stargate SG-1 (2002) – Menace, and The Sentinel
SG-1 discovers an deactivated android, Reese (Danielle Nicolet) on a planet whose civilization has been destroyed. She may have the key to it, if Daniel (Michael Shanks) and Carter (Amanda Tapping) can only find a way to get answers from her. On the planet, O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and Teal’c (Christopher Judge) may already have…
Fan Expo 2024 Day 3 & 4
Weekends at Fan Expo are a melange of crowds, celebrities and shopping. Those geeks who had to work all week, those families who were waiting for some time off, all descend on the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to get their geek on. The word of the day, for both Saturday and Sunday, is patience. Shoulders…
The Movie Man (2024) – Matt Finlin
Cottage Country. That phrase conjures a specific image for residents of Ontario, Canada. The calls of loons, sitting on boat docks and enjoying the peace of the lakes, an escape from the hubbub of city life; cottage country is a Canadian summer tradition. You wouldn’t expect to find a multiplex amongst the forests, the bears,…
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) – Blu-ray
I’ve been with the Ghostbusters since before the first movie came out, forty years ago. I remember seeing the advertising for it on the back of my comic books, I also tried writing my own version of the story before I even knew what it was or what it was about. I had a little…
The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) – William A. Fraker
There are a few things to redeem the 1981 iteration of the Lone Ranger story, it has a score by John Barry, and features Christopher Lloyd as the film’s baddie. But beyond that, this one is pretty horrible. The story, while violent, isn’t layered, sophisticated or much stronger than a grade-school tale. And that’s to…
Fan Expo 2023 – Day 1
It’s been a couple of years since I was last at Fan Expo. I had a brief appearance last year, hosting a panel for Dundurn Press (check out their booth this year, lots of great books to read!) and getting some gorgeous art for the living room wall. I was a little anxious about the…
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Ultimate Visual History (2017) – Michael Klastorin
I remember the first time I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was 1984, it was my 13th birthday, I had read the fotonovel from the school library, was fascinated by the subject matter (I still am), and though I had seen the rubber toys in grocery stores when the film came out,…
Night Shift (1978) – Stephen King
I was craving some Stephen King, but couldn’t decide which of his novels to tackle next, so instead, I figured I fill that need with some short stories, and fug into his first published collection, which gathered a variety of different tales under the title of Night Shift. I remember seeing the paperback cover as…
The Mind Reels 