Category Archives: film

Mary Magdalene, the Movie

Posted on April 10, 2018 by jananson

Mary Magdalene has always seemed special. It’s difficult to fit together the different resurrection appearances of Jesus into a coherent narrative, but one thing is clear in the Easter story as I received it: Mary Magdalene is the first person … Continue reading →

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Creatures the World Forgot – and Maybe for a Reason?

Posted on August 26, 2017 by jananson

I’m conscious this blog tends to wander off a bit from its declared focus on the exotic and the prehistoric. So let’s get back to basics – and a look at another prehistoric movie classic. I never saw this film … Continue reading →

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Valerian and Laureline and the Dream of Paradise

Posted on August 7, 2017 by jananson

I was wrong to think that the guy and the girl always had equal billing in the title of the original comic series: Valérian et Laureline was for most of its history Valérian, agent spatio-temporel. But I still reckon the … Continue reading →

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When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Posted on January 12, 2017 by jananson

Researching Deep Time was an excuse to rewatch the dinosaur films that had captivated me as boy. Through this painstaking scholarly process I discovered that in my memory two of these films had merged into one. That’s not entirely surprising … Continue reading →

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The Rogue One Terrorists

Posted on December 21, 2016 by jananson

I used to think of Star Wars as a fairy tale in space. In filling a tempting gap in the storyline, Rogue One offers less in the way of mythological resonance and more of gritty realism. It’s telling that some key … Continue reading →

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Neanderthal Man and Cro-Magnon Woman

Posted on April 3, 2016 by jananson

Jacques Malaterre’s Ao, le dernier Néandertal is a 2010 film about the fateful encounter between Neanderthals and modern humans. It’s also, as usual in this genre, a love story – with the usual pattern of gender and race: the man is a … Continue reading →

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Battlestar Galactica and Ecology

Posted on February 29, 2016 by jananson

For several gruelling months at work, it was an episode of Battlestar Galactica each evening that kept me going – till I’d worked through all five box sets. A military SF story about shooting up evil robots may not seem … Continue reading →

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