The Birds, the Birds, and the Beatles
One of the delights of running a film review website is being able to repost an article just because we feel like it. Admittedly, we have many to choose from[…]
Category: SF & Fantasy
Covid-19 · Disease and Epidemics · Men & Masculinity · Military and Paramilitary · Pandemic · SF & Fantasy
Life Is Wonderful: Double Apocalypse and Redemption in Virus: Day of Resurrection (1980)
As a single-minded seismologist posted in Antarctica who predicts the disastrous DC quake, Yoshizumi embodies the willful blindness and debasement of humans in the Cold War era: like those who[…]
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Psychology · Religion & Spirituality · SF & Fantasy
Salvation from the Skies: Carl Jung Watches The Day the Earth Stood Still
In the same way that reading Jung can provide insight into The Day the Earth Stood Still, it is also the case that watching the movie can illuminate aspects of[…]
AI · Asian · Philosophy · Revolution · SF & Fantasy
The Ignition of Species Being: A Marxian Reading of The Wandering Earth 2
ABSTRACT Marx’s idea of species being is the recognition by humans that their work is carried out for the sake of other humans (rather than for any god or ruler).[…]
Crime · Drama · Sex & Relationships · SF & Fantasy
Presence Tension: The Scary of 61st
This leaves the provocateur director herself in her role as catalyst for the mayhem to follow as the ultimate filmic presence wreaking its influence on others. Assigned only the title[…]
Activist & Political · Class System · Crime · Essays · Franchises & Series · Myth and Archetype · Outsiders · Politics · SF & Fantasy · Societal Trends · Superheroes
Don’t Be Weird: Heroes, Villains, and the Reinforcement of Class Distinctions in Modern Blockbusters
If you want to make a popular blockbuster, it better be about the right kind of person – and the right kind of person isn’t a loser. A decade ago,[…]
Horror · Indies · Mental Illness · Sex & Relationships · SF & Fantasy
Beauty, Violence, Boredom: Santa Sangre (Jodorowsky, 1989)
It is not that there is something wrong with Jodorowsky’s perseveration on sex and violence per se; it is that he is not saying anything about it. It is an[…]
Exploitation & Erotica · Mondo Culture · SF & Fantasy · Superheroes · Thrillers & Action
Gay E.T., Muslim Dracula, Kung Fu Star Wars: An Overview of Turksploitation
Turkish exploitation movies are one of the most elusive gold mines of film history. * * * Currently, no exclusive history of Turksploitation cinema exists in print. The most exhaustive[…]
Drama · Eco · Games & Gaming · Literature and Film · SF & Fantasy · War
Villeneuve’s Dune, Warhammer 40K, and the Next Frontier of Space Operas
The everyday hero is a foreign concept in a universe where obscure machinations corrode a society that blindly follows in the hopes of stability and lasting glory. * * *[…]
Drama · Philosophy · SF & Fantasy
On 2001: A Space Odyssey: The Monolith and Its Influences
In this new reading of 2001, the monolith is used as a touchstone for considering a dozen tangents into iconoclastic cinema, the human and simian response to enigma, and the[…]
African · African American · Drama · Essays · Exile and Displacement · Family · Historical & Epic · Race · SF & Fantasy
Black Face Cinema: Historical Grief and the Angry Black (Wo)Man
A think piece discussing the movies Antebellum, Black Panther, Django Unchained, Get Out, and Us. It compares their reception and portrayal of anti-black racism and black suffering, via the lens[…]
Animation · Essays · Fairy Tale · Franchises & Series · SF & Fantasy
To Infinity, and Beyond! Radical Self-Reorientation in the Toy Story Series
Looking back to the original Toy Story series, it seems obvious that one of the things that really helps Buzz accept his child’s toy nature is that he is good[…]
Absurdism · Drama · Essays · Media · Philosophy · SF & Fantasy
Leaving the World of “The Truman Show”
“Where’s the TV Guide?” – last line of the film * * * Introduction Truman Burbank exits the only world he knows. We – the television audience in the film,[…]
Actors & Personalities · Comedy · Feminism · Indies · Interviews · SF & Fantasy
The Secret of Her Success: An Interview with Helen Slater
For me, on Supergirl, I was 100% in. It was the biggest opportunity that ever happened to me, and the process of making the film was very nourishing. I think[…]
Wild Imagination: Forty Years of The Thing
“You just can’t beat wild imagination.” – Bob Bottin * * * It took decades for John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) to find an audience, on home video and cable.[…]
Animation · Franchises & Series · Myth and Archetype · SF & Fantasy
Batman, Anime, and How to Make Great Pop Art
Blockbuster films don’t have to be watered-down hero fare to succeed at the box office. The compelling design and archetypal simplicity of our comic-book heroes are gold mines for stories[…]
Body Horror · Horror · SF & Fantasy
“A Great Future in Plastics”: Crimes of the Future and Cronenberg’s Story of Evolution
The voice-over tells us that as a result of this neo-venereal disease, his colleague’s body is creating new organs, each one complex, perfect, unique, but without function. Each time these[…]
Activist & Political · African American · Essays · Franchises & Series · Race · SF & Fantasy · SF/Fantasy · Societal Trends
Star Trek: Voyager – “Tuvix” and the Warped Humanities
If Deep Space 9 demonstrates how the casting of African American commanders in chief – and their election – may constitute or create a backlash disguised as “progress,” it has[…]
Franchises & Series · Philosophy · SF & Fantasy · Societal Trends
The Batman, the Grand Appeaser: Repressive Desublimation, Foucault, and False Hope
The Batman (2022) fulfills complex, necessary roles in society. The intricate power relations of the film, as a part of mass media, are directly related to those in the spectacle[…]
Franchises & Series · Gender · Men & Masculinity · SF & Fantasy
Toxic Masculinity? There’s More to Tony Stark
Further analysis of Tony Stark indicates the character exemplifies more than toxic masculinity. Stark’s various actions and roles throughout his nine-film arc can be interpreted as exemplifying gender nonconformity too,[…]
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