The great American director Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) passed away today and in honor of his long and productive career (albeit with brief lulls of average work) here are a few mini-reviews of the films of his I’ve seen in order of preference. I’ve not seen many of his acknowledged masterpieces including Serpico, The Hill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Pawnbroker, etc.
1. Network (1976)
9.5/10 (Masterpiece)
Network (1976) is by far my favorite Sidney Lumet film Continue reading
John Sherwood’s The Monolith Monsters (1957) is by far one of my favorite B sci-fi (ish) monster movies! I’m being very generous with rating but, this is a hilariously average (but wonderful) romp with one of the more peculiar “monsters” matched up with some of the best 50s special effects I’ve seen. The Monolith Monsters is without doubt one of the more interesting films of the 1950s American Realist Science Fiction movement Continue reading
5/10 (Bad — but definitely watch if you’re a B-film sci-fi fan)
I think the most important lesson I learned from the hilariously (occasionally) bad 50s sci-fi alien monster caper It! The Terror from Beyond Space is that in future female scientists and doctors still serve coffee and lunch… Continue reading
8/10 (Very Good)
Atomic Cafe (1982) is a scathing documentary on the atomic age created from archival film from the 40s-early 60s. The scope of the material is extensive: military training films (often the most morbidly hilarious and poorly acted of the bunch), television news, various other government-produced propaganda films Continue reading
First publication for 'Recall Mechanism', If, July 1959
4/5 (Very Good)
“In the privacy of his living room, he sat dully examining a series of reports on carrot mutations.”
Paul Sharp files reports on what to rebuild in the swathes of H-bomb blasted California landscape for the Division of War Destruction Salvage… Continue reading
Here are my favorite films and books I reviewed this year. They are all highly recommended…
Brian Aldiss, Non-stop (variant title, Starship), (1958)
Starship is a top-notch 1950s work: fast, action-packed, thoughtful, Continue reading
(Jerome Podwil’s cover for the 1965 edition)
3.25/5 (Above Average)
A few minutes surfing the inter-webs reveals that this 1950s sci-fi work by Poul Anderson arouses some controversy. People looking for Anderson’s pulp-infused sprawling Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
They Shall Have Stars (1956) is the first of James Blish’s famous Cities in Flight novels (note: the series was not released according to its internal chronology — the third volume, Earthman Come Home was published first in 1955). Continue reading
4.75/5 (Very Good)
A generation ship! Science run amok! A brilliant work from the late 50s which must be read! Brian Aldiss’ Non-Stop (published in the U.S. as Starship) is a relentlessly dark science fiction novel written in response to Robert Heinlein’s revolutionary yet ultimately unsatisfying Orphans of Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 