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How Movies Stereotype and Demonize College Professors
British and American films about college professors tend to depict them stereotypically—as atheistic alcoholic egomaniacs with social anxiety disorder and an uncontrollable desire to have sex with their students. Independent American films such as Smart… [more]
A Countless Number of Small Items: King Kong vs Godzilla and Akira Ifukube
Be done with rote learning and its attendant vexations; for is there distinction of a “yes” from a “yea” comparable now to the gulf between evil and good? What all men fear, I too must fear… how barren and pointless a thought! [more]
Jane Austen, Art, and Women in Comics: A Conversation with Janet K. Lee
Do I have to drink hot tea in order to talk about Jane Austen? That’s the question that kept running through my head as I made my way to Sip Café in East Nashville. I… [more]
The Good and Bad of Diversity in Comics
Diversity has always been a problem in comics. In the early days, minorities were nigh invisible, and women were usually relegated to romantic interests/damsels in distress. In the modern era, however, DC and Marvel have… [more]
Such Beautiful Miniatures: Yasuyuki Inoue and a New Age for Toho
Earth Defence Force is the start of an important transition in Ishirō Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya’s techniques, a transition that wouldn’t reach its peak until a new decade arrived. The bright and colourful space film required Eiji Tsuburaya to focus more on optical effects then he had to date. [more]
Robots Are Taking Over Hollywood
2015 is being called “The Year of AI” and “The Year of the Robot” due to the abnormal number of high profile sci-fi movies, featuring robotic and AI characters, being released this year including Avengers:… [more]
Better Call Saul: Poor Jimmy
I come away from every episode of Better Call Saul these days saying, “Poor Jimmy”. This, the second-to-last episode in the season, “Pimento”, is certainly no exception. We frankly haven’t seen all of Jimmy’s past… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 24
Issue #28 “Thicker Than Water” Writer: Jamie Delano Art: Ron Tiner & Kevin Walker Colors: Tom Zuiko Letters: Gaspar Saladino Cover: Kent Williams Following the brief tenure of Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman on the… [more]
Community Season Six: “Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing”
So by this point in a season Community has normally had at least one great episode. Not this season though. It hasn’t had a bad episode either, just average episodes. Episode four, “Queer Studies and… [more]
Lesser Known Kurosawa: The Bad Sleep Well
Japanese director Akira Kurosawa is best known for his samurai epics. Now I’ve only actually seen two of those: Yojimbo and Rashomon. Sometimes people are prone to forget that Kurosawa’s output ranges in genre and… [more]
Defending the Much-Maligned X-Files I Want to Believe
With the recent announcement that there will be a new X-Files miniseries, the internet exploded this week with people aching to see Mulder and Scully in action again. It has been some time since we… [more]
Smorgasbord #15: Notes on a Scandal
This is the long one… with almost two hours of talking Shawn & Tom attempt to make sense of the recent rush of controversies (including the Batgirl cover, Erik Larson, poor costume design, speech, and… [more]
Sexcastle: The Best Action Movie Never Made
Sexcastle, now available as a TPB from Image Comics, is the best action film never made in the 80s. It’s Big Trouble in Little China meets Kill Bill, combining the best elements of both. The… [more]
Hasty Sequels: The Tale of Zatoichi Continues
After the unanticipated success of Zatoichi, Daiei Studios knew they had to capitalize on the suddenly popular property they’d created. They weren’t entirely sure how, but they knew they had to strike quickly while the… [more]
Born on a Mountaintop in Tennessee: Davy Crockett and the Early American Superhero
A century before the Shadow, the Phantom, and Superman, the Crockett Almanacs had turned Davy Crockett into one of the first American superheroes. [more]
The First Kaiju Fight: Godzilla Raids Again
As Nakajima himself put it, “I had to stand in the middle of the set while a huge amount of crushed ice came tumbling down on me.” The weight of the ice, coupled with the weight of the GyakushuGoji suit, broke the platform Nakajima and a cable operator were situated on. [more]
The Fabulous McGill Brothers on Better Call Saul
This episode of Better Call Saul has one of the most devastating cold opens so far. Vince Gilligan’s previous work on The X-Files and of course Breaking Bad reflects a longstanding interest in the power… [more]
Community Season Six: “Basic Crisis Room Decorum”
The third episode of the Yahoo hosted sixth season of Dan Harmon’s quirky cult show Community continues a trend seemingly put forward by the first two. “Basic Crisis Room Decorum” sees the show at both… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 23
Issue 27 “Hold Me” Writer: Neil Gaiman Art & Cover: Dave McKean Colors: Dave McKean & Danny Vizzo Letters: Todd Klein Following Grant Morrison’s two part tale of nuclear terror, is arguably one of the… [more]
Invisible Republic: A Fresh and Compelling Science Fiction Comic
The new comic book Invisible Republic, by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko, offers a fresh and intriguing take on the post-Apocalyptic genre. With moody, evocative artwork and spare, confident storytelling, it has the feel of… [more]
Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 22
Issue 25 “Early Warning” Writer: Grant Morrison Art, Colors, & Cover: David Lloyd Letters: Tom Frame As stated before, over the 300 issue run Hellblazer would be written by many of the comic industry’s biggest… [more]
Tsuburaya Does Colour: Rodan
Rodan presented the special effects mastermind with a unique opportunity. Not only was Eiji Tsuburaya shooting in colour for only the second time but also he was allotted an unprecedented 60 percent of the film’s budget [more]
The Literary Art of Stephen King: “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away”
In this story, King is elevating an entire medium of expression that almost no one takes seriously, even though in many ways it has a purity that most of the finer arts lack. [more]
Community Season Six: “Ladders” and “Lawnmower Maintenance and Post-Natal Care”
Community was a little bit of a nerve-wracking affair this season. The show was running the risk of this particular reincarnation being more like the Leech Child than the behemoth of brilliance it was before.… [more]