Toronto After Dark 2016: Blood Father -Jean-Francois Richet

Action night concluded Sunday night for the Toronto After Dark film festival as Mel Gibson, previous person non grata in Hollywood, returns to form in this pulse-pounding thriller. This is not the place for me to ruminate on Mel Gibson’s career or his personal life and substance abuse, instead I want to talk about the…

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…

From Here to Eternity (1953) – Fred Zinnemann

  An all star cast brings James Jones sprawling book to the big screen, and is my next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my revisit with Casablanca for the Romance and Melodrama genre. Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Claude Akins and Jack Warden bring…

Doctor Who (Peter Davison) – Frontios

  The Doctor (Davison) takes on an almost good old-fashioned monster story in Frontios, written by Christopher H. Bidmead. This four part tale ran from 26 January to 3 February, 1984. The Time Lord, and his Companions, Teagan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) are forced to land the TARDIS on the remote world of…