Blue Valentine screened here at the NO Film Fest the same week Welcome to the Rileys, Black Swan, and 127 Hours did. I did not end up seeing it due to a prior engagement the …
Continue readingThe King’s Speech | movie review
The King’s Speech is a problematic movie for me. On the one hand, it’s a really great underdog story, the acting jobs were fabulous, and it’s a movie about hope in a time of darkness…but …
Continue reading
Being a Hack: Writing a Shared-World Novel – Erin M. Evans Guest Blog
Erin M. Evans takes a break from Forgotten Realms to bring you this.
Continue readingDead Supermodels: The Photography Of Kaoru Izima | The Nail That Sticks Out
I love them when they are dead I want some cold-blooded women lying in my bed I love you when you are dead – Batmobile, “Dead (I Want Them When They Are Dead)” At first …
Continue readingThe Dilemma | movie review
I almost didn’t go see this movie for three reasons: it was getting panned by Rotten Tomatoes (somewhere in the 20 percent’s when I checked, which is just shy of worst movie of the year …
Continue readingUltramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie | Review
At last, the holy grail of Warhammer 40k fans the world over has arrived–a 40k movie! Penned by the master himself, Dan Abnett, produced by Codex Pictures and directed by Martyn Pick, it tells a …
Continue readingTrue Grit | movie review
True Grit is the latest movie from the Coen brothers, and their best since No Country for Old Men. It convinces me that they should stick to movies that are not comedic in structure but …
Continue readingPlayin’ With Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Tyrion Lannister Chapter 13
More Tyrion as we go up North to see the Wall and realize Tyrion is a fan of fantasy in this chapter of our Game of Thrones reread.
Continue readingTron Legacy – Review
Tron Legacy is the sort of movie that, in my opinion, requires a disclosure of a reviewer’s perspective up front. So to that end, I feel compelled to admit that I have only seen Tron …
Continue reading
A World Apart: Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai
At the heart of the Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai), is a dichotomy between the peasant class and the warrior caste that is a constant source of tension. The villagers do not like or trust …
Continue reading
The Kipple Foodstuff Factory – Notes from New Sodom
Pulp? Science Fiction? and Sci-Fi? Kafka? Lovecraft? Atwood? Hal Duncan speaks on genre.
Continue readingSandman Meditations – Dream Country
Matt Cheney dreams a dream of 1000 cats in this chapter of his walk through of the Gaiman Sandman run.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Eddard Stark Chapter 12
Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark won a kingdom together. Which of them will out dumb the other to lose it all amidst all the Lannisters?
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts: Daenerys Targaryen Chapter 11
We are invited to a wedding by George R. R. Martin and Drogo and Daenerys are the lucky young couple. Emilia and Momoa. Goddamn fine people.
Continue readingThe Black Swan review from the New Orleans Film Festival
I could review The Black Swan with one word: amazing. The film is dark and shifting, conflating dreams and obsessions into a terrifying reality where nothing is certain. Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a ballerina …
Continue reading127 Hours | movie review from the New Orleans Film Festival
Danny Boyle’s latest movie is based on a true story (chronicled in the memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston), and it would be a disservice to the story and the …
Continue reading
Gareth Edwards’ Monsters Review
Monsters is, as the title suggests, a monster movie. Sort of. It’s also an impressive achievement for a first-time director, much less one who had a tiny budget and created all the effects himself on …
Continue readingNever Let Me Go | movie review
Never Let Me Go is adapted from a book that I have not read. So if you are looking for a book to film comparison, sorry, I can’t give you that—all I can judge is …
Continue reading
The Booker and the Bistro de Critique – Notes from New Sodom
Hal Duncan ponders the Man Booker Prize and the candidacy of science fiction and fantasy novels in his latest Notes from New Sodom.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Jon Snow Chapter 10
Our Game of Thrones Reread has brought us to a crossroads, where Stark farewells occur, as we travel north and south, to the wall, and to court.
Continue readingSherlock’s Little Mistakes 3: The Great Game
0. Terms of Engagement Welcome, Brothers and Sisters, to the third weekly meeting of the Church of The Hermeneutic Christ. Blessed be the name of Sherlock and peace be upon his prophets Nero Wolfe, Jane …
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Tyrion Lannister Chapter 9
Tyrion Lannister enters the Game of Thrones reread, thus beinning the epic journey of a dwarfs who casts a giant kingly shadow.
