I remember seeing The Beastmaster back in the early 80s on one of the free First Choice/Super Channel weekends. I liked it a lot at ten years old, and hadn’t seen it since. So I was curious if I was going to enjoy it. The opening credits and title cards made me dubious, but over…
Tag: village
The Scarlet Claw (1944) – Roy William Neill
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) find themselves in Quebec, Canada (read as the Universal backlot) for their next adventure, The Scarlet Claw. An original story, this adventure sees the dogged duo working to solve a murder that may or may not have paranormal trappings. While Watson is played up for humor again,…
Monkey Man (2024) – Dev Patel
Dev Patel directs and stars in Monkey Man, an action revenge film that makes sure to add in emotion, trauma, as well as some commentary on religion and politics. It’s all done without losing the driving, pulse-pounding action sequences that make this film incredibly enjoyable and watchable. As the nameless hero of the film, known…
The Equalizer 3 (2023) – Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington team up for another Equalizer sequel, this time moving the story to gorgeous Italy. With picturesque backdrops the power duo attempt to do something more with the Robert McCall character, but this one, despite sharing the story with Man On Fire co-star Dakota Fanning doesn’t quite have the punch of…
Avatar: The Last Airbender- Book 1: Water (2005) – The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1), Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2), and The Waterbending Scroll
The Spirit World is the first part in the Winter Solstice tale. It was written by Aaron Ehasz and was first broadcast on 8 April, 2005. Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), Katara (Mae Whitman) and Sokka (Jack De Sena) arrive in a small village that is being attacked nightly by a Hei Bai, a forest spirit,…
TAD 2021: Post Mortem dir. Peter Bergendy
Toronto After Dark delivers it’s first spectral tale of the festival, with the beautifully crafted Hungarian film, Post Mortem from director Peter Bergendy. This one, has all the trappings of a classic ghost story, and does it right, well, and without going overboard on the visual effects. Tomas (Viktor Klem) is recovering from a near…
The Color Out of Space (2010) – Huan Vu
H.P. Lovecraft, despite his racist tendencies that pop up in his writings, was a master of unnerving cosmic horror, and in 2010, Huan Vu adapted the classic novella, The Color Out of Space into a moody and ominous thriller. A German made film whose only problem lays in some of its special effects, but more…
The Hole in the Ground (2019) – Lee Cronin
The Irish horror film, The Hole in the Ground, was circling on my radar for awhile, so I was curious to see what I thought of it when I finally had a chance to see it. I can see why some people like it, and others didn’t care for it. The film works best when…
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) – Agatha Christie
It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to check in on the writings of Agatha Christie, so I settled in to play a bit of the armchair (or lawnchair) detective as I enjoyed the first novel to introduce the other famous detective Christie was responsible for introducing to the world, Ms. Jane Marple,…
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) – Agatha Christie
It’s been decades, literally decades, since I read an Agatha Christie novel, in fact I remember where I was, and though I don’t recall the title, I know that it was a Poirot mystery. Something tells me a teacher may have suggested them to me, or perhaps the school librarian. I was curious what I…
The Mind Reels 