PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – They Live

They Live (1988)
Written & Directed by John Carpenter

By the end of the 1980s, John Carpenter had grown increasingly furious with how Ronald Reagan had transformed America into a capitalist’s wet dream. Houseless populations were rising while corporate profits skyrocketed. He saw Reaganomics and its acolytes as aliens from another world, harvesting humanity for its labor and resources, leaving a dried, empty husk. Carpenter started to pay closer attention to marketing and saw the embedded consumer propaganda that underlies everything, pushing people to constantly spend money on things they didn’t need. An encounter with a Universal Studios executive who didn’t see a problem with selling out because “everyone does” served as a significant catalyst for Carpenter to make this film. The result is cult classic and science fiction masterwork.

Movie Review – Predator

Predator (1987)
Written by Jim Thomas & John Thomas
Directed by John McTiernan

After the release of Rocky IV, a joke went around Hollywood that he’d run out of people to fight. His next opponent should be an alien. Brothers Jim & John Thomas decided to bang out a script inspired by this joke. The original script, titled Hunter, featured a band of alien hunters from various species hunting down targets. This was revised and refocused to one alien hunting down a group of human soldiers. It was initially envisioned as a pulpy low budget science fiction picture, but producer Joel Silver saw it as a perfect follow-up to his recent Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger. John McTiernan was hired to direct, having only made one previous film. Predator would be his studio debut and would lead to one of the career-defining action films of the era.

Movie Review – Videodrome

Videodrome (1983)
Written & Directed by David Cronenberg

Few voices in science fiction and horror are as unique as David Cronenberg. He often makes films that are intentionally complex and reality-bending enough to confound audiences. Videodrome is a masterpiece of body horror touching on the themes Cronenberg found most fascinating during this part of his career: sexuality and the inner development of humanity. We’re thrust into a world like ours but where reality is slightly off from the start. It’s never clear if this is the near future or an imagined present. This lack of detail about when this happens is precisely what the film needs to exist in an uncanny space as it tells its story of humanity’s psychic transformation at the hands of mass media.

Movie Review – Fantastic Planet

Fantastic Planet (1973)
Written by René Laloux and Roland Topor
Directed by René Laloux

One of the most challenging things in science fiction is appropriately conveying the alien-ness of another world. So often, writers lean into cliches or just create bland, uninteresting worlds. Think of the lifeless creatures from Independence Day or the generic Grays that populate so much of science fiction. It always stands out when a filmmaker makes me feel like I am experiencing a culture, a species, a world entirely unlike my own. I have to find a way in and try to make sense in the context of that species, not necessarily my own. Fantastic Planet definitely presents a world like that but does seem to lean into elements of human behavior to tell its allegory rather than go complete alien civilization.

Weekly Wonderings – May 10th, 2021

Had an incredibly restful and relaxing weekend which is why the podcast isn’t out yet. That should be uploaded sometime later today. We decided to do some driving just to see some different scenery on Saturday, and it was a nice change of pace. I am certainly not on the same page as the news headlines I see talking about opening everything back up. It will be a good long while before I would be safe going anywhere there’s a large crowd in the United States. And honestly, once you find a comfortable mask, it’s not a huge burden to wear one. We have loved these from the Majority Report Store; the material is comfortable and stretchy. They don’t have the metal noseband piece but fit snug enough. I don’t worry about glasses fogging up. I’ve noted that my sinus infections, allergies, colds, etc., have been non-existent this year, which I attribute to this heightened level of safety. It’s been awfully nice.

Movie Review – Akira

Akira (1988)
Written by Katsuhiro Otomo & Izo Hashimoto
Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo

While there are a decent number of science fiction films that could be classified as masterworks, I personally believe it is the rare few that could be called visionary. I use that word in the sense of building a world that feels so unique and real, taking elements of our present and showing them taken to an extreme in the future. Every time I’ve watched Akira, I get that sense; it’s the same feeling I have watching Blade Runner. This is a fully realized world; we just see a small glimpse of a critical moment. Neo-Tokyo is one of the best science fiction settings ever created, and this story captures the best of the science fiction genre, particularly the subgenre of cyberpunk.

Comic Book Review – Immortal Hulk Book Two

Immortal Hulk Book Two (2018)
Reprints Immortal Hulk #11-20
Written by Al Ewing
Art by Joe Bennett and Eric Nguyen

Rereading Immortal Hulk has been sparking my interest in going back and revisit Peter David’s Hulk run. That is a daunting task because of its enormity, but Al Ewing does such an excellent job of building on David’s numerous contributions to the Hulk mythos in a way that doesn’t feel derivative. This is done by introducing new aspects to Bruce Banner & The Hulk that complicates their relationship. I also think Jackie McGee is a grounding force, always there reminding the reader and Banner about the human costs of being this green behemoth. In Book Two, Ewing literally takes us to Hell, where Banner confronts those closest to him left as collateral damage.

Movie Review – Terminator: Dark Fate

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Written by David Goyer, Justin Rhodes, & Billy Ray
Directed by Tim Miller

After recently rewatching Terminator 2: Judgment Day, I became curious about the latest attempt to revive the Terminator franchise. At this point, we now have three separate timelines branching from T2 that all seem to fail to continue a story that feels finished. I watched the T2 Director’s Cut, and it has an ending scene with John Connor grown in the new future where he serves as a senator. It felt like the day had been saved; everything was wrapped up. But of course, Hollywood couldn’t let that be when there was more money to make. I had seen Terminator: Genisys, which is unwatchable, and wondered what damage control would be done in Dark Fate if maybe they had made a palatable follow-up.

Weekly Wonderings – May 3rd, 2021

We’re into May, which means a brand-new month of stuff on the blog. All throughout May, I’ll be reviewing Science Fiction Masterworks. Like I did with horror in October, these are science fiction films considered to be exemplars of the genre or movies I feel capture the essence of some science fiction element. I’ve already reviewed The Day the Earth Stood Still and Terminator 2. Coming up will be Akira, Solaris, Fantastic Planet, Videodrome, Predator, They Live, Gattaca, Aliens, Robocop, Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Moon.

Additionally, I have a round-up post planned of all the Science Fiction Masterworks I’ve previously watched and reviewed on the blog. Top 5 Science Fiction Movies will also be a segment on the upcoming episode of the PopCult Podcast. Patrons over on Patreon have already gotten early access to that segment over the previous weekend.

Movie Review – Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Written by James Cameron and William Wisher
Directed by James Cameron

Certain movies extend beyond just being a new film and exist in their time as a cultural phenomenon. Terminator 2 was that sort of a picture, where even ten-year-old me, who couldn’t see the film at the time because it was rated R, could feel how big it was. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the biggest action star at the time, and he was returning to work with James Cameron. Since directing the first Terminator, Cameron had helmed Aliens and The Abyss. In the latter film, he experimented with computer special effects that audiences had never seen before. For such a small number of films, the director had gained massive acclaim. At the time, with its budget of around $100 million, it was the most expensive movie ever made.