Film & Video

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

This movie takes place in January of the year 2021, and it’s disturbing how much this movie got right: an economy controlled by mega-corporations, giant homeless encampments, and a global pandemic — this sci-fi movie ...

“Red Scorpion” (1988)

After the white-hot airboat driving and suburbia-destroying intensity of "Invasion U.S.A." I just had to see what else could possibly come from the addled mind of director Joseph Zito. Unfortunately, the answer is "not much." ...

‘The Owl House’: Disney Does Hieronymus Bosch

Children’s literature, which this reporter maintains must include visual as well as text media, has always had a weird streak.  It’s tempting to cite “Adventure Time” as a recent trendsetter — the bizarro Cartoon Network ...

‘WandaVision’: A superhero mystery wrapped in a sitcom

The Marvel Cinematic Universe juggernaut has arrived on Disney+, and in our living rooms, with "WandaVision." The nine-episode TV serial finds two thus far underused MCU superheroes happily trapped with no memory inside what seems ...

How ‘Horta-nomics’ can save Star Trek’s socialist utopia from the horrors of the dilithium mines

This moment — Spock’s mind-meld with the Horta in “Devil in the Dark” -- is the instant when the socialist Federation of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" with all its hope becomes possible.Throughout the original ...

Excited about the new ‘Picard’ series? Here’s what to watch to get caught up.

“Picard,” a new “Star Trek” series featuring an older Captain Jean-Luc Picard dragging himself out of retirement for one last hurrah, premieres on January 23. In interviews about the forthcoming series, the producers (Alex Kurtzman, ...

Herzog in a Star Wars western? Meet ‘The Mandalorian’ (Review)

“The Mandalorian,” the first live action Star Wars TV series, is the Star Wars fan’s wet dream. It is a gritty take on Star Wars, so obsessed with the scum and villainy side of the ...

Everything I Know About ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ I Learned From ‘B.P.R.D.’ (Review)

You can stream this movie via Amazon or buy the fancy Blu Ray DVD. (Spoilers a-plenty in here, if that matters in a vaguely plotted stomp-a-rama.) There are three essential things you need to keep ...

‘The Atavist’ Adds a Humanist Twist to Time Travel

[Fresh from touring her award-winning science-fiction short "Real Artists," Cameo Wood, the impresario behind Charming Stranger Films, is hard at work with a new feature-length production — "The Atavist," a time-traveling tale with a humanist ...