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- Reviews: Currents (2026)
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Tag Archives: sci-fi
2025 Books Read
I ended last year with a flurry of Oscar Wilde’s short stories, declaring I’d read all the plays in 2025. I mean, there were only five, sadly, due to the homophobic violence of his own society. I know these plays … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Austria, books read, Charles Lamb, children's books, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Czeslaw Milosz, David Lynch, Dubravka Ugrešić, England, essays, fiction, France, Frankenstein, Germany, Guillermo del Toro, Hungary, Ireland, Jane Austen, Janet Malcolm, John Keats, Lord Byron, Mark Danielewski, Mary Gaitskill, Mary Shelley, Matthew Arnold, Memoirs, nonfiction, Oscar Wilde, poetry, Poland, politics, Rebecca West, Roald Dahl, Robert Kaplan, Robert Louis Stevenson, Russia, sci-fi, Scotland, scripts, Spain, The Beatles, Twin Peaks, William Shakespeare, Yugoslavia
12 Comments
October 2025 Snapshots
This fall was way too busy for me to write anything, anywhere. I spent three weeks in New York in October, a lot of back and forth, for screenings, meetings with friends, and then the Frankenstein New York premiere where … Continue reading
Posted in James Joyce, Personal
Tagged Emily Dickinson, Frankenstein, friends, Guillermo del Toro, nonfiction, poetry, Robert Kaplan, sci-fi, snapshots, Ulysses
11 Comments
“Now I am alone– oh, how alone! I am left to fulfil my task. So be it.” — Mary Shelley
“How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, sci-fi
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June 2025 Viewing Diary
The last couple of months – really since the beginning of the year – I’ve only had room in my head for re-watches of stuff I already know. It was crunch time for the Frankenstein book. Plus politics and pretty … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged documentary, Jane Austen, Jensen Ackles, New Zealand, romantic drama, sci-fi, thrillers, women directors, X-Files
10 Comments
November 2024 Viewing Diary
Stranger Things, Season 2, episodes 5, 6, 7 (2016) Continuing the very slow “binge” watch with my niece Lucy, and having so much fun. She gets such a kick out of showing it to me. She knows every moment and … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Charles Vidor, comedy, documentary, drama, Edna O'Brien, film noir, Iranian film, Ireland, Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Mohammad Rasoulof, Paul Schrader, Richard Gere, Rita Hayworth, romantic drama, sci-fi, Sidney Lumet, women directors
28 Comments
July 2024 Viewing Diary
Anyone But You (2023; d. Will Gluck) The fascination with Glen Powell continues. I’ve seen this maybe four times now? The NY Times did a whole ROUNDTABLE about Glen Powell, like: what is going on with this guy? It’s like … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, Ben Gazzara, coming of age, documentary, drama, England, France, Gena Rowlands, Glen Powell, historical drama, horror, Ireland, Italy, Joan Blondell, John Cassavetes, Mary Shelley, Opening Night, romantic comedy, sci-fi
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December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
The Golden Bachelor Watched – in great hilarity – with Karen and Allison during a raucous sleepover, and Carol pulled up on FaceTime. So we could watch together. The whole thing is so ridiculous. Maestro (2023; d. Bradley Cooper) I … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Aline MacMahon, biopic, Charlie Chaplin, Chile, Denmark, documentary, drama, dystopia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Juliette Binoche, Kazuo Ishiguro, literary adaptation, Michael Mann, North Korea, Paul Schrader, Pre-Code, Radu Jude, Ray Milland, Richard Pryor, Romania, romantic comedy, sci-fi, short films, Sidney Poitier, silent films, Spain, Sylvia Sidney, Tana French, true crime, William Wellman, Wim Wenders, women directors
41 Comments
Review: The Artifice Girl (2023)
AI has been in the news a lot in recent months (Buzzfeed laid off a ton of writers saying openly that they were switching to AI – this will keep happening) – and so this movie is pretty timely. It’s … Continue reading
November 2022 Viewing Diary
Something in the Dirt (2022; d. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson) I really liked this. If you like losing yourself in conspiracy theories – without being, like, a QAnon-type ready to shoot up a pizza parlor – then this is super … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Alan Ladd, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Cate Blanchett, Claude Rains, crime movies, D.H. Lawrence, documentary, drama, England, film noir, France, historical drama, horror, Iran, Iranian film, Isabelle Huppert, Jafar Panahi, Joanna Hogg, Joe Berlinger, John Garfield, Nina Hoss, Poland, Ralph Macchio, Russia, sci-fi, South Korea, Steven Spielberg, Tilda Swinton, true crime, women directors
3 Comments
Review: I’m Totally Fine (2022)
On the face of it this is a sweet friendship comedy within a sci-fi context, but it’s unexpectedly deep in its exploration of grief. I reviewed for Ebert.