Martin puts mark on horror genre with ‘Slasher’ Season 1
TV review: Aaron Martin of “The Best Years” and “Being Erica” shows he can do horror, too, with this eight-episode debut season.
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy of the Force: Fury’ (2007) (Book review)
“Fury” (2007), the seventh entry in the nine-book “Legacy of the Force” saga, is an example of a great book within a wider storyline that’s not so great. By this point, it’s clear that the Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus arc doesn’t ring true: He behaves like the Emperor, yet he doesn’t have a sociopathic background; he was […]
‘Dollhouse’ Season 1 (2009) makes case as Whedon’s smartest show (TV review)
Rewatching and reviewing the classics: On this rewatch, I found “Dollhouse” to be the most intellectually dense show of Joss Whedon’s oeuvre.
‘Star Trek Beyond’ is distractingly loud and stupid (Movie review)
In 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted the “Star Trek” movie franchise by making a “Star Wars”-style movie with “Star Trek” trappings. The second entry, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” was perhaps closer to “Star Trek,” but it cribbed so liberally from “The Wrath of Khan” that it barely registered as a distinct movie. And now we have “Star […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy of the Force: Inferno’ (2007) (Book review)
“Inferno” (2007), the sixth book of the nine-book “Legacy of the Force” series, is the one where Jacen begins referring to himself as Darth Caedus in the scenes told from his perspective. It’s an appropriate time for that transition, because the new Dark Lord of the Sith significantly adds to his evil tally here – tricking […]
Appealing leads give heart to funny but formulaic ‘Bad Moms’ (Movie review)
Whereas “Bad Teacher” and “Bad Santa” played up the jokes in their titles – wouldn’t it be funny if a teacher or a Santa was monumentally bad at their job? – “Bad Moms” goes a bit deeper. Yes, there is that sequence – featured in the trailer – where Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice’ (2007) (Book review)
Before this re-read, I had thought of “The New Jedi Order” as the dark and grim “Star Wars” saga, but “Legacy of the Force” surpasses it with its fifth entry, “Sacrifice” (2007). For some reason, Mara’s death doesn’t get as much hype as Chewbacca’s or Anakin Solo’s, but it should. Karen Traviss’ writing of Jacen’s murder of […]
‘Dead of Summer’ and ‘Scream’ make Tuesday nights great again
TV review: These two horror series combine for a great night of television.
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy of the Force: Exile’ (2007) (Book review)
Aaron Allston delivers the best book so far in the “Legacy of the Force” series with “Exile” (2007), the fourth of the nine-novel saga. Whereas earlier books put most of our heroes in the awkward position of not knowing which side (if any) of the Corellia-Galactic Alliance war they were on, “Exile” smooths things out as the […]
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy of the Force: Tempest’ (2006) (Book review)
The “Legacy of the Force” series is a good collaboration between Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss and Troy Denning, but at the same time, there’s no question that they have different areas of interest. Within the larger context of the Corellia vs. Galactic Alliance civil war, Allston likes to spend more time with X-wing pilots, Traviss […]