By John H. Foote 3. TOOTSIE (1982) The final three films of the eighties are interchangeable depending on the day. Each is exquisite, bold filmmaking, each could top the list of the greatest of the decade. Farce depends on mistaken identity, near discovery, narrow misses, and outrageous characters. But what happens if the characters are…
By Craig Leask While there have been many, MANY movie and television adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple Mysteries with multiple women playing the lead character (Angela Lansbury, Helen Hayes, Joan Hickson, Geraldine McEwan, and Julia McKenzie), I must admit my favorite by far playing the role is Margaret Rutherford as she brings her own…
By John H. Foote 4. REDS (1981) Watching Warren Beatty’s massive epic Reds on the big screen at the beautiful University Theatre in downtown Toronto for the first time, I remember being awed. The entire film seemed to be so intelligent, so perfectly written. And Beatty as director had captured all the intimate moments between…
By John H. Foote 5. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983) The greatest film ever about the relationships between mothers and daughters. Directed, produced and written by first time feature film director James L. Brooks, the film is as close to perfection as a film can be. No stranger to creating, Brooks had been responsible for the…
By Marie-Renee Goulet Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other For a few years now I’ve had to resort to audiobooks. My eyesight started to go, and thanks to years of using a smart phone, I have the attention span of a fly. I can still listen for hours, though. Once in…
By John H. Foote 6. BLOW OUT (1981) Among the great young directors emerging in the seventies was Brian De Palma who gave us Phantom of the Paradise (1974), a cult classic re-imagining of Phantom of the Opera, only this time in the world of rock and roll; and Carrie (1976), the first great adaptation…
By Alan Hurst William Holden and Robert Mitchum have always been two of my favourite film actors. They were just so deceptively easy to watch, and not just because they were both extremely good looking. They were both fine actors – Mitchum in his more laconic, subtle way and Holden in his more straightforward approach,…
By John H. Foote 7. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) “I am your father” says the villain to the young hero. You could hear the intake of air, the collective gasp of absolute shock (me included) in the packed cinema as the audience gasped, holding their breath to listen for more. No need, we knew…
By John H. Foote 8. AMADEUS (1984) Period pieces are far too often very dry, stodgy films with a true lack of emotion, an invisible dust that can almost be seen on the screen, in a word, BORING. The films of Merchant/ Ivory were often described as this, but in fairness they were not. Others…
By John H. Foote (**) Streaming on Apple Jared Leto has always been a sublimely gifted actor, from his early work in Fight Club (1999), his doomed drug addict in the electrifying masterpiece Requiem for a Dream (2000), through his role in Alexander (2004), to Lord of War (2005), right through to his Oscar win…