Tag Archives: science fiction

Some thoughts on Alex Garland’s Civil War

Posted on April 24, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Just some loose thoughts on the Civil War film… No, not the MCU one, I’m talking about the one set in a dystopia where secessionist states are fighting against the US president. Matt Zoller Seitz has summed up the initial … Continue reading →

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Some thoughts on 21st-century spy shows

Posted on April 17, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Secret agents and international intrigue have really come back with a vengeance in the past decade or so. The War on Terror and, later, the renewed tension between the West and Russia seem to have stimulated the public’s appetite for … Continue reading →

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Just a few loose thoughts on interplanetary wars

Posted on March 14, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

Last week I went to see Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve’s epic about Afghanistan on an alien planet, which overcomes *some* of my reservations about the previous film. While the screen is once again filled with masses of anonymous blind … Continue reading →

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Gotham Calling’s 120 Cold War movies – part 12

Posted on February 15, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

We’ve arrived at the end of Gotham Calling’s long-running Cold War cinema retrospective… And if you think depictions of the conflict were winding down in the final years, you’re in for a surprise. This is probably the bloodiest – and … Continue reading →

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Gotham Calling’s 120 Cold War movies – part 11

Posted on February 1, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

We are now entering the final stage of Gotham Calling’s mega-list of Cold War cinema… and we are firmly in Reaganite territory, including an obsession with foreign intervention along with a vigorous resurgence of nuclear panic. 101. Threads (UK, 1984) … Continue reading →

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Gotham Calling’s 120 Cold War movies – part 10

Posted on January 18, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

The previous post in Gotham Calling’s tour of Cold War cinema had plenty of films about the conflict’s expansion to the Third World. Today’s installment extends the same motif, but it also gradually engages with one of the consequences of … Continue reading →

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Gotham Calling’s 120 Cold War movies – part 9

Posted on January 3, 2024 by I.M. Baytor

This is the latest installment of Gotham Calling’s 12-part journey through Cold War cinema (if you’re only joining us now, you can find the previous installments here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). It’s also probably the most … Continue reading →

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2023’s book of the year

Posted on December 27, 2023 by I.M. Baytor

Before delving into Gotham Calling’s pick for book of the year, I tend to briefly highlight comics that didn’t earn such dubious title because, although awesome in their own way, they’re too distant from the kind of genre narratives this … Continue reading →

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Gotham Calling’s 120 Cold War movies – part 8

Posted on December 21, 2023 by I.M. Baytor

Like the previous installment of Gotham Calling’s mega-list of Cold War films, this week’s selection has a relatively ‘adult’ sensibility (in a non-sleazy sense), with a handful of heavy dramas about weary men and women. That said, we are now … Continue reading →

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Gotham Calling’s 120 Cold War movies – part 7

Posted on December 7, 2023 by I.M. Baytor

Overall, this is one of the most coherent installments of Gotham Calling’s canon of Cold War cinema. For one thing, most of the entries below are political dramas (a genre I adore) in one way or another… At a time … Continue reading →

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