Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Too Much Summer TV 2022, part 2

Sorry that it’s been over a week since part one, but I’ve been preoccupied with catching up on the new summer TV (especially Stranger Things), so here’s my take on a few more shows that have started-up/resumed recently. Stranger Things Though I had loved the last season a lot, I confess that I wasn’t as…

Too Much Summer TV 2022, part 1

I know it’s not truly summer yet, but let’s not split hairs — there are so many new shows and new seasons that I can’t wait any longer! At a time when we should be heading out (finally!) to cinemas for the start of the blockbuster movie season, the streamers are bombarding us with so…

Top Gun: Maverick – Movie Review

I hadn’t watched the original Top Gun until last night, but I’m glad I did and even gladder that I watched this amazing 35-year-later sequel today. As a teen in the 80s, I never understood the love for Top Gun. Its cocky, rule-breaking hero; its macho, slogan-filled dialogue; and its dizzying, testosterone-fuelled cockpit action sequences…

Downton Abbey: A New Era – Movie Review

The obvious reaction to this movie (and even I, a huge Downton Abbey fan, thought this way) is that it’s just another cash-grab sequel with an irrelevant plot that keeps these aging characters around as long as they can make a buck. The title, “Downton Abbey: A New Era”, suggests a big transition, but it’s…

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…

Oscar Schmoscar 2022

I originally started these posts to express my tongue-in-cheek disinterest in the Oscars, especially who the winners were (since I’d watched so surprisingly few). However, over the years, I’ve shifted to genuine interest in the nominees (though I still don’t care that much about who wins) and look on them as a checklist of films…

Midwinter TV 2022

Even though there are now new shows popping up at any time of the year, winter seems to be a bit like the new fall. A number of shows have debuted over the last couple of months, some good and some meh. Here’s a few that I’ve watched (many of you may have watched some…

Spider-Man: No Way Home – Catch-up Movie Review

I’m probably one of the last people to see this movie, which has been out for almost two months. But at least this way I can comment freely without fear of giving anything away about this movie because you’ve all seen it, right? Nevertheless, just in case, I’m still issuing a spoiler alert for this…