Avatar 2: A Reminder of the Power of Cinema
Karan Sampath reviews James Cameron’s newest tale in the world of Pandora, Avatar: The Way of Water.
The Present (Is) Tense: Supermassive Studios' Dark Pictures Anthology
When I was a kid, I used to lose myself in the Fighting Fantasy ‘choose your own adventure’ books. I’d map out the best paths through the story, making copious notes on optimal outcomes with deadly creatures trying to cut my reading short and my limbs shorter. I’d play along with dice, and unlike my reckless friends, try not to skip ahead to see if my choices were the right ones. If I died, I started over, and there was a tremendous sense of achievement in being able to successfully remember how to get to the end with one’s life intact.
"I have no conscience, only nerves”: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker
Based on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novel Roadside Picnic (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) carries all the cinematic hallmarks of humanity’s carelessness towards the environment, and the clinical, cold and soulless climate of life behind the Iron Curtain.