Change Your Image
nicholasmoreau
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Magical Gathering (2004)
Misplaced at Christmas, odd, but interesting.
As a kid, I found this special creepy, and even as an adult, it's off-putting. It's a fever dream visit to Walt Disney World, an odd mix between "A Christmas Carol" and the workaholics in Hallmark movies, before that was as engrained of a trope. Colin Mochrie is literally trying to escape the park, where he's being held by a supernatural force of sorts. The Canadian music acts, added to justify Canadian television content requirements, are mismatched with the locations: a rock band in Animal Kingdom's Africa, fiddlers on Main Street U. S. A., a woman on the Streets of America who comes off as a lady of the night. Oxford would be exhausted with the on-screen quotes.
But there's something bizarrely compelling, despite the jarring approach. You get to see a lot of the park that doesn't normally get shown. DeVine is a full out character, when else does that happen.
Watching it in March, it's quirky but interesting. Watching it at Christmas, when it was originally aired, was weird.
Try it. There's enough redeeming qualities to make it worth a watch.
I've Got a Secret: Durward Kirby (1964)
Meh start, amazing end
This episode strays entirely from the normal format of guessing the secret of a guest or guests, to mixed results.
The start of the episode sees the panel review predictions they made at the end of 1963, about 1964, and reveal some of their predictions for 1965. The segment lags, only carried by the humour of the panel. Where this episode excels is in the second half, in which a choir of New York City residents sing their surnames, which collectively sound like "Auld Lang Syne." Perhaps this trick had been used elsewhere, before, but it's very clever.
What's My Line?: Tyrone Power (1955)
Cox's fluster actually good in the long run
As noted by another reviewer, Wally Cox dithers about, seemingly unable to come up with questions. But I'd argue this is actually good, in a weird way. It demonstrates how important the regular casting is, that it's not trivial to hold one of the panelist roles.
Big Wolf on Campus: Switch Me Baby One More Time (2002)
Looney, but amusing.
Even when the show was past its prime, it remained entertaining. It's one of the loonier episodes, but it's fun, and I love the creature at the end.
Men in Black: The Series: The Head Trip Syndrome (1997)
Interesting premise
There's an interesting premise to this episode, a human travels to the past to kill the founding agents of MIB. He figures that without the MIB, earth wouldn't be home to aliens, not realizing that there are both good and bad aliens. At one point, Agent K directly describes the actions as a "hate crime," words you usually wouldn't hear on a Saturday morning, then or now.
A surprisingly mature series, for kids TV.
The Dog Days of Winter (2018)
Classy short subject
While I love Illumination's whimsy, there's something refreshing to the maturity of this film. It feels sophisticated to the point where it could be at film festivals, were not for the licensed characters.
When We Were Boys (2009)
Good grief
It's hard to feel nostalgic for your teenage years when watching this film. This film follows two kids, but in particular you see Noah bearing the brunt of his private school classmates. The film acts as a great deterrent against private school education, or boys-only schools.
Santa's Castle (2018)
Stiff acting from leads,
The production's supporting actors are, by-and-large amusing actors. But the leads are either inexperienced or badly directed. The production is based on a short story, and would have had much more punch if kept to 40 minutes, which would have allowed it to be aired as a TV special. The 1h 14m is just taxing.
CityPulse News (2000)
All around good
While some of the reporting is less thrilling then expected, it's maintained a fairly high-quality over the years.
Weather lovers take note, they have their own forecasting stations in 11 places across the Greater Toronto Area, besides the Toronto Island Airport.
In my opinion, while they tend to ignore Peel, they have the best coverage of news for the area, of any station. If you're out at some newsworthy event or community happening, and you see a camera there, it's most likely them.
(Regarding another user's post about Gord/Dini never being to Ontario Place, that's more than 15 years ago, try the broadcast again.)