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Films

His Dark Materials Podcast

Last week, I posted about speaking on the Parents Just Don't Understand podcast about Philip Pullman's series, His Dark Materials. We mostly talked about the first book, and the HBO episodes that had aired up until that date. I had a blast and hope I get another chance to talk some more about one of my favorite series of books. I hope you have as much fun listening as I did talking His Dark Materials! https://soundcloud.com/parentspodcast/his-dark-materials-w-ben-udashen-karlo-yeager-rodriguez Note that when I mention reading the first few chapters of The Golden Compass (Northern Lights is the title in the UK), I'm referring to the full cast audiobook--it's quite good! ...

November 19, 2019
Fantasy, Public Appearance, Series
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Short Review Time: Solo and Cobra Kai

In the last few weeks, I caught Solo in the movie theaters and just churned through the YouTube Red series, Cobra Kai. I'll be covering my impressions on each of these properties, both of which are follow ups to existing movies. There's a marked difference, in my opinion, on how I received the nostalgic elements of each. I've attempted to stay spoiler-free, but I'm a bad judge of what constitutes a spoiler to some folks, so please don't call the spoiler police on me because I didn't mean to do it. . . honest! Solo: A Star Wars Story Solo is a prequel (no, not that type of prequel) to Star Wars (aka, A New Hope or Star Wars 4), set in the time period between A New Hope and the last of "yes, those prequels" Confusing? Yes, it can be difficult to explain the chronology of the ongoing Star Wars movies to...

June 4, 2018
Films

What Have I Been Enjoying Lately?

Earlier this week, I rattled off a very brief post talking about Sylvia Moreno García's efforts at capturing Latin Americans in SFF. I may decide to write more about this at some later date, but for now I wanted to go over the things I've been enjoying recently. Fleabag I started watching this series through Amazon. It is a fascinating experiment in perspective, as the entire show is told exclusively through Fleabag's point of view. The fourth wall is often broken, as the audience is both confidant and accomplice in what Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character is going through. Fleabag is a mess, and the show is funny, crass, sly and--at times--heartbreaking. Legion Currently being aired on FX. Daniel Haller has problems, one of them being that what he thought to be mental illness is actually the by-products of his superpowers. Full disclosure: I had to watch the first episode more than once. This was my...

March 20, 2017
Films, Science Fiction, Series

The Get Down is the Best Netflix Series I’ve Seen All Year

If you haven't seen The Get Down, you're missing out. This series is so much fun, and unapologetic about how brash and hopeful its story is. I also have to say that the cast is almost entirely brown and black, with all the colors between, which is such a refreshing thing to see. I watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode with a smile on my face because the show knows exactly what it wants to do. The series takes place in a mythic version of 70's Bronx, mixing together references to Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu movies, along with a dash of The Warriors and West Side Story. Add to this  amazing, soaring musical numbers, and you realize this series doesn't care about naturalism. The storytelling is crafting a world that is epic and operatic, and I'm along for the ride. Go see The Get Down. Seriously.  ...

September 12, 2016
Series