STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SPOILERS AHEAD … AND THE WARMTH OR TRUE CAMARADERIE AND A PLACE TO CALL HOME It’s rare to find a show that evokes a sense of camaraderie and belonging the way Star Trek: Discovery does. Truth be told, a bold, enduring sense of “made family” has always Continue Reading
A mini-mass of movie trailers – The Midnight Sky, Love and Monsters, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Once more to your streaming platform of choice, my friends, once more! OK granted Shakespeare likely did not have that injunction is mind when he penned those immortal words, but they are fitting, oh so fitting, in a horror-scarred year when actual films in actual cinemas kept moving release dates Continue Reading
COVID-19 retro movie review: Little Monsters #Halloween
It turns out, in case you’re wondering, that being caught up in the middle of a fast moving outbreak of slow zombies, is a pretty good way to work through some deep-seated childhood issues. Not that has-been musician Dave (Alexander England) thinks so when an impulsive decision, guided less by Continue Reading
#Halloween book review: The Lost Ones by Anita Frank
People, it so often turns out, have a fairly limited perception of time. We tend to see the past, present and future as unalterably locked away in their own sealed-off chronological prisons but the truth, as Anita Frank demonstrates with gothic-tinged dread and considerable insightful compassion in her hauntingly atmospheric Continue Reading
Weekend #Halloween pop art: Sweet & innocent Muppets go full blood-dropping horrific
SNAPSHOT“I really enjoy mashing things up…especially things that are considered cute with things that are gruesome.” (James Beck, artist) The Muppets are so cute and adorable! That is until, at the hands of impressively talented artist James Beck, they are not. In a series deliciously titled The Muppet Maniac Series Continue Reading
The Walking Dead: World Beyond – “The Wrong End of a Telescope” (S1, E4 review) / Fear the Walking Dead: “Alaska” (S6, E3 review)
THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND SPOILERS AHEAD … AND SCARY, CREEPY, GROWLY THINGS … Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night? If so, then (a) you shouldn’t be in the zombie apocalypse in the first place and (b) you don’t want to wander into the derelict, Continue Reading
#Halloween movie review: Happy Halloween Scooby-Doo!
Isn’t it scary being chased by monsters? You might think that question has an obvious answer, especially if you’re Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) or Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and hiding from supernatural-looking trouble in the Mystery Machine is far preferable than actually facing it, but if you’re Velma, the brains of the Continue Reading
Comics review: The Orville – Launch Day by Goodman, Cabeza, Atiyeh
One of the most delightful surprises of the recent sci-fi cohort of Peak TV has been the emergence of The Orville, Seth MacFarlane’s irreverently affectionate look at what an alliance of Federation-like planets might be like with more whimsy, biting oneliners and a sense of the ridiculous. With its third Continue Reading
Star Trek: Discovery – “Far From Home” (S3, E2 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND PARASITE ICE! DON’T SWALLOW WHATEVER YOU DO… One of the standout elements that has elevated Star Trek: Discovery beyond a mere addition to an increasingly (and welcomingly) crowded franchise is its resolute focus on finely-realised and fully-formed characterisation. Whatever the merits of its narrative directions in Continue Reading
Book review: Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly
For many people, family is the prism through which much of life makes sense. We may not always love our fellow family members are fully and completely as Hallmark might suggest, but it is through our connections to our parents and siblings and uncles and aunts and grandparents and on Continue Reading