Gary Varner
Time Machine 2002: When the Good Guy Somehow Becomes the Bad Guy
In this final part of my six-part review, I look at a basic problem: The movie is pretentious without ultimately having anything to say
Time Machine (2002): When the Bad Guy is Nicer Than the Good Guy…
In Part 5 of my extended review, we get an answer to the story question: Can the traveler save Emma?
Review: Time Machine 2002 — Hold On Again. That Snarky AI Returns
In Part 4 of my review, we look at plot devices and holes. How DID that AI survive the destruction of New York?
Time Machine (2002) — A Gordian Knot of Freshman Philosophy
In Part 3 of my extended review, I look at the film’s effort to tease apart the philosophy of fighting vs, accepting one’s fate
Review: Time Machine 2002 — Hold On. Someone’s Destroyed the Moon
Part 2: The Eloi we meet in this film are radically different from H.G. Wells’s Eloi and that of the 1960 film version
Review: Time Machine 2002 – Wells’ Tale Gets an Unneeded Makeover
Part 1: This doesn’t seem like the same story as H.G. Wells’s 19th-century tale! But there's still a time machine, Eloi and Morlocks here, so let’s look at it anyway
Time Machine (1960) Back to the Past, and Then Fast Forward Again
In Part 4, we look at why the movie was, in many ways, better than the book
The Time Machine (1960): The History of the Eloi and the Morlocks
In Part 3 of my four-part review, we look at the difference the Cold War made to how the Eloi and the Morlocks are portrayed
The Time Machine (1960): The Evolution of the Future
Part 2: The movie portrays the Eloi — future humans — much differently from the film, probably because the script writers had different aims from those of H. G. Wells
The Time Machine (1960): Two Meetings and One Big Flashback
In Part 1 of my four-part review of this time travel classic, I look at the 19th century novel that started the genre and the movie that followedOver the last several months, I’ve talked about time travel. Originally, I’d planned to discuss the trope in more detail — when and how to use it, when and how not to use it, and whether it was better to rely on fate as a stabilizing force in the narrative. Or is it better to play around with various paradoxes? But then I realized that no in-depth discussion about the trope would be complete without reviewing the novel and subsequent movie that started it all. The Time Machine (1895) by H.G. Wells (1866–1946) can only be described as the most notable work on time travel. In fact, Wells is often thought of as the man who invented science fiction itself. Read More ›
Sound of Thunder: The Writers Are Committed to Their Story
In this final part of my review, I look at the way the writers did not flinch from the hard choices that their premise requires, which is a virtue
Sound of Thunder: How To Fix a Mess When Everyone Forgot About It
In Part 6 of my continuing review of the 2005 sci-fi classic, we look at efforts to go back in time and fix the disastrous timewave problem
Sound of Thunder: Can Chance and the Butterfly Effect Coexist?
In Part 5 of my review of the sci-fi classic, I look at whether the effect could really upend evolution, however evolution is understood
Sound of Thunder: Surfing the Time Waves When the Tide Is High
When plants start growing through cement walls, it is obvious that there is a problem
A Sound of Thunder: Time Travel for Fun and Profit — and Tragedy
In this third part of my review, I look at the adaptations leading up to the climax — the ones that worked and the ones that didn’t
A Sound of Thunder: Comparing the Film With the Short Story
What’s the same? What’s changed? What works and what doesn’t
A Sound of Thunder: Does the Famous Butterfly Effect Make Sense?
I am going to look at the 1952 short story first — the premises and the plot — before tackling the 2005 film
My Parting Thoughts on the Terminator Series
Nostalgia is powerful enough to make people stay away from new films if those films undermine what they loved about past ones