Posted on by Alexander Case

Film Review: Solaris (1972)

When it comes to the “science and technology” part of Science Fiction, there tend to be three axis of thought, that end up forming into a sort of spectrum-ish thing – like those charts used in some video games where your character’s stats are portrayed in context of a geometric shape, with portions sticking out in different directions based on how you’ve chosen to weight things. There’s a technical term for this, but I don’t know what its. Read more

Tor.Com has started running a series of articles on African SFF (Science Fiction/Fantasy) writers. This is really awesome. SF/F Fandom tends to focus on writers and artists from the “Anglophone Zone” – The US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the EU (yes, not all EU countries have English as their primary language, but English is a fairly major language in the EU). East Asian countries – primarily Japan, China, and to a lesser degree Korea have also been getting some attention as well, but Africa and Latin America have not gotten near the same degree of attention that other countries have had.

So, this article is great, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Posted on by Alexander Case

Anime Review – Record of Lodoss War (1990)

This time I’m reviewing the fantasy anime series “Record of Lodoss War” from 1990.

Footage:

Music:

“Little Lily Swing” – Tri-Tachyon
Used under a Creative Commons License.

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Notes: Matt Walton suggested that I cover some of the material I’ve previously covered in my fanzine on the show – this is meant to be a part of that – I did an article on Western Fantasy in Anime that covered Lodoss and several other shows that I’ll get to in future episodes.

Posted on by Alexander Case

Film Review – Fury (2014)

“$NAME_OF_FILM” on/in a “$LOCATION_OR_VEHICLE” is a pretty good reductive way to describe some films. Under Siege is Die Hard on a Battleship. The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Starship Mine” was pitched as Die Hard on the Enterprise. The Magnificent Seven is The Seven Samurai in the old west. While it’s reductive, it’s not necessarily bad, nor is it necessarily a derogatory way to describe a film. Thus, don’t take it as a minus when I say that Fury is Das Boot (which I’ve previously reviewed) in a Sherman Tank. Read more

Posted on by Alexander Case

Film Review: Interstellar

Sometimes, science and scientific concepts make for great story hooks. Time Dilation – the idea that as you approach the speed of light, time slows down for you while moving normally for everyone else – is one of those concepts. One of the few high points of Flight of the Navigator was how it used time dilation to create pathos with the main character’s family having out-aged him. Makoto Shinkai’s Voices of a Distant Star did it with a couple being separated by not only distance, but time (a theme that would carry over to much of Shinkai’s other work). Interstellar does this with a parent and child. Read more

Posted on by Alexander Case

Movie Review: Gravity

Gravity is, quite possibly, the tensest film I’ve ever seen, and is one of the most profound combinations of imagery and music (chronologically) since the Star Wars films and Koyaanisqatsi, and only eclipsed by Mad Max: Fury Road. Read more

Posted on by Alexander Case

Movie Review: X-Men – Days of Future Past (Rogue Cut)

When it comes to comic book films, and adaptations of comic books to the screen, there are questions about how you adapt certain comic book concepts to the screen, and as cinematic universes get more involved, there is no question that has lingered in the background more than “How do you clean up a cluttered universe?” How do you not only pull a retcon, but a big universe altering one?

Days of Future Past not only attempts to pull such a retcon, but succeeds, by creating a situation where the X-Men films can change course to a new path different from the first 3 films, while still giving credit to where the earlier films worked. Read more