TIFF ’22: The Lost King

Director Stephen Frears guides Sally Hawkins’ quest for the burial place of Richard III. She takes on the real-life role of Philippa Langley, an amateur historian, who turned away from the established historical ‘facts’ of Richard III as a usurper and began a hunt for his final resting place. Based on Langley’s own book, which…

Scream 2 (1997) – Wes Craven

In 1996, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson delivered the game-changing Scream, a meta horror movie that was a hit with audiences and critics alike. And it seemed before the opening weekend was over, that a second film was already being lined up for the cameras. Looking back, I think if they had made us wait…

Star Trek: Rules of Engagement (1990) – Peter Morwood

It’s been a while since I haven’t been entertained by one of the Pocket Book Trek novels. But Peter Morwood’s effort, Rules of Engagement left me a little cold. I remember buying this one when I was younger. I even remember when, I had bought it to read during my transit across the country back…

Ghostbusters (1984) – Ivan Reitman

A chapter on ghosts in the cinema, as illustrated by DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies, would be remiss without covering the 80s comedy classic, Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Rick Moranis. I remember when I first heard about this movie, first heard the classic song, saw…

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1994) – All Good Things…

Captain’s log: stardate 47988.0 After seven seasons (and just over a year of posts on the blog) Star Trek: The Next Generation came to its series finale with this feature-length episode that was penned by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga (who were also deep into the writing of the first Next Gen feature film…

Life of the Party (2018) – Blu-Ray Review

With a recycled plot that is straight out of an 80s film, the Melissa McCarthy vehicle, Life of the Party hits blu-ray and DVD this week from Warner Brothers. Despite using all of the university and college tropes that have been in play since National Lampoon’s Animal House, the film arguably takes the story and…

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1994) – Hollywood Follies

This week, it’s Sean Patrick’s final turn as Indiana Jones in an adventure written by Jonathan Hales and Matthew Jacobs from a story by George Lucas, which brings the character full circle, in a meta sense as Indy heads to Hollywood! Debiting as a television movie on 15 October, 1994, the story picks up in…

At The Mountains of Madness (1931) – H.P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft’s unnerving novella, At the Mountains of Madness was my next read, and I can’t believe how much I enjoyed it. It’s dark, frightening, and immensely enjoyable. An Antarctic expedition finds something they don’t expect, and from there the tale descends into horror and madness. I feel that the story influenced the short story of…

The House (2017) – Andrew Jay Cohen

Releasing to blu-ray and DVD today from Warner Brothers, is the latest comedic effort from Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler. Somewhere in this film, there is the potential for something really funny, but far too often the dialogue is pushed past the point of hilarity to absurdity, and the story itself could have played as…