As You Like It
Character likability part 2

The great actor Jack Lemmon said about his character in Glengarry Glen Ross that he didn't want the guy to be likable. He thought Shelley Levine “isn't a nice man” and was not someone people should feel sorry for. Lemmon ...

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We base our images of aliens in comics on aliens in TV shows and movies mostly, because those are the ones we all know.
But movie aliens ...

The 90's movie “The Firm” is a good thriller. I just rewatched it and it holds up very well. Recently I picked up the book to check it out.

Even though I've watched the movie several times over the years, I got less than a third into the ...

I could've saved this one for Halloween -

When I was a kid, my aunt (only a few years older than me) sent me up to the attic to get a boardgame. When I opened the attic door, a plastic doll that was taller than I was fell forward on ...

It never really occurred to me how many of our heroes are orphans.

Superman was the last survivor of a planet that perished. He was adopted by loving Earth parents, but he's one of the iconic orphans in fiction.

His counterpart Batman, of course, lost his parents at an ...

We talk a lot about Franchises here because those have been the big, widely known movies/stories in the culture in recent years.

But it's not all about Franchises - one thing that a standalone story can do, and occasionally does, is have an ending that changes the world forever ...

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Art: Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano

We're talking about WAR here! Trying to leave out politics, though that's really hard with war because ...

I watched an interview with Ira Behr, the writer and showrunner on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. He talked about his days in the DS9 writer's room. It was the 90's, and the early days of the Internet. Even in those days, Star Trek discussion was flourishing online ...

In rewatching some 1990's movies, I saw quite a few of these Protagonists show up - they're these disaffected types, usually quite intelligent or at least verbose, who are wrapped up in their emotions and sort of spinning their wheels in life as they analyze their problems and face ...

Picard Season Three hit the fan service HARD. I absolutely loved it.


The final season of Star Trek Picard is winning very good reviews from fans and critics.

Of course, in some corners there is criticism of fan service, nostalgia and ‘member berries’ being the driving force behind the season ...