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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.
Michael and Kitty
* * * setting: CDN.
(1986) Booth Savage, Janet-Laine Green.....Married
couple, breaking up on the eve of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's retirement,
reflect back on their marriage and its origins during Trudeau's '68 leadership
victory. Well-acted, effective hour-long intimate drama benefits
precisely because of its very Canadian thread -- including the appearance
of a mythical "Trudeau" figure. Savage and Green are married in real
life. First aired on the CBC.
THE MICHELLE APARTMENTS see The Michelle Apts.
THE MICHELLE APTS.
* 1/2
(1995) Henry Czerny, Mary Elizabeth Rubens, Daniel
Kash, Peter Outerbridge, Nancy Beatty, David Calderisi, George Buza, Ian
D. Clark..... Auditor (Czerny) arrives in a company town to audit the
local factory and while staying at an apartment building becomes involved
with his weird neighbours: a femme fatale (Rubens) and her thugish boyfriend
(Kash). Total misfire wants to be a black suspense-comedy with shades
of David Lynch, Kafka, the Cohen brothers, etc. but misses on almost all
levels. And for something that wants to be weird and off-beat, there's
little that's fresh or unexpected here. sc: Ross Weber. dir: John
Pozer. -- sexual content.- 93 min. (video)
THE MIDDAY SUN
* setting: other
(1989) Isabelle Mejias, George Seremba, Robert Bockstael,
Jackie Burroughs, Roland Hewgill, Dominic Kanavanti, Kathy Kuleya.....Naive
Canuck (Mejias), doing mission work in an African nation, finds romance,
corruption, and that her attitudes may be out of place and even hypocritical.
Lethargic drama doesn't develop characters or plot beyond the superficial.
The dialogue's trite, the actors lost and unconvincing and the voice-over
by Susan Hogan seems out of place. Even the film's "liberal" stance
seems hollow. Filmed in Zimbabwe. sc./dir: Lulu Keating. --
sexual content.- 92 min.
MIDDLE AGE CRAZY *
1/2 setting: USA.
(1980) Bruce Dern, Ann-Margret, Graham Jarvis, Eric
Christmas, Helen Hughes, Deborah Wakeham.....Wealthy Texan (Dern) goes
through a mid-life crisis, starts to daydream, buys a porsche, has an affair
-- the usual cliches. If it's a comedy it's not very funny, if it's a drama
it's not very interesting. Suggested by the then-hit song.
sc: Carl Kleinschmitt. dir: John Trent. 95 min.
MIDNIGHT IN SAINT PETERSBURG
* 1/2 setting: other
(1996) (/Russia/U.K./U.S.) Michael Caine, Jason Connery,
Michelle Rene Thomas, Michael Gambon, Michael Sarrazin, Tanya Jackson,
Serge Houde, Anatoly Davidov, Vlasta Vrana, John Dunn-Hill, Lev Prygunov.....
Moscow-based, freelance British investigator, Harry Palmer (Caine) is hired
to trackdown stolen plutonium. Meanwhile, his young partner's (Connery)
girlfriend is kidnapped. Second reprisal of Len Deighton's spy (after
Bullet
to Beijing) has some funny bits, but is otherwise pretty bad.
Lethargic direction, with a script that wants to be a murky, convoluted
spy thriller, but is just really thinly plotted and pretty dumb in spots.
Not actually based on any story by Deighton. a.k.a. Len Deighton's
Midnight in Saint Petersburg. sc: Peter Welbeck. dir: Douglas
Jackson. -- violence.- 89 min.
MIDNIGHT MAGIC (1988) Jennifer Dale, James Wilder, dir: George Mihalka. see Shades of Love.
MIDNIGHT MAN see Jack Higgins' Midnight Man
MIDNIGHT MATINEE a.k.a. Matinee
Milena, the book by Jana Cerna, became the movie Lover
MILE ZERO
* * setting: B.C.
