Inhuman Condition Review: Two Disclaimers and a Whole Lot To Say

September 10, 2016 Nick F

Once again, a supernatural web-series drags me wearily from blog retirement. Once again, it’s Canadian, and once again it’s very damn interesting. In this case, however, we’re going to need a few disclaimers:

Disclaimer the first: I am varying degrees of Twitter-friendly with some of the creatives involved; I claim no objectivity, so perhaps I will be too kind.

Disclaimer the second: I have a longstanding and deep-seated distaste, distrust, and dislike for shrinks; I claim no objectivity, so perhaps I will be too cruel.

The Best Show On Television Isn't On Television Anymore: A Farewell To Banshee

May 21, 2016 Nick F

Banshee ended a truly special four year run tonight, and the TV world’s a bit less exciting without another season of this twisted, violent, sentimental, brutal, romantic, tragic, hilarious, vicious, thoughtful masterpiece to look forward to. I could have thrown another fifty adjectives into that sentence and still been right. Banshee was all those things, even in the face of contradiction. Especially in the face of contradiction. It was the greatest mindless action show on television. It was the most subtle, thoughtful, character driven meditation on television. It was The Ballad of Sheriff Punch. It was Identity. It was whatever it wanted to be, and it was excellent.

And now it’s over. I wrote about it two weeks ago, meant to write about it more since, and will doubtless write more about it in the weeks to come. There’s much to say not only about the show as a whole, the final season, and the beautifully damaged and bizarre citizenry of that strange little town, but for tonight I’m just going to ride the emotional buzz of saying goodbye, and spit out bullet points about the finale as they come to me.

Sudden Master Review: Shrodinger's Show Is Both Dead and Alive

May 12, 2016 Nick F

So, I watched Sudden Master, but I’m not sure whether or not you should. I know, usually the point of a review is to help people figure that out, but this is such a weird case, because whether or not you should watch Sudden Master has a lot to do with whether or not there’s going to be any more Sudden Master.

Sudden Master’s first season runs about thirty minutes long, and not coincidentally, feels a lot more like the shaky-but-promising pilot of a show that will eventually be really good than it does like a complete story. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly entertaining, and there’s some very real potential there, but as a stand-alone product I’m not sure there’s enough there to recommend it.

Two Reviews of Shows With Fake Titles But Real Value

May 6, 2016 Nick F

Trying something new here, as I write real reviews, but use fake titles to protect against any pre-existing bias there may be. Let's see how it goes. After the jump, you can check out my reviews of The Ballad of Sheriff Punch and Identity.

The Female of the Species: Five Great Noir Heroines

April 26, 2016 Nick F

It’s no secret that film noir is my favorite genre, and it’s similarly no secret that it’s an extremely male dominated one. Part of that is a function of the times- it was cooler to be sexist in the 40s and 50s when most noir came out*- but mostly it’s got more to do with the fact that most writers in the genre are male, and most writers write what they know (being male). There are exceptions to both those points, though not enough to either.

If you’ve read my last few books, it’s pretty obvious that I think noir works just fine- if not better- with female protagonists. So, lacking a better idea for a deeper/more inspired article today, I did what all internet hacks do when they’re out of ideas: I made a list of some of the great noir leading ladies who do exist. Enjoy.