This weekend, I finally caught up with Marvel’s latest cinematic duology, as Captain America: Brave New World debuted on Disney+ and I went to see Thunderbolts* in the theatre. (I knew I was behind the ball, but I was still surprised that there were only three other people in the theatre with me. I guess…
Category: (3 out of 5)
Six Fantasy Novellas
I love fantasy fiction. As a genre, it brings the reader to so many wonderful, scary, imaginative, and vivid worlds and realities. Having magic in a story really opens up the possibilities for fun exploration and creativity. Over the last few months, I’ve read six novellas (i.e. short novels) that represent a pretty good variety…
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Book Review
I had high expectations for Mexican-Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s acclaimed novel, but was pretty let down. Given the book’s title, yes, there was everything classically gothic, but very little Mexican, aside from the geographic setting (and the occasional Spanish word). This tale of a rich city girl going out to a country mansion to rescue…
Empire of Silence (The Sun Eater, Book 1) by Christopher Ruocchio – Book Review
We start with a story that the main character (and sole point of view), Hadrian Marlowe, is recounting: his life story after he has achieved the notoriety of being named “Sun Eater”, due to his having destroyed a sun, killing millions of enemy aliens. But that story is not part of this book (presumably we…
Hellboy: The Crooked Man – Movie Review
As we have entered “spooky season”, I find myself once again looking for chilling stories (but nothing too scary for us chickens). Because I’ve always been a fan, I find myself turning to the latest Hellboy movie. The gruff, bruiser, quasi-anti-heroes are great characters to use as protagonists for exciting, action-fantasy stories (see also Marvel’s…
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – Movie Review
I never watched the original Planet of the Apes series of films (starring Charlton Heston back in the 1960s and 70s), but I am a fan of the recent trilogy of Apes films (2011-17) that told an origin story for what led the apes to take over the world from humans. (I also watched the…
Animation Reviews: Lightyear, Sing 2, The Sea Beast, The Bad Guys, Belle, and Bubble
Growing up with a lot of Disney, I’ve always loved animated movies. So even as a middle-aged adult, I enjoy catching up with a lot of these movies. These days there are a steady flow of them coming to theatres and streaming channels, and their visual quality and production values seem quite high. The only…
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Movie Review
The multiverse sure is becoming a popular travel destination. Between the recent sleeper hit, Everything Everywhere All At Once, the latest season of Star Trek: Picard, and of course, Marvel’s recent fun with variants in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the TV series Loki, everyone’s dabbling in alternate realities. This time, Doctor Strange gets multiversal…
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Movie Review
Oh, how the mighty have fallen! When a new Harry Potter movie came out, it was sold-out, top of the box office for weeks, but this was the second weekend for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and I was just in a theatre with only three others in the audience! (You probably don’t even…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 