Peter Capaldi Archives - Awesome Friday!

4 October 20218 January 2022

VIFF ’21 Review: ‘Benediction’ is a heartbreaking portrait of poet Siegfried Sassoon

How does one determine ones own worth? This is one of the questions at the heart of Benediction, Terrance Davies new biopic of English poet Sigfried Sassoon. Sassoon lived through the first world war, and as a commissioned officer, won himself the Military Cross for gallantry, but he opposed the war and wrote poems of the hell that was the trenches. This is just the start of the contradictions and the self loathing Davies portrays of his life, and the result is a heartbreaking look at a man who was never able to answer that question satisfactorily.

8 August 202117 January 2022

Awesome Friday Movie Podcast Episode 4: ‘Vivo’ & ‘The Suicide Squad’

Awesome Friday Podcast Vivo & The Suicide Squad

Greetings programs, it’s Awesome Friday on a Sunday, which means we’re back with another episode of the Awesome Friday Movie Podcast!

Join us this week as we discuss two new movies. First up is the new Sony Pictures Animation film Vivo, which features the voice, and songs, of Lin-Manuel Miranda and was released to Netflix this week. Second up is James Gunn’s triumphant return to superhero movies; the Warner Brothers and DC released The Suicide Squad, now in theatres (and on HBO Max in the United States).

6 August 20218 January 2022

Review: ‘The Suicide Squad’ is wacky, juvenile, committed, fun, and familiar

James Gunn has a distinctive voice. It’s always been there, from his days at Troma through writing the Scooby-Doo films and the Dawn of the Dead remake, and from his early directorial efforts like Slither and Super all the way to the Guardians of the Galaxy and now, the Suicide Squad. That voice is juvenile, a little dark, and also –and this is most important– fun.

I say this because The Suicide Squad, the movie he signed on to make while briefly exiled from Marvel Studios, is a juvenile movie. And it’s a little dark. And it’s pretty fun. But while its R-rated excesses are probably the logical extension of his voice as a storyteller, it is also cobbled together from his greatest hits from other projects. Your mileage may vary on whether it feels repetitive or merely familiar, but it’s also enough fun that that probably doesn’t matter.

7 September 20197 September 2019

Awesome Friday: Iko Uwais in G.I. Joe, Sony & Marvel’s Spider-Powered Divorce, That New Batsuit Smell, & More

Dear readers,

Yes, both of you. Here’s a new experiment to get me writing a bit again. Sans the time to write up each bit of movie news there is (guys there is so much news every week, it’s nuts) I’m going to try to keep a digest on a weekly basis. Hopefully this works and hopefully you like it. Let’s hop right to it, shall we?

21 November 2014

Doctor Who Season 8 Finale (Finally) – The Experiment Ends

We all knew it had to end sometime. In my case the end came ten days late. Mostly because I was busy doing other things and just couldn’t get around to mustering up the right mood to watch it. So the Doctor sat on my DVR for a while. I did watch the entire seventh season (so far) of Sons of Anarchy. But I hate endings. I still have the season one finale of Remedy and the series finale of the Office to watch. What can I say, I hate goodbyes.

That said, I did sit down to my last Doctor’s appointment this week, here’s how that went… Continue reading “Doctor Who Season 8 Finale (Finally) – The Experiment Ends”

6 November 2014

Doctor Who and the Race to Save Mankind From Themselves and Others

Turns out my DVR gets a bit temperamental when it’s being overworked. And then it refuses to record Doctor Who for you. So you have to figure out when the Space Channel is actually going to re-air the episode you missed all the while it keeps telling you “recording space is low” but when you go to watch the Daily Show it will only play one minute and then withhold the other 29 as some sort of punishment. I digress. The point is I’ve finally been able to see the last two episodes of Doctor Who before this weekend’s finale. Shall we begin? Okay then. Continue reading “Doctor Who and the Race to Save Mankind From Themselves and Others”

