Hitting an Ice Bird: a review of The Penguin

I mentioned The Sopranos, and I will also mention Breaking Bad, because both have the same elements that propel The Penguin: an exceptionally strong, large cast, a unique and compelling world, and a lead character whose performance is utterly incandescent. Farrell’s performance is right up there with Gandolfini or Cranston. It is utterly amazing.

Ghosts in the Machines: a review of Pantheon

Pantheon is solid, intelligent, probing science fiction, as good an example of the genre as you can hope to encounter. The scientific literacy and verisimilitude will remind you of Andy Weir or Peter Cawdron, and the moral and ethical complexity and ambiguity is straight from the pages of Harlan Ellison or Phillip K. Dick. Yes, it’s that good.

Calamari in New York: a review of Watchmen Chapters I and II

With the two part Watchmen movie, there would seem to be little to upset Moore. The dialogue, line for line, transitioned wholly intact from graphic novel to animation, right down to Rorschach’s use of “Herm.” It faithfully recreated every scene from the graphic novel. Dave Gibbons, who drew every panel of the original, oversaw the animation art from start to finish. The only element missing was Moore’s often-brilliant use of segues from one scene to another. And I’m not sure that could translate well.

Bold prediction: Next year will be called “2025”: a review of 2024

I didn’t do a lot of reviews this past year. Fifty three in all. It was an election year and I write mostly about politics, and I have a backlog going into 2025. Also, if I think something is rubbish, I’m very unlikely to review it. And there was a fair old bit of rubbish that came out last year.

8 Billion Universes Against One: a review of Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse

As with most of his work, Cawdron’s Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse is both riveting and sometimes harrowing, and at the same time thoughtful, meticulously researched, well-steeped in philosophy and science, and deeply humanitarian. Cawdron has the rare ability to be fun and intellectually satisfying at the same time, and Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse showcases that.

Sisters in Arms: a review of Arcane

Also known as Arcane: League of Legends Genre Action-adventure, Adult animation, Drama, Science fantasy, Steampunk Created by Christian Linke, Alex Yee Based on League of Legends by Riot Games Showrunners Christian Linke, Alex Yee Directed by Pascal Charrue, Arnaud Delord, Bart Maunoury Voices of Hailee Steinfeld Ella Purnell Kevin Alejandro Katie Leung Jason Spisak Toks …

Root and a Boot: a review of The Wild Robot

Directed & Screenplay by Chris Sanders Based on The Wild Robot by Peter Brown Produced by Jeff Hermann Starring Lupita Nyong’o Pedro Pascal Kit Connor Bill Nighy Stephanie Hsu Mark Hamill Catherine O’Hara Matt Berry Ving Rhames Cinematography Chris Stover Edited by Mary Blee Music by Kris Bowers Production company DreamWorks Animation Distributed by Universal …