Reviews from My Couch | Reviews of movies, TV, books and comics

John Hansen
August 6, 2020

‘Escape from New York’ (1981) a classic gritty actioner

I appreciate “Escape from New York” (1981) more as an influential piece of history in the action genre than as a film that stands the

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John Hansen
August 4, 2020

Chase shines as ‘Vacation’ (1983) puts Hughes on map

“National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983) both makes fun of and lauds the archetypal dad who wants to show his family a fun time but runs into

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John Hansen
August 3, 2020

Jeter continues saga in ‘Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human’ (1995)

Back when a “Blade Runner” movie sequel seemed unlikely, Bantam (the publisher of “Star Wars” spinoff fiction at the time) and author K.W. Jeter delivered

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John Hansen
August 1, 2020

Urban’s ‘Dredd’ (2012) goes simpler and grittier

“Dredd” (2012) — the second go at bringing comicdom’s single-minded future cop to the big screen — is tight, simple and brisk. It’s objectively better

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John Hansen
July 31, 2020

‘Disturbing Behavior’ (1998) is wild, weird high school horror

In 1998, I thought “Disturbing Behavior” was an elite portrayal of high school as a conformity factory, as that concept was a new discovery for

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John Hansen
July 30, 2020

Bring your own metaphors to ‘Battle Royale’ (2000)

“Battle Royale” is the 2000 Japanese film that predated “The Hunger Games’ ” saga of kids fighting each other to the death per government mandate,

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John Hansen
July 28, 2020

PKD’s ‘Deus Irae’ (1976) explores dark side of religion

Philip K. Dick’s “Deus Irae” – co-penned with Roger Zelazny (1937-95) — was published in 1976, the decade when he released most of his religious-themed

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John Hansen
July 27, 2020

Lovegrove steps up game in ‘Firefly: The Ghost Machine’

After leaning into the Western side of sci-fi/Western in his first two “Firefly” novels, James Lovegrove uses sci-fi to good effect in “The Ghost Machine”