I think when COVID rolled around, Benson and Moorhead fell off my radar. And that’s unfortunate because I liked everything by them that I had seen to that point. On the flipside, it not means there are a couple of titles of theirs that I need to catch up on, with Synchronic being one of…
Tag: 2019
Firefly: The Magnificent Nine (2019) – James Lovegrove
James Lovegrove takes us back out into the Black with his second Firefly novel, The Magnificent Nine. Once again, he has an ear for the dialogue and the pacing of the series and translated it nicely to a novel. As the title hints at, the story is a bit of a riff on the classic…
The Last Astronaut (2019) – David Wellington
Whatever 1I/2017 Oumuamua and now 3I/Atlas are, they fired my imagination. These intersolar voyagers are cloaked in mystery and possibilities. David Wellington’s novel, The Last Astronaut, takes that idea and runs with it giving us a cross of Crichton, Clarke and Lovecraft. A combination of science and wonder with unnerving horror. Sally Jansen was the…
Superman: Dawnbreaker (2019) – Matt de la Pena
I’m going to restart Smallville this week. I never finished it when it was airing and writing about them guarantees that I have to watch them all and explore the whole series. And since Superman has always been a hero of mine, I’ve also been scouring for a good Superman novel. Dawnbreaker is that. Giving…
To Be Taught, If Fortunate (2019) – Becky Chambers
The last (for now) Becky Chambers book for me to read was her first. Again, it’s too short, but it hints at the wonders to come in her Wayfarer Series and Monk and Robot books. The story follows a foursome of Earth explorers as they explore strange new worlds. Well four of them anyway. And…
Hellboy (2019) – Neil Marshall
The Hellboy reboot isn’t great. A sloppy narrative and really bad visual effects keep this one from being a really enjoyable take on the classic Mike Mignola character. That being said there are a couple of good things about it. If anyone was going to take over the role after Ron Perlman, I think David…
Guns Akimbo (2019) – Jason Howden
Frenetic. Kinetic. and often hilarious, Guns Akimbo is an ultra-violent, gory action comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving. Radcliffe, trotting out an American accent for the role, plays Miles. He professionally baits online trolls but when he finds an online fight club that has thousands of viewers across the web, he may have stumbled…
Glass (2019) – M. Night Shyamalan
Glass paired with Unbreakable and Spilt wraps up Shyamalan’s ode to comic books trilogy. It picks up a few weeks after the events of Split, and fifteen years after the Unbreakable. David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is running a security company with his son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark). He uses this as an opportunity to use…
The Vigil (2019) – Keith Thomas
Once again, it’s thanks to Mike Flanagan and his podcast, Director’s Commentary, for introducing me to a film that I may have missed out on. The Vigil is a wonderful little horror film that has a quick runtime of ninety minutes, and uses every one of those to tell an engaging and spooky story. Yakov…
The Mind Reels 