History

Preston, Spezi probe ‘Monster of Florence’ (2008)

We think of Douglas Preston as a best-selling thriller novelist, but his roots are in journalism, and he is still a practicing journalist. His earliest

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‘Superheroes Decoded’ (2017) a definitive documentary

“Superheroes Decoded,” a two-episode History Channel documentary from 2017, isn’t what I thought it would be. But it turns out to something good: The definitive

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‘Batman & Bill’ (2017) points Finger at DC Comics

“Batman & Bill” (2017, Hulu) is about the fight to correct one of the great injustices of early comic book history – the omission of

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John’s top 10 movies of 2020

The Oscars are expanding the 2020 movie year by two months in order for more films to get released and compete for statuettes. That’s a

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Endearing chimp stars in Preston’s ‘Jennie’ (1994)

Douglas Preston starts his fiction-writing career with a novel that’s almost unrecognizably his own, when viewed from the lens of a quarter-century of imaginative sci-fi

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‘Trial of the Chicago 7’ a gripping history lesson

I’m not a huge connoisseur of courtroom dramas about wrongfully accused defendants, similar to why I don’t like war movies. I already know war is

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Anya Taylor-Joy’s ‘Emma’ is beautiful but uneven

I’m not the target audience for “Emma,” but given how good Anya Taylor-Joy is in everything – most recently, TV’s “The Queen’s Gambit” – I figured

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‘Thunderhead’ (1999) shows thrills, scares of the West

Archaeologist Nora Kelly enters the pantheon of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s heroes in “Thunderhead” (1999), an early and still great example of their Southwestern

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‘Haunting of Bly Manor’ a beautiful, flawed meditation on love

With “The Haunting of Bly Manor” (Netflix) – his spiritual (pun intended) sequel to 2018’s “The Haunting of Hill House” — Mike Flanagan continues to

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‘Riptide’ (1998) an early Preston & Child treasure

“Riptide” (1998) is one of the few Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child books to not feature characters who appear elsewhere, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.

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