Author: kane2026

TV-series

The Expanse has been cancelled by Syfy – producers search for alternative

The Expanse has been cancelled by Syfy Syfy has gone back to its roots with doing something it has always done well – cancelling another Sci-Fi series. Now The Expanse has gotten the ax. For a channel that is supposed to be all about science fiction it sure as hell is cancelling a lot of shows. Dark Matter was already cancelled and Killjoys will have its final season next year. Other recent victims were Helix, Continuum and Defiance. In fact so few shows have concluded as they should that I am wondering how Syfy earns its money.  Reasons Reasons for...

Beyond Good and Evil 2 - logo

Computer Games

Beyond Good and Evil 2 new gameplay footage 2018 – Ubisoft teases before E3

Beyond Good and Evil 2 new gameplay footage 2018 One of the games I am most excited about, besides Cyberpunk 2077, is Beyond Good and Evil 2. Today, Ubisoft released footage of early-alpha gameplay. This gives us the first indication of the direction the game is set to take. I did a preview of the game during last years E3 show (you can read it here) in which a senior developer showed footage of a tech demo. Today’s footage seems to build on that. The 3 minute montage reveals shots of the protagonists fighting with sticks, dual blades and as...

Avengers Infinity War Review wallpaper

Film

Avengers: Infinity War Review – the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe fights Thanos

Avengers: Infinity War Review Finally the long wait is over. For years we have had to hear how Avengers Infinity War would be the ultimate experience the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to offer. Assembling Earth’s mightiest heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy to fight the often talked about but rarely seen Thanos. Avengers Infinity War is a true accomplishment, as directors Anthony and Joe succeed to juggle the overload of characters and story points to create a multi-layered experience. This is my review of Avengers Infinity War. I should warn those who have yet to see the movie that...

Westworld S02E01 Journey into Night Review - Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores

TV-series

Westworld S02E01 Journey into Night Review – the robots get the big picture

Westworld S02E01 Journey into Night Review For the last several days the fever around Westworld has been remarkable. It would call it an understatement that HBO is just pushing it to potentially replace Game of Thrones when that show ends. As much as I love these kinds of shows I remain totally uninterested in the promos, story analyses and cast interviews. I just want to watch the show. Now after almost a year and a half the second season of the remarkable Westworld has arrived. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton the show is set in a theme park where...

The Expanse S03E02 IFF Review - Elizabeth Mitchell as Rev. Dr. Anna Volovodov

TV-series

The Expanse S03E02 IFF Review – Elizabeth Mitchell will make her entrance

The Expanse S03E02 IFF Review After Westworld and Altered Carbon, The Expanse is probably the best Sci-Fi show around. Now into its third season Syfy has continued to expand the story and its cast. Based on current book series by authors James S. A. Corey, the show features a cold war style standoff between Earth and Mars – after the latter has been colonized. Tempers easily flare, especially as powers are manipulating both sides towards a war. Some have compared The Expanse as a Game of Thrones type show set in space. I think that is fair. Just like GoT it...

Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place

Film

A Quiet Place Review starring Emily Blunt and John Krasinski

A Quiet Place Review A Quiet Place is a difficult movie to label with a genre. Directed by John Krasinski and starring Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt, the movie straddles horror and science fiction. The latter genre feels deliberately underplayed in order not to frighten of and audience which is young and female. Nonetheless A Quiet Place circles back to science fiction with references to Predator, but I will discuss that later. A Quiet Place is set in a world overrun by an alien species that aggressively kills humans and hunt by sound. However, that is not how the movie...

Ready Player One Review - movie poster

Film

Ready Player One Review – Steven Spielberg’s adaptation shines, but only just!

Ready Player One Review I have just returned from viewing Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One. While it is better than I thought it would be – I fear it lacks the meaningful message it could have had. Ever since watching the first trailer I have been skeptical about the movie adaptation. I felt it looked like a silly CGI fest rather than a serious attempt at glorifying popular culture. Make no mistake – that is what the novel Ready Player One is – and that what made it so brilliant. Premise The premise for Ready Player One...

Episode 1 L1GHTMAN (Kelly). WarGames Interactive Series Review

TV-series

WarGames Interactive Series Review

WarGames Interactive Series Review Sometime ago the announcement went around that MGM was considering rebooting the WarGames franchise. In the face of the data leak scandals and the success of Mr. Robot that is a good idea. The original 1983 movie starring Matthew Broderick is a favorite. MGM has teamed up with EKO to create what is an interactive series. Viewers watch the series online, view scenes from different perspectives and supposedly control part of the narrative. Despite being interactive most of the action concentrates one of the characters at a time – that means the viewer will have to...

