Most readers below a certain age or from other countries might never have heard of Bob Burns III, who was, on the surface, a nice guy living with his wife in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank who put on a cool neighborhood Halloween show every year. That short description is not wrong, but it’s…
Tag: ALIEN
The first two episodes of “Alien: Earth” deal with much more than xenomorphs…
******SPOILERS!****** Have to admit, I had more than a bit of trepidation going into this series. My parade of disappointments with the “ALIEN” franchise dates back 33 years with the the release of ALIEN3. Most of the franchise has existed in the shadow of its first two movies (“ALIEN,” “ALIENS”), rehashing variations of their simple…
Spotlight on screen-used sci-fi/fantasy movie & TV props, costumes and miniatures…
“Gain Strength from the Sharing…” With a nod to Spock’s half-brother Sybok, the purpose of this particular column is to share; to share in the good fortune I’ve had in my life as a semi-professional geek to see a virtual treasure trove of actual screen-used props, costumes, miniatures and other such cool stuff over the…
Trekking down memory lane with the “Star Trek” Fotonovels & Photostories…
In the dark ages, before streaming… This might come as a tremendous shock to younger readers, but once upon a time, when we Gen Xers were kids (sometime after the Yucatan impact killed the other dinosaurs), we weren’t able to simply stream nearly any movie or TV show we wanted on our phones, tablets or…
“ALIEN: Romulus” is a well-crafted miscellany of the ALIEN franchise’s greatest hits……
******SPACE STATION-SIZED SPOILERS!****** After my deep disappointment with the last two installments of the ALIEN franchise (“Prometheus,” “Covenant”) another ALIEN movie has burst from the chests and brains of director/cowriter Fede Álvarez. Like “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “ALIEN: Romulus” (2024) feels conspicuously designed for a younger audience (as is most everything these…
Retro-Musings: Mario Bava’s “Planet of the Vampires” (1965) is a clunky yet stylish precursor to “ALIEN”…
******SPACESHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!****** In 1965, famed gothic horror filmmaker Mario Bava (1914-1980)—director of movies such as “Black Sunday,” “Blood and Black Lace,” and “Black Sabbath”—made a rare foray into science fiction. While “Planet of the Vampires” (original Italian title, “Terrore nello Spazio”) isn’t representative of Bava’s best work, it’s among his most visually creative, influencing generations…
Hulu’s “No One Will Save You” (2023) is a well-crafted exercise in style over substance…
*****FLYING SAUCER-SIZED SPOILERS!***** Writer-director Brian Duffield has crafted a few sci-fi/horror movies where a protagonist is left to their own resources to deal with with a cataclysm or conspiracy (“Love and Monsters” “The Babysitter”). That template is used once again with his latest movie, “No One Will Save You,” which stars Kaitlyn Dever (“Last Man…
Jonathan W. Rinzler (1962-2021), a fine chronicler of great movies…
The Sacred Texts. As a lifelong fan of sci-fi movies, I’ve long collected books, magazines and, more recently, videos all about the making-of sci-fi and other movies. My first magazine I remember collecting was Forry Ackerman’s “Famous Monsters of Filmland,” and I would later graduate to Starlog, Cinemafantastique, Sci-Fi Universe, and others, including several British…
From Mechanic to Messiah: Yaphet Kotto (1939-2021)…
Yaphet Kotto (1939-2021). With his wife at his side, longtime actor Yaphet Kotto passed away on March 15th in the Philippines at the age of 81. He was one of those character actors I’d always hoped to meet someday, but this hope is sadly gone. At an imposing 6 ft. 3 inches tall, Kotto brought…
San Diego Comic Con 2019 Megapost 2: Star Trek, Space Command, and a BIG shark…
Lessons learned; the ecstasy and agony. The first lesson of San Diego Comic Con attendance should be choose where to spend your time wisely. Try to sift through what sounds good versus what has real substance. Of course, it’s difficult to say what is actually worth your while until you’re actually there, right? It’s a…
San Diego Comic Con 2019 MegaPost: Preview Night and Cosplay…
San Diego Comic Con 2019 (the 50th anniversary) is once again upon us, and the crowds (limited to around 130,000 now) once again make this glorious, wildly over-the-top celebration of pop culture feel like a curious mix of “The Wizard Of Oz” and “Soylent Green.” Preview Night. Cosplay. Cosplay is the soul of these conventions….
For its 40th anniversary, “ALIEN” lands in New Jersey as a high school play!
Way back when I was in high school (right around the time of the first cave paintings) I was in our school’s drama club. Even though I had no real intention of ever becoming an actor (though one of my classmates did), it helped me build a little self-confidence and overcome a fear of public…