Category Archives: SciFi Fantasy

Cinequest 2022: Futra Days

Posted on August 20, 2022 by ricbret

Traveling forward in time isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as Sean Graves learns the hard way. He’s supposed to spy on his future self to determine if he should pursue a new romantic love interest. Even though he’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Movies, SciFi Fantasy | Tagged Brandon Sklenar, Cinequest, Cinequest 2022, Independent, Rosanna Arquette, Tania Raymonde, time travel | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2022: Fanga

Posted on August 16, 2022 by ricbret

Tale as old as time… we all know the song from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. And we’ve probably have seen a production other than the animated Disney cartoon. But this is a movie truly a “tale as old as time” given its roots in folktales and myth. And with Fanga, writer/director Max Gold is going back to the source material, and added a modern twist. Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Media, Movies, SciFi Fantasy | Tagged Andrea Snaedal, Cinequest, Cinequest 2022, Fanga, Ingi Hrafn Hilmarsson, Max Gold, Review | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2022: The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash

Posted on August 15, 2022 by ricbret

The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash is a near-future science fiction story. Typically near-future SF is anywhere from five to ten years out from “today.” This allows the writer/producer to focus on a smaller aspect of change. Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Film, Health and wellness, Media, Movies, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts | Tagged Cinequest 2022, Crime, Dagmara Brodziak, Michal Krzywicki, Review, science fiction, The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash | Leave a comment

How To Survive Cinequest 2022

Posted on August 14, 2022 by ricbret

A viewer’s guide to what USA Today readers voted the Best Film Festival. I’m happy, so happy, to update this pre-Covid-shutdown article for use in 2022. This year Cinequest moves back from virtual film festival to one of in-person smiles, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Media, Movies, Organizations, SciFi Fantasy | Tagged Carmen, Cinequest, Dash, Fanga, Jim Gaffigan, Linoleum, Survival Guilde | Leave a comment

Why I Judge Books by Their Cover

Posted on April 17, 2018 by ricbret

Book Judgement is someplace where I can review and express my love for the manufacture of books, the binding, typography… Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Design, Film, Media, Movies, Personal, Random thoughts, Review, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged book, book judgement, design, fanboy, geek, media, reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2018: Peaches

Posted on March 3, 2018 by ricbret

We all know the rules of time travel by now. Never travel to a time and place where you’re sure to meet yourself. Never do it twice at the same time. Three times is a very bad idea. And a dozen or so… well that could be real trouble. Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Media, Movies, Review, SciFi Fantasy, Technology | Tagged Cinequest, Cinequest 2017, comedy, Fanboy Planet, Felipe Jimenez Luna, Hector Valdez, Hugh Sullivan, Joaquin Ferreira, Jose R. Alama, Maria Guinea, Peter Vives, time travel | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2018:
Charlie and Hannah’s Grand Night Out

Posted on March 2, 2018 by ricbret

This is one of those cases where you’re best prepared when you’re unprepared.
Trust me. This film is what film festivals are for. Continue reading →

Posted in Audience, Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Media, Movies, Review, SciFi Fantasy, Writing | Tagged Absurdist, Bert Scholiers, Cinequest, Cinequest 2018, Clever, comedy, Daphne Wellens, Dialogue, Evelien Bosmans, Frances Lefebure, Patrick Vervueren | Leave a comment

The Dark Tower – Defending the Rose

Posted on August 6, 2017 by ricbret

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
Probably the best opening line in literature. Yeah, better than Call me Ishmael.
(Seriously Ishmael, I was just asking you for a name to write on your coffee cup!) Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Geeking around, Media, Movies, Personal, Random thoughts, Review, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts | Tagged Adaptation, Idris Elba, Movies, Stephen King, The Dark Tower | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2016: Sight Unseen Recommendations

Posted on March 2, 2016 by ricbret

Now that Cinequest is fully upon us, I need to touch on a small subject of interest to those of you going to the festival. There are WAY too many great films to see everything. Way too many. And some are terribly hard to review for reasons that will be obvious in a few paragraphs. But luckily those same programs are very easy to recommend, and do fall on my “Don’t Miss” list.
Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Media, Movies, Review, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts | Tagged Animation, art, Cinequest, comedy, documentary, Film, foreign, High school, international, mindbenders, recommendations, short films, shorts | 1 Comment