Pacific Rim Uprising - Jaegers

Film

Pacific Rim Uprising Review – John Boyega stars in a movie that isn’t bad

Pacific Rim Uprising Review Yesterday I made my way to the cinema to view Pacific Rim Uprising. I was nervous – I knew it wouldn’t be a great experience. I at least expected it to be a good popcorn movie that if for nothing else starred John Boyega. After an hour and fifty minutes I walked away feeling impressed with watching Jaegers and Kaiju beat each other to crap. That said – little of what I saw felt of consequence and in fact the movie does not take itself too serious. As directorial début of Steven S. DeKnight I congratulate...

Talia Storm at Ready Player One Premiere

Film

Ready Player One Premiere photos with Olivia Cooke and Hannah John-Kamen

Ready Player One Premiere Slowly the buzz surrounding Steven Spielberg’s new movie Ready Player One is growing. The adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel was on SciFiEmpire’s ‘most anticipated’ list. Yet, the poor initial reception of the trailers made it feel as though Ready Player One would be quickly forgotten. Yet, with less than a week to go until the release in the cinema things appear to be coming together. The initial reviews form the consensus that the movie is not bad – even if it is not superb. Some criticism is levelled at the faithfulness of the adaptation. But that will...

Film

Tomb Raider Review – Alicia Vikander reboots the franchise with a firm punching

Tomb Raider Review After a 15 year absence Tomb Raider is back on the big screen. Unlike the previous iteration the spotlight is not on elevating an actress into the role of sex symbol – fun that though it was. Instead movie director Roar Uthaug has remained faithful to the rebooted game franchise of 2013. Lara Croft – now portrayed by Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair and Jason Bourne) – is yet to become the titular character. This is Lara’s first adventure, one that will turn her into a hard-hitting adventure archeologist. The introduction firmly sets the stage. The viewer is introduced...

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Computer Games

Shadow of the Tomb Raider set for September 14th on PC Xbox One and PS4

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Coinciding with today’s release of the Tomb Raider movie Square Enix has released a teaser for the third game – Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The game is set for a September 14th and will cap off the trilogy known as the ‘third era’. This era started in 2013 with Tomb Raider and received a much lauded sequel in 2016 with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was rumored to be in production since 2016 when a developer was spotted working on a presentation on a train. Since then we only got...

The Last Jedi novelization cover - Jason Fry

Literature

The Last Jedi novelization review – a decent effort by Jason Fry

The Last Jedi novelization review The Last Jedi is set for a home release soon. Next week it will be available as a digital download on Disney Movies Anywhere and on March 27th on Blu-Ray and DVD. This week however saw the release of the official novelization written by Jason Fry. Normally I am not a big fan of novelization. But as The Last Jedi ran for two and half hours and was not without controversy I sought an alternative adaptation. The dark side, and the light There is both good and bad with this novelization. The good is the...

Sara Serraiocco as Baldwin Counterpart

TV-series

Counterpart – the new spy thriller starring J.K. Simmons and Sara Serraiocco

Counterpart I have been meaning to write about Counterpart for some time. The spy thriller from Starz starring J.K. Simmons has been on air since December, though I only learned about after reading up on Berlin Station. Like that show Counterpart is set in Berlin – with filming also taking place in L.A. At first I didn’t know what to make of this show. J.K. Simmons is a wonderful actor but aged 63 and wearing a cap in the trailer I almost wrote this off as a slow-moving drama. After watching the first two episodes I was wrong about that – Counterpart...

Black Panther movie

Film

Black Panther Review – Ryan Coogler succeeds with Afrofuturism

Black Panther Review Finally fans of Black Panther get the movie they always wanted. Personally I knew little about the character before his introduction into the MCU with Captain America Civil War. However, just like with Spider-Man it was a hugely successful introduction. Chadwick Boseman played the role of Crown Prince T’Challa (and then King) with charm, depth and elusiveness that endeared. Black Panther tells the story of what happened after the events of Civil War, after the death of T’Challa’s father – T’Chaka – at the hands of Helmut Zemo. Wakanda has been referenced before – notably in Age of Ultron as...

Stargate Origins - Paul Langford with Brucke and Eva Reinhardt

TV-series

Stargate Origins episode 1 to 3 – An underwhelming return for the Stargate franchise

Stargate Origins I tend to write about thing that I like. Rarely do I see need the need for a bad review of a movie, series or game. I probably would not watch or play it if it was bad. I love Stargate, from when I saw the original movie, to SG-1 and onwards. However, I do not like Stargate Origins. In fact I hesitate to call it a show at all. So far just 3 of the 10 webisodes have been released on MGM’s “Stargate Command” subscription service. Each is around 10 minutes long. Sadly, the show does not manage...