Movie #40 of 2026: Jurassic Park (1993) This is very close to a perfect movie, and any nitpicks I could raise are probably tediously familiar at this point. (Dr. Sattler and Lex are fine as characters, but they barely interact and the human cast is otherwise entirely male. It’s also rather white, with Samuel L. …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Review: Star Wars: Legacy by Madeleine Roux
Book #132 of 2026: Star Wars: Legacy by Madeleine Roux Three-and-a-half stars, rounded up, for this Star Wars tie-in novel that takes place between the movies The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. It’s a messier narrative than I would ideally prefer, with too many extraneous characters and a plot heavily revolving around Force …
Continue reading “Book Review: Star Wars: Legacy by Madeleine Roux”
Book Review: The River That Ran Away to Paradise by Victoria Goddard
Book #131 of 2026: The River That Ran Away to Paradise by Victoria Goddard I tend to prefer author Victoria Goddard’s novel-length fiction over these shorter releases, but this latest novella is well-pitched for the amount of story that it has to tell. It also represents my favorite sort of expanded universe item, wherein the …
Continue reading “Book Review: The River That Ran Away to Paradise by Victoria Goddard”
Book Review: Enchanters’ End Game by David Eddings
Book #130 of 2026: Enchanters’ End Game by David Eddings (The Belgariad #5) A perfunctory conclusion to what’s been an unfortunately pretty generic fantasy saga all along. I wouldn’t specifically recommend the lot, but the worst complaint I can probably lodge against this final novel is that it’s aged as poorly as its predecessors in …
Continue reading “Book Review: Enchanters’ End Game by David Eddings”
Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Movie #39 of 2026: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) This was the only Pirates of the Caribbean title that I hadn’t seen before, and having finally now done so, I can understand why Disney has been struggling to figure out how to continue the franchise ever since. Folks, this just …
Continue reading “Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)”
Book Review: A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
Book #129 of 2026: A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck This is an odd little novella that definitely has a plot to it, but mostly registers as an abstract thought experiment like the old idea of monkeys pounding away on typewriters to eventually produce the works of Shakespeare. I’m reminded as well …
Continue reading “Book Review: A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck”
TV Review: Mad Men, season 2
TV #36 of 2026: Mad Men, season 2 A little more scattered than the debut run, but still an enjoyable character study and look at the changing culture as the sixties carry on. We’ve skipped over fifteen months since the end of season 1, bringing the action to February 1962 when we check back in …
Book Review: The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious by Scott Lynch
Book #128 of 2026: The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious by Scott Lynch A charming — pun intended — little fantasy novella, in which a group of sorcerers gather for a regular beachside conclave of their order that takes a surprising turn into a Columbo-like murder mystery investigation when one of them is struck dead. …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious by Scott Lynch”
Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Movie #38 of 2026: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) Jack Sparrow was the major breakout character of the original Pirates of the Caribbean film, and whether rightly or not, it’s clear that Disney doesn’t believe the resulting franchise could work without him. Hence this sequel to the initial trilogy, which cuts loose …
Continue reading “Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)”
Book Review: The Aftermath by Ben Bova
Book #127 of 2026: The Aftermath by Ben Bova (The Asteroid Wars #4) This is marketed as the final entry in the Asteroid Wars sub-series of author Ben Bova’s Grand Tour, but it’s so disconnected from the main plot there that it’s really more of a spinoff sequel. (Plus the titular conflict technically ended in …
