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Sample: Title; rating (out of 4); principal setting; year of release; international co-producer (if any); cast; description; scriptwriter; director; content warning; running time.
THANK YOU, SATAN see Oh! Oh! Satan
That Summer in Paris, the literary memoir by Morley Callaghan of his days with the "lost generation" in Paris, served as part of the source for the mini-series, Hemingway vs. Callaghan.
THAT'S MY BABY! *
* setting: Ont.
(1985) Timothy Webber, Sonja Smits, JoAnn McIntyre,
Lenore Zann, Derek McGrath, Daniel Buccos, Kate Trotter, Matt Craven.....Couple
begins to break up when he (Webber) wants to be a house husband and have
a baby and she (Smits) doesn't. Well done and the leads are very good but
there's a general sense of "so what?" about this light-hearted romantic
drama. A true-to-life premise, but that doesn't necessarily make for great
viewing. It just goes on and on, too. sc./dir: Edie Yolles, John Bradshaw.
- brief male nudity.- 97 min.
|
(2000-2001) * * 1/2 Alex Carter ("David Bishop"), Shauna MacDonald ("Claire Monroe"), Babz Chula ("Esme Price"), Conrad Coates ("Steven Armstromg"), Byron Lawson ("Amos Lee"), Stuart Margolin ("Miles Rankin"), Colleen Rennison ("Sophie Bishop"), with Ryan Hirakida, Chang Tseng, Ron Small, others.....Drama about various up-scale friends living in Vancouver. Carter is a freelance photographer, MacDonald his girlfriend and media personality, Chula a magazine editor and Lawson her much younger, Asian-Canadian restraunteur husband, Coates a gay drama teacher, Margolin a flakey former American draft dodger and entrepeneur, and Rennison plays Carter's daughter from his first marriage. Others in the cast include Hirakada as Chula and Lawson's young son, Tseng as Lawson's dad, and Small as Coates' dad. The American sitcom "Seinfeld" was often defined as the show about nothing...in a way, this is kind of the dramatic equivalent. Essentially a slice-of-life series about people muddling through life, tending to shy away from the melodramatic of rare diseases, drive-by shootings, etc. and focusing instead on more run-of-the-mill quirks and foibles. And, as such, it's a series that can engender a lot of ambivalence. It's easy to have a sneaking affection for it, boasting as it does a good cast and good dialogue, delivered with a sprightly tempo (though it maybe emphasizes the friction over the fun of relationships, particularly with Chula and Lawson) but there's an overall lack of drive or, well, anything that interesting about these people and what happens to them. The problem with slice-of-life is that most viewers already get that every day...their own. Spending an hour hanging with people who are nice enough but not especially ingratiating who are probably like people you know, except they don't really exist? Well, it's a limited audience. Only Margolin, always hatching one scheme after another, is colourful. Still the series gets genuine points for its pluralistic cast and atypical relationships, including a surprisingly frank portrayal of homosexuality. Also appealing is an unabashed Canadianess, at once nonchalant and in-your-face, that hasn't been seen in an hour long drama since Street Legal. Created by Phil Savath and Susan Duligal. One season of hour long episodes on the CBC. |
THESE GIRLS *
* 1/2 setting: CDN.
(2005) David Boreanaz, Caroline Dhavernas, Amanda
Walsh, Holy Lewis, Donnell Mackenzie, Colin Barry, McKenzi Scott.....Story
of three small town teenage girls who, on learning one of their trio is
secretly having an affair with a married man (import Boreanaz), decide
to blackmail him into having affairs with all three of them! Brisk comedy
is something where, given the somewhat awkward premise (none of the characters
are exactly sympathetic per se), kind of needed to be pushed harder in
one direction or another -- either by being funnier, an out-and-out comedy
with witty one-liners and farcical shenanigans (it's more just light-hearted)
or maybe darker, or more sentimental. Still, improves as it goes, particularly
in the final act when certain schemes start to snowball out of control.
Dhavernas inparticular seems older than her character, which may be deliberate
to avoid an "ick" factor. sc./dir: John Hazlett (from the play by Vivienne
Laxsal). - casual male nudity, sexual content, brief female nudity.- 92
min.
THEY CAME FROM WITHIN a.k.a. Shivers
THICK AS THIEVES
* * setting: USA.