(2001) Michael Riley, Connor Widdows, Sabrina Grdevich.....Troubled
divorcee (Riley), unable to move on emotionally, illegally absconds with
his young son (Widdows) for a road trip with a vague idea of retreating
to the wilderness. Brooding drama boasts strong performances (particularly
Riley), and well presented scenes...but the whole never quite amounts to
much. Jumbled use of flashbacks and mixed chronology can be more disorienting
than enlightening (maybe the scenes should've been assembled chronologically,
so that the movie feels more like it's progressing somewhere). Basically
a study of Riley's lonely, confused character...but there's not quite enough
to sustain 90 minutes. A childbirth scene (in a flashback) is probably
the most graphic shown in a Canadian movie. sc: Michael Melski (story Melski
and Currie). dir: Andrew Currie. - female nudity.- 92 min. (video)
THE MILES AHEAD *
setting: Ont./other
(1988) David Murray, Allan Fawcett, Mark Duffus, Lillian
Imhof, Ludvik Bogner, Zack Nasis, Damian Lee.....Accountant (Murray)
becomes a track runner with the help of a guardian angel (Fawcett), but
he finds that some unscrupulous people are after his secret. Cheap,
weakly acted comedy is generally pretty lame and the Russian baddies are
all but unintelligible. a.k.a. Hot Shoes. sc: Damian
Lee, David Mitcell. dir: Ruben Rose. 81 min. (video)
MILGAARD *
* 1/2 setting: CDN.
(1999) Ian Tracey, Gabrielle Rose, Tom Melissis,
Garwin Sanford, Sabrina Grdevich, Jaimz Woolvett, Bernie Coulson, Joseph
Griffin, Kim Schraner, Pamela Sinha.....True story of David Milgaard
(Tracey), convicted of a brutal rape-murder in 1969, and spending the next
twenty years in prison until being exonerated through the actions of his
mother, Joyce (Rose). Well-acted, especially by Tracey, made-for-CTV movie
is glossy...which is part of the problem. The way this horrific true story
is treated at times more like a pop music video, with slow motion and funky
camera angles, not to mention the usual TV movie proclivity for dwelling
excessively on rape scenes and descriptions of rape scenes, is a
bit disconcerting, and insensitive. Competent, but unsatisfying handling
of the material -- you'd be hard-pressed to find a Canadian who isn't
already familiar with the gist of the Milgaard story, but it doesn't provide
much new insight (other than learning that there was no happy ending, that
Milgaard ended up psychologically damaged by his ordeal). And like a lot
of filmed true stories, there's a timidity on the part of the filmmakers
as far as finger-pointing is concerned (other than a swipe at former Justice
Minister Kim Campbell) as if the makers were worried about being sued:
hard questions aren't really asked about the initial investigation. At
one point, the good guys mention they've punched holes in the forensic
evidence...but in the original trial scene, no such evidence was depicted!
What's the point of doing this kind of a movie, if not to bring it all
into the light? The real life Joyce Milgaard appears as a spectator during
the Supreme Court scene near the end. Good score by John McCarthy. Received
six Geminis including Best Movie, Actor (Tracey) and Director. sc: Keith
Ross Leckie, Alan Difiore. dir: Stephen L. Williams (Stephen Williams).
- violence.- 91 min.
MILK AND HONEY
* * 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1988) Josette Simon, Lyman Ward, Djanet Sears, Fiona
Reid, Leonie Forbes, Richard Mills, Errol Slue.....Jamaican nanny (British
import Simon) in Canada finds herself being exploited, cheated and lied
to and haunted by the spectre of deportation, especially when she brings
her son in illegally. Good, certainly earnest little drama may have
been hurt by the much-puplicized fighting between the directing team and
the producer. Won Genie for Best Script. sc: Glen Salzman,
Trevor Rhone. dir: Rebecca Yates, Glen Salzman. 89 min. (video)
MILLENNIUM *
1/2 setting: USA.
(1989) (/U.S.) Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, Daniel
J. Travanti, Robert Joy, Brent Carver, Maury Chaykin.....While investigating
a plane crash, an investigator (Kristofferson) encounters a time-traveller
(Ladd) from the far future -- and then the story gets repeated from her
point of view. Frequently illogical sci-fier is a romance, rather
than a suspenser, and is dull even on that level. Travanti (in a
bit part) heads a good supporting cast, but the leads are a write-off.
sc: John Varley (from his short story "Air Raid"). dir: Michael Anderson.
-- sexual content.- 106 min. (video)
MILLENNIUM: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World
(TVMS) * * 1/2
(1993) (/U.K.).....Documentary/docudrama series
hosted by anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis looks at various cultures,
mainly tribal, to explore different ways of looking at the world and our
relationship to it than is commonly expounded in industrialized societies.
