The Alienist is a period drama TV series set in New York of the late 19th century. Based on the novel of the same name by Caleb Carr, The Alienist debuted in mid-2018 to mixed critical responses. The Alienist Season 2 was released in July 2020 and based on Carr’s sequel novel, The Angel of Darkness.
The Queen’s Gambit is a Netflix limited series based on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis. The series is alternately a chess fantasy and a feminist drama. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, the main character, the story is set in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a historical drama based on real life events that took place in the late 1960s. 1968 was a tumultuous year for the USA. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy shook American politics. The nation was divided over the escalation of the USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War, which led to protests and demonstrations in the streets.
Today, 8th August 2020, Netflix begins streaming two more Eric Khoo movies that I contributed music to. Over at the Kevin Mathews Composer Facebook page, I shared these song stories to mark this occasion. Hope you find the reading as much fun as I did the writing.
Today, 1st August 2020, Netflix begins streaming three Eric Khoo movies that I contributed music to. Over at the Kevin Mathews Composer Facebook page, I shared these song stories to mark this occasion. Hope you find the reading as much fun as I did the writing.
The Umbrella Academy is an American superhero streaming television series based on the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way, illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics. Created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater, it revolves around a dysfunctional family of adopted sibling superheroes who reunite to solve the mystery of their father’s death and the threat of an imminent apocalypse.
Velvet Buzzsaw is a 2019 American satirical black comedy horror film directed and written by Dan Gilroy and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Zawe Ashton, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Daveed Diggs, Nitya Vidyasagar, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer, Billy Magnussen, Mig Macario, and John Malkovich.
Bandersnatch is a 2018 interactive film in the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade.
The Haunting of Hill House is a horror drama miniseries streaming on Netflix. Loosely based on Shirley Wilson’s classic 1959 novel of the same name, this Netflix series is a tour-de-force from writer-director Mike Flanagan and possibly one of the best of its kind this year.
Welsh director Gareth Evans – best known for The Raid – is the person behind Apostle, a period religious horror film starring Dan Stevens (of Legion fame).
As regular visitors will know, I am a huge fan of scifi author Phillip K Dick and I always take pleasure in discovering works that incorporate the themes that Dick’s novels focused on. In that light, I highly recommend the new Netflix streaming series, Maniac.
Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction psychological horror film written and directed by Alex Garland, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer.
Mute (also known as Moon II in some countries) is a 2018 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Duncan Jones, who co-wrote the script with Michael Robert Johnson. A follow-up to his 2009 film Moon, it stars Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Robert Sheehan, Noel Clarke, Florence Kasumba, and Dominic Monaghan, revolving around a mute bartender (Skarsgård) searching for the love of his life (Seyneb Saleh) who has mysteriously disappeared.
There was a moment – the briefest possibly – where it seemed that the writers/producers behind Discovery were going to reboot the entire series using the escape from the Mirror Universe as the plot device.
Perhaps then Discovery would exist in a reality more aligned to the original series (which is supposedly a decade away from the events depicted so far.
Black Mirror Season 4 is the 4th season of a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are near-future dystopias utilising a science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction.
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Chris Smith. The film follows actor Jim Carrey as he remains in character as Andy Kaufman during the production of the 1999 film Man on the Moon, directed by Miloš Forman. (Wikipedia)
It was a little instructional to binge watch this 2nd season to Netflix’s 80s scifi homage Stranger Things after catching the risible Thor: Ragnarok. If nothing else, Stranger Things 2 demonstrated that the golden age of scifi movies was definitely the 80s.