I still like a lot of his stuff despite all that. One thing I think is funny about The Andromeda Strain is that just after the pandemic started people were mentioning it as far as books about pandemics; the part I think is funny about that is that in the book only about 50 people died.

I read Earth Abides after my dad recommended it, but haven’t read The Stand.

I’m surprised they’re doing a pandemic show this soon after Covid.

The entire movie is a knowing fifties pastiche. They have beatnik jokes in it! And a jive-talking elevator operator! How is one of its characters not going to be some sort of magical negro?

I felt old when Aubrey was credibly old enough to play a mother of a preteen in the recent Child’s Play movie.

Her dead wife gave her that ass!

It’s an interesting Ben Elton jam that asks the question, “What if you wrote a very broad, stereotypical britcom but it starred William Shakespeare?” I thought for sure the premise would wear thin by the second episode but imo it manages to not get tired. Part of the appeal is seeing how they translate “modern” sitcom…

Oh I get that, but it could have been done in a way that was less over the top ridiculous. 

Great piece, and agree that Spider-Man 2 is the best superhero movie ever made. There’s so much humanity in it that watching it in contrast to some of the MCU movies feels like they were made on different planets.

I don’t see a whole lot of SAG going on there.

“I just read the greatest screenplay ever written!”
“Oh yeah? Who wrote it?”
“I did!”

I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know that. I did a quick look up and there are plenty of folks who agree with you. Others like the film better. From the POV of someone who only saw the film, I did appreciate the take on sexism and I appreciated the tension between religion and science. From a film maker’s…

No way, you’re forgetting about Who Framed Roger Rabbit!

Yeah and BBSes were doing classified ad type stuff before that too.

I thought The Happening already *was* the dark and gritty Arbor Day movie.

The internet, Murray. Non-physical content, particularly intellectual works, were rapidly devalued as content got pushed online (ask any musician). It was great to have the gates removed, allowing more voices to find an audience. However, credible, accountable content quickly vanished or got subsumed in something that…

Actually, it’s going to be super easy. Barely an inconvenience.

The only example I can think of is the character Montana Wildhack, from Slaughterhouse Five.

🤯🤯🤯

There’s a Harker-esque character and prologue in the original Nosferatu, right? Thomas Hutter, who travels to Count Orlok’s castle in Transylvania to kick off the story.