Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) – James Cameron

It’s been thirteen years since writer/director James Cameron introduced to the distant world of Pandora, and its blue-skinned, lean humanoid inhabitants the Na’vi, who live in harmony with their planet. It’s been thirteen years since we left Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their family has grown, with three children…

The Expanse (2017) – The Weeping Somnambulist, and Cascade

While the scientific expedition to Venus makes a surprising and worrying discovery, the crew of the Rocinante and the politicians of Earth and Mars delve deeper into the incident on Ganymede. The Weeping Somnambulist was written by Hallie Lambert and first aired on 22 March, 2017. Holden (Steven Strait), Amos (Wes Chatham), Naomi (Dominique Tipper)…

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) – Ryan Coogler

The MCU’s newest entry, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is Ryan Coogler’s follow-up to his 2018 entry, Black Panther, which launched its star, Chadwick Boseman, to the status of beloved icon. Taken from us far too soon, Wakanda Forever is about the characters processing the loss of their king, T’Challa as much as it is about…

TIFF 2021: Becoming Cousteau dir. Liz Garbus

Like a lot of people my age grew up in the 70s tuning into The Undersea World of Jacques Costeau, in our house, it would be paired Sunday evenings with The Wonderful World of Disney. I had one of his books as a child, and would pore over the pictures and text for hours, losing…

Underwater (2020) – William Eubank

Borrowing (very, Very, VERY) heavily both visually and story-wise from Alien (without the 70s cinema verite nods to overlapping dialogue) as well as having nods to The Abyss, Leviathan, DeepStar Six and even Lovecraft, Twentieth Century Fox invites you into the depths with its new release, Underwater. Kristen Stewart starts as Norah, a mechanical engineer…

The Twilight Zone (1963) – Passage on the Lady Anne, and The Bard

Season four of The Twilight Zone comes to a conclusion this week with these two episodes as I continue exploring The Complete Series on blu-ray, currently available from Paramount Pictures. First up this week is Passage on the Lady Anne. Written by Charles Beaumont this story first found its way to television screens on 9…

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – Vonda N. McIntyre

This week’s Book Shelf brings me to the movie adaptation of Star Trek IV, as I continue to enjoy, discover new stories and revisit old ones with the Pocket Book novels. Working from the film’s original script, McIntyre expands on the film’s story, as well as tying it more strongly into her own stories and…

Magnum, p.i. (1985) – Old Acquaintance and The Kona Winds

  There’s a bit of noir, and a bit of a fun ride, in this week’s installment of Magnum… First up is Old Acquaintance, written by Jill Donner, this episode had an airdate of 3 October, 1985, and may have heavily influenced the writers of Ace Ventura… Thomas (Tom Selleck) is delighted to hear from…