(1990) Gerry Quigley, Carolyn Dunn, Amber-Lea Weston,
Karl Pruner, Thomas Hauff, Susan Wright, Eric Peterson.....Brother-sister
con artists (Quigley and Dunn) face complications when she wants to go
straight, he needs money to pay a fine, and they both have to look after
their equally nefarious teen-aged cousin (Weston). So-so comedy has a promising
cast and a cute script, but the story tends to be unfocused, the pacing
off. Too many static scenes. Sara Botsford and C. David Johnson have an
off-beat cameo. sc./dir: Steve DiMarco. 92 min.
Think of a Number, a novel by Anders Bodelsen, became the movie Silent Partner
THE THIRD WALKER
* * setting: N.S.
(1979) Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner, Tony Meyer,
David Meyer, Frank Moore, Andree Pelletier, Monique Mercure.....Story
of three brothers, twins (the Meyers) raised by separate families, and
the brother (Moore) one of them was accidentally switched with, reunited
after the death of their father (Shatner). Original drama is well-acted,
but ultimately most of the story elements and character conflicts are fully
established too soon...and the film has no where to go from there. Weak
ending, too. McLuhan is the daughter of media guru Marshal McLuhen, who
provides a voice-over cameo as a judge. sc: Robert Thom (story Teri McLuhan).
dir: Teri McLuhan. 86 min.
36 HOURS TO DIE
* * setting: USA.
(1999) (/U.S.) Treat Williams, Kim Cattrall, Saul
Rubinek, Carol O'Connor, Scott Hylands, Stewart Bick, Barbara Eve Harris,
George Touliatos.....An American brewery owner (Williams), recovering
from a heart attack, finds he has only days to prevent a mobster (Rubinek)
from embezzling everything he owns and jeopardizing his family. Slick-looking,
with clever dialogue and a good cast: imported Williams is appealing, and
even Cattrall and Rubinek are good (less unctuous than usual), with strong
supporting players, including prominent actors in minor parts -- Hylands
as an unspeaking heavy, Daniel Pilon as a D.A., Aidan Devine as one of
Williams' buddies, etc. Too bad the story doesn't hold up to any scrutiny
and, for a suspense film, there's almost no tension. I'm not even sure
the time-factor of the title is accurate! One of the Tales
of Intrigue. sc: Robert Rodat. dir: Yves Simoneau. - violence, casual
female nudity.- 94 min.
THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT
GLENN GOULD * * * 1/2 setting: CDN./other
(1993) Colm Feore.....Well-titled film examines
the life and work of classic pianist Gould (Feore) through a variety of
vignettes, mainly dramatic, but including brief interviews with those who
knew him and animation by the legendary Norman McLaren. Ambitious and hauntingly
atmospheric flick is hard to accurately describe but extremely effective
and entertaining, given a great boost by Gould's virtually non-stop music
and Feore's solid (and engaging) performance...and, of course, its intriguing
subject. Won 4 Genies including Best Picture and Director. sc: Francois
Girard, Don McKellar. dir: Francois Girard. 93 min.
30 YEARS TO LIFE *
* 1/2 setting: USA
(1998) (/Luxembourg) Robert Hays, Hugh O'Conor, Christien
Anholt, Amy Robbins, Gabrielle Lazure.....In the future U.S., a teen
(O'Conor) is convicted of murder and instead of serving 30 years in prison,
the sentence is to be artificially aged (into Hays), and while adjusting
to his new situation, he tries to figure out who really committed the crime.
Odd-ball SF flick is sort of a mishmash of intentions: the crime-mystery
aspect is, at times, more a sub-plot, with another plot focusing on the
hero trying to adjust to being middle-aged, ruminating on what he's missed,
and a romantic relationship (with Robbins). There's also some cyber-tech
stuff involving virtual reality video games. Not great, with none of the
aspects (mystery, character drama) that well done on their own, but each
props up the other to make for an O.K. time-killer...though the ending
is a bit weak (both regarding the mystery, and the hero's personal dilemmas).
