American Beauty (1999) – Sam Mendes

  The next title up in the Drama genre for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is the Academy Award Winning American Beauty directed by Sam Mendes. The film went home with a Best Actor for Kevin Spacey, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography and Best Original Screenplay. Spacey plays Lester…

Quantum Leap (1989) – Genesis Parts I & 2

  Quantum Leap. Scott Bakula. Dean Stockwell. I love a lot of science fiction television (and movies) and as much as I love my Star Trek, Quantum Leap has been my favorite show since my introduction to it. I came to it towards the end of Season 2 originally, in fact, I still recall the…

Vinyl – Season 1

  Vinyl, Season 1, recently got its home video release from HBO, and I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to take a look at it. Partly created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, who also directed the two-hour pilot, the series is set in New York during the early 70s and follows…

Red Rising (2014) – Pierce Brown

  With hints of the Hunger Games, Battle Royale, Ender’s Game and the guise of an educational setting, Pierce Brown’s science fiction novel, Red Rising, the first of a trilogy, is strongly written and completely engrossing. I’ll admit it took me about the first third of the book to get really hooked on the story,…

Hevn [Revenge] (2015) – Kjersti Steinsbo

  Beginning its Canadian theatrical run at the Lightbox, the Norway-Canadian co-production of Steinsbo’s directorial debut makes an impression. Featuring multi-layered characters set against the gorgeous backdrop of western Norway, Hevn is a revenge thriller that is tautly paced, strongly directed, and features some very nice performances from all the players. The film follows Andrea…

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) – Susanna Clarke

  I’d always been intrigued by the cover of this book, and the idea of magicians in England in the 19th century tweaked my interest as well. I was never put off by the rather gargantuan size of the book, I just knew I had to be in the right frame of mind to take…

The Last Town (2014) – Blake Crouch

  So I dug into the third and final book of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy, The Last Town. And once again, I was struck how all three books could have made for three separate and amazing seasons on television, instead of being chopped up into one ten episode season. I mean, the first book you…

Magnum, p.i. (1984) – Mac’s Back and The Legacy of Garwood Huddle

  Thomas (Tom Selleck) is having a rough time of it as Mac’s Back opens. Written by Bellisario, with an airdate of 11 October, 1984, this is an episode that is almost a direct continuation of the events from the previous episode, something that didn’t happen a lot in episodic television during the 80s, but…