The Hand-Maid’s Tale concludes its second season, with one of its best episodes—and one of its most problematic and controversial developments.
Author Archives: JD DeLuzio
Movie Review: Ant-man and the Wasp
After the bleak ending to Avengers: Infinity War (Part One), and the ongoing noir of the Netflix series, Marvel needed to break for a few laughs, and so, we get a sequel to the 2015 film about size-changing heroes whose corner of the MCU pays a little more attention to the Rule of Funny.
Summer Weekend Review: Before I Fall
Yeah, we’ll get to Ant-man and the Wasp shortly. Meanwhile, we have another Summer Weekend Review of something we missed, last year’s most successful independent film, which crosses genres, including SF/Fantasy.
Think of Before I Fall as a sort of I Was A Teenage Groundhog Day.
Summer Movie Review: “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975)
With the hyperbolic adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel currently in first run, our first Summer Movie Review of July 2018 looks back to 1975, and Peter Weir’s handling of the same material. Critics widely hail Picnic at Hanging Rock as a defining moment in Australian cinema. How does the film, a sort of Merchant Ivory meets The Twilight Zone, play more than 42 years later?
Book Review: The Outsider
Stephen King’s latest throws back to his earlier work, though it starts with a fascinating premise. A man stands accused of a horrific crime. The police have incontrovertible evidence of his guilt. He has incontrovertible evidence of his innocence.
The Expanse: “Congregation” and “Abaddon’s Gate”
The Expanse ends Season Three with an episode that expands the show’s horizons for a Season Four that will be happening.
Harlan Ellison, R.I.P.
Harlan Ellison, the outspoken, prolific author of stories, novels, screenplays, TV, and comics, died in his sleep this morning at the age of 84. Ellison wrote many a beloved and thought-provoking SF story including Trek‘s “The City on the Edge of Forever,” and won, in the words of Rick Green, “every coveted award– except Miss Congeniality.” Stephen King opined today that “If there’s an afterlife, Harlan is already kicking ass and taking down names.” John Scalzi has offered his own perspective on the irascible Mr. Ellison.
SF will miss him.
The Handmaid’s Tale Review: “After,” “Women’s Work,” “Smart Power”
The Handmaid’s Tale continues, with society under pressure in the wake of recent events. The country remains a place run by hypocrites who insist they’re acting in the name of God and national interest, who preach a pro-family message while separating children from parents, exalting men who commit sexual assault, and denouncing the supposed falseness of reports against them while spouting blatant lies and obvious propaganda.
The cracks and contradictions in this society grow more apparent, and some of its most devout citizens begin to tremble at the monster they’ve helped create.
As a bonus, we get to see a little of life beyond Gilead. We make several trips to Canada, and we begin to feel the presence of the United States of America—that is, the parts that have neither been destroyed nor become a part of Gilead.1
The Expanse Review: “It Reaches Out,” “Intransigence,” “Dandelion Sky,” Fallen World”
The Expanse continues with its fourth third and, to date, best season, as characters old and new confront a thing both terrifying and unknown. The ring may be a Big Object, but it’s not a Dumb one.
TV Review: Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), Episode 1
Joan Lindsay’s notorious novel (1967) birthed a stage play and a classic of Aussie cinema (1975), a movie that manages to bridge Merchant Ivory and The Twilight Zone. The memorable picnic could make an intriguing mini-series (2018). It’s not clear, however, from the first episode, if that’s what we’re going to see.