Star Trek: Discovery has been a revelation so far – succeeding at combining classic Trek tropes with a more post-modern sensibility. As good as the previous episodes have been, “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For the Lamb’s Cry” may be the best instalment so far.
Expectations were predictably low for The Gifted, the latest Fox mutant TV series. Based on the synopsis, it appeared similar to Heroes and the first season of Agents of SHIELD. Thankfully, it exceeded our expectations!
300+ paged book on Green Arrow? You have got to hand it to writer Richard Gray and publisher Sequart Organization for investing the time and effort into this unlikely character study.
Here we are again, about to defend a geek movie that most movie critics have harshly criticised. In a crowded space for summer blockbusters, it was difficult for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to get attention from movie goers but it is definitely worth the effort!
Neil Gaiman is a critically acclaimed award-winning writer who started his career with comic books – notably on the fan favourite Sandman – and novels (viz. American Gods, Coraline, Stardust and The Graveyard Book).
In a recent interview with The Wrap, and on the heels of the mega-success of Wonder Woman, DC Entertainment president Geoff Johns declared – in reference to future movies – that DC would, “get to the essence of the character and make the movies fun”.
Wonder Woman is a 2017 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Atlas Entertainment and Cruel and Unusual Films, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the fourth installment of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), the first film of the Wonder Woman trilogy within the shared universe, and a prequel/spin-off to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
Alien: Covenant is a 2017 science fiction action horror film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by John Logan and Dante Harper, from a story by Michael Green and Jack Paglen. A joint American and British production, the film is a sequel to Prometheus (2012), the second entry in the Alien prequel series, and the sixth installment in the Alien franchise overall, three of which have been directed by Scott. (Wikipedia)
Not quite sure what to make of this. Basically with Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman “reaches back through time to the original source stories in a thrilling and vivid rendition of the great Norse tales” – as the press release informs us. So is it something like an album of covers? And why is it so short (304 pages)?
With all the brouhaha going on in the USA – the home of the superhero – concerning alleged Russian interference in the recent Presidential elections, it is interesting to consider Guardians, a superhero movie made in Russia.
Star Wars changed the face of cinema when it was released in 1977, never mind the face of scifi movies. In the decade following its whirlwind success, 13 films (included the Star Wars sequels) built on the new paradigm which director George Lucas had provided.
The last time a scifi movie moved us as much as Arrival was Predestination (2014), the Spierig brothers’ adaptation of Robert A Heinlein’s 1959 short story, -All You Zombies-.
In 1977, Star Wars made the scifi movie highly bankable, taking the concepts of the pulp serials of the 30s and the B-movies of the 50s into the commercial stratosphere. Almost 40 years later, Star Wars still reigns supreme in the form of The Force Awakens and Rogue One – massive worldwide blockbusters which have captured the imagination of the casual movie-goer.
Serialised story-telling in science-fiction TV really took off – we would suggest – in the early 1990s with Star Trek: The Next Generation and Babylon 5. The success of these space operas resulted in a flurry of similar type series, including two from the Star Trek franchise viz. Deep Space Nine and Voyager and the successful re-imagining of the Battlestar Galactica (BSG) movie franchise into a edgy, thought-provoking drama that reflected the times succinctly.
Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world, whose sole inhabitant is the synthetic David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Considering that 2016 had the most superhero movies to date (SIX!) – a valid concern would be creeping fatigue – would the sheer volume of such movies turn people against superhero movies in general?
Synopsis
A secret government agency led by Amanda Waller recruits imprisoned supervillains (as Task Force X) to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a powerful threat, in exchange for leaner sentences. Directed by David Ayer and starring Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jared Leto (Joker), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Viola Davis (Waller) and many others.