High Praise Before Hammer became possessed by demons from the grave, they experimented with other supernatural horror. This is a particularly good one for the period, employing lots of location shots in the mountains. Those mountains provide two key elements of the story: isolation and Tibetan mystics....
Librarian and real crime buff Aurora “Roe” Teagarden never liked Detective Sergeant Jack Burns, but she also never wanted to see him dead. When his body is found outside of Aurora’s home, she then becomes the main suspect. Determined to find the killer and clear her name, Aurora can't help but to get involved once again.
Manipulating Evidence I came to this as a mystery that would be safe to watch with my 10 year old. He had done well with some others like Poirot, Holmes. I’ve taught him to be alert in narrative engagement, so he was primed to be challenged...
As a swinging fashion photographer by day and a groovy British superagent by night, Austin Powers is the '60s' most shagadelic spy. But can he stop megalomaniac Dr. Evil after the bald villain freezes himself and unthaws in the '90s? With the help of sexy sidekick Vanessa Kensington, he just might.
The Pamela Urge I saw this with ‘Borat’. It didn't work for me. Neither comedy did; the reasons seem related. If you put distance between something and it's source, then you have opportunity for low humour. The closer you get to the original or the reference, the...
Special agent 007 comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and now he must outwit and outgun the powerful tycoon to prevent him from cashing in on a devious scheme to raid Fort Knox -- and obliterate the world's economy.
Two Zeros This is the best of the Bonds, in part because the action/gizmo genre was so young. In those days — hard to believe — this was smart humour, was sexy and thrilled. Now it is merely of historical interest only. Worse, there are franchises that...
When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.
Baby Arrives I love it when I am wrong, and someone that I think doesn’t matter surprises me. Ben Affleck put together some snappy lines in “Good Will,” but that project was so ordinary in form it self-destructed. His acting is generally silly. There isn’t a role...
The inspirational true story of Opportunity, a rover that was sent to Mars for a 90-day mission but ended up surviving for 15 years. Follow Opportunity’s groundbreaking journey on Mars and the remarkable bond forged between a robot and her humans millions of miles away.
Projections on the Wall-E I work in the broad area called AI. I also spent nearly a decade attached to the space station project (before it was international), and while my time was at Houston and with the engineering side, I know the kinds of folks...
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.
Some Dusty Pig The first Mad Max had a few strong attractions. It was overtly Australian in a few dimensions which hit a niche of the familiar exotic. It was pure science fiction in that it abstracted our world into a future where only the tiniest...
In an era when terrifying beasts roamed the seas, monster hunters were celebrated heroes. None were more beloved than the great Jacob Holland. But when young Maisie Brumble stows away on his fabled ship, he's saddled with an unexpected ally. Together they embark on an epic journey into uncharted waters and make history.
Competent Navigation I am seeing many complaints about the ‘wokeness’ of elements of this. I suppose that is just how America is put together now. Some large number of vocal folks will find lucid history not to their liking. For me, I find the modern reworking...
In the Night Garden is a magical place that exists between the waking and sleeping imagination of children close to the representation of a nursery rhyme.
Inception There seems to be quite a consensus that this doesn't have any educational value. Such a stance presumes that kids need explicit teaching and preaching. Either you need to include an alphabet in your song like Sesame Street or have some obvious moral conclusion. How...
The story of how Richard Williams served as a coach to his daughters Venus and Serena, who will soon become two of the most legendary tennis players in history.
The Cosby Curse One of the effects of a rich society is the luxury of spending time watching sports, engaging with the intricacies of statistical pockets, and the supposed drama of its celebrities. Only film and its media feeders can similarly create such icons, so it...
