The Accusation (2017) – Bandi

Due out this week from Anansi Press is this beautiful collection of stories, the first fiction to come out of North Korea. They say write what you know, and while I recognise that these stories are fiction, they have their roots in the real world, and as such, give the reader a fascinating glance inside…

Doctor Who (Christoper Eccleston) – The Unquiet Dead and Aliens of London

The Doctor (Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) travel back to Cardiff (an in-joke because that is where the series shoots), 1869. There they quickly find themselves embroiled in alien mystery, and chatting with Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) in The Unquiet Dead. Written by Mark Gatiss, with an original airdate of 9 April, 2005, this episode…

Universal Soldier (1992) – Roland Emmerich

Sometimes you are just in the mood for something blatantly mindless, poorly written, and violent fun. Well, the next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book should provide me with more than a healthy dose of that as I dive into the works of Roland Emmerich. How he keeps getting A-list stars to work with him…

The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998) – Rob Bowman

  The X-Files owned the late 90s, early 00s and as the fifth season came to a close, the show was at the height of its popularity. This led to the idea of an event, a thank you for the fans, and the FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) made…

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Martin Scorsese

  Paul Schrader adapts Nikos Kazantakis’ powerful novel about the life of Christ (portrayed powerfully by Willem Dafoe) comes to life under the sure hand of Martin Scorsese, bringing the Christian character to life in a way unseen on the screen before this. Raising questions not only about the concept of Christ, as well as…

Star Wars: Bloodline (2016) – Claudia Gray

  Claudia Gray who wowed me with her young adult Star Wars novel, Lost Stars, returns to that galaxy, far, far away, this time centering on a story about Princess Leia Organa. Set twenty years after the destruction of the second Death Star at the Battle of Endor, and ten years before the events of…

Midnight Special (2016) – Jeff Nichols

  Owing its pedigree to films of the 80s like John Carpenter’s Starman and Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Nichols writes and directs this science fiction road movie that is best viewed with little to no plot knowledge. So suffice to say, I won’t be saying much about story points in my review….

Village of the Damned (1995) – John Carpenter

  John Carpenter’s take on the Midwich Cuckoo’s tale is next up in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, and boasts a pretty fine cast in the form of Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Marlk Hamill, Linda Kozlowski and Michael Pare. The location has been changed to small town America, but the basis of the story remains the…