Star Wars VII trailer: Storytelling & the invisible structure

Posted on September 25, 2015 by ricbret

Storytelling and structure from Presentation Zen master Garr Reynolds by way of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and a priest named Father Roderick… Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Film, Geeking around, Media, Movies, PowerPoint, Presentations, Presenting, SciFi Fantasy, Technology | Tagged Garr Reynolds, Star Wars, Storytelling, Structure, The Force Awakens, Trailer | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2015: Bad Exorcists

Posted on March 6, 2015 by ricbret

In the end this film delivers a lot of laughs, mixed with just enough shocks and scares. And that’s exactly what I was looking for. Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Film, Media, Movies, Personal, Review, SciFi Fantasy | Tagged Cinequest, Film, Movies, Review | Leave a comment

Cinequest 2015: The House On Pine Street

Posted on March 1, 2015 by ricbret

The House on Pine Street is both a well-crafted traditional horror story, and a modern exploration of what haunting and haunted actually mean. More than a little is left up to your interpretation at the end. But that’s cool, because a film like this should haunt you long after you leave the theater. Continue reading →

Posted in Cinequest, Entertainment, Media, Movies, Personal, Review, SciFi Fantasy | Tagged Cinequest, Film, movie, Review | Leave a comment

They Called Me Spock

Posted on February 27, 2015 by ricbret

I admired Nimoy for this, and followed his career unflinchingly through everything from Mission Impossible to Fringe. And of course I enjoyed all his characters, as well as whatever speaking engagements I was able to attend, and his writing. But it they never spoke to me like Spock. Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Film, Geeking around, History, Home and Family, Media, Movies, Personal, Random thoughts, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts | Tagged Childhood, Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek | Leave a comment

Considering the Blue Pill…

Posted on September 19, 2014 by ricbret

Sure, and there’s stuff you can do with digital that you could never do with physical media. I travel with hundreds of books in my backpack. I can choose what movie I want to watch on the plane. Mix tape from 100’s of albums when and where I want? Sure, I’m future boy!

It’s all upside, right? What could be wrong? But about this time in any SyFy movie, you know the foreboding music is about to rise and everything you’ve been enjoying is about to turn on you. Continue reading →

Posted in Audience, Books, Entertainment, Geeking around, Media, Movies, Personal, Random thoughts, SciFi Fantasy, Software, Technology, Travel, Writing | Tagged apple, browser, comics, digital, fanboy, media, technology | Leave a comment

Swallow the red pill…

Posted on August 7, 2014 by ricbret

As you may already know from prior posts, as well as producing the weekly podcast, I often write for a website called Fanboy Planet. Fanboy Planet reports on all the silly and serious aspects of being a fan in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Entertainment, Games, Geeking around, History, Media, Movies, Personal, Random thoughts, SciFi Fantasy, Software, Technology, Writing | Tagged business, comics, digital, fanboy, geek, hacking, Internet Explorer, media, money, music, pirate, rights, software, technology, writing | Leave a comment

Rotten Bitter Apple

Posted on April 10, 2013 by ricbret

Update: Word from comiXology now after many hand-wringing updates overnight is that Apple didn’t prevent comiXology from pushing to iOS apps, but comiXology made the call. In a letter on their blog page, comiXology CEO David Steinberger noted: After hearing … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Entertainment, Geeking around, Media, Organizations, Personal, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts, Writing | 2 Comments

QuickTechThought: Our Red Toaster

Posted on January 13, 2012 by ricbret

Our pretty red toaster died this week. Sunbeam Oster. It wasn’t even three years old. I know, I know, they don’t make things like they used to. But it’s just a toaster, it’s supposed to be pretty fundamentally simple. … Continue reading →

Posted in Design, Food and drink, Geeking around, Home and Family, SciFi Fantasy, Technology, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

And about that moon…

Posted on January 13, 2011 by ricbret

Sometimes you just do things for fun. For the last four years I’ve produced a weekly podcast and occasionally written articles for a web site called Fanboy Planet. There’s no money in this, but usually it gets you into conventions, … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Geeking around, Media, Personal, Random thoughts, SciFi Fantasy | Leave a comment

The Walking Dead…

Posted on September 21, 2010 by ricbret

AMC just released a new bit of advertising for the October 31st release of their “The Walking Dead” series. That’s it over there on the left. The series is based on a comic by the brilliant Robert Kirkman. The stark … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Media, Movies, SciFi Fantasy, Thoughts | Leave a comment