Star Wars and SF cinema: Where would the genre have gone without it?
You think Star Wars ruined the possibility for “legitimate science fiction” to appear on the big screen? Darren Slade suggests that you think again.
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Drawing on the Ideas
Darren Slade was drawn in by Star Trek’s physical universe, but stayed for the ideas.
Spielberg’s slow-motion capture: How CGI can cause great film-makers to take leave of their senses
Thirty-four years ago, Steven Spielberg created the just-about perfect family movie in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. So his reunion with that film’s screenwriter, Melissa Mathison, should have been something to cherish. But for the first […]
I finally saw Avatar and I’ve rarely been so conflicted.
Darren Slade has come late to the Avatar party, and has mixed feelings about what he found there.
Finding Fault With the SF Nitpickers
It used to be that if a genre movie didn’t make sense to you on some level, you might just turn to someone afterwards and say “Hold on. Is it just me or was that […]
Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price: the actors who defined a genre
The legacy of Cushing, Lee and Price
Review: Captain America: Civil War – 147 Minutes of Immense Fun
DC characters ought to generate more compelling stories, but…
“Did it come true?”: the Question That Dogs Movies Like Blade Runner, 2001 and Back to the Future II
Inevitably, almost everything “predicted” in movies set in the near future doesn’t happen.
Pixar and the Triumph of Storytelling
Those of us who like genre tales know that the boldest and most intelligent story-tellers often deal in SF and fantasy. In Hollywood today, many of them also work in animation.
Altered states: why we’re suckers for different cuts of the same films
There’s something almost religious about this phenomenon – the knowledge that there was a select group of disciples to whom the truth had been revealed.
‘Must see’ genre movies? I’ll pass on that
Great genre films of the past were not part of a franchise strategy.
How Star Wars charmed Britain on its first release
British fans get to go first this time. That wasn’t so back in 1977.
Why is Britain So Scared of Horror?
Why has the home of Shelley, Stoker & Stevenson forsaken Halloween?
The Best Doctor Who in a Long Time
It is a pleasure to report that I thought the first story of the new series was the best Doctor Who I have seen in a long time
Ant-Man: a small step in the right direction for Marvel
Getting tired of superhero films? Don’t go to sleep before you see Ant-Man
Were Fans Cheated By Spock’s Death?
The most satisfying films are often the ones which take us to a point where we can see no need for a sequel.
Literary Critics Do Judge a Book By Its Cover
Maybe it should be the goal of mainstream literary editors to find at least one genre novel a week that deserves a lengthy review
The Genre Movies That Lose EVERYTHING On the Small Screen
Sometimes the medium the message is delivered through can drastically alter the experience.
Cat Girl (1957): A Forgotten Landmark of UK Horror
The premise might be a shameless re-hash of the American classic Cat People, but the 1957 film Cat Girl can claim to be an under-appreciated landmark in genre cinema, at least among British films. Its first claim to fame […]
How Did Fans of Literary SF React to Star Wars?
What did “real” fans think of Star Wars in an era “a long time ago…”?
The Trouble With Close Encounters: Why It’s So Frustratingly Close To Being A Classic
Here’s why Close Encounters of the Third KInd will never be a classic.
The Amicus anthologies: from Dr Terror to Beyond the Grave
For around a decade, the only consistent rival to the supremacy of Hammer Films in the genre was Amicus, best-known for its seven ‘portmanteau’ stories of short horror stories
Star Wars Episode VII. Everybody stay calm
It’s time to take a chill pill when it comes to Episode VII
Who’s in Charge? The Trouble with the Doctor’s Companions
I think Doctor Who’s show-runner Steven Moffat is not quite managing to pull off one of the very tricky tasks facing a Who writer in the 21st century, which is this: How do you make the Doctor’s companion strong, interesting and driven without overshadowing the Time Lord himself?
Amused? Insulted? Flattered? How Should SF Fans Respond To The Big Bang Theory?
From cultural outcasts to cultural icons in one successful TV series?
Drawing Star Wars aged 9
Star Wars inspired a generation: John White started drawing the movie 37 years ago….
When Apes Ruled the Future
The Planet of the Apes franchise was once our biggest and brightest, until a little film called Star Wars came along.
Acting scary: The performers who made horror convincing again
Good horror needs convincing actors. Hammer Films delivered.
NOT Star Wars With Jokes – Revisiting The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy
Science fiction has inspired plenty of mockery over the years. I’m sure we’ve all seen countless sketches parodying Star Trek, for example. But real science fiction comedy – comedy that takes an SF premise and mines it for laughs – is hardly ever seen on screen or, indeed, on radio.
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