In my previous reviews of “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Black Panther” , I’d noted my acute case of ‘Marvel fatigue.’ Too often these movies are ridiculously top-heavy with CGI eye-candy, Dolby Digital-booming explosions, and butt-numbingly long sequences of flying super-people punching away at cars, planes and buildings like so many LEGOs. Dialogue in these kinds of films consists mainly…
Month: April 2018
HBO’s “Westworld” continues to blaze trails…
HBO’s “Westworld” has finally unleashed its sophomore season, after a 16-month long hiatus (these marathon hiatuses are real patience-testers). I’m pleased to say that the returning series is of the same meticulously-produced, feature-film quality we fans enjoyed in its first year. The series, which I’ve touched upon all-too-briefly before (“Westworld and The Prisoner Comparison” …
Amy Schumer deserves better than “I Feel Pretty”…
If you follow this blog, then I guess you’re probably wondering why this old scifi-geek is posting about a ‘girls-night’ comedy? Well, surprise surprise. I like many different types of movies and TV shows. Yes, science fiction is a staple of my filmgoing/TV diet, but if you saw my home DVD/blu-ray library you’d see a…
Netflix’s “Lost in Space” Season One has landed…
As I’ve said in a previous post ( “Finding “Lost in Space” ), my feelings on the classic series that spawned the current Netflix reboot are decidedly mixed. While I loved it as a kid and would catch reruns quasi-religiously after school, its charms have dimmed considerably for me as an adult. While I’ve matured…
Bad Robot Trek part 3, “Star Trek Beyond”: A return to tomorrow…
Five years after it launched, JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot production company released the last (so far?) of their quasi-reboot Star Trek trilogy, with “Star Trek Beyond” (2016). My personal scorecard for this trilogy was one hit with 2009’s “Star Trek, and one very big miss with “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013). My feelings for a third…
“Jurassic Park” (1993) loses none of its bite 25 years later…
When I think of game-changing special effects movies, a handful of my favorite titles come to mind; movies such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) “Star Wars” (1977), and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (also 1977). Others include James Cameron’s “The Abyss” (1989), and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), as they are landmarks in the advancement of computer-generated imagery…
The silence is deafening in “A Quiet Place”…
There’s nothing terribly original about the farmhouse-under-seige scenario. Precedents include such classics as “Night of the Living Dead” (1968), “Straw Dogs” (1971) or even the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. What makes director/co-scripter/star John Krasinski’s impressive “A Quiet Place” (2018) uniquely distinctive are the rules imposed upon this particular farmhouse-under-siege scenario. This…
“The Expanse” S3 premiere; “Fight or Flight”…
The show to which I am now officially addicted as of last season is back, and I just caught Season 3’s premiere, “Fight or Flight.” I don’t want to give one of my usual long-winded, spoiler-laden reviews because with the show being so serialized, it’s best if I save that for my S3 recap. The…
Bad Robot Trek movies part 2, “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013)…
Continuing from Part One of this series of posts, it’s time to discuss… … and I’ll be completely honest; “Star Trek Into Darkness” is my least favorite of the Bad Robot-produced Star Trek movies. In fact, it’s one of my least favorite Star Trek movies of the entire Star Trek movie series. After the wild, unexpectedly…
“Ready Player One” boots up…
Need to open this quick little review of “Ready Player One” with two things: * First, I am quite possibly the world’s worst video gamer. I have the hand/eye coordination of a drunken toddler and I know next to nothing about video games, online gaming, virtual reality, etc. Driving in often-thick California traffic is…
Musings on the Bad Robot Star Trek movies, part 1: “Star Trek” (2009)…
It occurred to me recently that I’ve not yet done a post on the three Bad Robot-produced “Star Trek” films. I’ve discussed them so often with friends, random strangers at conventions and in online message boards that I feel like I’ve already covered them extensively. Initially I was going to do a single post…
Return of “The Last Jedi”…
A few months ago, we (myself, my wife and a friend of ours) saw “The Last Jedi” on opening weekend, and I was more than a bit disappointed. I jotted down some of my thoughts on the film (at the time) in a largely spoiler-free assessment (link). “First Impressions of ‘The Last Jedi’…” Now…