Science Fiction

‘John Dies at the End’ (2009) a passion project, despite myriad influences

Like Joss Whedon loves penning dialog and Shane Black enjoys dodging action-movie cliches, David Wong (real name Jason Pargin) clearly has a blast writing insane

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Preston & Child go back in time for ‘Cabinet of Dr. Leng’

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have sent Agent Pendergast and other characters to many parts of the globe, but for “The Cabinet of Dr. Leng”

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‘The Ruins’ (2006, 2008) a creepy exercise in fatalism

On this re-read, I often flashed back to my first experience of Scott Smith’s “The Ruins” (2006). I vividly recalled details such as a dog

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‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (2022) spectacular, insubstantial

“Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022) is easily digestible as entertainment, but even as I watched it, I knew I was taking in empty calories. Director/co-writer

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Novelty wears off fast in jerky sequel ‘V/H/S/2’ (2013)

I had some issues with the unlikable characters and dishonest “found footage” premise of 2012’s “V/H/S.” But at least that horror anthology has solid entries

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Gibson meticulously imagines a future in ‘The Peripheral’ (2014)

After enjoying Season 1 of Amazon Prime’s “The Peripheral” enough to come back for Season 2, I decided to fill the offseason with a read

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‘Doctor Strange’ enters ‘Multiverse of Madness’ (2022), and it looks familiar

Thanos was defeated in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” but the MCU has somehow gotten more complex since then. The first of the three 2022 films, “Doctor

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John’s top 10 movies of 2022

The industry is struggling through a post-pandemic transitional period as it figures out how people want to consume movies. For now, there’s still an appetite

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‘Black Adam’ a goofily fun but hypocritical superhero romp

The line between video-game graphics and movie CGI is almost erased in “Black Adam” (HBO Max). It was ostensibly filmed in New Zealand, but I

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‘Await Further Instructions’ (2018) a solid ‘What’s going on?’ flick

The British horror flick “Await Further Instructions” (2018) builds up a creepy “What’s going on?” vibe as a dysfunctional family and their significant others find

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