This exploration is done through segments focusing on the stories of various
individuals (narrated by professional actors). Atmospheric, highly
unusual and ambitious series never quite achieves the spiritual and mystical
revelation it seeks, but is nonetheless interesting for its peek at other
cultures. Though as journalism, it seemed a bit lax. Maybury-Lewis
was a suitably effective host. Strong, mood-setting theme music by
Hans Zimmer and arranged and performed by John van Tongeren. 10 hour
long episodes, originally on Global.
MILLION DOLLAR BABIES (TVMS)
* * 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1994) (/U.S.) Beau Bridges, Roy Dupuis, Celine Bonnier,
Kate Nelligan, Sean McCann, Monique Spaziani, James B. Douglas, Remy Girard,
Ginette Reno, Domini Blythe, Pierre Curzi.....Story
of the Dionne quintuplets -- the world's first -- born during the Depression,
and how they were taken from their poor parents (Dupuis and Bonnier) and
put on public display under Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe (Bridges). O.K. flick
is at times emotionally effective, but too often just really broad and
obvious. A story with no good guys, only victims, the filmmakers
seem to have had trouble making it work and it ends up more about the events
rather than really working as a character drama. Budgeted at almost
10 million, this was the first CBC program to be broadcast simultaneously
on an American network (CBS) -- previous movies had been aired after
the CBC's showing. Received four Gemini Awards including Best Director.
Four hours. sc: Suzette Couture (from the book The Time of Their
Lives by John Nihmey, Stuart Foxman). dir: Christian Duguay.
THE MILLS OF POWER (TVMS)
* * setting: USA/other/P.Q.
(1990) (/France) Gratien Gelinas, Aurelien Recoing,
Michel Forget, Pierre Chagnon, Gabrielle Lazure.....Story of both a
rich French family, who run New England cotton mills, and the poor Quebecois
who work there, set against the political and linguistic turmoil around
the turn of the century, and told in flashbacks by an old man (Gelinas)
protesting, at gun-point, the cancelation of French-language TV.
Disjointed socio-political soap opera suffers from a lack of real characterization
and an ambivalence to racist attitudes expressed by the main characters.
Also shown as two feature films. Six one hour segments. sc./dir:
Claude Fournier (from his novel). - female nudity and partial male nudity.-
MIND SHADOWS
* * * 1/2 setting: N.S.
(1987) (/Netherlands) Joop Admiraal, Marja Kok, Melanie
Doane, Robert Dodds, Inge Marit van der Wal.....Story of an aging immigrant
(Admiraal) who begins to show signs of Alzheimer's disease, and of his
deterioration. Simple yet sadly (and surprisingly) effective, moody,
dreamlike drama -- though the disease progress' rather rapidly for the
sake of the film. Strong performance from Admiraal. The dialogue
switches between Dutch (with subtitles) and English. Dutch title: Hersenschimmen.
sc: Heddy Honigmann, Otakar Votoce (from the novel Out of Speech
by J. Bernlef). dir: Heddy Honigmann. - female nudity.- 113 min.
MINDFIELD *
* setting: P.Q.
(1989) Michael Ironside, Lisa Langlois, Sean McCann,
Stefan Wodoslawsky, Robert Morelli, Christopher Plummer.....Cop (Ironside),
the victim of mind control experiments many years before, suffers from
flashbacks while investigating a couple of murders. Good premise
and nice ideas in this thriller, but it's poorly put together. Fast-paced
without going anywhere, illogical and there's no real suspense. Wodoslawsky
brings his quiet charm to a supporting role. Scripter Deverell subsequently
turned it into a novel. Though this movie is entirely fictional,
the core premise of mind control experiments in Montreal is inspired by
fact...and later served as the basis of the docudrama, The
Sleep Room. sc: William Deverell (with Tom Berry and George Mihalka).
