Polite Society is an enjoyable action comedy with strong female characters involved in a wonderfully melodramatic tale. The story follows a young Pakistani woman, Ria (Priya Kansara) who dreams of being a stuntwoman, and who idolizes her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), who is experiencing a tough time after leaving art school because she she…
Tag: writer
Whiplash (2014) – Damien Chazelle
I am well aware that I’m playing catch-up on this title, but I knew this one would have to be one that I was ready and in the mood for, and wow, a fantastic film. The first half of the film is a huge stress-watch for me, but what an amazing ride and one that…
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) – Strange New Worlds, and Children of the Comet
Akiva Goldsman wrote and directed the series opener for Strange New Worlds, which was first broadcast on 5 May, 2022. It had to tie in with the established canon of The Original Series, and what had happened in Star Trek: Discovery during season two. It also riffs on The Day The Earth Stood Still, which…
Star Trek: Picard (2023) – Vox, and The Last Generation
Showrunner Terry Matalas slips into the director’s chair to give us a powerful penultimate episode, Vox. Written by Sean Tretta and Kiley Rossetter, this episode was first broadcast on 13 April, 2023. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest learn that the symptoms of Irumodic Syndrome were simply a side effect of what was really wrong…
Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmicheal Manor (2023) – Stephen Cognetti
While I’m not always the biggest found footage fan, it’s a genre that has really been done to death because everyone thinks they can do it, I quickly became a fan of Stephen Cognetti’s Hell House LLC series. He’s written and directed all the films so far, which makes The Carmicheal Manor the fourth in…
Halloween II (1981) – Rick Rosenthal
And this is where the problems with the Halloween sequels start. Is it canon? Is it not? How do you define canon? John Carpenter got himself a producer’s credit for this film, as well as having a hand in editing and the music for the film, but the biggest indicator, no matter what he thought…
TAD 2023: Lovely, Dark and Deep dir. Teresa Sutherland
Writer/director Teresa Sutherland delivers a moody, atmospheric hallucination that follows Park Ranger Lennon (Georgina Campbell) as she takes on her new backcountry assignment, and attempts to reconcile an event that has haunted her since childhood. Positing that there are too many missing people in national parks, Sutherland’s story wonders if there is perhaps something more…
No One Will Save You (2023) – Brian Duffield
Writer/director Brian Duffield delivers a lot to unpack thematically with his alien thriller No One Will Save You, which is delivered virtually silently with almost no dialogue at all. With obvious nods to films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Invasion of the Body Snatcher, the film is a tense, white-knuckle thriller that…
