The website of John C. Snider
It’s hard to impress upon fans born in the twenty-first century just what deserts television networks and movie theaters were for science fiction in the twentieth century. This is not to say those media were devoid of sci-fi, but with only three networks and five major studios, fans were lucky if there were more than …
While doing a little background research a few weeks ago for my review of The World, the Flesh and the Devil (Harry Belafonte’s provocative 1959 post-nuclear-Armageddon drama), I discovered just how hard it can be sometimes to nail down what was “the first” of something. It turns out that TWTFATD, while a very early cinematic depiction of …
I have been inspired lately to revisit the question of the “great” sci-fi films. (See my previous posts on the Top 10 Sci-Fi Films of the 2000s and Top 10 Sci-Fi Films of the 2010s.) Others online have taken some pretty good recent stabs at this (see, e.g., “Moid Moidelhoff” at Media Death Cult, who …
Looking back at my “Top 10 Sci-Fi Films of the 2000s” inspired me to similarly revisit the 2010s. In 500 words or less. Here goes: 1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) / Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) / War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) – It’s cheating to name all three legs of …
I was tapped to write this for the January 2010 “Decade in Review” issue of print mag INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly. The challenge: do so in 500 words of less. Here’s a scan of the original article, trimmed so it’s easily legible. Enjoy!
[Originally posted on January 3, 2008 at AmericanFreethought.com. A slightly different version appeared in 2006 in Volume 12, No. 3 of the magazine Skeptic.] It has been nearly four centuries since Galileo Galilei lost his legendary showdown with the Catholic Church’s Court of the Inquisition. Threatened with imprisonment, torture and certain death, Galileo backed down—officially, at …
[This review originally appeared at SciFiDimensions.com in June 2004, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary edition published by Beacon Press. You can also read my interview with Ms. Butler here.] Life is good for Dana, a young black woman living in California. She and her husband have just moved into a new home, and …
[This interview originally appeared at SciFiDimensions.com in June 2004. Ms. Butler died in 2006. This interview was included in the 2009 book Conversations with Octavia Butler, edited by Consuela Francis, published by University of Mississippi Press. You can read my short review of Kindred here.] Octavia E. Butler has been an inspiration to a new generation of writers …
[This review originally appeared in SciFiDimensions.com in November 2003.] Everything that has a beginning has an end. Sort of. When Larry and Andy Wachowski introduced audiences to The Matrix back in 1999, it was the beginning not only of one of the most lucrative film franchises of all time, it was also the beginning of a fresh …
[This review originally appeared in SciFiDimensions.com in May 2003.] Reality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The Matrix is a vast computer simulation feeding the minds of humanity, whose bodies (housed in row upon row of nutrient-filled cocoons) provide energy for the Machines who have conquered their creators. As far as everyone “trapped” in …