Tag: science fiction
Devs – TV Review
I’m always up for some slow-paced science fiction tackling Big Questions. Though it’s not without a few serious flaws, I really enjoyed this dark, mesmerising and ambitious miniseries written and directed by Alex Garland.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro – Book Review
Another sublime novel from one of my all-time favourite authors, Klara and the Sun could be seen as a companion piece to Ishiguro’s dystopian romance Never Let Me Go, exploring similar themes of love, the danger of unchecked technological advances, and what it means to be human and not-quite-human.
Oblivion – Film Review
Highly derivative but decent sci-fi with the always-watchable Tom Cruise, Oblivion delivers on visuals if not on originality or characters.
Event Horizon – Film Review
This sci-fi horror film is one of those weird movies best described as “fascinating failure”. It undercooks or burns most of its ingredients and overall doesn’t really work, but is somehow worth watching regardless.
Pitch Black – Film Review
More sci-fi horror in Melbourne Lockdown Part 3! I watched this decently entertaining 2000 cult classic that launched Vin Diesel’s career.
The Thing – Film Review
I’m not sure why I seem to be onboard the horror movie train right now, but I’m enjoying the ride! This 1982 sci-fi horror classic from director John Carpenter takes the old “scariest thing is what you don’t see” wisdom and rubs its face in blood and guts.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – Film Review
After Don’t Look Now, I was clearly in the mood for more 1970s horror movies with twist endings starring Donald Sutherland. Though this one is more of a straightforward sci-fi, with a lot more alien goo and Leonard Nimoy.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin – Book Review
This short science fiction novel takes a simple concept – what if your dreams could affect and alter reality – and spins it into a riveting and imaginative blend of psychological thriller and philosophical musings.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – Book Review
I’ve heard a lot of good things about N. K. Jemisin and I was impressed with this imaginative science fantasy novel, the first in her Broken Earth trilogy, even if I felt that it succeeds on a world-building level far better than characterisation.
The story takes place in a land called the Stillness, a bitterly ironic name for the world that’s plagued by constant seismic activity, and regularly experiences near-extinction apocalypses that are referred to by its inhabitants as the Fifth Seasons. Any settlement (or comm as they’re referred to in the book) can be certain that, sooner or later, it will be destroyed by earthquake, tsunami, volcanic activity or extreme climate change. In people’s imagination, Father Earth hates their very existence and does everything to wipe them off its face for good, but so far the human race has managed to pull through every cataclysm, even when the entire individual civilisations perish.
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