Tag Archives: movies

COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (26 October 2020)

After a summer of protests and with the electoral chaos looming in the horizon, it’s hard not to see in each new pop cultural release a contribution to the conversation about the current political moment. With its flashes of police … Continue reading

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On Richard Lester’s Musketeers

For a long time, when critics talked about ‘comic book movies,’ they used to just mean silly, exaggerated action films. In the past couple of decades, the term is more likely to refer to a movie that is a direct … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (19 October 2020)

One of the games going around since the beginning of the pandemic involves people recommending old movies that have acquired renewed resonance in these Covid-19 times – not necessarily because they presciently captured today’s reality, but because some of their … Continue reading

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12 cool James Bond covers

After all the covid-related postponements, it appears we finally have a date for the latest James Bond picture, (now tastelessly) titled No Time to Die. Honestly, I’m in no hurry to see it, since the last couple of movies didn’t … Continue reading

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10 noir short stories

Given the ongoing heated discussion over police reform and how to rethink public safety, I guess this is an appropriate occasion to highlight one of my favorite genres: crime fiction. As far as comic books go, although there were precedents, … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (6 July 2020)

Prompted by the Atomic Age, the 1950s were one of the coolest decades for American science fiction. Ray Bradbury, a key writer in elevating the genre’s cultural status from disposable pulp to respected literature, published The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated … Continue reading

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COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (22 June 2020)

Readers of this blog know that I am a firm believer that, even in these agitated times, genre fiction remains an interesting way to conceptualize what is happening around us. For instance, if the first half of 2020 filled screens … Continue reading

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On World War II adventure movies

Writing about The Unknown Soldier last week made me think that I should expand a bit more on the specific genre that is World War II adventure. In fact, I want to go straight to the source and actually talk … Continue reading

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Spotlight on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – part 2

If you read the last post, you know what’s going on. This time around, let’s look at the set of volumes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen dealing with the last hundred-years-or-so, starting with the bleak Century trilogy. Century: 1910 … Continue reading

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Chuck Dixon’s mordant Batman

Last week I mentioned that Chuck Dixon is an old-school pro whose work in Batman comics (especially during his most prolific period, in the 1990s), rather than blow up the status quo, was all about gripping narratives that stayed true … Continue reading

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