C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 26

Anon (2018) review

    ANON is a 2018 science fiction thriller by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, Simone, The Host, In Time). Andrew Niccol really loves his science fiction movies that have high concepts and while I think The Host and In Time are two of the worst science fiction programs I've ever watched, I also think Gattaca and Simone are some of my all-time favorites. Anon is a bit grittier and more cyberpunk with its plot, which automatically puts it above many of the others. 

    The premise is in the future, everyon...

House of the Dragon 1x6 "The Princess and the Queen" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1x06 "THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN" is basically a reboot of the entire House of the Dragon series, which is an odd thing to happen in the fifth episode of the season. Here, we have a massive decade-long time skip, a change of a substantial portion of the cast's actors, and a focus on setting up the new status quo. It feels like they could have made an entire season out of the first five episodes or skipped them entirely.

    I've complained earlier about the show's issues w...

The Blueprint by Wesley Cross review

    THE BLUEPRINT by Wesley Cross is a cyberpunk political thriller and corporate conspiracy. The former is virtually unknown in the genre while the latter is usually, "guys bust in to steal stuff" not "a bunch of guys use illegal stock manipulation in order to facilitate a hostile takeover. Actually, no, they did that in HARDWIRED by Jon Walter Williams and that may be the only time in history that the heroes successfully beat the megacorporations in a way I completely believe.

    The premise i...

Arvekt by Craig Lea Gordon review

    ARVEKT by Craig Lea Gordon is a kinetic action-filled cyberpunk thriller that I absolutely love. If anyone anything about me, they'll know that I am a huge fan of the cyberpunk genre. It is my favorite thing to read and write alongside superhero fiction. However, there's a lot of what I term to be "falsely advertised" cyberpunk that claims to be about the gritty dark dystopian futures of the world with transhumanist themes but is usually just Lit-RPG by another name. There's plenty of good L...

House of the Dragon 1x5 "We Light the Way" review

    In a very real sense, "We Light the Way" is the end of Season One of House of the Dragon and in a more just world where HBO had more faith in the series then it would have been Episode 10 rather than Episode 5. The series has been rushing through the majority of the story about the Dance of the Dragons in Season 1 with numerous time skips as well as signs that another lengthy one is ahead. They seem to want to desperately get to the actual Targaryen Civil War and unwilling to give any time t...

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners review

    CYBERPUNK 2077 is a game that I keep close to my heart but it's a bit like Night City itself in that it is a relationship that is probably toxic for both of us. She's a beautiful lady with all the pretty chrome, neon hair, and bad attitude but we've had our ups and downs. She wrecked my apartment, there were accusations of cheating, and then we hooked up again but I was already in another relationship. Harsh words were exchanged. Okay, sorry, this metaphor has wandered way off topic.

    In a...

Ten Indie Cyberpunk Novel Recommendations

    Cyberpunk as a genre arguably hit its heyday during the Eighties as a cultural force with Neuromancer and reached its zenith in social acceptance in the Nineties with The Matrix movies. After that, it slowly tapered off and ceased to be something fans got hyped over barring a few high profile video games. This is due to my suspicion that cyberpunk slowly became reality, or at least so similar to our current era of big corporations and hacker criminals that it stopped becoming genre fiction. ...

House of the Dragon 1x4 "King of the Narrow Sea" review

    "KING OF THE NARROW SEA" is the fourth episode of House of the Dragon and when things get SPICY. Unfortunately, for those who love hot and steamy Game of Thrones sex, it is sex that is frequently made unappealing due to the fact it shows the power imbalances as well as grosser element to Westeros. After all, one of the scenes is between an uncle and his niece, another between a gangrenous old man and his young bride, and the third is between a man who can't say no to his superior. Oh there's...

House of the Dragon 1x4 "King of the Narrow Sea"

    "KING OF THE NARROW SEA" is the fourth episode of House of the Dragon and when things get SPICY. Unfortunately, for those who love hot and steamy Game of Thrones sex, it is sex that is frequently made unappealing due to the fact it shows the power imbalances as well as grosser element to Westeros. After all, one of the scenes is between an uncle and his niece, another between a gangrenous old man and his young bride, and the third is between a man who can't say no to his superior. Oh there's...

House of the Dragon 1x3 "Second of His Name" review

    "Second of His Name" is probably the weakest of the three House of the Dragons episodes so far. This is partially due to yet another massive time skip when I think everyone is actually quite invested in the story as is. We could have easily done a couple of episodes on the aftermath of Queen Aemma's death as well as the marriage of Alicent Hightower to the King. Part of this is due to the fact that they didn't start the series with the Dance of the Dragons beginning, in my humble opinion, so...