Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Getting Creepy with Netflix 2019

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween and things got a little scary or creepy. As an occasional tradition, I like to pick out a few scary movies to watch around this time. However, as I’ve said before, I am a chicken when it comes to truly gory or malevolent horror. I am satisfied with…

Fall TV 2019 – New Shows

It’s always tough to know which new shows to watch, to give chances to. I usually pick my favourite genres (e.g. sitcoms, sci-fi, and lawyer shows). Sadly there was little new sci-fi this fall — and we’ve been in a pretty long slump of sci-fi flops, except for Star Trek, of course. Lawyer shows have…

Fall TV 2019 – Returning Shows

Wow! The new fall network TV season must have bought some new sneakers, because it just came out of nowhere! Each year I’ve been saying how the streaming TV revolution has been changing the way we view “fall TV season”, but this year I almost didn’t remember that new shows and new episodes were coming….

Downton Abbey – Movie Review

“Welcome back to Downton Abbey”. This feature film’s return to our favourite castle in the English countryside is fan-service of the best kind. It’s almost as if the successful and beloved show (I’ve watched the series through three times already!) never ended — or at least kept going while off the air. Everyone is back,…

2019 Summer TV Binge-watching

While summer used to be about taking a break from TV and watching blockbuster movies, counter-programming on Netflix, Amazon and other streaming channels have made this summer more about some fun shows. While I enjoyed myself some Avengers and Spider-man action early on, over the last month there’s been a new series to binge-watch each…

Spider-man: Far From Home – Movie Review

I’m not sure whether it was the European locales, or another fresh performance by Tom Holland as Spider-man, that had me most looking forward to this movie. Having the kids from Spider-man: Homecoming head to London, Venice, Prague, Berlin, etc. for their class trip may have seemed unrealistically extravagant, but how else do I get…

Toy Story 4 – Movie Review

I didn’t expect Toy Story to keep going, but having enjoyed this fourth installment, I’m thinking that the franchise could probably continue indefinitely. This time around, we pick up the tale of Woody, Buzz, and the others after they’ve been with new child, Bonnie, for a while (long enough for Bonnie to neglect Woody and…

Mamoru Hosoda: A New Japanese Animation Master

One of the joys of the TV off-season is the opportunity to catch up on movies. Recently, I spent five evenings binge-watching the works of new Japanese master animator, Mamoru Hosoda. When it comes to Japanese animated films, most people think of Studio Ghibli, founded by master animator Hayao Miyazaki. Their kinds of movies are…

BBT vs GOT: What’s the right way to end an era?

Spoiler warning: If you have not yet watched the last two episodes of The Big Bang Theory or Game of Thrones, why not?! Even the photos above have probably already spoiled things for you. Nevertheless, you should probably stop reading and go stream the episodes instead, in case you still want some surprise from the…