3 New Horror Movie Reviews
See my full list of posted reviews here… A Quiet Place Part II Spiral: From the Book of Saw Army of the Dead
Category: SciFi
Diary Entry, 2101.20: Inauguration Edition
Biden, Harris and the Hope for America || Parler || Questions about Rudy Giuliani || Movie Review: WONDER WOMAN 1984 || Movie Review: THE MIDNIGHT SKY || Media Review: The Mandalorian Biden, Harris and the Hope for America As of 11am today, Central time, America once again made me proud. With the inauguration of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr as the 46th President of the United States, I once again have hope for us, our country and even our planet. It will undoubtedly take the vast majority of the next 4 years to undo the damage done to our planet, our country,...
Skywalker When?
Life at Amazon has been — hopefully understandably — crazy. Check back after whenever for my review of The Rise of Skywalker. I’ve seen it twice so far, and might have something to say about it. [ feigning Shock and awe ] 2001.14: Since I never did a review of The Last Jedi, my review of Rise will include a review of Last. That is the only way, I figure, to explain why I am such a defender of Last, especially as compared to Rise. Should be finished before May 1st.
The Bad Physics of Ad Astra
a review of Ad Astra MULTIPLE SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU CARE TO SEE A TRUE STINKER When Brad Pitt’s newest sci-fi flick was forthcoming, it looked chock full of promise: an intriguing plot, Tommy Lee Jones as the long lost father, beautiful photography and special effects, and the trailers didn’t give away too much of the story, just enough to keep it interesting. In it’s attempt to be a legacy film, Ad Astra takes/steals/borrows straight plot points and even imitates shots from legendary entries in the sci-fi cinema corpus, most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, Gravity and others. That’s not...
China Takes to the Skies
a review of The Wandering Earth NO SPOILERS AHEAD Recently, Netflix released the Chinese blockbuster sci-fi epic The Wandering Earth (May 6, ’19). Having made over $700 million worldwide, the film made good bank on what has been called “China’s first full-scale interstellar spectacular”.1 As you would expect, it is a mixed bag, with moderate highs and usually unintentional lows. Science-wise the file is problematic, but epic in scale, heroic in scope. One of the main problems is when the Earth — which is Wandering (duh) — is approaching Jupiter. There is a sudden, unexpected burst of gravity from Jupiter, called...
US and Peele
a review of Us NO SPOILERS Us (2019) is the 2nd major film from 5 season “Mad TV” comedic actor Jordan Peele. After the maddening demise of that beloved variety show, he collaborated with (Detroit’s own) Keegan-Michael Key on the Comedy Central sketch series “Key & Peele” (2012-15). His breakout “black horror film” Get Out (2017) is only the 2nd horror film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Wow. He could rest on his laurels, but that just wouldn’t be the route of a talented and maybe even brilliant filmmaker in the tradition of his heroes, including Rod Serling, Alfred...
Not So Marvelous
a review of Captain Marvel SPOILERS MAY ME LURKING IN THE NOOKS AND CRANNIES OF THIS REVIEW Think of a comedian. The material is fair, but brought down a few notches by the delivery. Several of the comedian’s jokes are colorless, lifeless, even shockingly lame. Let’s not even discuss having more gaps in logic and continuity than the Old Testament. Welcome to Captain Marvel, the latest contribution to the MCU, the Marvel Comic Universe. While still not nearly as bad as the first Iron Man, CM – first of all – has one of the great hallmarks of origin stories, asking...
Harlan Ellison, RIP
a remembrance HARSH LANGUAGE AHEAD. OK, MAYBE NOT. As I recall, I was a wee 12 years of age when I first read the short story ‘”Repent, Harlequin”, Said the Ticktockman’. Having heard about the famous short story from others, and conveniently holding a collection of short sci-fi, I must have read it twice that day. At least. Eventually, as my immersion into sci-fi fandom became deeper, I collected and consumed his paperback short story collections in my later teen years, oftentimes from Waldenbooks in Southgate Mall, and increasingly from the huckster table mazes at sci-fi conventions in SE Michigan. Second...
10 Cloverfield, 5 Issues
“Not a Sequel, Not a Prequel, but an Equal” a review of 10 Cloverfield Lane WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD How Did We Come To This? Wunderkind movie producer/director J. J. Abrams, like so many of us with ADD, was influenced, it seems, by minutiae. While in a toy store in Japan, he thought “We saw all these Godzilla toys . . . we need our own American monster, and not like King Kong. I love King Kong. King Kong is adorable. And Godzilla is a charming monster. We love Godzilla. But I wanted something that was just insane and intense.” This quote,...
Ready To Ignore One
a review of Ready Player One WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD, BUT SINCE I’M RECOMMENDING YOU AVOID THIS TRAINWRECK IT DOESN’T MATTER Spielberg Speaks Legendary motion picture virtuoso Stephen Spielberg stated in a featurette1 his motivation for making his latest movie: “When I read Ready Player One I was completely wowed by it. I suddenly saw a future and it wasn’t that far away from what I think is going to happen.” What ends up happening is that almost anyone and everyone is hooked up w/ VR headsets to “The Oasis”, which is an immersive computer simulation game with m/billions of users and...
