It’s science-fiction anathema to say so, but I’m not a huge fan of Dune. Oh, I can certainly appreciate the book. I reread it again a couple months ago and my opinion on it hasn’t changed too much from the first time — it’s a great and compelling story set against a vast and imaginative… Continue reading Cup of (Spice) Tea
Tag: Movies
In Defense of The Phantom Menace’s Opening Crawl
The opening crawl to The Phantom Menace is decidedly dull. Where the crawls to the original trilogy spoke of civil war, the dreaded Imperial Fleet, and a second Death Star, The Phantom Menace opens with a discussion of the taxation of trade routes. Maybe the crawl gets interesting later on? Nah. There’s no evil Galactic… Continue reading In Defense of The Phantom Menace’s Opening Crawl
Game Movie
My first interaction with Final Fantasy VII was through the movie Advent Children. It’s not a great introduction to the game (and its many spin-offs); it needs you to be super familiar with the story of the game and makes no attempt to ease you into the world at all. But it looked cool, with… Continue reading Game Movie
Not Just A Monster (Movie)
One of science fiction’s great abilities is to use its fantastical nature to dig into something deeper (its other great ability is to conjure great worlds for fun stories). Godzilla, as a character, is able to quite deftly do both, sometimes he’s the avatar of some terror on the edges of the collective psyche, other… Continue reading Not Just A Monster (Movie)
Nine Things From 2023
It’s the actual end of the year and I have, once again, compiled a list of nine things that I really enjoyed this year. That’s right, like last year I’m not just doing movies, I’m doing things. As usual, there are nine just in case a tenth one pops up. And these aren’t necessarily a… Continue reading Nine Things From 2023
Marvelous
So The Marvels is out now, another MCU movie in a deluge of MCU media so prolific that the initialism MCU no longer needs an explanation. We’re a long way away from 2012 when the whole idea of a Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed like a long shot that paid off with The Avengers. But that… Continue reading Marvelous
(Old) New Trek
Looking for a movie to watch this weekend, I saw that a theater near me was showing the 2009 Star Trek. I’ve been meaning to watch the movie again, I remember loving it; though not being much of a Trek fan at the time. It was cool and it’s much of the reason I was… Continue reading (Old) New Trek
Barbenheimer
9:30 AM There are two movies coming out this weekend that are very different. They also make a great double feature because of how different they are. At last, it’s time for Barbenheimer 10:15 AM I’m starting my day off with Oppenheimer. I’m a big fan of Nolan so I’m really curious about this movie.… Continue reading Barbenheimer
Breaking Spider-Canon
Heads up: Spoilers for Across The Spider-Verse in this one. One thing I really like about Into The Spider-Verse is how it tackles the identity of Spider-Man. Miles Morales is bitten by a radioactive spider around when his world’s Peter Parker dies. So Miles takes up the mantle of Spider-Man and, under the tutelage of… Continue reading Breaking Spider-Canon
Flight of Fancy
I feel like world-building is something that can often be overwrought. Plenty of fantasy/science-fiction writing resources offer guides and rubrics where you can figure out language, cultural histories, religions, foods, and political systems; creating a world with a Tolkien-esque detail for your story to play in. It’s Hemingway’s iceberg theory: for everything on the page… Continue reading Flight of Fancy
Essays, Not Rants! 