Imitating Otis Ferguson: A Review of COSMIC VOYAGE (Zhuravlev, 1936)

I wrote these program notes for a University of Wisconsin Cinematheque screening of the Soviet science fiction film, Cosmic Voyage (1936). The tone–as punchy and colloquial as 1930s film critic Otis Ferguson–seemed appropriate then, no less than it does now. * * * * Saturday, 8 September 2007, 9:30 p.m. Cosmic Voyage (Kosmicheskiy reis) (USSR, 1936, 35…

Tongue-in-cheek: On STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (Abrams, 2013)

Note: this is what I call a tongue-in-cheek review, where I have some fun and caricature the tone of a certain 1930s movie critic.  Star Trek into Darkness has pretty much the most pointless title one could imagine. Everyone predicting that series 2.0 would “go dark” and develop character and a tone of dread (à…