Posts by James Roberts

When it was announced that a new studio was bringing The Terminator back the big screen, the internet naturally and rightfully let out an exasperated sigh. This is a series, after all, that has become a shadow and parody of its former self, thanks to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation. How […]

[rating=9.00] It was an alliance almost too tantalizing for words when the announcement was first made. Netflix—quickly establishing themselves as the kings of high quality, beyond the pale content—struck a deal with Marvel—a company who rocketed back from the brink of bankruptcy to become a billion plus dollar a year enterprise, as well as the […]

[rating=8.00] According to some computer engineers and futurists, humanity is mere decades away from what many feel could be our greatest achievement: artificial intelligence. The concept of true AI elicits a wide-array of thoughts and opinions from the scientific community. Some, like Stephen Hawking, feel that AI has the potential to become the biggest threat […]

True Detective fans got a bit of a surprise today when HBO released the first teaser for season two of their hit anthology series. With a new case, a new locale, and a new mystery, many are wondering if the new addition to the series can live up to the tone and intensity of its […]

I think I just blue myself. During an appearance on the Bill Simmons podcast, “The BS Report”, Arrested Development co-producer Brian Grazer, who runs Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard, announced plans to produce 17 more episodes of the cult TV show for Netflix. “We are going to do another 17 episodes,” Grazer said. “So stay […]

We’re less than a month away from Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and the hype-machine has shifted into overdrive. It seems as though we can’t go a week without a new featurette or new TV spot to stir the depths of our excitement in preparation for the next big movement in the increasingly growing Marvel […]

As a greater drunk than I once opined, “time is a flat circle.” Nowhere is this idea—the idea that history is in a constant state of repeating itself—more apparent than in the world of pop culture. As the wheel of pop culture turns, the popular becomes passé and fades from memory, until such a time […]

Comedy legend Bill Hicks left an indelible mark on the world of stand up. Often cited by comedy aficionados in the same breath as George Carlin and Richard Pryor, Hicks rose quickly to become one of the foremost voices in comedy before he tragically died from pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. […]

[rating=8.00] Early on in Going Clear, HBO’s shocking exposé on the hidden truths of Scientology, it’s posited that to work through Dianetics—“church” founder L. Ron Hubbard’s seminal work and cornerstone of the group’s philosophy—is to work through the mind of Hubbard himself. The line itself feels almost throw away at first; a simple observation serving […]

[rating=5.00] If there’s any system in America that deserves to be taken down by the sword of comedic insight, it’s the prison system. America, land of the free, boasts the highest number of citizens incarcerated in the developed world, and that number is growing all the time. With a system as blood-thirsty as the American […]

After months of rumor and innuendo, Fox made an official announcement today that sent chills of excitement down the spines of nerds and fanboys across the land. The seminal 90’s TV show The X-Files is officially being brought back for a six episode television event. Production is set to begin this summer and while there’s […]

As the sun set in Austin, Texas last evening, another successful SXSW came to a close. The streets geared up for a final night of revelry before the boring nature of reality descended once more and we all woke up, hung over and exhausted from our week-and-a-half long bacchanal. While Neil Ferguson lurked the clubs […]

[rating=8.00] Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is the latest move Netflix has made against the traditional model of television productions. Co-produced and co-created by Tina Fey (along with former Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock writing and production alum Robert Carlock), the series follows the trials and tribulations of the titular Kimmy Schmidt, a woman kidnapped as […]

[rating=8.00] Looking at the slate for the coming year in movies, there are a lot of things to be excited about. 2015 is shaping up to be an incredible year for movie fans. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is right around the corner; Star Wars: The Force Awakens sits as a beacon guiding us towards […]

A strike involving crew members working on Sharknado 3 has entered its third day, with still no sign of budging from either side. On Tuesday, March 3, about 40 members of the crew walked off the job and began picketing The Asylum—the production company involved in making the SyFy TV movie—bringing to a halt many […]

Call it the show that wouldn’t die. Since its premiere in 2009, Dan Harmon’s oddball ensemble piece Community has faced more hurdles than an Olympic field. From executives who just didn’t get it, to falling viewership numbers, to Harmon’s firing, to losing a huge portion if its cast, Community has weathered it all. And throughout […]

No matter how long and prosperous one’s life may be, eventually it must end. Leonard Nimoy passed away the morning of Friday, February 27 as a result of COPD—a byproduct of years of smoking—and he leaves behind a larger than life legacy that will live on long past any of us. Though he did a […]

The 2015 Academy Awards have come and gone. This year saw one of the most concise and well produced ceremonies in recent memory. Coming in at just over three and a half hours, it was no easy haul but, compared to years where the show pushed four hours or longer, this year felt downright breezy. […]

The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and by Monday morning I’m sure we’ll all be debating the pros and cons of the awards given. That’s sort of a fact of life about the Oscars—every year people are upset that their favorite movie was snubbed or not awarded. Usually this sort of talk has died down […]

[rating=1.00] The whole phenomenon surrounding the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has always  baffled me. I’ve seen it billed as “housewife porn,” a sort of refuge of sexual imagination and fantasy for the otherwise vanilla middle-American. I suppose that makes sense, given our attitudes regarding sex and sexuality in our country. We tend to repress […]