Anime by Decade

Anime Ground Zero

You knew it was coming sooner or later. In another blow to the meme of Based Japan, I regret to inform you that anime did not escape the blast wave of Cultural Ground Zero. H/t to author JD Cowan, whose post last week inspired this one. To give an example…
December 26, 202229 Comments
Star Trek IV

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

After the two-part tour de force of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, the challenge of producing a fourth film to top the second and third seemed insurmountable. And as things turned out, it was. That's not to hate on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. It…
December 21, 20229 Comments
A.I. Art 4

Anti-A.I. Astroturf

As I mentioned last time, the upsurge in anti-A.I. art sentiment doesn't seem entirely organic to me. People had been talking about art algorithms like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for a while. My friend, author David V. Stewart, even did some videos on A.I. book cover design. Sure, these algos…
December 19, 20228 Comments
zombies

Sociological Zombies

If you were around in the mid-to-late-aughts, you were aware of the zombie apocalypse fad. Much like the shambling undead hordes it depicted, the trend was inescapable. As with most pop phenomena, a lot of ink has been spilled on why the zombie horror subgenre became so dominant when it…
December 13, 202215 Comments
Star Trek III

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

The Star Trek film franchise has a long and storied history. But few installments in this venerable series are as controversial and misunderstood as Star Trek III. In the previous review, we covered how Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer and writer/producer Harve Bennett coaxed Leonard Nimoy into reprising the…
December 12, 202221 Comments
Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Following the critical disappointment of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the franchise's fate was up in the air. Legend has it that after attending the premiere, William Shatner said, "That's it. We gave it our best shot, but there'll be no more Star Trek movies." But that was back when…
December 5, 202231 Comments
Star Trek the Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

There's no question about what the best Star Trek movie is. But debate rages over which is the worst. Surprisingly for a long-running Hollywood franchise, a frontrunner for the least enjoyable Star Trek movie also happens to be the series' first. With that rather inflammatory intro out of the way,…
November 30, 202221 Comments
Hayter Hate

Hayter Hate

Let the above image serve to remind you that the people behind the product you consume hate you. The Death Cultists responsible for your beloved childhood IPs hold you in contempt and seek to use your attachment to convert you. Put away childish things. Put on the armor of God.…
October 20, 202212 Comments
Adult Happy Meal

Adult Cult Meal

It might be low-hanging fruit, but the new adult Happy Meal from McDonald's demands coverage on this blog. If only because it's the quintessential intersection of my Lost Generations model and the Pop Cult. McDonald's is serving up nostalgia with new “boxed meals” for adults that look like Happy Meals…
October 4, 20226 Comments
BackToTheFuture3

Back to the Future Part III

Every American science fiction series involving time travel has to have a Western arc. It's an unwritten law of storytelling. And of course, the best time travel movie series is no exception. Nor was Back to the Future's take on the Western genre unexpected. Doc and Marty's trip to the…
September 23, 20228 Comments