Swordfish feels like a forgotten action film. No one talks about it, it seems to have made it’s initial splash and then vanished from the general public’s memory, and while it isn’t a fantastic action film, it’s fun, and it has a very good cast Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Sam Shepard, Vinnie Jones,…
Tag: villain
Magnum P.I. (2018) – The Ties That Bind, and Bad Day to Be a Hero
Thomas (Jay Hernandez) takes a case involving a kidnapped girl, she’s been returned, but she’s not the same person anymore, and her parents want the person who took her captured. At the same time, we learn a little more about what happened when Magnum and his friends were held by the Taliban when they were…
The Arrival (1996) – David Twohy
David Twohy wrote and directed this sci-fi thriller starring Charlie Sheen which was lost in the summer of ’96 when Independence Day shook the world. Obviously a bit of a smaller film than Fox’s big-budget alien attack film, it doesn’t quite boast as big a cast, but has some great names, Richard Schiff, Lindsay Crouse,…
The Lone Ranger (2013) – Gore Verbinski
Gore Verbinski is a vibrant visual director, but the casting of Armie Hammer as John Reid aka The Lone Ranger, doesn’t do the film any good, and the whitewashing of Tonto with the casting of Johnny Depp makes things worse. There are some wonderful sequences, some great images, and some fun comedic moments, as the…
Quigley Down Under (1990) – Simon Wincer
Simon Wincer is a hard-working director, his efforts can be hit or miss, but I loved his work on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Lonesome Dove, and D.A.R.Y.L. Starting with Quigley Down Under, he’s worked with Tom Selleck a number of times, but this was their first feature film…
The Raven’s Revenge (2023) – Kevin Sands
This is it, the final adventure in The Blackthorn Key series by Canadian author Kevin Sands. Six books in, Sands has kept up a relentless pace, as Christopher, Tom and Sally confront dangers, mysteries and puzzles that place them in grave danger. And it’s more of this page-turning excitement in The Raven’s Revenge. Sands has…
The Assassin’s Curse (2017) – Kevin Sands
Simon & Schuster Canada continues to fire my imagination and sense of adventure with the third book in The Blackthorn Key collection which is now available on its own or as part of a gorgeous six-book hardcover collection available now! It’s the tail end of 1665 and the fact that apothecary apprentice Christopher Rowe and…
Batman (1968) – Nora Clavicle and the Ladies’ Crime Club, and Penguin’s Clean Sweep
Somehow a Women’s Right’s Activist, Nora Clavicle (Barbara Rush) is a villain in Nora Clavicle and the Ladies’ Crime Club. Written by Stanford Sherman this episode first aired on 18 January, 1968. Nora gets Gordon (Neil Hamilton) ousted as Commissioner taking on the role herself, and installing all female officers (which sounds progressive, but they…
Batman (1967) – Pop Goes the Joker, and Flop Goes the Joker
The Joker (Cesar Romero) returns in the penultimate two-part story of season two of Batman. Written by Stanford Sherman, the first episode, Pop Goes the Joker, first aired on 22 March, 1967. After the Joker breaks into the Gotham City Art Museum and makes his mark on a number of paintings, he becomes a bit…
Batman (1966) – Come Back, Shame, and It’s How You Play the Game
Holy guest stars, it’s Cliff Robertson as this week’s villain! He seems to be leaning into the camp of the thing, as he dons a cowboy outfit and claims the name Shame just so that a child, Andy (Eric Shea) can later on deliver a riff on the iconic line from Shane. This two-parter was…
The Mind Reels 