Hays is personable, as is Robbins, which helps, though the hero as a teen
is an obnoxious, spoiled brat...and it's unclear whether the filmmakers
realize that! Hays is American, though most of the actors are from the
U.K. (putting on O.K. American accents); Lazure, in a bit part as the hero's
stepfather's ex-wife, is the only Canadian (and the Canadian band, Pursuit
of Happiness, is played on the soundtrack). a.k.a. Nightworld. sc:
Shawn Alex Thompson. dir: Michael Tuchner. - 89 min.-
THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (TV Series)Critically acclaimed but uneven TV series can be funny and
biting, but also unfunny, toothless and frequently in questionable taste,
undermining its pretense of a social conscience by making fun of disasters and
human misery (epitomized by the opening credits -- in the early seasons --
where some of the actors have their faces "comically" substituted in
photographs of real assassinations -- the fact that Walsh and the others could
stare at a picture of a human being being murdered and see nothing but the
opportunity for a gag says something deeply unsettling about them and their
producers). The use of outright fabrications in early episodes (splicing real
interviews with the cast's comic questions) seemed a good way to undermine the
show's use of real facts and figures (after all, if they make up one, they
must be making up the other). And like so many Canadian comedies, the
actors believed yelling, double-takes, and mugging was the best way to get a
laugh. But the series has proved enduring and the cast varied over time and
the series evolved and modified itself (the mugging a little more restrained).
A staple of the series remained the joke interviewer, where various cast
members would go out in recurring "roving corresponent" personas (Walsh's
"Madge, Warrior Princess", for one) and interview real people and politicians
(usually in on the joke). But the series remains, overall, hit and miss -- a
problem with a current affairs satire is every week you have to milk headlines
for gags...even if nothing particularly gag worthy occurred that week! And a
need to be "edgy" has led to awkward sketches that amount to nothing more than
characters spewing a racist or homophobic diatribe which, presumably, is meant
to spoof such attitudes. The series can also poke fun at itself, such as a
spoof of the homosexual fixation of old British sitcoms which was presumably
intended to spoof castmate Critch's own obsession with M.P. Scott Brison's
sexuality as much as it was a parody of comedy's made before some of the cast
were even born.
Mercer enjoyed the most success with the series, particularly thanks to his
biting "rant" sequences, and his "Talking to Americans" bits (wherein he would
roam the streets of U.S. cities asking absurd questions about Canada) -- which
were later repackaged as a one-shot special; concurrent to this he starred in
Made in Canada and, after leaving 22 Minutes, he landed his own, not
dissimilar series, The Rick Mercer Report (a.k.a. The Monday Report). The
title is a joke on the legendary '60s CBC current affairs show, This Hour
Has Seven Days. An award winner. Created by Mary Walsh. Half-hour episodes
on CBC. |
THIS IS MY FATHER *
* 1/2 setting: USA/other
(1999) (/Ireland) Aidan Quinn, James Cann, John Cusack,
Stephen Rea, Jacob Tierney, Colm Meaney, Monya Farrelly, Moira Deady.....A
melancholy American (Cann) goes to rural Ireland to learn (through flashbacks)
about the starcrossed romance in the 1930s between his mother and the father
he never knew (Farrelly and Quinn). Drama is O.K. but seems a little too
much like the filmmaker had seen or read a similiar story and wanted to
emulate it, but like a copy of a copy, missed some of the nuances. Various
plot threads and characterization don't really come together -- like the
fact that Cann and Tierney (as his troubled nephew) are supposed to emerge
changed by learning the story; but why? Cusack (as a too-colourful-for-words
pilot) and Rea (as a fire and brimstone priest) appear in kind of extraneous
cameoes. Other than Tierney, there was no obvious Canadian participation.
Wouldn't you think that if Canadians were going to put money into what
is billed as an "official Irish-Canadian co-production", they could insist
on more...like maybe having Cann's character be Canadian? sc./dir: Paul
Quinn. - sexual content.- 119 min.
