Category Archives: Movies and Television

Whimsical Confections: Wonka’s Guide to Transformational Leadership

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Anthony_Perrotta

As the Ontario winter break ends shortly and schools prepare to resume, students and staff frequently face what might be dubbed the “dark days” of the school year. In Ontario, the previous year marked the province’s gloomiest winter in over … Continue reading →

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[Movie Review] With Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, Tom Cruise Saves the Summer Movie Season Once Again

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Anthony_Perrotta

There’s a definitive moment in the original Mission Impossible (1996) where Tom Cruise transforms from a drama-oriented actor who demands the truth in courtrooms to a full-fledged action star that is capable of saving the world from corrupt secret agents … Continue reading →

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Top Gun: Maverick and Authentic School Leadership

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Anthony_Perrotta

For many film critics Peter “Maverick” Mitchell is the quintessential Tom Cruise role. Like many of Cruise’s characters, Maverick is a character navigating some type of personal trauma, who then discovers something about himself that requires critical reflection. This reflection … Continue reading →

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Before Visiting Pandora, Enter The Abyss

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

Before you take a deep dive into this love letter to The Abyss (1989) it’s imperative that I disclose a conflict of interest. I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Canada, where James Cameron first found his teenage love … Continue reading →

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[Media Literacy] Lightyear: A Family Watch Guide

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

Setting the stage for family movie nights can help in nurturing young people to be active consumers of media text.  In the spirit of reading deeply, providing young viewers with an opportunity to reflect and share prior knowledge can nurture … Continue reading →

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[Trailer Review] Halloween Ends

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

With the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the Halloween franchise in 2018, the new series of Jason Blum produced and David Gordon Green directed films have garnered huge box-office results along with divisive critical response. Premiering as part of … Continue reading →

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[Movie Review] Tom Cruise Soars in Top Gun:Maverick

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

Simply put, Tom Cruise is Top Gun: Maverick and perhaps the last true Hollywood movie star. In a pop culture landscape filled with reality television personalities, TikTot challenges and superhero multiverses, the selling-power of a marquee name on a movie … Continue reading →

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[Movie Review] Spielberg’s West Side Story is a Masterpiece

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

I’ve spent many years studying and appreciating film. From my time in college and university diving deep into production and theory, I can without hesitation share that my fandom for Steven Spielberg was polarizing. Perhaps, this is because I was … Continue reading →

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[Movie Review] Leatherface Returns

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

Other than comic-book inspired movies, horror continues to resonant in theatres during the pandemic. In the past nine months, horror has dominated the box office with The Quiet Place 2, Candy Man, The Conjuring : The Devil Made Me Do … Continue reading →

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[Movie Review] King Richard

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Anthony_Perrotta

It seems that late 2021 was Will Smith’s time to remind both readers and movie watchers that destiny doesn’t come by accident. Rather, who we are, want to become and where we want to be is far from accidental. It’s … Continue reading →

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