Prose and Retcons, or Don't Fear the Rewind, or Mulligans' Wake

"Well, everyone knows Ripley died on Fiornia-161. What this ALIEN movie presupposes is... maybe she didn't?"

I have a long, long "Exposition" essay up at The Dissolve today inspired by (uncertain) reports that District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's upcoming Alien movie may be a ret-con scenario that undoes the events of 1992's Alien-little-three, or Alien Cubed – anyway, the one where Ripley died. The piece is about retconning in fiction in general, and why it doesn't much impair my ability or inclination to suspend my disbelief at all.

If you're quite comfortable in your chair, and you're stout of heart and nerdy of temperament... Onward!

Unscary Movie: Jinn, reviewed.

Turns out that this bitchin' Camaro, and not any of the film's various CGI flame creatures, is "The Firebreather." Image from Jinn's Instagram feed.

I took one for the team and reviewed the the un-super, non-thrilling supernatural thriller Jinn for The Dissolve. I can't say I didn't have fun, mostly because Rachel Manteuffel came with me.

Footnotes: When I mention Liam Neeson in The Phantom Menace in this review, I cite him by his real name rather than his character name in that movie, Qui Gon... Jinn. It's all connected. Also, I didn't have room or cause to mention that William Atherton also played unctuous TV reporter Dick Thornberg in Die Hard, one of my pantheon films. Or that Faran Tahir, who gets plenty of work but whom I always remember from that great prologue to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek from five years ago, is here, too.