|
(2004-2006) * * * 1/2...* * * Cara Pifko ("Alice De Raye"), Michael Riley ("Elliot Sacks"), Michael Healey ("James Ryder"), Michael Murphy ("Justice Declan Malone"), Tom Rooney ("David Kaye"), Siu Ta ("Nancy Dao"), Kathryn Winslow ("Pamela Menon"), Ron Lea ("Jack Angel") (3rd), Yanna McIntosh ("Zona Robinson"), Eric Peterson ("Justice Maxwell Fraser"), Vik Sahay ("Anil Sharma") (2nd-), Jayne Eastwood ("Ronnie Sacks")(2nd-), with Arnold Pinnock (1st), Andrew Tarbut (1st), Stephanie Morgenstern, Janet-Laine Greene, Mung-Ling Tsui, James Kidnie, Alison Sealy-Smith, Gina Wilkinson, Victoria Sanchez, Catherine Fitch, Rogue Johnston, many others.....Dark, edgy comedy-drama about the life and chaos in Toronto day court as the lawyers literally run back and fourth from court room to court room, ill-prepped and sometimes juggling two or three cases in a day. The series focuses on a young, naive lawyer (Pifko) plunged into the maelstrom -- she's "Alice" in "Wonderland" (get it?). Riley is a misfit lawyer, more eccentric, jaded, and sleazy. Healey is "Alice"'s boss, recovering, not very well, from a mental breakdown; Ta a career-obsessed articling student who, reluctantly, runs errands for "Alice". Rooney and Winslow play the principal crown attorneys. Murphy plays an eccentric judge, recently having undergone neurosurgery and, with no guarantee of how long he's got, tends to cut through the court room malarkey (and, yes, he's that Murphy, the American actor married to Canadian Wendy Crewson); Peterson plays the compassionate mental health court judge. Most of the others play various lawyers, prosecutors, and judges...or recurring clients, like Fitch as a bad tempered junkie/schizophrenic, or Johnston (particularly memorable) as a charming schizophrenic with a bit of a Don Quixote complex. Eastwood joined the cast in its second season as Riley's earthy mom, who works as the firm's receptionist and Lea as his ethicless cousin who joined the firm in the third season. Sanchez crops up occasionally as a beautiful-but-haughty Spanish-language translator having an affair with Riley's character. Slick, somewhat off-beat lawyer series owes less to the traditional, sedate court room drama of Street Legal, The Associates, "L.A. Law", "The Practice", etc., and more to something like the movie "And Justice for All..." It's a dark series where the humour can arise as much from how not-funny the situations are, as the lawyers and judges struggle with an imperfect process and the various junkies, schizophrenics, misfits and fringe dwellers that are as much victims of the system as they are the victimizers. Pifko, with lots of charm and, yes, beauty, is well cast as the nominal anchor, though its almost more an ensemble, and the cast overall is exceptionally good -- a cast which, with its regular and recurring actors, is probably the largest ever assembled for a Canadian series. Striking a balance between keeping things fast and frenetic, without degenerating into headache inducing cacophony, the series, at times, can seem driven more by its (admittedly effective) style than by the characters or the cases. But it has done a better job of threading compelling stories through each episode as it goes along. Bleak and down-beat, the series doesn't always strike the right note -- on one hand, having characters be outraged by the insensitivity of the system, even as the series itself is trying to milk humour (black humour or otherwise) from those same human plights, and can occasionally go over the top in its silliness, losing the reality that is its grounding. But it works as a compelling spectacle and manages to seem fresh and innovative even as it covers the familiar milieu of lawyer series. But it may've seemed a little too edgy to programmers, and the second season, though not dramatically different, did seem a little softer, emphasizing the humour over the pathos, and with a soft rock tune substituted for the original, more off-beat theme (though the song was still thematically appropriate), and a few too many things that seem, well, like cutesy "TV" ideas -- in other words, the raw, edge has been sanded down a little. As well, even Pifko's part seems a little less principal, the filmmakers seeming more fascinated by the quirky, funny characters (like Riley) over their straight-woman lead (particularly as, by the second season, the now experienced "Alice" was no longer a novice in over her head). The result is still a good series...but maybe not as good as it started out. Like most modern Canadian series, it's made with looser standards than most commercial American TV, so there's coarse language and risque material. Created by playwright George F. Walker, Dani Romain and Bernard Zukermann (and Walker and Romain wrote, or co-wrote with third parties, almost all the episodes). Hour long episodes, airing on the CBC. |
THIS MATTER OF MARRIAGE
* * 1/2
(1998) Leslie Hope, Rick Peters, Shirley Miller, Natasha
Greenblatt, Carl Marotte, Michele Duquet, Karl Pruner, Shawn Alex Thompson,
Michael Nouri.....Unusually covoluted, multi-character romance with
a big cast, focusing on a single architect (Hope) looking for Mr. Right,
and her new neighbour (Peters), a recently separated dad. Made-for-TV light
romance is slick enough to be mildly diverting, but its chief problem is
that Hope and Peter's characters aren't especially appealing...in fact,
their both a little obnoxious and shallow. American actor Nouri has just
a small part. Surprisingly risque shower scene near the end (at least,
for commercial TV). see Harlequin. sc: Peter
Lauterman (from the novel by Debbie Macomber). dir: Brad Turner. 91 min.
