The Equalizer (1989) – Heart of Justice, and Race Traitors

McCall (Edward Woodward) finds himself on the hunt for a vigilante after an innocent man is arrested for his crimes. Heart of Justice is a very dark story. Written by Gail Morgan Hickman this episode was first broadcast on 11 May, 1989. Michael Gianelli (John Shepherd) wants revenge on the two serial rapists (including Paul…

Bone Tomahawk (2015) – S. Craig Zahler

Kurt Russell saddles up for another western, and though the basic premise of the story may sound familiar, where that narrative takes you may be a little too gruesome for some viewers, but it’s a helluva ride. Russell is Hunt, the sheriff of Bright Hope, and he and a couple of locals are about to…

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) – Jay Oliva

The Dark Knight Returns is an iconic graphic novel, a story that redefined Batman in the 80s, and was, perhaps, the one adaptation that I was looking forward to most. I liked that the creative team knew to tell the story properly, they had to take their time with it, setting everything up, which meant…

Midsummer Night’s Doom (1999) – Raymond Benson

Jame Bond has had a long history with Playboy and for the magazine’s 45th anniversary, novelist Raymond Benson penned a short story to be featured in the celebratory issue. In fact, this time around 007 interacts not only with some Playmates from the previous years but also with Hugh Hefner himself. It seems there’s going…

Bullet Train (2022) – Blu-Ray Review

Sony Pictures delivers a vibrant, energetic action comedy to home theatres with their release of Bullet Train to DVD and Blu-Ray. Kinetic, colourful and packed with laughs, this violent, almost over-the-top film based on the book by Kotaro Isaka puts Brad Pitt, who seems to be having the time of his life, center stage as…

Night Call: A Walking Shadows Novel (2020) – Brenden Carlson

Brenden Carlson’s Night Call, available from Dundurn Press is set in the past, an alternate 1933, and yet in describing it, I lean towards the phrase retro-future noir. We are introduced to the cynical hard-boiled detective, Elias Roche, who is haunted by an incident in his past and walks a fine line between the law…

The Quick and The Dead (1995) – Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi brings his frenetic style of zooming cameras and powerful camera angles to the western genre with a tale of revenge riding across the plains into an unforgiving town. Sharon Stone who looks absolutely stunning in western getup stars as Ellen, a woman bent on vengeance. She rides into a frontier town to take…

Rambo: Last Blood (2019) – Adrian Grunberg

Sylvester Stallone is back for one last go-round as John Rambo. It has to be, it’s right there in the title! Once again Stallone involves himself in the film’s script, crafting a story that shows that Rambo, no matter the age, is still the same man he has always been, but he’s just better at…

The Facts of Death (1998) – Raymond Benson

James Bond is back. Building off his previous short story, Blast From the Past, the novel, Zero Minus Ten, and his adaptation of Tomorrow Never Dies, author Raymond Benson thrusts 007 into another globetrotting adventure that takes him from London to Texas, and Cyprus in an attempt to stop a viral outbreak and a growing…

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) – George P. Cosmatos

It had been a while since I settled in for any of the Rambo films and thought it would be fun to take a look at the sequels. So I was excited to settle in for Rambo: First Blood Part II, the first of four sequels to 1982’s First Blood. The second film eschews some…