Seth Harris

Weekly Links – 21 March 2025

I first saw Ken Russell’s incredible horror film The Devils for the first time last year. It’s a movie that feels decades ahead of its time. The British Board of Film Classification, their equivalent to the US’s MPAA, shares an article about the history of The Devils’ censorship.

Movie Review – Who Killed Captain Alex?

Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)
Written and directed by Nabwana I.G.G.

I’ve mentioned several times in this series on foreign films how much American media is saturated with other cultures. This is intentional as it helps spread US hegemony across the globe by portraying the country as the toughest, most heroic culture on Earth. In the 1980s, this was done through the macho action films of people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. More recently, Marvel movies have been America’s tool of global indoctrination.

PopCult Podcast – The Electric State/I’m Still Here

We look at two very different films about people living under oppressive connections. One is a bloated, charmless Netflix original. The other is a passion project about a family struggling to stay together in Brazil during the military dictatorship. Check out our reviews of The Electric State and I’m Still Here.

Movie Review – Osama

Osama (2003)
Written and directed by Siddiq Barmak

Over twenty years, during the US occupation of Afghanistan, an estimated 176,000 died as a result of the conflict. Well over six thousand US soldiers, contractors, and soldiers from allied nations were killed. What was it all for? It doesn’t seem like much that counters those deaths. Afghanistan has historically been a place where armies come to fail. Of all the films I’ve seen from Muslim-majority countries, this one felt the most regressive. The US equivalent would be regions of the States where right-wing militias are growing in power and enforcing their rule. I think it is essential to see this film not as a condemnation of Islam, a religion that has many positive aspects, but as a searing critique of patriarchy. Your average right-wing US pundit will always make it about religion because they ultimately don’t care about the oppression of women.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – A Torch in the Dark

A Torch in the Dark
Written and designed by NotWriting

You can purchase this game here

Last year, I attempted to play Blades in the Dark using Parts Per Million’s solo guide. While there was some helpful advice in that book, it still felt like I was emulating a whole table of players rather than a singular protagonist. I had fun, but I wanted something that provided an actual solo tabletop experience. I decided to try A Torch in the Dark, a game that takes the systems of Blades and tweaks them for a solo play. There is a lot here I like a lot, but there were also elements of Blades that were missing, and I felt the game was lacking as a result. It provides a roguelike experience and uses 52 standard playing cards.

Comic Book Review – Avengers Epic Collection: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

Avengers Epic Collection: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (2014)
Reprints Avengers v1 #1-20
Written by Stan Lee
Art by Jack Kirby & Don Heck

When I was a kid with far more limited funds and had to pick a comic at the grocery store racks, I wanted the most bang for my buck. For me, that made team books far more appealing. You got a bunch of heroes and maybe more than one villain instead of a solo book. This made the Justice League, X-Men, Teen Titans, and Avengers more appealing. Yet, when I revisit some of these books, I find them lacking – especially Justice League and Avengers. Focusing on the latter, the Avengers is a comic that would have been the premiere book of the Marvel Age. Yet, it never overcame the appeal of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, or even its individual members’ books.

Weekly Links – 14 March 2025

There’s continuous talk about “the United States sliding into fascism.” We are there. We’ve been there for a long time. Instead, you must realize you are becoming aware that America is a fascist construct to its roots. This has been made nakedly apparent with the rendition of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who engaged in protest against the Palestinian genocide. If you think putting your head down and “getting through this” is an option, I hope you have the life you deserve.

Movie Review – Neptune Frost

Neptune Frost (2021)
Written by Saul Williams
Directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman

American mass media is like a virus. It has infected the globe to the point that if you go to any movie theater that exists in this world, you will find US films playing, even if they are shown bootleg. This is not an accident, yet it’s not exactly a conspiracy. It is another salvo in the American Empire’s conquest of the planet since World War II. Neptune Frost is a Rwandan film and an Afrofuturist musical about living under colonialism. However, Lin Manuel Miranda and Ezra Miller produced the film. So, I have to wonder how authentic the film can be to Rwandan voices with these Westerners involved.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Everspark Part Nine

Read the previous chapter here

Quick Fate Check: Were there any disturbances during the night?
Answer: 1, definitely not

Quick Fate Check: Is there an encounter on the next stretch of the journey?Answer: 7, no

Reaching Korrin’s Army – 3/5
Spark Check: 4, still open

Not much happens as Cypress and his group traverse the dense forest. He doesn’t mention seeing Druvahn, the Rootfather. He wonders if Demis knew already, due to their connection to the trees and nature. The Bloomwalker doesn’t say if they did or not.

PopCult Podcast – The Seed of the Sacred Fig/The Room Next Door

This week we look at an Iranian film that depicts life for one family during the recent hijab protests in The Seed of the Sacred Fig. That’s followed by our review of Pedro Almodovar’s English language debut The Room Next Door.