THIS TIME FOREVER *
* 1/2 setting: P.Q./USA.
(1979) Vincent Van Patten, Claire Pimpare, Nicholas
Campbell, Cloris Leachman, Eddie Albert, Jacques Godin.....American
university student (Van Patten) in Quebec falls in love with a French-Canadian
(Pimpare) in 1967, despite her family's opposition. O.K. romantic melodrama
is given a slightly fresh twist by setting it against a backdrop of '60s
U.S. and Quebecois politics. a.k.a. Yesterday, Victory and
Scoring.
sc. Bill LaMond, John Dunning (from a treatment by Carol H. Leckner from
an idea by Dunning). dir: Larry Kent. 95 min.
THOSE VOWS OF LOVE see Doux Aveux
THREE AND A HALF *
* setting: Ont.
(2002) Kim Huffman, Don Allison, Barbara Gordon, Walter
Alza, Santino Buda, Matt Lemche, Matthew Ferguson, Dragana Varagic, Valerie
Buhagiar.....Three stories are inter cut about various lonely, melancholic
people. Art House drama is slow moving but, if you're patient, eventually
delivers a little in the story/character department...but even then, many
won't find the result worth the time, with thin stories, plenty of brooding
silence, and a mixture of drama and oblique, symbolic imagery. Even the
basic conceit of the movie is hard to figure out -- namely that three artists,
a painter, a filmmaker, and a writer, concoct these stories around strangers
they observe on the subway...hence why the same actors play different parts
in the separate stories (sometimes confusingly so). A decent enough cast,
especially Huffman and newcomer Buda (as the respective leads in two of
the tales), but the real star seems to be the cinematography, as the good
looking film is more an excuse for a lot of carefully, and artfully, composed
shots. Ferguson, Varagic and Buhagiar have what amount to little more than
unspeaking cameos as the artists who, supposedly, are envisioning the stories.
Gordon, too, has a relatively small part, considering her billing. sc:
Boris Mojsovski, Ryan Redford, Mike Thorn. dir: Boris Mojsovski. - brief
female nudity, sexual content.- 84 min.
THREE CARD MONTE *
setting: Ont.
(1977) Richard Gabourie, Chris Langevin, Lynne Cavaragh,
Valerie Warburton, John Rutter, Tony Sheer.....Hustler-with-a-heart-of-gold
(Gabourie) reluctantly takes an orphan under his wing. Weakly acted, morally
ambivalent comedy-drama blends simple-mindedness with scenes that really
aren't for kids. One of those films with the "precocious" child who's really
annoying. Gabourie won Best Actor Etrog. sc: Richard Gabourie. dir: Les
Rose. - partial female nudity, sexual content.- 93 min.
The Three Roads, the novel by Ross MacDonald, became the movie Double Negative (a.k.a. Deadly Companion)
3 Themes-Hamster .....Production label for a series of Canada-France thrillers produced for pay-TV, headed on the Canuck side by Daniele J. Suissa. The ones filmed in Canada had the unfortunate feel of a Hollywood North production (ie: scripts carefully avoiding any Canadian reference -- even to the point of awkwardness). Generally, the films ranged from mediocre to truly bad. Good casts, but generally with derivative scripts that lack even an elementary understanding of structure or strong characterization. titles: Double Identity, Frame-Up Blues, The Phone Call, The Secret of Nandy, The Thriller, etc.
THRESHOLD (i)
* * * setting: USA.
