Project Hail Mary is a technical wonder. The movie will stick in the mind of its viewers (me included) because of its emotional buddy-duo adventure section, but it cannot be understated how impressive this movie is from both a movie-making technical level (meaning sets and camera work) and from a writing perspective.
Pluribus is a fascinating science fiction show with one of the most intriguing premises I’ve seen in years. For those that love the genre’s propensity for posing interesting, mind-expanding questions, this is it.
The Hunger Games trilogy is important to me. I read the series right before the craze hit. To this day, it may be the first fandom I was on the ground floor for. I recall seeing every movie quickly after they came out.
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is so good it’s actually a little difficult to review. I can recall when the first Clone Wars animated series came out, and to see the constant evolution since then has been stunning. Even the much more recent Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld cannot match Maul’s excellence.
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is an odd movie. Full of so many very deliberate choices. I cannot confirm this, but I couldn’t help but feel the creators were going for a very specific homage, or were perhaps trying to replicate a distinct director’s style.
The Astronaut tricks you into thinking it’s a good movie. It’s not. God, is it not. I haven’t had a movie disappoint me so deep into its runtime in forever. The opening scenes hook you in with a cool mystery and then plays with expectations in a way that suggests solid writing is yet to come…and then it all goes speeding downhill.
Ash is a good movie in hindsight. The plot is full of interesting ideas and has lots of fun clues to analyze after the fact (though bright lights/flashing warning). But the first parts of the movie—despite its best efforts—are fairly dull for anyone who has some experience with horror storytelling.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Has Big Interactions Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a weak set, all told. As I went through the cards (and yes, I read every main-set card) I was only really impressed by the synergies, not the individual pieces. And while synergies are great for Magic, they don’t work well for a…
Cleopatra in Space is baffling on every level. Someone with deep pockets or a large group of people clearly loves this idea/story/concept so much that they have thrown an inordinate number of resources at it.
I wonder if episodes of Starfleet Academy took Star Trek concepts and tried to find ways to make them fit into generic college/high school plots, or if the show started with those tropes and then figured out how to make them fit the world building.
Hello Tomorrow! is perhaps one of the most unique sci-fi shows to come out in a long time. It’s got such an odd combination of factors that somehow come together to deliver an engaging drama and mystery revolving around a big, central question. But, unlike a lot of other dramas, there’s no hero. This is a show where almost everyone is a scam artist—though some of them don’t actually know they’re running a scam.
Paradise is one of the best-written shows I’ve seen in a long time. It’s intricate without being confusing. Multi-layered without pulling away from its core storytelling. And gives answers to its many posed questions at a good enough pace that it’s always surprising that there’s another layer of mystery to uncover.