Continue readingSherlock’s Little Mistakes 2: The Blind Banker
0. Terms of Engagement ydoan yunnuhstan ydoan o yunnuhstand dem yguduh ged yunnuhstan dem doidee yguduh ged riduh ydoan o nudn LISN bud LISN dem gud am lidl yelluh bas tuds weer goin duhSIVILEYEzum So …
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Bran Stark Chapter 8
Things are going down as in this Bran chapter we get our first GRRM cliffhanger in Game of Thrones – and we all fall down.
Continue readingThe Art of the Steal – Review
Now this is what a documentary should be! After my disappointment with Restrepo a couple weeks ago, I was thrilled to realize, after popping in this DVD, that The Art of the Steal was reminding me …
Continue readingSherlock’s Little Mistakes 1 : A Study in Pink
0. Terms of Engagement Mystery fiction is a profoundly consolatory genre. Whether it is set in a Loamshire country house, a snow-bound train or the streets of Victorian London, the mystery novel is all about …
Continue readingA Glimpse of Winter Falling – Game of Thrones
Since I missed the in-production teaser when it aired during the Countdown to True Blood on Sunday, I had to watch it on HBO’s website. Which meant that I also read the introduction by the …
Continue readingSandman Meditations – The Doll’s House
Taverns, serial killers, and… MTV? Matthew Cheney’s journey through Gaiman’s Dreaming continues.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Arya Stark Chapter 7
We get our first Arya Stark POV chapter and get great Stark family interaction with her and Jon and her and Sansa in this edition of our Game of Thrones reread
Continue readingWould a Robot Love You? – Notes from New Sodom
Romantic advice from the future from the great Hal Duncan.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Catelyn Stark Chapter 6
We disect and discuss the husband wifey relationship between Ned and Catelyn Stark, opportunity, and parenting in Game of Thrones.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Jon Snow Chapter 5
Our first POV Jon Snow chapter offers us the classic first meeting of Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister in our Game of Thrones combo reread. Of Bastards and Dwarfs!
Continue readingThe Combat Fiction Bar & Grill by Hal Duncan – Notes from New Sodom
Combat Fiction in science fiction and fantasy. What it is. Why. And Catch-22? Hal Duncan explains all in the latest Notes of New Sodom.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Eddard Stark Chapter 4
Two brothers from another mother reunite in the first Ned Stark chapter of our aSoIaF reread. And Jay loves Bobby Baratheon?
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts: Daenerys Chapter 3
We get introduced to Daenerys Targaryen in Chapter 3 of our Game of Thrones reread. She has 99 problems and her brother is #1.
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Catelyn Chapter 2
Info dumps! We meet the king through Catelyn Stark’s eyes and see a reunion between two old friends in Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon.
Continue readingWinter’s Bone | movie review
Winter’s Bone is about a rural Missouri teenager whose drug-manufacturing father left her between a rock and a hard place when he put their property up to post his bond and then failed to make …
Continue reading
Jodelle Ferland Interview | Mum on Cabin in the Woods
Joss Whedon is a man of many secrets, and one of them is the precise nature of the threats or coercions he clearly uses to keep the cast of his latest project, The Cabin in …
Continue readingSandman Meditations – Preludes & Nocturnes
This is the beginning of the best issue-by-issue analysis of Sandman IMHO. Follow Matt Cheney’s journey through Sandman and start here!
Continue readingPlayin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | Bran Chapter 1
Puppies! The Starks get direwolves and miss ominous symbolism of wolf and stag in the Bran Stark Chapter 1 reread of A Game of Thrones.
Continue reading
Thanos – Badass of the Week
SNAP! Find out more of the exploits of Thanos before Infinity War. They are def BADASS.
Continue reading
Playin’ with Ice and Fire – A Game of Thoughts | The Prologue
Waymar Royce stylish in his winter gear! Kicking of the two person combo reread of George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones of with the prologue.
Continue readingInception | movie review
Inception is probably the first movie of 2010 that movie lovers have been legitimately anticipating—that is, looking forward to since that very first preview back in February. Certainly I was. Sometimes that anticipation is a …
Continue readingPredators | movie review
Don’t believe all of the inexplicably great reviews for Predators; it is a seriously stupid movie. Billed as a return to the greatness of the original Predator movie, this sequel comes off as a second-rate …
Continue reading
The Lost Airbender – Notes from New Sodom
The world needed it, and we got it. The Hal Duncan take on The Last Airbender movie.
Continue readingTwilight: Eclipse | movie review
I thought Eclipse was the best of the three movies so far, though not by as large a margin over New Moon as New Moon was over Twilight. New director David Slade retained the same look …
Continue reading
Twilight with Jodelle Ferland | Interview
Jodelle Ferland is the young actress playing Bree Tanner in Twilight: Eclipse. She’s got a resume a mile long already, even though she’s not even sixteen, and it includes working with heavyweights like Terry Gilliam …
Continue readingUnder Heaven and the Book World Under Siege – Guy Gavriel Kay Guest Blog
The great Guy Gavriel Kay blesses my blog.
