The View From The Mountain

Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse (2018) was a fantastic superhero film that just happened to be an animated feature. Starring Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as Spider-Man, the film dealt with the multi-verse—which is a scientific theory that states there are a multitude of universes out there, each existing on its own plane of reality. This idea isn’t new to comics; I’ve read countless stories about superheroes dealing with denizens from other universes—and it’s also an idea that’s been used often in science fiction, like the In A Mirror Darkly episode of the original Star Trek . Recently, the MCU has used this theory in the last ten or so of its films. Into the Spider-Verse has Morales dealing with several different Spider-Men, and Spider-Women, from alternate Earths—one of whom is Spider-Man Noir, voiced by Nicolas Cage. The Spider (as he’s known in the TV series) is the Spider-Man from a 1930s era New York City. He’s a private eye named Ben Reilly (played on screen by ...

I first saw Logan’s Run in a New Jersey movie theater fifty years ago, when I was a boy. The theater, somewhere in the suburban wilds of the Garden State, was packed to the gills with people. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the movie back then—all I cared about that it was a brand new science fiction film, in an age when big budget SF properties on both TV and the big screen was very rare (of course, Star Wars , which would be released the very next year, would change all of that). Based on the 1967 novel of the same name by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, Logan’s Run is a futuristic tale about a man named Logan 5 (Michael York) who has a special job in a place filled with hedonistic leisure. Logan lives within the splendor of a Utopian society whose population dwells within large domes. The interior is presented as a vast, upscale shopping mall where its citizens want for nothing. Every need, every whim, and every fantasy is met. Of course, there’s a catc...

The town of Fairwood, located in New England, is undergoing an intense mayoral election, which is coming just a few days after it celebrates its 300th anniversary. Harold Faulkner (Jayce Bartok) is running for mayor against the incumbent Blair Gladwell (Amy Hargreaves), and the campaign is already a fierce one. Tensions among the townsfolk are so thick you could cut it with a knife. And somebody’s been busy cutting up the townsfolk with an actual knife, along with whatever other weapon that’s lying around. An assailant clad in a judge’s mask and robe is slaughtering people in the town, starting with Allison’s (Naomi Grace) girlfriend, Melissa (Olivia Nikkanen—The Society). Is he just another wacky slasher, or something much more? Founder’s Day is an almost halfway decent slasher movie that tries to be more than the usual slash fest, and it’s for that reason alone that I really wanted to like it. Naomi Grace ( Gridiron Grid ) is superb as Allison, who is hit with one traged...