When is history not history? Can you write a fictional history as objective truth? Amazon’s Rings of Power is a controversial adaptation of J.R.R....
Rings of Power
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Movies & TV
I’ve always tried to write in a cinematic way—you should be able to picture my stories on a screen. This stems from my respect and love for great movies and television. Not “great” as in “classic”, per se, or in “Oscar-worthy”, but high entertainment value. Did a movie hold me to my seat for several hours, or was the ongoing journey of a show worth the ride? Here, I discuss those large and small screen adventures I’ve particularly enjoyed.
Logan’s Run
Despite the onesie vibe of silver age sci-fi and promotional artwork that looks like the box for an Atari video game, Logan’s Run is very...
Dollhouse
Dollhouse is an early-2000s TV show starring Eliza Dushku as a programmable human known as a Doll. She is part of a program where a company...
Avatar Last Airbender
Avatar: the Last Airbender is among the latest conversions from animation to live action on the major streaming services (in this case,...
A Prequel to a Sci-Fi Classic (With Apes)
Back in 2011, someone had the bright idea to trample on the grave of science fiction classic, Planet of the Apes. The Charlton Heston original...
Honor Among Thieves: THIS is how you make a D&D movie
Fantasy movies have had a rough history in Hollywood. Cheesy special effects, ren faire level costumes, and dialogue that sounds like a high-school...
Altered Carbon: What Happens When Tech Makes Life Cheap?
Altered Carbon begins with a futuristic twist on the noir whodunnit. The victim commissions the detective’s help himself. Thanks to an alien...
The Witcher – One of the few times you don’t need to read the book first
Back in 1990, Polish author published a short story collection whose title, in English, was The Witcher. In 2008, someone translated the first of a...
12 Monkeys: Time Travel Cranked to 11
The Army of the 12 Monkey was just the start Terry Gilliam’s 1995 movie, 12 Monkeys, starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, was a looping time travel...
Legion may just be the weirdest corner of the X-Men Universe
In 2017, a show called Legion premiered on FX. It was set in the X-Men universe, though you’d hardly know it unless someone warned you in advance...
District 9 – A dystopian future, or an uncomfortable past?
It never became a franchise, because it was never looking to become one. District 9 feels like a forgotten relic of an era that wasn’t even all that...
Willow – A classic 80’s epic fantasy that is still worth a watch today
What do you get when you combine George Lucas & Ron Howard? Willow… Once Upon a Time, George Lucas had finished his Star Wars opus and needed a...
Brave New World: A 1931 novel, a 2020 television show…a 2022 reality?
George Orwell’s 1984 seems almost naive in retrospect, believing that a faceless government would strip all privacy, create a surveillance state,...
Good Omens: A Buddy Comedy For The Apocalypse
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are two of the better known fantasy authors of the late 20th Century. Their works are snarky, irreverent, and often...
The Best Half-Movie in Ages
If you are of a certain age and sci-fi prediliction, you’ve likely seen the 1984 oeuvre by David Lynch simply entitled: Dune. It was based on a...
Post-Secondary Wizard Education
For those who missed it, The Magicians is a fully completed television series with a satisfying ending (unlike some other fantasy series we could...
Sick of Superheroes?
By now, most people have probably forgotten about it, but for a brief period in 2017, DC had a superhero comedy starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alan...
One Pill, Two Pill, Red Pill, Blue Pill
Well, with the new Matrix movie out (no spoilers at all, perfectly safe to continue), it’s time to revisit the red pill, blue pill debate.I’m going...
Hear the Drums, Fear the Game
If you know Jumanji, you probably get chills just reading that drum beat. For those who don’t, Jumanji is a 1995 comedic adventure movie starring...
Cowboy Bebop != Cowboy Bebop
Spoiler alert: Cowboy Bebop (Netflix and original animated versions)OK, so I’ve watched all of Cowboy Bebop, both the original and Netflix versions....
Futurama, but in the past
While movie theaters have been shut down and people staying home, Netflix has become the heartbeat of the entertainment world (and maybe it has been...
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Sequel
When I first heard that there was going to be a third movie in the Bill & Ted “franchise,” I cringed. Hollywood has been awash for years in the...
History Like It Never Happened
Alternate History.It's not the sole province of dictators and totalitarian regimes. Alternate History is also a niche subgenre of science fiction...
This show is a giant Easter egg hunt
One show that I never expected to like was Once Upon a Time. The basic premise is that Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter ended up an orphan...