Writer, editor, punk rocker, film geek, Canadian socialist, and ne’er-do-well.
Favorite films
Recent activity
All
Recent reviews
More-
Training Day 2001
Three stars are earned by Denzel Washington alone. Seeing Ethan Hawke’s “good cop” character polish his badge at the beginning of the film telegraphed everything I expected. Ugh.
-
Mission: Impossible 1996
Unlike his previous adaptation of a classic TV show, The Untouchables, Brian De Palma is ill-suited for stealthy espionage hijinks. The IMF team is killed off quickly and it then becomes the Ethan Hunt Show. Yes, the train top scene is fun, but the film jettisons everything memorable about the classic TV series—Jim Phelps would never betray the IMF!
Popular reviews
More-
Journey Through the Black Sun 1982
What happens when you cancel a cool British sci-fi TV series just before Star Wars premieres in the summer of 1977? You create a feature film for overseas distribution, cobbling together a couple of memorable episodes! JOURNEY THROUGH THE BLACK SUN is two episodes of the classic SPACE: 1999 Tv series ("Black Sun" and "Collision Course") tied together and it mostly works. Future Academy Award winner Martin Landau stars as the stolid Commander John Koenig, leader of the 300 men…
-
Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979
The first—and most cinematic—of all the big-screen Treks. Updating ‘60s cult TV kitsch with sombre headiness and breathtaking visual effects, veteran director Robert Wise guides one of the last great outer-space epics, in which “the human adventure is just beginning”. It’s fascinating to watch the beloved sci-fi Holy Trinity struggle with self confidence and a sense of purpose aboard the refitted starship Enterprise (perhaps they most recognizable and beautiful spaceship ever created on film), as they venture into the unknown to meet a part of their distant past.
