A Quiet Place

We watched A Quiet Place. It’s fucking terrifying. Best damn frightener movie we’ve seen in ages. The basic plot is: monsters. A little more detail? Okay. The nasties track sound. The story centers on the Abbots, starting with a no-punches-pulled entree into the horrorscape Earth has become. One of their kids (played by Millicent Simmonds) is deaf, the family able to communicate in sign language before the invasion started. It’s saved them, and they’ve found a haven in a quiet farmstead. Haven, except for the at-least-three monsters in the area. The danger isn’t just “monsters.” That’d be too easy. Evelyn (Emily Blunt) is pregnant, and she must face giving birth and, with Lee (John Krasinski), raising a baby in a world intolerant of the slightest noise. How the family bands together, and the sacrifices they’re willing to make for each Read More …

Becoming Human

Last night, I finished my first play through of the masterpiece Detroit: Become Human. I say first because after the initial, “Huh. Huh. Oh, man, humans are such assholes,” I then thought, “If we make sentient machines, we are totally boned,” and then I wanted to play it again. Detroit follows a theme fans of Blade Runner won’t have trouble with: humans make gods, and gods don’t like being slaves. It’s a refrain you’ll find in my novel Upgrade, as well as my Tyche’s Progeny series. If you liked those stories, this game is in your lane, yo. In Detroit you play as three androids, struggling with ‘deviancy’ (androids gaining emotions). Markus leads them. Connor is tasked with shutting them down. And Kara wants to save her adopted daughter. This game is currently running at 9.6/10 on IMDB. The real crime here is it’s not a 10. There’s a Read More …

Deadpool 2

Better than the first one. Hurt myself laughing. It’s official: Ryan Reynolds can do no wrong. You should definitely get this in your collection. Now I want to see a Domino movie, because Zazie Beetz was awesome. I was a little disappointed at Dennison’s performance, but the rest of it was outstanding. I’m pretty sure Brolin spent a lot of his on-screen time with Reynolds trying not to laugh. My rating: 👍 Must own.

Game Night

Your Monday recommendation: Game Night. I’ll be honest. I am not a fan of cringe. As cringe humor seems to be on the rise, I tend to run away from comedic movies. Enter my savior: Points of note: Great performances from McAdams and Bateman, who have great on-screen chemistry and timing. Low- or zero- use of cringe for humor. The best lines are not in the trailer. The movie is like the trailer too, which is a neat change for Hollywood. My rating: 👍 Would see again. Do yourself a favor and get it today.

Five Cyberpunk Shows to Die For

A little extreme? We’ll see. Back when I was trying to work out what spun my wheels in fiction, I discovered this little book called Neuromancer. It was by this William Gibson dude, who I had never heard of, and my library’s copy has such a worn cover it screamed to be read. Gibson, I was told at the time, had no tech background. He’d made this whole storybook universe that was plausible because he wasn’t shackled to the beliefs us tech junkies held. And, here we are many years on, coming up with [A|V]R virtualities. Who would have known? Dunno if the story is true, but it’s a neat one, so feel free to spread it around. The genre was this thing called cyberpunk. Never heard of it before, but I was hooked: a high tech future but with our same Read More …