Culture

Review: it’s Druids vs. Romans — and history — in TV series Britannia

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TWH — In the new TV series Britannia, a Celtic sorceress in ancient Britain draws a large pentacle on stone and casts a spell, saying, “Dark mother, send me a demon to do my will!”

Early in the series, top-dog Druid Veranm and his Druid tribe, who live in a rocky, mountainous hollow apart from the warring native tribes they serve, capture an invading Roman soldier. Veran performs some sort of ritualistic soul-sucking thing which causes the soldier to reanimate as a zombie under Veran’s control, after being tossed over a waterfall to his death. The zombie soldier shows back up in the Roman camp and delivers a verbal get-the-hell-out-of-our-land message to the general, Aulus Plautis. The general and Veran then trade notes back and forth by placing messages in the mouth of the dead Roman soldier’s severed head. Later Veran, who looks like a cross between Skeletor of He-Man fame and Richard O’Brien’s characters Gulnar (in the Robin of Sherwood TV series) and Riff Raff (in the Rocky Horror Picture Show), has a Vulcan mind-meld with Aulus Plautius, who has decided to seek the Druid’s help to go on a vision quest to the underworld..

David Lynch

The esoteric journey of Twin Peaks with ZB

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TWH – Twin Peaks was originally a surreal crime drama airing for two seasons in the early 1990s. Created by Mark Frost and David Lynch, the show first received rave reviews for its unique blend of storytelling and visuals. In 1991, New York Times reviewer William Grimes wrote, “For an intoxicating few months, ‘Twin Peaks’ seemed to be crackling away on every synapse in the collective American brain. The massively promoted two-hour pilot that kicked off the series just over a year ago lured nearly 35 million viewers, a third of the nation’s television audience.” Those numbers fell sharply over the season and into the second season, forcing the seemingly cultural tour de force to close up shop in June 1991 after only 30 episodes.

comic books

Of gods and love: a discussion of DC’s new film Wonder Woman

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[SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains details that may spoil the film for readers who have not yet seen the movie. ]

DC Entertainment’s new film Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot, has been captivating audiences since its release June 2. Opening weekend, the film grossed $103.2M in the United States alone, and is on track for record numbers in its second weekend. Directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman is the first female-centered superhero movie to be produced in twelve years; the last one being Elektra (2005) starring Jennifer Garner. Additionally, Wonder Woman is only the second comic book-based film to be directed by a woman; the first being Marvel Studios’ Punisher: War Zone directed by Lexi Alexender.

Film & TV Reviews

Review: American Gods

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Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel American Gods is a popular read in Pagan circles, and the new Starz television series was greeted with excitement by many of the book’s Pagan fans. Debuting on April 30, the series has aired three episodes as of this writing. The story revolves around the riveting premise that the old gods, being immortal, still exist. However, due to a lack of worship in the modern world, they are old and haggard and blend into American society, having arrived there when their followers immigrated, sometimes involuntarily. At the same time, America’s new gods, or the gods that represent the targets of modern worship such as media, computers, and globalization, are strong, vibrant, and at war with their predecessors.

Film & TV Reviews

Film Review: Blair Witch (2016)

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TWH – In 1994, three student filmmakers walked off into the dense woods near Burkettsville, Maryland in hopes of a discovering the truth behind a local legend. They were never heard from again. One year later, their equipment was found, and the footage became the film The Blair Witch Project (1999). This weekend, the story continues in a new film, with the brother of one of the lost filmmakers traveling to the mysterious Black Hills of Maryland in hopes of learning exactly what happened 22 years ago. Or so the story goes.