Ninotchka (1939) Written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and Walter Reisch Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Ninotchka is a perfect example of Western anti-communist propaganda. The impetus of this film came from a three-sentence short story written by Jewish Hungarian author Melchior Lengyel. The story went like this: “Russian girl saturated with Bolshevist ideals goes to fearful, capitalistic, monopolistic Paris. She meets romance and has an uproarious good time. Capitalism not so bad, after all.” I can also point to evidence that the U.S. government acknowledged this was anti-Soviet propaganda ..read more

Foundation Season One (AppleTV+) Written by David S. Goyer, Josh Friedman, Olivia Purnell, Lauren Bello, Leigh Dana Jackson, Marcus Gardley, Caitlin Saunders, Sarah Nolen, and Victoria Morrow Directed by Rupert Sanders, Andrew Bernstein, Alex Graves, Jennifer Phang, and Roxann Dawson You’ve bought a reprieve, but war with Empire is inevitable. In the meantime, remember this day, remember what we’re striving towards. I know a thousand years can seem like an eternity, but it’s the blink of an eye when measured against the whole of human history, and it could so easily slip through our fing ..read more

Angel (1937) Written by Samson Raphaelson and Frederick Lonsdale Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Alfred Hitchcock was one of the directors who acknowledged Ernst Lubitsch’s influence on them. These filmmakers made very different types of movies, but sophistication was a common thread. They shied away from exploitation and tried to make pictures that challenged the audience’s intellect – one doing it comedically and the other through suspense. I think Angel is the most Hitchcockian Lubitsch film I’ve seen. While watching it, I was reminded of Vertigo. At the heart of this movie is a woman pretendin ..read more

These were two fantastic films made by two fantastic directing women. The first is an intimate study of a life changing day in a little girl’s life. The second is the mythic journey taken by a rogue British archaeologist in Italy. Ariana and Seth watched Totem and La Chimera. They have many thoughts ..read more

CY_Borg (Free League Publishing) Written and designed by Christian Sahlén and Johan Nohr You can purchase CY_Borg here  You can download the CY_litary De.file_ment solo rules here Cyberpunk is a broader genre than I typically give it credit for. In literature, you can see cyberpunk’s roots form with authors like Phillip K. Dick and J.G. Ballard, and it came to fruition in the early 1990s with Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Within film, some of the earliest examples are movies like Escape From New York, Tron, and Blade Runner – all wildly different takes on the idea of humanity, technology ..read more

Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear Reprints Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear #1-3 and Elektra #100 Written by Chip Zdarsky & Ann Nocenti Art by Rafael De Latorre & Sid Kotian Daredevil & Elektra by Chip Zdarsky Volume One: The Red Fist Saga Reprints Daredevil (2022) #1-5 Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Marco Checchetto and Rafael De Latorre Marvel Comics has been doing something for about the last decade or more that really bothers me. It’s become a trend that even DC Comics has started for most books. When a writer ends their run on an ongoing book, the company cancels the title a ..read more

Glide (Sleepy Sasquatch Games) Written and designed by Cody Barr You can purchase Glide here. For the first time, we had an instance of a solo game that did not click for me at all. I had wanted to play something in the style of Dune. I’d seen the second half of the feature film adaptation and was reading Frank Herbert’s novel. Glide is based on the same source material, so it seemed a perfect fit. However, this is an excellent lesson in theme vs. gameplay. A game can be based on or inspired by something you enjoy, but the gameplay design might differ from what you were looking for. In my cas ..read more

Film Series [Meet Ernst Lubitsch – May 1st thru 16th] Trouble in Paradise, Design For Living, The Merry Widow, Angel, Ninotchka, To Be Or Not To Be, Heaven Can Wait, Cluny Brown [Sight & Sound Sampling – May 20th thru 30th] – some of the films voted by filmmakers & critics as the best of all-time, catching upon some movies I should definitely see Do The Right Thing, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Au hasard Balthazar, M, The Piano, Sherlock Jr. TV Reviews May 5 – Foundation Season One May 19 – Neon Genesis Evangelion Episodes 19 thru 26 May 26 – X-Men ‘97 Season One Comic Book Reviews May ..read more

Design for Living (1933) Written by Noel Coward & Ben Hecht Directed by Ernst Lubitsch With Ernst Lubitsch’s penchant for directing films based on stage plays, it made sense that Noel Coward’s work would eventually cross his desk. Coward was a gay man living in a time where being out was a perilous move, so he was never publicly open about his sexuality. However, when you see him acting or in an interview, it becomes pretty apparent he is not straight. Because Coward was both queer and an artist, the people who regularly crossed his path also lived outside society’s rigid norms. Alfred Lu ..read more

Trouble in Paradise (1932) Written by Samson Raphaelson, Grover Jones, and Ernst Lubitsch Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch turned his back on his father’s tailoring business to go into movies. Lubitsch was a German-born Ashkenazi Jew. By age 19, he was a member of a prestigious German theater, and two years later, he made his screen debut. After appearing in 30 films between 1912 and 1920, Lubitsch realized his passion was not in performing but as a writer and director. He garnered international acclaim with his German films. Of his three films released in 1921, all three ended up on ..read more