*****DEMOGORGON-SIZED SPOILERS****** The Duffer Brothers, Mike and Ross, creator/directors of Netflix’s 1980s-saturated horror series “Stranger Things” have added a bit more romance & comedy into the mix this year. Some fans may not be 100% onboard with that decision. Personally, I enjoyed it very much. Season 3 is a bit more farcical in tone as…
“Space: Above and Beyond”: In memory of the 58th…
Space: Above And Beyond. In 1995, a new series debuted on the network that had an unfortunate, but mostly earned reputation of killing many a promising sci-fi series (“Alien Nation” “Firefly” and a few others). This single-season series (it was planned for five) was the ambitious, Australian-lensed space war series called “Space: Above and Beyond”…
Chucky takes a stab at smart devices in the “Child’s Play” reboot…
Child’s Play Back in the Day. 1988 saw the release of the original “Child’s Play”, directed by Tom Holland (“Fright Night”), with Catherine Hicks (“Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home”) as a retail-working single mother named Karen Barclay who manages to procure a popular ‘Good Guy’ doll for her son Andy (Alex Vincent). Unbeknownst to…
Stay tuned! Fresh “Musings of a Middle-Aged Geek” are coming soon…
Just wanted to say that I’m taking a week off to celebrate 20 wonderful years with my wife and convention partner in crime, Jules. We’re spending a few days in Oahu, Hawaii, so if I don’t wind up as a shark turd or a piece of flotsam in the middle of the Pacific, I will…
Netflix’s “I Am Mother” sings the body electric … and it’s a little off-key.
Netflix has unveiled a new sci-fi post-apocalyptic flick called “I Am Mother” that, if I’d paid to see it theatrically, I would’ve been very disappointed. Watching it relatively risk-free in my living room made it all go down a little easier, though its faults are no less obvious. *****SPOILERS!!!***** The Story. The film opens with…
Ten years of “Moon” (2009); a retro sci-fi study in loneliness and identity…
It’s been a decade since writer/director Duncan Jones (son of “Ziggy Stardust” himself, David Bowie) unveiled his independent, old-school-style science fiction film “Moon”, which had a limited theatrical release in the summer of 2009. I went to see “Moon” twice during its run, driving all over southern California to find theaters where it played, but…
HBO’s “Chernobyl”: Denial can be fatal…
April 26, 1986. I’ve just finished the five-part HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” (2019), a powerful depiction of the events and aftermath of the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen (a ranking which includes the horrific Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011). Interestingly, the miniseries isn’t necessarily a statement against nuclear power. In fact,…
Neil Gaiman’s “Good Omens” is a divine comedy that’s diabolically clever…
Neil Gaiman has written the Amazon Prime miniseries adaptation of his and the late Terry Pratchett’s novel, “Good Omens”, and the result is simply wicked. Imagine if the Monty Python troupe had adapted Richard Donner’s “The Omen” by way of Mark Twain’s “Letters From The Earth” with just a pinch of “Stranger Things” thrown in…
“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019) is an American Godzilla movie with a Toho soul…
****TITAN-SIZED SPOILERS!!**** G-fan. Lest there be any doubt, I am a major keiju-eiga (Japanese giant monster movie) fan. I grew up on a fairly steady diet of Godzilla, Gamera, Gargantua, Ultraman, Giant Robo and many other guys-in-rubber-suits-trashing-miniature-sets films. I loved ‘em then, and still do. The Godzilla (Gojira) movies range from dark and haunting (1954’s…
The Twilight Zone, S1.10: “Blurryman”, and a postmortem of Season One…
****THE SPOILER ZONE!**** The season finale of CBS-AA’s rebooted Twilight Zone has arrived, and while significantly more enjoyable than previous entries, it still has its own share of issues. The Story. “Blurryman” opens with an unusually artificial looking apartment exterior, which takes us inside to a harried writer played by Seth Rogen, who is frustrated…
1989: The Summer of “Batman”…
Bat-Then. It was 30 years ago, and a very different time. At my then-age of 22 I felt the carefree hubris of youth. I legally rode a motorcycle without a helmet (because I was an idiot), I was renting a single room from some friends of mine, and I went to the movies a lot…
Stardate: February 16th, 2008. “Star Trek: The Exhibition” in Long Beach, California…
For 22 years (off and on) “Star Trek: The Exhibition”, a traveling museum of Star Trek props, costumes, recreations and interactive displays, has quietly toured around the world; beginning in Mosney, Ireland in 1994 and ending in Shanghai, China in 2016. I was lucky enough (living in California) to have seen it on two separate…
