Guns Across the River – Sam Wiebe’s Vancouver-set Dave Wakeland PI series is one of only two ongoing book series I currently read (the other is Lars Kepler’s Joona Lina series; I used to read Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, but stopped soon after Lee retired and his brother took over). I have nothing against series, per se, it’s just that with so many great books on my to-read list, I prefer to read a self-contained story, one that I know will have a definitive ending, so I can move onto something else. With the Wakeland series, though, I started with the second book, so I didn’t have to do much catch-up. Plus, they’re set in my hometown, so it’s fun to have my own reference points for a lot of the locations and details and action. The main reason why I’ve kept reading this series, though, is because it’s just so darn good. The colourful characters are all extremely well-drawn, and Wiebe’s crisp, evocative, highly specific writing keeps the narrative moving along at an impressive pace. This latest installment, which is maybe the best one yet (I seem to say that every time I read one, make of that what you will), has Wakeland trying to help a girl who jumps off the Granville Street Bridge and he subsequently rescues from False Creek.

The Christophers – initially, I thought that I’d leave this to VOD, simply because there are currently a lot of movies out in theatres right now that I want to see, and this one, which I’d heard was mostly just people talking in rooms, didn’t seem like it had to be watched on the big screen. I ended up picking it, however, because it had the earliest showtime, and I simply didn’t want to give up almost all of my Sunday afternoon. I definitely made the right call. Not that I ever had any doubt, given that The Christophers is the latest from the always great Steven Soderbergh. Based on a script by Ed Solomon (he previously collaborated with Soderbergh on No Sudden Move and the series Full Circle), this is a classic two-hander. Michaela Cole plays an art restorer who’s hired by a couple of desperate siblings to complete/forge a series of long-abandoned paintings by their father, an eccentric, once-famous-now-out-of-favour artist who’s played by Ian McKellen. True to what I’d heard, the majority of the movie involves Cole and McKellen talking in rooms. Because of who they are and what they’re saying and how they’re saying it, and because of director/cinematographer/editor Soderbergh’s typically impeccable filmmaking craft, the movie’s absolutely riveting.