“Paul” (2011) is Simon Pegg & Nick Frost’s cheeky homage to Spielbergian sci-fi…

******UNIDENTIFIED FLYING SPOILERS!****** British actors/comedians/writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost broke geek ground with their memorable, short-lived fandom comedy “Spaced” (1999-2001), which was cowritten and co-created with costars Edgar Wright and Jessica Hynes. Pegg, Frost and Wright would follow with a George Romero inspired horror-comedy “Shaun of the Dead” (2004), which is where they first…

Closing argument on Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (2020)…

I’m taking a rare break from this column’s usual offerings of sci-fi/fantasy/horror content to cross examine writer/director Aaron (“The West Wing”) Sorkin’s latest courtroom drama based on the surreal “Trial of the “Chicago 7” (nearly eight, until unrepresented defendant Bobby Seale’s charge was nullified). This famed court case is a collision of establishment and counterculture,…