Continue readingThe Spelunkers of Speculative Fiction – Notes from New Sodom
Speculative fiction. Science Fiction versus Sci-Fi versus science fiction versus Fantasy versus fantasy?Hal Duncan on genre and labels.
Continue readingKick-Ass | movie review
Kick-Ass lives up to its name. Best movie I’ve seen at the theater in months. I had pretty high hopes going in–all the bad reviews I saw were focused on how violent it was, which just …
Continue readingCassandra Sawtell on Harper’s Island and Gilliam| Interview
Actress Cassandra Sawtell, whom we hear at the empire know from Harper’s Island, has been nominated for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) at the 2010 Young Artist Awards for her work on the show. …
Continue readingRepo Men | Movie Review
Repo Men is a movie I wish someone could repo from my memory banks. It was the biggest waste of two hours of my life since Avatar (and possibly longer, since it’s not a film …
Continue readingRobert Pattinson’s Remember Me | movie review
Um. Wow. I am really not sure how to approach this one. First of all, this movie was not what I expected. It looked from the previews like a love story, possibly happy and possibly …
Continue readingThe Kerspindle Kerfuffle – Notes from New Sodom
The book world stands off as Macmillan and Amazon square off over digital domination in publishing.
Continue readingOutlining for Non-Outliners: An Outline – Erin M. Evans Guest Blog
Erin Evans is back from the Realms to outline your life.
Continue readingThe Book of Eli – review
The Book of Eli is really great: it’s got the apocalypse, it’s got all kinds of murder and death with blood and rolling heads, and it’s got Denzel Washington saying profound things and threats from the …
Continue readingAdam Bertocci Interview
Sunday morning I brought the internet gem that is Two Gentlemen of Lebowski to your attention. Now I’ve got the man of the hour himself here to explain what possibly prompted him to combine Shakespeare and the Dude, …
Continue readingDaybreakers | movie review
Daybreakers, AKA 2010’s first vampire movie, is a pretty solid movie-going experience. It delivers on its trailers, presenting an eerie future where almost all the humans on earth have been changed into vampires–and in having done so not just …
Continue readingJames Cameron’s Avatar | movie review
Avatar is a great film. Here is a movie that will actually surprise you and offer things you have never seen before. James Cameron has delivered a special effects powerhouse that is actually an extended …
Continue readingThe Princess and the Frog – movie review
Brad Pitt called The Curious Case of Benjamin Button “a love letter to New Orleans.” Well. If Button was a love letter, then Disney’s The Princess and the Frog was a Homeric poem in the …
Continue readingDisney options Lauren Kate’s Fallen novel
Medora was kind enough to point me in the direction of this news item and it was a tough call between BSCkids and this site, but in the end I felt it belonged here. Disney …
Continue readingThe Road | movie review
The Road is, unfortunately, a boring movie, and the title might as well be Sittin’ Round the Campfire. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is one of the very best books of the decade, and this …
Continue readingDisney Channel New Year’s Eve programming – I vote Selena Gomez
Disney Channel viewers will be able to vote for the New Year’s Eve programming lineup at DisneyChannel.com beginning Friday. After all the voting is done, the programs that have won will air on December 31st …
Continue readingTwilight New Moon | movie review
Going to a midnight movie is an experience that has to be included in the review of the film. First, who was there? Mostly female–about 1 in 10 people were male–and not as many shrieking …
Continue readingTiffani Thiessen Interview – White Collar
So I got a chance to join a conference call where we asked Tiffani Theissen some questions, mostly focusing on her role as Elizabeth Burke on the USA Network Show White Collar.
Continue reading
On Blood, Bad Boys and Bottoms – Notes from New Sodom
Vampire! Hal Duncan’s latest Notes on New Sodom examines vampires in popular fiction, specifically Anne Rice, Twilight, and Poppy.
