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Stranger Things Season 4: Volume 1   I haven’t had cause, or the urge, to revisit earlier seasons of Stranger Things, but I’m fairly certain my (relatively) positive takes on the first two sequel seasons would adjust down somewhat if I did (a Soviet base under Hawkins? DUMB soft disclosure or not, it’s pretty dumb). In my Season 3 review, I called the show “Netflix’s best-packaged junk food. It knows not to outstay its welcome, doesn’t cause bloat and is disposable in mostly good ways” I’m fairly certain the Duffer’s weren’t reading, but it’s as if they decided, as a rebuke,

Reminiscence (2021)   Jonathan Nolan rewards his missus Lisa Joy for all her hard work on the variable-at-best Westworld by co-producing this consummately bland sci-fi. Reminiscence is one she, as a true multi-hyphenate would-be-auteur, has written, directed and co-produced. I’m rather reminded of a previous Nolan alumni spin-off sci-fi bomb, Transcendence, which Wally Pfister unwisely made his directorial debut. Since then, crickets. Does a similar fate await Joy? Well, she and hubby have various TV projects lined up, so I don’t think there’s any comparable concern looming, but I also doubt Warner Bros is going to be lavishing up to $70m (unbelievable, as it looks

The X-Files 4.23: Demons   This is, officially, a mythology episode. If so, however, I see no reason why any of the broader conspiracy/alien-y ones (Jose Chung’s From Outer Space, The Unnatural, Dreamland) shouldn’t also gain admission. Mulder smacks himself up with Ketamine and undergoes a trepanning in an attempt to recall the fate of his sister. Only, he also goes and gets accused of murder in the process. As a setup, this might have worked if played straight (non-SF) and as a proper murder mystery. Instead, beyond the “Waking up and don’t know where you are” (later utilised for John Doggett

White of the Eye (1987)   It was with increasing irritation that I noted the extras for Arrow’s White of the Eye Blu-ray release continually returning to the idea that Nicolas Roeg somehow “stole” the career that was rightfully Donald Cammell’s through appropriating his stylistic innovations and taking all the credit for Performance. And that the arrival of White of the Eye, after Demon Seed was so compromised by meddlesome MGM, suddenly shone a light on Cammell as the true innovator behind Performance and indeed the inspiration for Roeg’s entire schtick. Neither assessment is at all fair. But then, I suspect those making these assertions are

Hulk (2003)   I’m not a Hulk apologist. I unreservedly consider it one of the superior superhero adaptations. Admittedly, more for the visual acumen Ang Lee brings to the material than James Schamus, Michael France and John Turman’s screenplay. But even then, if the movie gets bogged down in unnecessarily overwrought father-son origins and dynamic, overlaid on a perfectly good and straightforward core story (one might suggest it was change for the sake of change), once those alterations are in place, much of the follow through, and the paralleling of wayward parents and upright children, or vice versa, translates effectively to the

Stranger Things Season One   Would you let junior watch Stranger Things? The Duffer brothers are clearly in favour, although they presumably don’t have any nippers (“I love the idea that we’re going to scare the shit out of some kids. It’s fun”). I only ask as I was frequently given to ponder during its eight-episode run (unlike a lot of series, just about a perfect length) that anyone of a similar age to its young protagonists (twelve years old) would likely be excluded from viewing on account of it being too intense. On the other hand, I was an easily