‘The Wolverine’ (2013) adds appealing grit to the saga
‘X-Men’ flashback (Movie review): The Wolverine sequel adds appealing grit to the saga.
Science Fiction
Woodley, production design make ‘Divergent’ a fresh dystopian parable (Movie review)
“Divergent” plays with traditional dystopian sci-fi tropes and totalitarian government riffs in rather unsurprising ways, but it holds a viewer’s attention thanks to the immensely watchable Shailene Woodley and a beautifully grim post-apocalyptic Chicago cityscape. Avoiding […]
‘X2: X-Men United’ (2003) is a big commercial for itself
‘X-Men’ flashback (Movie review): Bryan Singer’s sequel is like a big commercial for itself.
‘X-Men’ (2000) makes superhero flicks fun again
‘X-Men’ flashback (Movie review): Singer’s “X-Men” ushers in a fun new era of superhero flicks.
‘X-Men: First Class’ (2011) rejuvenates the saga
‘X-Men’ flashback (Movie review): The first entry — in terms of the timeline — rejuvenates the saga.
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Corellian Trilogy Book 2: Assault at Selonia’ (1995) (Book review)
“Assault at Selonia” (1995) has the same attributes as the first book in Roger MacBride Allen’s “Corellian Trilogy.” While it’s a brisk and easy read, not a lot happens here aside from a final-act space battle […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Corellian Trilogy Book 1: Ambush at Corellia’ (1995) (Book review)
Drawing from my memory of reading Roger MacBride Allen’s “The Corellian Trilogy” 19 years ago, I recalled Han’s nasty cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo (leader of the Human League, not to be confused with “Seinfeld’s” Human Fund), […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The New Rebellion’ (1996) (Book review)
As Bantam navigated its way through the post-“Return of the Jedi” timeline in the 1990s, not every writer they hired turned out to be a Zahn or a Stackpole. Some of them were one-and-done. The […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Black Fleet Crisis Book 3: Tyrant’s Test’ (1997) (Book review)
The final installment in Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s “Black Fleet Crisis” trilogy, “Tyrant’s Test” (1997), achieves a curious combination. Like the first two books, it’s quite readable, and I’d venture to say it’s unfairly lumped in with […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Black Fleet Crisis Book 2: Shield of Lies’ (1996) (Book review)
The first thing you’ll notice about “Shield of Lies” (1996), the second book in Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s “Black Fleet Crisis” trilogy, is that it’s split into three parts: Lando, Luke and Leia. This is a little intimidating, […]