20 October 2014

Doctor Who and the Dali Dilemma

Welcome back to Who’s On First Mondays… or rather, Who’s On Eventually because I was making ossobuco and was busy until now. This week I’m sure we will find the Doctor in some sort of mischief and Clara doing something to try and help and/or lying to her boyfriend about the ambiguity of their relationship. But that’s just a guess. The ossobuco is in the oven so let’s see how right I am, shall we? Continue reading “Doctor Who and the Dali Dilemma”

14 October 2014

Doctor Who Has Mummy Issues

It was Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend, and to be honest the only thing I want to do less than watch Doctor Who this afternoon is go to the gym. So I did the only logical thing, got a cup of coffee and settled in for this week’s insanity instalment. Continue reading “Doctor Who Has Mummy Issues”

6 October 20146 October 2014

Doctor Who: Dark Side of the Moon

It may come as a shock to all the Whos in Whovianville but my Saturday nights are not a rush to see the latest episode. And my Sundays are usually filled by catching up with international news and watching sports. So we find ourselves on a Monday afternoon with the doctor, and considering the phobias that were lived out this week I’m glad I watched it in the light of day. I was passed along some feedback this week saying that someone out there really likes reading my Doctor Who experiment articles. I had been fairly certain that outside of the one person I know who reads them (hi Rob!) I was shouting into space. Apparently I’m not. So thank you to anyone who’s still sticking around on this bumpy ride and listening to my random ramblings! I promise to never use the right term for the Doctor’s space wand.

On with the show!… Continue reading “Doctor Who: Dark Side of the Moon”

29 September 2014

Doctor Who and the Case of Dramatic Irony

The last week has seen me sidetracked with a big project and thus totally neglecting my self-appointed duties as Awesome Friday’s TV correspondent. I promise there will be full analysis of the Fall TV Premieres to come… just as soon as I sit in front of my DVR and mainline them. In spite of my distraction the Doctor would not be ignored, at least not after Sunday Football was through. This must be how Clara feels. Now if only I had her hair. Continue reading “Doctor Who and the Case of Dramatic Irony”

22 September 2014

Doctor Who: The Intergalactic Job

Full disclosure… I was beyond tired when I started watching this week’s Who. In fact so much so that I had to pause and go back to it the next day. But I trucked through this week’s episode of madness and eventually got to the other side. Or back around to the start. I’m not great with time travel metaphors. Here’s how it went… Continue reading “Doctor Who: The Intergalactic Job”

14 September 2014

Doctor Who and the Nightmarish First Date

After a very busy week it was time to settle down with the fever dream that is Doctor Who once more and record my reactions. If you’ve missed out on the journey so far catch up with…

Let’s see what the Doctor has in store for us this week… Continue reading “Doctor Who and the Nightmarish First Date”

7 September 20147 September 2014

Doctor Who: Men In Tights

Well, it’s time for my weekly Doctor appointment. If you’ve been following along this season I’m new to Who and have stayed away from googling answers to all my many questions in the effort of keeping to my original experiment. Also, I don’t have time to fall down the T.A.R.D.I.S. hole.

Previous instalments of this series – Doctor Who Does What? In the Where? Or is it When? & Doctor Who Episode 2: Robotic Bugaboo

Allons-y! Continue reading “Doctor Who: Men In Tights”

30 August 2014

Doctor Who Episode 2: Robotic Bugaboo

Last week was my first Whoing, if you missed it I wrote all about it here. I figured that would give me a bit of a base for this week in my second spin around the T.A.R.D.I.S. Of course it didn’t. Here’s how it went… (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) Continue reading “Doctor Who Episode 2: Robotic Bugaboo”

24 August 2014

Doctor Who Does What? In The Where? Or Is It When?

I’ve always assumed I was a nerd, but lately I’ve been finding out that might not be the case. I don’t mean “nerd” in a bad way or even “nerd” in the now we’re cool let’s put it on a t-shirt way. More in the “Ooh, that’s a bit more curious than most people would be and hey are these books sorted by literary period?” kind of way. There doesn’t seem to be a Broad-Spectrum-of-Interests-in-a-Variety-of-Things Con. Likely because it would make a terrible acronym. Continue reading “Doctor Who Does What? In The Where? Or Is It When?”