Movie #5 of 2024: Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) A welcome bounce back for the series. Like its two predecessors, there’s a fatalistic darkness to this Apes film, but it’s carried off better here in balance with a certain comic playfulness. The producers wrote themselves into a corner by concluding the prior …
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Movie #4 of 2024: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) From one of the best movies in the franchise to probably its very worst. This first Planet of the Apes sequel is a real head-scratcher, and it’s a testament to the strength of the original (and the profitability of branded merchandise, one might imagine) …
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Movie #3 of 2024: Planet of the Apes (1968) Over half a century on, this first Apes film holds up remarkably well. It’s that tricky blend of smart and thrilling, the big-budget equivalent of Star Trek: TOS, which was airing on TV at that time. The ape costumes and makeup are believably immersive, while the …
Book #74 of 2024: Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie (Tommy and Tuppence #5) This 1973 title was the 74th and final novel that author Agatha Christie ever wrote, in addition to the last in her sequence of Tommy and Tuppence adventure stories. (Unlike for her better-known detective series, she did not set aside any …
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Book #73 of 2024: Doctor Who: The Phaser Aliens & Other Stories edited by Michael Stevens A new audio production collecting six previously-published Doctor Who stories, one for each of the first half-dozen incarnations of that sci-fi franchise’s Time Lord hero. It’s an interesting snapshot of the series history, since the contents were originally written …
Book #72 of 2024: The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (Lays of the Hearth-Fire #1) This is currently my very favorite book, which I’ve now read twice in as many years. What follows is an updated version of my original review: The Hands of the Emperor is a wonderful warm hug of a …
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Book #71 of 2024: Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson (The Space Between Worlds #2) Not quite on the jaw-dropping level of its predecessor, which juggled an action-packed plot across multiple parallel worlds with ease, but still an excellent bit of science-fiction in its own right. We’ve shifted protagonists for this sequel, following a …
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TV #18 of 2024: Star Wars: The Bad Batch, season 3 A satisfactory enough conclusion to this corner of the Star Wars franchise, but not one that really pushes the titular characters anywhere exciting. Mostly, the season seems built to lay plausible retroactive groundwork for the infamous “Somehow Palpatine survived” line from the movie The …
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Book #70 of 2024: Book of Time by John Peel (Diadem #11) The middle-grade / YA Diadem line was released in waves under a succession of publishers: first Scholastic for the original six novels from 1997 to 1998, then Llewellyn (who gave the saga a temporary new subtitle of “Worlds of Magic”) for the next …
TV #17 of 2024: Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 3 This season starts out a little slowly, but it certainly hits its stride again by the end, with the episode set on Deep Space Nine and the one with the unexpected return of wayward ensign Peanut Hamper as particular formula-breaking standouts. At its best — …
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