A Justice League Movie? (or, Hopefully This Won’t Be a Missed Opportunity)
Since Man of Steel hit theaters, there’s been a lot of talk about a potential Justice League movie. We even mentioned this topic in the latest Shoot the WISB episode on the new Superman film. Much of the discussion is based on rumors, no doubt supported by this oddly blank IMDB page, which suggests that […]
Why I Hated Superman Returns
Honestly, I hated Superman Returns because it established Superman as virtually (though not actually) limitless, at which point he becomes uninteresting to me as a hero. Clearly Kryptonite doesn’t really matter. He can lift entire islands of the stuff into the sky, so all this talk about it being his bad news bears is really […]
Retro Nostalgia: Contact (1997) and Conflating Faith and Science and Its Hopeful Ethos
Anyone with a passing familiarity with Carl Sagan’s popularization of science will recall his profound optimism, both with humanity’s scientific endeavors and its almost desperate need to strive for “more.” I think it’s fair to say that he imagined science as humanity’s great thrust to greatness — to controlling itself and its environment. After all, […]
Shoot the WISB #02: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Reviewed w/ Paul Weimer and Jay Garmon
Spoiler Alert: the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Paul Weimer (website / twitter) and Jay Garmon (website / twitter) join me to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly […]
The Black Guy is Ruining the Fantastic Four Reboot!
Oh, what? He isn’t? Are you sure? I mean. He’s black. That means, like, Sue has to be black, right? She doesn’t? Johnny or Sue could be adopted? Or they could be children of different mothers or fathers or maybe they’re interracial or something? But I thought if you’re half black and half white you […]
How Not to Write a Review (or, “Oblivion isn’t about Tom Cruise, dumbass…”)
In a recent New York Times review of the SF action adventure film, Oblivion, Manohla Dargis opens with the following: If only it were less easy to laugh at “Oblivion,” a lackluster science-fiction adventure with Tom Cruise that, even before its opening, was groaning under the weight of its hard-working, slowly fading star and a title […]