Continue reading30 Rock – Interview: Savanna Samson on Her Appearance
Vivid Girl Savanna Samson gave us the scoop on her appearance on 30 Rock. The episode was “Into the Crevasse,” which aired last night on NBC. Can you describe what it was like to walk on the …
Continue readingElena’s World – Zombieland review
The best romantic comedy of the year! I make that claim with only about 5% facetiousness. Zombieland, despite its name and premise (a pair of unlikely allies making their way through an America overrun with …
Continue reading
To the Water Fountains – Notes from New Sodom
Hal Duncan on discovering Samuel Delany, punk rock, the Ramones and Burroughs
Continue readingElena’s World – My Thoughts on Shane Acker’s 9
Shane Acker’s 9 is a movie that has been much anticipated around BSCReview. We pretty thoroughly covered the media blitz for this movie, all of which I found intriguing and enticing: the date tie-in, “9/9/9: …
Continue reading
Down in the Ghetto at the SF Café – Notes From New Sodom
Defining science fiction, it’s birth, midlife, some punk, and current state with Hal Duncan in the latest Notes from New Sodom.
Continue readingGlenn Martin DDS with Kevin Nealon on Nick at Nite
On Monday night Nickelodeon’s network new family plan will begin and Glenn Martin DDS will be leading the way as the only original series ordered for the new Nick at Nite schedule. This will be …
Continue readingDistrict 9 | Eli’s Plot Twist
District 9 is a revival of the good old days of R rated 80s and early 90s sci-fi action films. This is a great movie, showing true originality, and delivering on its entertainment mandate. District …
Continue readingG.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra | Eli’s Plot Twist
Don’t watch G.I. Joe, it’s about as appealing as an abortion. This isn’t realistic/serious G.I. Joe, and it isn’t pure cartoon fun G.I. Joe. No, this is a third variety; this is pure, unadulterated shit. …
Continue readingFast and Furious | DVD Review
“Dom, your engine is throbbing!” Fast and Furious is out on DVD, a trip back in time, to a simpler time, a time when Limp Bizkit was popular, and import racing was fresh and exciting …
Continue readingShyamalan’s The Last Airbender – Cast Images
To be completely honest, I am aware of the The Last Airbender in general because of this film, and I am aware of this film because it’s directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Now we have …
Continue readingWhat the Devil Taught Me – Richard Kadrey Guest Blog
The author of the bestselling Sandman Slim series is here to bless you with a guest blog.
Continue readingPublic Enemies | Eli’s Plot Twist
Michael Mann is the de facto king of cops and robbers city street shootouts. Public Enemies makes a nice shift to period piece old timey stuff with no loss in crisp edge. Few people can …
Continue readingEVirtuality | TV (FOX) review
Virtuality is a new original program that Fox premiered last night. It was unclear to me whether it was a TV movie or the pilot for a new series that may or may not actually advance …
Continue readingTransformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen | Eli’s Plot Twist
Michael Bay is the mad hatter. Truly bizarre visions and creatures rule the screen for nearly two and a half hours. Also on display; epic scope, true summer blockbuster scale; Transformers 2 has everything, and …
Continue readingPixar’s ‘Up’ | Movie Review
Pixar consistently delivers, to the point that any review of Up is more a measure of greatness, rather than a critique. Up matches the great craftsmanship and thoughtfulness Pixar is known for, upping the ante …
Continue readingStar Trek (2009) | Movie Review
J.J. Abrams takes his place among the likes of James Cameron and Steven Spielberg to deliver the first true blockbuster of the summer. Top shelf special effects, epic space battles, and electric momentum make this …
Continue reading‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ | Movie Review
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an epic catastrophe on every level, a confluence of poor ideas, poorer execution, and blinding stupidity. When faced with a celluloid abomination of this magnitude, a person must look back in …
Continue readingChris Dane Owens | Interview
I am delighted to bring you a BSC exclusive interview with Chris Dane Owens! Chris has recently created one of the most magical and fabulous fantasy videos of all time to accompany his new single, “Shine …
Continue readingAlternate Londons – Guest Blog By Ian R. MacLeod
Ian R. MacLeod visits Miclonian to help you make your way through all the Londons.
Continue reading
The Latest Teacup Tempest – Notes From New Sodom
Hal Duncan breaks down the latest book world debate, examining Elitism, Escapism and authorship in publishing.
Continue reading
The Scourge of Sci-Fi – Notes From New Sodom
Fantasy & Science Fiction as genre, where it came from and where it’s going and the discussion around it from Hal Duncan.
Continue readingZombie Stripper | a Shamron Moore Interview
I am very happy to introduce Shamron Moore who has a lead part in the new film Zombie Strippers with Robert Englund and Jenna Jameson. The synopsis of the movie from the official site is …
Continue readingBrian K. Vaughan The Escapists – Shared Worlds, Our Own Golden Age
While often times I think fans of comics and thus their creators are a bit too preoccupied with the same ailment that some Fantasy and Science Fiction writers and tend to trade the walking stick …
Continue reading