Friend of the Gutter Jessica Ritchey on Beverly Cleary and ordinary lives at RogerEbert.com. “Her books taught children to see the worlds they grew up in as universes unto themselves. That adventure could be found in exploring the woods behind your house or in writing letters to someone […]
Nisi Shawl and Gerry Caravan discuss the work of Octavia Butler at the Library of America blog. “[M]uch of science fiction’s increasing inclusivity is due to Octavia’s presence. By modeling the creation of imaginary worlds in which she and those like her—and those unlike her yet also unlike […]
Friend of the Gutter Sara Century looks at the Amityville franchise at Manor Vellum. “The Amityville Horror may not be especially unique at its root when viewed through the eyes of modern audiences. After all, today’s genre fans have seen similar stories in countless films, including, but not […]
Abigail Nussbaum considers WandaVision at Asking The Wrong Questions with, “America’s Sweetheart: Thoughts on WandaVision.” Emily Van Der Werff shares her thoughts at Vox with, “WandaVision’s disappointing finale and the problem with demanding ‘justice’ in fiction.” And at the LA Times Review of Books, Aaron Bady ponders, “The […]
[Content warning: suicide.] While flipping through the new options on an Indian streaming service I subscribe to*, I discovered Shakeela, a film that actually managed to release in cinemas in December 2020. Almost all of the Indian films that I heard discussed with any vigor in 2020 were […]
Anne Billson writes about disaster movies for Perspective. “You can’t say we weren’t warned. Our elected representatives might have been more aware of the speed at which a deadly virus can spread around the world if only they had paid more attention to films like Contagion, in which […]