(1981) Donald Sutherland, John Marley, Jeff Goldblum,
Mare Winningham, Sharon Ackerman, Michael Lerner, Ken James.....L.A.
doctor (Sutherland) helps develop and, eventually, implant the world's
first artificial heart. Witty dialogue and strong direction and performances
in this moody speculative drama help cover over its superficiality. Despite
character scenes, though, this isn't a character movie, and that makes
it a procedural...and a little cold and clinical. Film was made just two
years before its premise became a reality -- well, the basic concept, that
is, but the reality was decidedly less successful. Sutherland received
the Best Actor Genie. sc: James Slater. dir: Richard Pearce. - female nudity.-
97 min.
THRESHOLD (ii)
* * 1/2 setting: USA.
(2003) (/U.S.) Nicholas Lea, Jamie Luner, Steve Bacic,
David Lipper, Teryl Rothery, Karl Pruner, Anthony Sherwood, Brandi Marie
Ward, Stephen J. Cannell, James Kee, Joanne Boland.....A NASA scientists
and an entomologist investigate when outer space larva take over normal
human beings. Budget- restrictions aside, this is a fairly derivative ("Invasion
of the Body Snatchers", etc.) B-movie...but if you're in the mood for that,
it's a reasonably enjoyable one, thanks to a brisk pace and earnest performances
which sell the roles -- and a "genre" cast that's fun for sci-fi buffs,
with Lea ("The X-Files"), Bacic (Andromeda)
as the chief possessee, Pruner (Total Recall 2070)
and Rothery (Stargate SG-1), not to mention
TV mogul Cannell in an acting role. A few too many dumb or silly bits keep
it from being really good, but it's reasonably enjoyable, and with some
scenes written and played with more texture than you'd expect. If you have
a fondness for Old School sci-fi thrillers, this is a decent enough romp.
Might not actually qualify as Canadian, but filmed in Canada with a mainly
Canadian cast (except Luner and Cannell...and even Cannell has spent a
lot of time in Canada). sc: Kim LeMasters. dir: Chuck Bowman. - violence.-
82 min.
THE THRILLER *
1/2 setting: P.Q.
(1989) (/France) Linda Smith, Peter Dvorsky, Wayne
Best, Susan Rubes, George Touliatos, Alexandra Stewart.....A novelist
(Smith) finds herself embroiled in intrigue when approached by a man (Best)
who wants her to write a non-fiction book about drugs and the Middle-Eastern
arms trade. The premise sounds promising, doesn't it? Too bad. Aimless,
somnambulant thriller never manages to click. A 3 Themes-Hamster
production. sc: Donald Martin, Danielle Suissa. dir: Jim Kaufman. - violence.-
92 min.
THRILLKILL
*
(1984) Robin Ward, Gina Massey, Eugene Clark, Laura
Robinson, Frank Moore.....Innocent (Massey) is harrassed by assorted
criminals who think she knows where their ill-gotten gains have been hidden.
Amateurish, poorly done thriller. sc: Anthony D'Andrea. dir: Anthony D'Andrea,
Anthony Kramreither. 88 min.
THUNDER POINT a.k.a. Jack Hggins' Thunder Point
THUNDERGROUND *
* setting: USA.
(1989) Paul Coufus, Margaret Langrick, M. Emmett Walsh,
William Sanderson, Donny Lalonde, Jesse Ventura.....A con artist (Langrick)
and an alcoholic would-be bare-fisted boxer (Coufus) travel through the
southern U.S. looking for a big fight, and reluctantly coming to like each
other. Langrick is very good and Coufus not bad in this road picture. Some
good scenes, but the movie never comes together as a whole, particularly
as regards motivation. a.k.a. Boxcar Blues. sc: Damian Lee, David
Mitchell. dir: David Mitchell. - violence, brief female nudity.-
TICKET TO HEAVEN
* * * * setting: Ont./USA.
(1981) Nick Mancuso, Saul Rubinek, R.H. Thomson, Kim
Cattrall, Meg Foster, Guy Boyd, Paul Soles, Linda Sorensen, Harvey Atkin.....After
being dumped by his girlfriend, a man (Mancuso) goes to California for
a visit and is sucked in by a religious cult -- so his friends (led by
Rubinek) decide to try to rescue him. Frighteningly real and intense suspense-drama,
inspired by a true story, with a nice sense of humour that doesn't detract
from the movie's force. Superbly written and directed. Excellent performances!
