Category: Reviews

Lost the Plot in Space

Season Two of the Netflix version of “Lost in Space” moves the bulk of the action from the confines of a small family survival drama into a much larger scope.  This time around it’s not just the Robinson’s, but all 600 members of Mission 24 that get involved.  After...

Lost In Space, Part the Second

Continuing from the last post, we’re observing how Netflix’s Lost in Space somehow manages to dance through the raindrops of identity politics without getting all wet. Today we’re going to look at the menfolk. So we’ll start with Doctor Smith, played by the restrained and menacing Parker Posey. This...

Lost In Space, Part the First

At first glance, the premise of Space Family Robinson seems like an easy premise for a long running TV show. You’ve got a core ensemble cast wandering the wild frontier looking for a way home. Throw in a cocky young pilot, a cowardly and selfish professorial type, and a...

6 Underground

Michael Bay still has it. I’m just not sure what ‘it’ is. Somebody finally gave Bay a lot of money and said, “you know what, screw it, just go crazy with this,” and go crazy he did.  It’s only on Netflix, and maybe they paid for this film –...

The Witcher Has Issues

First things first – I’ve never played a Witcher game, so I’m coming into Netflix’s Witcher series cold. Second things second – already cancelled my subscription over their recently announced “tee-hee, blasphemy” show, and now I’m just burning through the last few things that look remotely interesting before my...

A Thanksgiving Feast of Films

The long weekend gave me a chance to soak up some much need recharge time in front of the idiot box, and one of the more charming films to keep me soma-fied was…sigh…Nacho Libre? I know, but hear me out.  It’s Jack Black doing his Jack Black thing.  If...

Over(oh my)lord!

Pee-yew!  How clumsy do you have to be to make the 101st Airborne raiding a Nazi-zombie factory on D-minus-one boring? You have to be JJ Abrams clumsy. That guy has turned into Michael Bey without the freewheeling fun.  He can string together two or three amazing visual sequences that...

More Like This, Please – Bone Tomahawk

Every once in a while Hollywood accidentally does something great on purpose. It’s basically cowboys versus cannibals with the sensibility of a Cormac McCarthy film.  The basic plot of a townswoman kidnapped and dragged back to the cave of the wild west CHUDS doesn’t do this thing justice.  The...

Castalia Review: Secrets of the Nethercity

Now up over at the House of Castalia. Given that this is an adventure for mid-level characters, you’re looking at a minimum of six months of play or rolling up 4th level characters before first setting foot into the slop at the doorstep of this kilo-dungeon.  Not sure I’ll...

StoryHack Catch Up

This hot little number has been sitting in my to-read pile for far too long.  Having written The Bouncer’s Tale, the third chapter in a crime not-quite-serial, I skipped straight to Jason Restrick’s  Beyond the Temple of Bak-Taar.  The sequel to an impressive story presented in Issue 1 (iirc), this...