Film Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010) — A (World) SFF Film Odyssey
Readers may be familiar with director Luc Besson’s previous work, which includes the excellent films like The Fifth Element (1997), Leon the Professional (1994; featuring a quite young Natalie Portman), or the lesser-known, but personal favorite, Unleashed (2005; featuring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, and the late Bob Hoskins). These are wildly different films, but they are a testament to Besson’s versatility as a writer and director. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec; 2010), seems, then, to be a departure from what has come before, in no small part because this is a film which is coded for a younger audience by its humor and delivery. In that respect, it is a fun, if not somewhat uneven adventure comedy.
Mining the Genre Asteroid: Telzey Amberdon and the Federation of the Hub by James Schmitz
Fifteen year old Telzey Amberdon of the planet Orado is the daughter of a relatively rich and well connected family. A law student on the fast track to follow in her parents footsteps and active in her world’s politics, she is also certifiable genius. Smart enough to be a serious contender in planetwide chess tournaments, in fact. When she and her family are on vacation on the planet Jontarou, however, she inadvertently unlocks dormant psionic powers (and xenopsionic at that) that she has had since birth. The nature of her psionic powers is rather unusual — xenotelepathy, the ability to communicate with sentient aliens of all kinds. Take, for example, her 200 pound crest cat pet Tick-Tock, whom she did not even know or expect was as intelligent as any human being. And addition to the rarity of her powers, Telzey is now probably one of the strong psychics in all of human space. Powerful enough to be able to rewrite aspects of someone’s personality, even. A fifteen year old xenopsionic, especially a genius powerful one, is in much demand in the Psychology Service of the Federation, and while Telzey has the same problems, hopes and dreams of a fifteen year old girl, she quickly gets wrapped up in much bigger matters as she takes her place in this “new” world and grows into her abilities and her role. On her own terms, of course. The Federation, however, is never going to be the same when it gets to meet Telzey.
The Disquieting Guest — Tentacles and Patriarchy
As something of an appendix to our Shoot the WISB discussion of the new Godzilla (where we were joined by Rachael Acks), I thought I’d talk a bit about something that I’ve always found very striking about It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955): the portrayal of Faith Domergue’s character, Professor Lesley Joyce. She is, on the one hand, part of a mini-trend in 50s monster movies where women are scientists (Them!, Creature from the Black Lagoon), roles that were virtually non-existent in the films of the preceding decades.* What makes It stand out, though, is that the narrative is at least as concerned with Joyce’s struggles to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world as it is about Ray Harryhausen’s magnificent octopus. Joyce is, unsurprisingly, the only female character of any importance in the film. What is unusual, however, is that we are meant to notice her position, repeatedly pointed out in her interactions with submarine commander Peter Mathews. The latter is played by Kenneth Tobey, doing very much the same self-confident officer as in The Thing (1951). He keeps refusing to take her seriously, and the body language in the (colourized) still below is pretty telling:
Book Review: The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
Doloriel, a.k.a. Bobby Dollar, has a tough job for an angel. He’s an advocate, which means when someone dies, he gets the call to argue that the soul should go to Heaven. Or, at worst, Purgatory. Every death has an on-the-spot trial, with a representative from Heaven and Hell arguing for the soul before an impartial judge. It gets even tougher when the impossible happens — a soul disappears from the body of a recently deceased before that judgement can take place. Hell blames Heaven. Heaven thinks it’s Hell doing a false flag operation.The rules are going out the window, and Bobby is in the middle. Add in the fact that more souls are disappearing, everyone thinks Bobby has something unique, special and oh-so-coveted, and Bobby is in a run and gun for stakes that are getting larger moment by moment… As I said, Bobby Dollar has a tough job, but he’s also not an ordinary angel by any means…
Torture Cinema Poll for June 2014: You Decide
You know the drill. Pick the one you want us to watch this month! Voting closes on Monday. Note: I’ve been randomizing the massive list so we can keep the polls fresh. From now on, I’m also going to randomize the lists by decade so each poll item is from a different decade.
Top 10 Episodes and Blog Posts for May 2014
May was a busy month. Here’s what you were all enjoying! Top 10 Episodes: #20. Captain America: the Winter Soldier (2014) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast 204. Caribbean SF w/ Karen Lord, Tobias Buckell, and Stephanie Saulter — #WorldSFTour Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man 205. Mary Anne Mohanraj & Cecilia Tan at ICFA (An Interview) #WorldSFTour 203. Stephanie Saulter (a.k.a. The Jeweler) — Gemsigns (An Interview) #worldsftour 201. The Hugo Awards (A Discussion w/ Justin Landon and Natalie Luhrs) #19. Babylon 5 (S1D5&6: Eps 17-22) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast #22. Godzilla (2014) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast w/ Rachael Acks 199. Sofia Samatar (a.k.a. Malkia wa Ndoto) at ICFA (An Interview) #WorldSFTour 141. Final Hugo Thoughts + the Hugh Howey Fiasco w/ Justin Landon and Jonathan McCalmont Top 10 Blog Posts: Book Review: Veil of the Deserters by Jeff Salyards (by Paul Weimer) Language in the Written Word by Charles Tan Thoughts on the Hugo Nominated Short Stories by Adam Callaway Book Review: The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 8 (by Paul Weimer) 2014 Hugo Award Episode Pack: Download away! On Recent South(east) Asian SF/F by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Guest Post) My Superpower: James L. Sutter My Superpower: Cassandra Rose Clarke Business Time – Many Paths up the Mountain by Mike Underwood Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic (by Paul Weimer) Enjoy!