dir: Jean-Claude Lord. - violence, sexual content, casual male nudity.-
92 min. (video)
MINDSTORM *
* 1/2 setting: USA./other
(2001) (/U.S.) Antonio Sabato Jr., Emmanuelle Vaugier,
Eric Roberts, Clarence Williams III, Michael Ironside, Ed O'Ross, Michael
Moriarty, William B. Davis, Sarah Carter, William Taylor, James Kirk.....Psychic
investigator (Vaugier) who works for the F.B.I., investigates a religious
cult at the behest of a senator (Ironside) -- a cult whose leader (Roberts)
also has psychic abilities...and it's all tied to secret government experiments
from her childhood that she can no longer remember. O.K. science fiction-flavoured
thriller is a bit rough around the edges...but is briskly paced and somewhat
ambitious. It certainly doesn't lack for ideas in a surprisingly convoluted
plot (mayhap a little too convoluted). Seems to owe a bit to Scanners
(though minus the gory violence)...right down to having Ironside in the
cast. American actor Sabato Jr. is top-billed, but Canadian Vaugier plays
the true lead character. Sabato Jr., Roberts, Williams III and O'Ross (in
an extraneous bit part as a serial killer) are all American imports...while
prominently billed Moriarty and Davis just have small roles. sc: Paul A.
Birkett (story Richard Pepin, Michael Derbas). dir: Richard Pepin. 97 min.
(video)
LA MISERE DES RICHES (TVMS)
* * 1/2 setting: P.Q./other
(1989) Patrice Tulasne, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Danielle
Darrieux, Gilles Pelletier, Jean LeClerc, Ursula Karven, Carl Marotte.....A
woman (Tulasne) inherits her family's steel company after her brother's
(Marotte) mysterious death...unaware that her husband (Cassel) is trying
to drive her insane. Suspenser could have been tighter, but is generally
entertaining and likeable and benefits from a good cast and interesting
characters. A series followed a couple of years later. First
aired in English (with sub-titles) in 1996. English title: Jet
Set. 8 hour-long episodes. sc: Claude Veillot, Suzanne
Ratelle-Desnoyers (from Ratelle- Desnoyers' novel). dir: Richard Martin.
- female nudity.-
LA MISERE DES RICHES (TV Series)This TV series seems to prove that even in Canada a pre-sell "name" is important -- because the name is practically the only thing that connects this to the better 1989 mini-series. The focus, instead, is shifted to the intrigue and machinations at a family-owned airplane company, with Tulasne (the star of the mini-series) largely relegated to the peripheries. The series lacked the bite of its predecessor (being a drama rather than suspense) and featured largely unappealing characters and a not-altogether-welcome ideological shift. Even the few characters retained from the original were turned into unpleasant figures. It also suffered from repetative dialogue and too many scenes that just went on and on and on. Inspired by the novel by Suzanne Ratelle-Desnoyers. English title: Jet Set. Shown in a subtitled version on Showcase in 1996. |
MISERY HARBOUR
* * 1/2 setting: Nfld./other
(1999) (/Norway/Denmark/Sweden) Nikolaj Coster Waldau,
Stuart Graham, Graham Greene, Hywel Bennett, Anneke Von Der Lippe, Bjorn
Floberg, Margot Finley.....Story of a young Danish
man (Waldau) in the 1920s who runs away from home, joins up with a scummy
Canadian sailing vessel, then ends up in Newfoundland and a feud with another
man. Evocatively old fashioned melodrama (save for some modern grittiness)
keeps you're interest while watching, but reaches its climax long before
it seems like it had adequately built to anything. And the framing sequence,
with the hero writing his memoirs of his experiences, seems undeveloped,
as though drastically edited down from a longer sequence. A good movie
while you're watching...but only a decent one when it's over. sc: Kevin
Sanders, Sigve Endresen (from the book A Sailor Goes Ashore by Aksel
Sandemose). dir: Nils Gaup. - casual male nudity, sexual content, violence,
brief female nudity.- 97 min.
MISSES 'ARRIS GOES TO PARIS see Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris
Mister Jinnah -- the crime reporter protagonist that appeared in the novel, Mr. Jinnah: Securities by Donald J. Hauka, came to TV in the movie Jinnah on Crime: Pizza 911.
MISTER NICE GUY see Mr. Nice Guy
MISTER PATMAN see Mr. Patman
MISTER RICE'S SECRET see Mr. Rice's Secret
Mistress Madeleine *
*
(1986) Mireille Deyglun, Neil Munro.....In the
1800s, a metis mistress (Deyglun) to a Hudson Bay Company official (Munro)
is betrayed when he returns from a trip with a white wife, and so she joins
her renegade brother. Hour long drama is the least effective of the
Daughters
of the Country series. Pedestrianly assembled, it lacks any real
dramatic punch. sc. Araon Kim Johnson, Anne Cameron. d. Araon Kim
Johnson. (video)
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