There’s a Guillermo Del Toro quote doing the rounds this week. Del Toro was a critic before he was a film director and he’s very much a student of his field as well as one of its leaders. The quote is this: ‘I think that the only times I felt really useful were when …
It’s an easy stereotype to describe a story as being about stories. Postmodernism is the default dialect for a vast amount of contemporary genre fiction and it’s impossible to walk three steps without seeing a reference, an homage or a subtle nod to a previous traveler. Many books lean on that. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt …
Lethal Weapon was the farthest man from home. Every other action franchise from the end of the 20th century has either been revived or is about to be from Macguyver to Bad Boys. But, thanks in no small part to the colossal public flameouts of one of its stars, Lethal Weapon has remained in the …
Train to Busan is one of those stories horror was built to tell. It’s superficial simplicity and brutal efficiency covers a story that’s equal parts social commentary, tragedy and action film and the movie delivers on all three of those genres. A US remake is in the works but if you can, you should see …
(written after the announcement that Lord and Miller had been removed as directors of 2018’s Han Solo movie) One universe over, this is a far more interesting news story. After the departure, mutually agreed and amicable of course, of Lord and Miller from the Han Solo prequel movie, Disney take a few days to let …
Comics with guitars. Warren Ellis once used those three words to describe 2000AD’s house style and its a phrase that’s stayed with me for years, just like 2000AD itself. Launched 40 years ago today, 2000AD is the comic equivalent of six impossible things before breakfast. It’s an anthology title. It’s weekly. It crosses the genres. …
National Geographic’s ‘Mars’ is one of the shows that’s stayed with me over the last year or so Cutting between a fictional future expedition and interviews with scientists and thinkers about the costs of that mission it managed to balance the joy of ‘SPACE!” With some pretty solid factual stuff. ‘Grounded’, the second episode …
(Photo from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, one of the best Christmas movies ever made. And the only one involving a joke about a talking chimp.) Happy Almost Christmas everyone! As we turn to the traditional ‘CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!’ phase of the year I’m planning on doing something a little different. I had a few …
The Orville starts in the UK tonight. If you like Seth MacFarlane shows this is him stretching, a lot. If you don’t like Seth MacFarlane shows, this is him not stretching enough. Here’s the trailer. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej24W8gcmXQ] It’s patchy, especially in the first half but the more I watched the more I liked it. The …