Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Frozen – Movie Review

When I heard that Frozen was going to be based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Snow Queen”, I was excited because I think Disney movies are at their best when they are adapting famous folktales into family musical adventures. After Tangled was a success at reinventing that Disney formula using computer animation instead…

Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Movie Review

Missing hardly a beat from the conclusion of the first movie, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark (played again by Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson) are living in the aftermath of their victory in the 74th Hunger Games, the fictional arena sport where teenagers fight for their own survival, for the benefit of their home district,…

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor – TV Review

Doctor Who celebrates 50 years of television history this week, though I only joined for the last eight or so (and I’ve probably only really understood about 60% of those eight seasons). Still, it was really exciting to see how The Day of the Doctor would continue the story of this Gallifreyan Time Lord while…

Fall TV 2013 – New Drama

Unlike some previous years where new series became instant classics (I’m thinking of Lost and Desperate Housewives — 2004 was a banner year!), I find this season has some potential new hit drama series but they’ll probably need some time to come into their own. Of new drama series, my favourite is (suprisingly) The Blacklist….

Fall TV 2013 – Returning Drama

Last season’s finales left us with big changes in many drama series, so as we pick those up in this season’s premieres, our favourite characters are probably making some transitions and adjustments. The Vampire Diaries is always good for some plot twists, and the fact that Stefan turned out to be a doppelganger for Silas…

Fall TV 2013 – Comedy

For the last few years, the fall premiere season has been pretty spread out, but this year it seems like we’re back to the traditional big bang of having a lot of the shows start together. It’s October now, so the season is in full swing and we’ve had a few episodes to enjoy both…

Riddick – Movie Review

After nine years of waiting, is it a disappointment that Riddick is more of a reboot than a sequel to the trilogy of movies that began with the well-crafted Pitch Black in 2000 and sort of fell off the cliff in 2004 with Chronicles of Riddick? As before, Vin Diesel plays the ex-con, murderer, and…

The World’s End – Movie Review

It’s not hard to see how The World’s End is meant to be an unofficial sequel to 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. Featuring the same lead actors (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) and the same writer/director (Edgar Wright), The World’s End also features the pub as a backdrop for a bunch of ordinary British blokes…

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – Book Review

I consider it a miracle in itself that I finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. After all, the book is almost 800 pages long (and since I listened to the audiobook, it was also over 30 hours long)! While it deals with magic and is set in an England where magic…