3 of the best ‘Star Wars’ documentaries were made by a fan (Movie commentary)
I don’t mean to rain on the parade of fans who are excited for the Sept. 16 release of the “Star Wars” saga on Blu-ray, but I’m not getting too worked up about it. As […]
‘X-Files’ flashback: I want to believe the 2008 film is great, but it’s probably just OK (Movie review)
I think the second “X-Files” movie, 2008’s “I Want to Believe,” is a nice thank-you letter to fans, who are given one last chance to follow Mulder and Scully into the darkness (plus: Hey, there’s Skinner!). It […]
First episode impressions: ‘I Just Want My Pants Back’ (and thoughts on TV’s rare 20-somethings) (Review)
I spent all of my 20s waiting for a hit show about 20-somethings. I don’t mean that I was staring at my TV, waiting for a show about 20-somethings to suddenly come on rather than […]
The top 10 episodes of ‘Millennium’ Season 3 (1998-99)
TV review: Chris Carter takes the showrunning reins back from Morgan and Wong in the controversial final season.
‘Heir to the Empire,’ the book that jump-started the ‘Star Wars’ Expanded Universe, celebrates 20 years (Book commentary)
Sometime in the late 1990s, I was at Paradox Comics in Fargo, N.D., talking with the proprietor about “Star Wars.” I mentioned Timothy Zahn’s novels, and he said, “To me, those have nothing to do […]
In ‘Our Idiot Brother,’ the idiot is the smart one, and so is this refreshing comedy (Movie review)
In a scene from “Our Idiot Brother,” title character Ned (Paul Rudd) is counting his cash on the subway and he hands it to a stranger to hold onto while he cleans up a coffee spill. If […]
Timothy Zahn proves he’s still got it with ‘Star Wars: Choices of One’ (Book review)
Through the years, I’ve been tempted to label authors other than Timothy Zahn as my favorite “Star Wars” scribe — Michael Stackpole for his plotting, Aaron Allston for his humor, Karen Traviss for her characters […]
10 movies John wouldn’t mind seeing this fall (Commentary)
I’ve done the hard work of perusing Entertainment Weekly’s fall movie preview and watching the trailers, and I now present the top 10 movies to see this fall:
Perfect casting, frenetic pace help ‘30 Minutes or Less’ deliver (Movie review)
Is it possible for Danny McBride to not be funny? Playing a criminal who is tailing the unfortunate pizza-delivery guy whom he forces to rob a bank by strapping a bomb to him in “30 Minutes […]
Malgus joins the parade of Darths in ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived’ (Book review)
For a reader, one of the fun parts of the explosion of “Star Wars” spinoff literature in recent years is finding meanings in the names of all the new Darths. Darth Vader, famously, stood for […]