Clocking in at little over half an hour, the second chapter of The Mandalorian (“The Child”) has debuted on DisneyPlus, a few days after the premiere of Chapter One. This new chapter packs plenty of event into its brisk running time, as the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal, in an amazing faceless performance) and his Ugnaught companion…
Star Trek Short Treks, 2.3: “Ask Not” offers a no-win scenario…
****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!!**** The latest Star Trek “Short Trek” has come online from CBS-All Access. Written by Kalinda Vasquez and directed by Sanji Senaka, “Ask Not” sees yet another non-regular cast character getting a spotlight, as she faces a no-win scenario. Story. The story opens with Starbase 28 under an unseen attack by the Tholians (crystalline…
Star Wars’ “The Mandalorian” is a space western that earns its bounty…
****BANTHA-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!!**** The new streaming service Disney Plus (Disney+) has launched, and it’s let loose with a brand new, live-action Star Wars series that evokes the subtle world-building and strong visual narrative of the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Behind its exotic aliens, laser blasters and starships, “The Mandalorian” is spiritually an old-fashioned western… as…
“Star Trek: Discovery” Season 3 trailer breakdown…
****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!**** The season 2 finale of CBS All Access’ “Star Trek: Discovery” (“Such Sweet Sorrow” part 2) saw the crew of the titular starship following ‘red angel’ Michael Burnham forward in time 930 years to the late 32nd century… truly ‘going where no (Trek series) has gone before.’ Last month, at New York…
“2010: The Year We Make Contact” (1984): 35 years of a future past…
*****MONOLITH-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!***** Back in 1984, the Cold War was in full swing. Soviet Russia (before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union) was the binary enemy of the United States; they were the ‘commie pinkos’ and we were the ‘capitalist swine’ (even in those days, I never bought that propaganda). The US space shuttle…
“Terminator: Dark Fate” offers yet another quasi-reboot of the Terminator multiverse…
****MIMETIC POLYALLOY SPOILERS AHEAD!!**** It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.. For those keeping score, the Terminator franchise (much like “ALIEN” & “ALIENS”) has two seemingly immutable entries; 1984’s original “The Terminator” and its amped-up sequel, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991). Both are classics of sci-fi action cinema. The post…
“Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” trailer breakdown…
****STAR DESTROYER-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!**** The Final Trailer. Clues/Observations. The captions to the following screenshots are my own speculations, and should be treated with no more authority or insight than anyone else’s. I’m just a fellow Star Wars fan, and have been since I saw the original “Star Wars” (sans “New Hope”) back in 1977 at…
“Darkside In Riverside”: A three-day SoCal Halloween horror fest…
Horror Close To Home… As a longtime horror fan, I was pleased to learn (via Instagram) that a 3-day horror convention was coming to nearby Riverside, California (20 minutes away from me). “Darkside In Riverside” took place from Friday October 18th through the 20th, and was the very first in what I hope will be…
Retro-Musings for Halloween: Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath” (1963)…
When I was a kid, I was (and still am) a big fan of horror anthologies. Beyond vintage TV series such as “Thriller”, “Twilight Zone” or “The Outer Limits”, I loved the British Amicus films (“Tales From The Crypt” “Vault Of Horror” “House That Dripped Blood”) and Dan (“Dark Shadows”) Curtis’ 1975 TV movie “Trilogy…
Star Trek: Short Treks 2.2; “The Trouble With Edward” gets in a lot of tribble…
****SPOILERS!!**** The latest Star Trek: Short Trek has beamed down from CBS-All Access. “The Trouble With Edward” marks the fourth Star Trek story centered around writer David Gerrold’s famed creation, the tribbles (TOS’ “Trouble With Tribbles”, TAS’ “More Tribbles, More Troubles,” and DS9’s superlative “Trials and Tribble-ations”). The tribbles themselves are a species of fast-breeding…
“Joker” (2019) is a gritty ode to 1970s antiheroism…
****SPOILERS**** Director/cowriter Todd Phillips (of the obnoxious “Hangover” movies) offers this latest take on the now 79-year old Batman villain “Joker” in a film so utterly dark, and so morally complex that I actually wish it weren’t a DC comics movie. The movie borrows more heavily from the works of early Martin Scorsese films than…
Star Trek: Short Treks, 2.1: “Q&A” offers a brief, but nice ride…
CBS-All Access has just launched its second series of “Star Trek: Short Treks.” Short Treks are a brief series of webisodes designed to keep CBS-AA from hemorrhaging subscribers before the debut of “Star Trek: Picard” and the third season premiere of “Star Trek: Discovery”; both arriving in early 2020. Last year’s Short Treks were an…
