******SUPER-SPOILERS!****** Why can’t the cinematic DC universe be anywhere near as good as the stuff they show for free on TV (and which is made for much less money)? Neither “The Batman” (2022) nor the two films of Henry Cavill’s Superman (2013/2016) did much for me, while the CW network’s “Supergirl” (2015-2021) and “Superman &…
Author: A Middle Aged Geek
I am a happily married, progressive-minded, middle-aged science fiction geek. My interests included photography, reading, movies, Halloween, and all kinds of nerdy-niche things. After months of prodding from my wife (and my friends), I decided to 'throw down' with a blog of all of my nerdiest of nerdly thoughts and musings... here's hoping you enjoy!
Disney+’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” blasts off from suburbia and gets lost in space….
******STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!****** The first two episodes of Disney+’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” have debuted, and both were written by Christopher Ford and Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”). I knew going in that this Star Wars series was deliberately skewing towards a much younger demographic, since Disney seems hellbent on representing every age demographic separately these days…
Retro-Musings: 1972’s “Gargoyles” is a cheesy TV-movie showcasing some creative creature effects…
******SPOOKY SPOILERS!****** As a little kid in the early-to-mid 1970s, I remember watching a movie called “Gargoyles” on late night TV starring Cornel Wilde and Jennifer Salt as an father-daughter research team investigating demonic winged creatures in New Mexico. The movie ran just over an hour (a European theatrical cut ran only slightly longer, at…
Superman & Lois, E4.07: “A Regular Guy” is anything but…
*****SUPER-SPOILERS AHEAD!***** In February of 2021, I wrote my observations on “Superman & Lois” as the show was in its freshman year, and while I haven’t chronicled it since, I’ve enjoyed it, nevertheless. It’s one of the few series I still watch on Ye Olde TV set, via my DVR cache, and sometimes I forget…
HBO’s “Dune: Prophecy” debuts with all the palace intrigue, but none of the adventure…
******SANDWORM-SIZED SPOILERS!****** I’m a modest fan of the “Dune” franchise. I read Frank Herbert’s first book ages ago, and I have some knowledge of its many sequels and prequels. I’ve seen all the live-action incarnations of “Dune,” including 1984’s “Dune,” 2000’s SyFy “Dune” miniseries, its 2003 sequel “Children of Dune” (a miniseries that combined the…
Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” ten years later…
******GARGANTUA-SIZED SPOILERS!****** In November of 2014, my wife and I took a friend of ours to see director Christopher Nolan’s then-new space opus “Interstellar” in a massive IMAX 65mm presentation. This was not some all-digital ‘faux MAX’ screening you see in multiplexes today; this was honest-to-goodness, several freaking stories-high IMAX 65 mm film. I could…
Tony Todd (1954-2024); the “Candyman” who trekked to the stars…
This has been a very tough week. For reasons I don’t want to get into now, I wasn’t intending to write anything at this time. In fact, I was in the middle of a much-needed break. But then I read that actor Tony Todd passed away, and it was my motive to exit my ennui…
Taking a brief break…
Just letting regular readers and subscribers know that I’m taking a brief break; hopefully no more than ten days to two weeks. There is a lot of drama going on here in the United States right now, particularly on whether or not our fragile democracy is going to continue past this week, and to be…
Retro-Musings for Halloween: “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (1966)…
******SPOOKY-SEASON SPOILERS!****** And now for something completely different. Taking a brief yet seasonally-appropriate break from my site’s usual sci-fi/horror/cinematic scribblings, this column explores a warm fuzzy childhood memory of mine; 1966’s “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” This was the third Charles Schulz Peanuts’ animated special, debuting on the CBS network after “Charlie Brown All-Stars”…
“Late Night with the Devil” (2023) is a Faustian horror flick that more or less delivers…
******SUPERNATURAL SPOILERS!******* Cowritten and co-directed by Australian brothers Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes, “Late Night with the Devil” (2023) was a movie that’d been on my personal radar for awhile. A film festival darling from 2023, the film didn’t debut in the US until earlier this year, and received generally positive buzz. I was curious….
Retro-Musings for Halloween: Twilight Zone’s “The Grave” (1961) is an eerie and effective ghost story…
******SPECTRAL SPOILERS!****** As I’ve written in this column previously, the late-great Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone was my first true TV addiction; yes, even before “Star Trek.” Twilight Zone also whetted my then 7-year old appetite for horror TV shows such as “The Night Gallery” (another Rod Serling series) and “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.” Watching…
“The Moon” (2023) is Korea’s well-crafted fictional answer to “Apollo 13”…
*****SPACE-SURVIVAL SPOILERS!***** Space survival dramas are hardly new, of course. Even as a kid, I remember my eyeballs nearly pressed against the glass screen of the family Zenith while watching 1964’s “Robinson Crusoe on Mars.” However, the post-“Star Wars”/“Jurassic Park” revolutions in filmmaking made later space survival sagas a lot more realistic. And with a…