Won Best Picture Genie, Actor (Mancuso) and Supporting Actor (Rubinek).
sc: Ralph L. Thomas, Anne Cameron (from the book Moonwebs by Josh Freed).
dir: Ralph L. Thomas. 107 min.
TIGER CLAWS *
* setting: USA.
(1991) Jalal Merhi, Cynthia Rothrock, Bolo Yeung.....Two
martial artist cops (Merhi and Rothrock) investigate the murder of a number
of martial artists in New York. Stylish direction and some, relatively,
interesting ideas vs. weak performances and dialogue. Rates as high as
it does, not because it's good, but because it's not as awful as expected.
Merhi produced. Some real martial arts masters appears as themselves (and
get killed!). Followed by two sequels a few years later. sc: J. Stephen
Maunder. dir: Kelly Makin. - violence.- 92 min.
The Time of Their Lives, the non-fiction book about the Dionne Quintuplets by John Nehry and Stuart Foxman, became the big-budget CBC mini-series Million Dollar Babies
TIME RUNNER
* setting: USA.
(1992) Mark Hamill, Rae Dawn Chong, Brion James, Marc
Baur, Gordon Tipple, Suzy Joachim.....Thirty years in the future, earth
is being invaded by aliens, while in present day U.S.A., a time traveller
(Hamill) thinks he can prevent the future war. Violent, largely ineffective
science fiction thriller has some O.K. ideas but blows them with a blah
script and direction and weak performances, though Hamill, at least, tries
hard. Perhaps a clue should be: if you need six writers,
it probably
isn't working. Big-budget effects at the beginning, then it quickly
reverts to being low-budget. sc: Chris Hyde, Greg Derochie, Ron Tarrant,
Ian Bray, Michael Mazo, John Curtis. dir: Michael Mazo. - extreme violence.-
93 min.
THE TIN FLUTE
* * setting: P.Q.
(1983) Marilyn Lightstone, Mireille Deyglun, Michel
Forget, Pierre Chagnon, Martin Neufeld.....Story of a poverty stricken
family's struggle to survive in Quebec during the beginning of W.W. II.
About two hours of demonstrating how much life sucks. Still, if you like
that sort of thing... Based on the classic Canadian novel. sc: Claude Fournier,
Marie-Jose Raymond and B.A. Cameron (from the novel by Gabrielle Roy).
dir: Claude Fournier. - sexual content, partial female nudity.-
TINAMER *
setting: P.Q.
(1987) Gilles Vigneault, Louise Portal, Sarah-Jeanne
Salvy.....At her mother's death, a woman reflects back on her childhood
and her eccentric father and their dreamlike life which was a mixture of
fantasy and reality. Insufferably cloying, claustrophobically surreal family
drama seems to want to be a modern "Alice in Wonderland"...but it ain't.
The airy themes are put ahead of the story and characters, and the latter
are unlikeable in any event. sc./dir: Jean-Guy Noel (from the novel L'amelanchier
by Jacques Ferron). - sexual content.- 80 min.
TIT-COQ *
* setting: P.Q./other
(1953) Gratien Gelinas, Fred Barry, Monique Miller,
Denise Pelletier, Clement Latour, Paul Dupuis, Juliette Beliveau, Amanda
Alarie, Jean Duceppe.....During World War II, Tit-Coq (Gelinas), a
bitter bastard (in the literal, rather than pejorative, sense of the word),
finds love, then loses love. Early, semi-classic drama is professionally
mounted, but ultimately suffers from seeming more like a collection of
heavy handed monologues rather than a fleshed out narrative, with the plot,
such as it is, kind of thin. Restored in 2000 by the National Archives
and the cable station MoviePix. In French. sc./dir: Gratien Gelinas (based
on his play). 104 min.
TITLE SHOT *
1/2 setting: Ont.
(1979) Tony Curtis, Richard Gabourie, Allan Royal,
Susan Hogan, Robert Delbert, Natsuko Ohama, Jack Duffy.....Crook (Curtis),
who thinks he has the perfect gambling system, and a cop (Gabourie) butt
heads during a boxing championship. Awkwardly played suspense/drama and
kudos if you can figure out what's going on. sc: John Saxton (story Richard
Gabourie). dir: Les Rose. 89 min.
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