Struggling Between Order and Chaos: Beth Harmon’s 7 Moves in “The Queen’s Gambit”
The success of Allan Scott’s Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit has been a surprise in many aspects. It took the Scottish TV-producer 30 years and 9 rewrites to finally find a company willing to produce the show. The most frequent reason given when studios rejected the project, was that “nobody would be interested in chess.” Before The Queen’s Gambit came out on Netflix, nobody could … Continue reading Struggling Between Order and Chaos: Beth Harmon’s 7 Moves in “The Queen’s Gambit”
Ego, Love and the Self in Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence (2021)
While science fiction often offers a detached look on mostly sociocultural or historical aspects of human civilization, near-future-scenarios like the Cyberpunk-genre seem to have a natural affinity to focus on existential aspects of the human condition. Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence is a romantic thriller set in just such a near future neo-noir scenario. It is very closely related to the Cyberpunk-genre, but offers an original atmosphere … Continue reading Ego, Love and the Self in Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence (2021)
The burning hand in Dune’s “Gom Jabbar”- and in Fight Club’s “Chemical Burn”-scene
The Gom Jabbar scene from Dune and the Chemical Burn scene from Fight Club share strong structural similarities. The most general similarity between these two scenes is that both Paul Atreides and the narrator from Fight Club (“Jack”) are being tested. They are being tested to suffer pain in their right hand. This similarity is what raises my interest to compare these two scenes and … Continue reading The burning hand in Dune’s “Gom Jabbar”- and in Fight Club’s “Chemical Burn”-scene
Lisa Joy’s “Reminiscence”: The greatest movie you never saw in 2021
After its release in theaters earlier this year, Lisa Joy’s new science-fiction thriller Reminiscence has now been released on Amazon Prime Video as a home-video premiere. It is Joy’s first feature film for the big screen after her amazing success with the HBO-Series Westworld, and certainly one of the greatest movie highlights of this year. Produced in cooperation with her husband Jonathan Nolan (Memento, The … Continue reading Lisa Joy’s “Reminiscence”: The greatest movie you never saw in 2021
What we know about Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie “Oppenheimer”
Star director Christopher Nolan’s next movie Oppenheimer has been announced to release on July 21st, 2023. As the title reveals, Nolan’s new project tells the story of the inventor of the first nuclaer bomb, Robert Oppenheimer. The screenplay, which Nolan himself will provide, is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Price winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert … Continue reading What we know about Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie “Oppenheimer”
Black Swan: The Incorporation of the Female Shadow
Meta-mythological stories tell ancient myths in a modern setting. As such, they can be very powerful and expressive in literature and film. They are able to transport deep truths about the human condition in a modern, accessible way. Black Swan, written by Mark Heyman and directed by Darren Aronofsky, adopts the Swan Lake myth to tell the story of the ambitious ballet dancer Nina, played … Continue reading Black Swan: The Incorporation of the Female Shadow
Tenet Explained, Part 2: The Prestige and Temporal Pincers
This article is the second part of a series about Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. The subject of this essay is rather complex and hard to follow without a solid knowledge of the movie. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, you can (and should) read it here. After an introduction into the general aspects of Tenet, this second article will dig deeper into the details of … Continue reading Tenet Explained, Part 2: The Prestige and Temporal Pincers
Raised by Wolves – When Ancient Mythology meets Science Fiction
Raised by Wolves is a science fiction series created for HBO MAX, that begins as an Adam and Eve story on the planet Kepler 22b. Two androids, named Mother and Father, land on the deserted planet and give birth to 6 children, who are supposed to be the last human beings in this corner of the universe. The show is written by Aaron Guzikowksi (Prisoners, … Continue reading Raised by Wolves – When Ancient Mythology meets Science Fiction
Tenet Explained, Part 1: The Concept of Time and Intuition
The concept of time is a favourite and recurring topic in Christopher Nolan’s movies. Memento, Inception and Interstellar, as different movies as they are, share the common ground of exploring the phenomenon of time in different ways. Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s newest masterpiece, is an espionage thriller that delivers the director’s deepest approach on the subject so far. What is Tenet? First of all: Tenet is … Continue reading Tenet Explained, Part 1: The Concept of Time and Intuition
The Expanse Season 5 roundup
It’s a wrap! The Expanse’s Season 5 has come to an end – and what an end it was. With showrunner Naren Shankar’s screen adaptation of Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham’s novels, the science fiction genre finally has a new epic show that delivers everything a true sci-fi fan’s heart can desire. In The Expanse’s story of increasingly epic scale, the system-altering events are inherently … Continue reading The Expanse Season 5 roundup
