Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Animation is awesome: 10 new and returning shows to prove it

Ever since I grew up in the 80s watching Saturday Morning Cartoons, I have loved watching animation. When done well, there is a dynamic fun and imaginative freedom to animation that even the most CGI-heavy live action cannot reproduce. With the streaming channels there are a lot of animated series floating around (most of them…

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – Movie Review

I’m not sure what Tom Cruise’s secret is, but I enjoy every one of these Mission Impossible movies even though I barely recall what happens in them by the time I leave the theatre. Admittedly, it’s been a minute since this movie came out and the hype train seems to have moved on to “Barbenheimer”…

BookTube: For the love of reading (& YouTube)

If you had told me a few years ago that soon I would be spending more time watching videos on YouTube than streaming Netflix, I would have called you crazy. While I observed YouTube’s incredible popularity, I always thought it was more for kids with short attention spans watching pranks, unboxings, or their friends playing…

Summer TV 2023

Now that summer has become a legitimate TV season (thanks to streaming), it’s exciting to be able to watch series that I enjoy (along with a few new shows) during a period when everything used to be on hiatus or reruns. The new seasons of Black Mirror and the debut of Marvel’s Secret Invasion really…

The Flash – Movie Review

The box office is a pretty tough place these days — even for a big-budget superhero action movie. Fans are told more about the machinations of the mega-studios in the background than the actual movies themselves. We hear about 10-year roadmaps, reboots, and the ever-elusive shared cinematic universes. All that static was no help to…

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Movie Review

The 2018 movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a fun, visually-stunning, refreshingly-creative success that left some very large shoes to fill. Not only did this sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, need to impress us with amazing animation, but also needed to continue the meaningful, heartfelt, humorous story that was begun in the first film. I’m…

Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 – Movie Review

Finishing off the Guardians trilogy with trademark fun adventures and hilarious characters, this third volume fits perfectly on top of its MCU sundae. I know that everyone has seen this movie already, but that only gives me room to get a bit spoilery as I discuss what I liked and didn’t like. For those of…

Spring TV 2023 – Apple Edition

I know it’s been a while, but I have been watching stuff even though I haven’t been writing about it all. Colour me surprised when I renewed my Apple TV+ subscription in order to catch the latest and final season of Ted Lasso, only to end up watching several more series (and one documentary film)….

Must-See Winter TV 2023

I am normally the last person to say anything is “must-see”, not because I don’t believe in great TV and movies, but because I am a firm believer in the diversity of tastes and “to each his own”. However, it’s been a while since I’ve posted about TV shows, sadly because I haven’t been super-excited…