More avant-garde/speculative fiction/fantasy than outright scifi, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster is a triumph of imaginative allegory. There is a strong message running through the narrative that somewhat loses steam in the third act. The set-up though is well conceptualised.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! 7 REASONS TO WATCH SUPERGIRL (GALLERY)
Now that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is history, let’s look ahead to the scifi, superhero & fantasy flicks that await us geeks in the coming new year!
So much to say, too much to unload. Considering the sheer level of hype poured down on this movie, it’s fair to accept that it was never ever going to live up to the hype. I probably need to watch again to absorb all the nuances but basically, what I feel is that The Force Awakens is either a Star Wars reboot or a fan-made tribute or eye candy searching desperately for a story or perhaps all of the above.
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Continue reading GEEK OUT! FINALLY. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS [SPOILERS]
A couple of factoids before we move on, dear PoP geek reader.
First, Justin Lin (of Fast & Furious fame 3-6) directs (JJ Abrams had some other scifi movie to work on!). Second, this movie is being released in 2016 — the most saturated geek movie year EVAH!
The latest Star Wars sequel is a mere 3 days away from opening in Singapore and hordes of geeks are eagerly waiting to see whether director JJ Abrams can return the series to its former glories, after the dismal critical reception of the prequels back in 1999 – 2005, despite the trilogy grossing a total of $2.5 billion at the box office.
Continue reading GEEK OUT: COUNTDOWN TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Trust Arrow to give us something dark before X’Mas! With Damien Darhk hellbent on teaching Oliver Queen a lesson, the spectre of death was looming over all of Queen’s family, friends and beloved ones. Well, let’s just say it does not end well (remember that in the season opener, a death was foreshadowed) and so …
Continue reading GEEK OUT! ARROW MIDSEASON FINALE: PHOTO GALLERY
The third season of Agents of SHIELD has been upping the ante with the Inhumans dilemma. Throw in conspiracies within ACTU linked to HYDRA (inevitably), Simmon’s sojourn on the blue planet & the heightening of the Coulson-Ward feud – finally, Agents of SHIELD is providing some scifi-based competition to CW’s Arrow and The Flash.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! AGENTS OF SHIELD MIDSEASON FINALE: PHOTO GALLERY
A wonderful Xmas episode for The Flash! Attention was drawn to many faces as secrets were revealed, Weather Wizard & Trickster joined forces (Captain Cold demurred) & Team Flash (this time consisting of Cisco, Harrison AND Jay) saved the day! However, Wells had to make a Faustian bargain. Oh and not much of Barry in his costume…
“Human for a Day” – Supergirl loses her powers and Hank Henshaw reveals his true identity (yeah, spoiler-ish).
This looks like a bad idea.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON – SWORD OF DESTINY TRAILER
Debuting in January 2016, the DC/CW TV series Legends of Tomorrow is quite an ambitious superhero team project that spins off the successful Arrow and Flash series.
Not a day goes by when climate change isn’t on news headlines somewhere. Whether it’s unseasonable weather patterns or politicians using it as a talking point, we can all see its effects on our daily life. Since movies are nothing if not a reflection of everyday life, it’s not surprising that our worries about the environment fighting back have long been on the big screen.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! FIVE ECO-HORROR MOVIES TO GIVE YOU REAL WORLD NIGHTMARES!
Barely before the excitement over the first Captain America: Civil War trailer has subsided, Warners releases a new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and it is a humdinger!
Why does this exist? Well, a couple of reasons.
— Sequels are profitable.
— Trilogies are in vogue
— A cash in on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (where the version of Batman is inspired by The Dark Knight Returns)
Oh, you wanted artistic reasons.
Scifi TV geeks have been waiting for a long time for a series that matches the epic sweep of Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica. Thus, when it was announced that Syfy was adapting James SA Corey’s Expanse series, there was palpable excitement amongst geeks that perhaps the wait was over. Based on the pilot, there is enough evidence that The Expanse may have a shot at emulating the greatness of the aforementioned series.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! THE EXPANSE LIVES UP TO ITS NAME!
When news was announced about the cast for Captain America : Civil War, folks starting referring to the sequel as Avengers 2.5. But based on the first trailer, it’s clearly a Cap movie – it’s just that Cap’s quest for justice for his friend Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier) leads him to war with Iron Man and his team.
Which is a clever twist to how the original comic book story played it. It’s about Cap being loyal to his best friend in the face of virtually impossible odds. What a story this is going to be! And we get a first look at Black Panther too! 2016 is going to be an amazing superhero movie year.
Check it out now.
Netflix’s collaboration with Marvel featuring the grittier, street-wise superheroes of New York (of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) enters into Phase Two with Jessica Jones. Whilst Daredevil has a marquee-level brand recognition, Jessica Jones would only be familiar to diehard comic book fans, from the Marvel MAX series, Alias. Thus, it represented a bit of a risk for Netflix-Marvel to produce a Jessica Jones series over a more prominent character like say, The Punisher or even Luke Cage. But the gamble paid off and how!
The latest DC crossover event Convergence gave the company the excuse to reboot its characters yet again. For some reason, Marvel and DC are convinced that comic book readers constantly want something new in lieu of memorable stories.
The Silver Age Green Lantern (a.k.a. Hal Jordan) gets his latest makeover with the Renegade storyline: Hal gets a new look as he goes rogue from the Green Lantern Corps and along the way, Jordan steals a Green Lantern prototype gauntlet and power pack from the armoury.
Yes, like most geeks I can hardly wait to watch Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens when it opens in Singapore on 16th December 2015 (and yes, I have purchased my tickets already!) BUT at the back of my mind I have lingering doubts whether the movie can live up to its enormous hype. So let’s look at SEVEN of them, shall we?
Continue reading GEEK OUT! VII REASONS WHY STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS MIGHT SUCK!
It seldom gets as meta as it did in the 4-part Airboy series recently published by Image Comics, written by Jame Robinson and illustrated by Greg Hinkle.
Basically, Robinson and Hinkle are hired by Image Comics to reboot WWII hero Airboy for the millennial generation. Instead, the mini-series is about Robinson and Hinkle meeting Airboy (!) being transported into WWII and actually participating in an Airboy mission.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! AIRBOY – FEAR & SELF-LOATHING IN PATRIOTIC WWII CARTOON
Well you know when it comes to big superhero comics crossover, it’s easy to be cynical & look at them as nothing more than cash-grabs i.e. a gimmick to lure completist fans to buy every comic ‘associated’ with the main event storyline.
Well, strictly speaking, the issues focusing on Batman, Superman and the Flash do not occur within the current continuity of the regular titles so, one might argue that these one-shots do not qualify as cynical cash-grabs but a genuine attempt to explore the implications of Darkseid’s death.
Maybe.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE DARKSEID WAR – SUPERMAN #1 & FLASH #1
Some of the best horror movies ever made involve characters getting caught up in a common misfortune: home invasion. While rampant gore, the undead, and killer clowns are creepy and frightening, nothing is scarier than a horror film which revolves around everyday events. These terrifying home invasion movies will have you triple-checking your door locks at night well after Halloween is over.
Continue reading GEEK OUT! FIVE TERRIFYING HOME INVASION MOVIES TO ENJOY THIS HALLOWEEN!
2015 is the 50th anniversary of many critical events – as we are often reminded. However, as a fan of mind-bending science fiction, I would also like to point out that 1965 was the year Philip K Dick’s novel, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch was published. Along with other Dick classics like Ubik & Time Out of Joint, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch questions the very nature of reality itself with the story revolving around the use & experience of simulated reality by its key characters.