Pop Mythology https://www.popmythology.com/ Pop Mythology: Movie, Book, Comic reviews & commentary Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:06:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 42198836 ‘Project Hail Mary’ is like all good science fiction https://www.popmythology.com/project-hail-mary-is-like-all-good-science-fiction/ Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:39:24 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44394 Ryland Grace awakens to find himself bound within several layers of plastic and bombarded with agonizingly simple questions from a robot testing how much brain function he lost during a medically induced coma that lasted maybe weeks, months, or even years. We watch as Grace (Ryan Gosling) stumbles and mumbles about like a baby slowly …

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]]> 44394 ‘Hamnet’: grief, like art, is worthless without the process https://www.popmythology.com/hamnet-grief-like-art-is-worthless-without-the-process/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 01:04:20 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44379 Author’s Note: ‘Hamnet’ opened last week in my area. Includes spoilers shown in movies trailers and in a 400-year-old play. Sad to say but art has always been a product. Ever since the advent of the “professional artist,” art itself has been a commodity to be bought and sold. Even much of what history records …

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]]> 44379 Pop Mythology’s 10 (ish) Best Films of 2025 https://www.popmythology.com/pop-mythologys-10-ish-best-films-of-2025/ Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:17:46 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44343 This was not an easy list to make. Not because it was difficult to find ten great films released in the United States in 2025, nor because there were more great films released in that time than in other years, although more so the latter than the former. This list was difficult because when it …

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]]> 44343 ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is too much movie https://www.popmythology.com/avatar-fire-and-ash-is-too-much-movie/ Wed, 31 Dec 2025 02:12:14 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44329 In support of his latest 400-million-dollar blockbuster, filmmaker James Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter that his entire career has focused on answering cinema’s “toughest, most fulfilling artistic problem,” in a way that will also, “appeal to a mass audience.” Over forty years this approach has led to Cameron pioneering or refining cinematic technology, from Terminator …

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]]> 44329 ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ puts faith in its story (about horrible people) https://www.popmythology.com/rian-johnsons-latest-tackles-religion-and-the-stories-it-tells/ Fri, 19 Dec 2025 08:07:55 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44300 There are few things in existence more powerful than a story. Far beyond entertainment, stories are how we as finite creatures pass experiences and knowledge from one generation to the next. All that we know of ourselves, of our world, and of our place in our world is determined by the stories that we tell. …

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]]> 44300 ‘Bugonia,’ Sunk Cost Fallacy, and humanity’s many flaws https://www.popmythology.com/bugonia-sunk-cost-fallacy-and-humanitys-many-flaws/ Sat, 22 Nov 2025 08:06:53 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44284 Sunk Cost Fallacy is the feeling that you need to remain loyal to something because you’ve already sunk so much time, money, or other resources into it. It’s the reason why investors continue throwing money at failing businesses or people remain in long-term relationships that only hurt them. It’s why viewers watched ten seasons of …

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]]> 44284 Why ‘One Battle After Another’ will remain so damn relevant https://www.popmythology.com/why-one-battle-after-another-will-remain-so-damn-relevant/ Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:57:53 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44242 Bob Ferguson, formerly known as Ghetto Pat and Rocketman, strains to remember the code sequences drilled into his mind following the dissolution of his revolutionary group, the French 75. He screams brutal and detailed threats of consequences if he isn’t told the location where his daughter, Willa, was taken to secure her against a raid …

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]]> 44242 ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ and the future we could have had https://www.popmythology.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-and-the-future-we-could-have-had/ https://www.popmythology.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-and-the-future-we-could-have-had/#respond Fri, 25 Jul 2025 03:13:50 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44200 'Superman' and 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' are similar in many ways, one being their idealism. For example, that two film franchise can both be good!

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]]> https://www.popmythology.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-and-the-future-we-could-have-had/feed/ 0 44200 Ep. 16 – Reviving the podcast after personal collapse | This is the End https://www.popmythology.com/ep-16-reviving-this-is-the-end-podcast-after-personal-collapse/ Wed, 23 Jul 2025 03:44:07 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44187 After a long hiatus, The Pop Mythologist revives the 'This is the End' podcast with an episode on caregiving and personal collapse.

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]]> 44187 ‘Superman’: a hero in a time of villains https://www.popmythology.com/superman-a-hero-in-a-time-of-villains/ https://www.popmythology.com/superman-a-hero-in-a-time-of-villains/#respond Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:41:22 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44168 Interpretation is a fascinating thing. From religion and mythology to art and entertainment, and, in our modern time, science and fact, how one chooses to interpret an event, item, or idea speaks volumes about that person, their values, and their view of the world. On some occasions interpretation is a completely innocuous thing, like debating …

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]]> https://www.popmythology.com/superman-a-hero-in-a-time-of-villains/feed/ 0 44168 ‘F1 the Movie’ goes nowhere with speed and spectacle https://www.popmythology.com/f1-the-movie-goes-nowhere-with-speed-and-spectacle/ Thu, 26 Jun 2025 23:21:48 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44155 I’ve never cared about auto racing. Sure, there was a brief time in the 90’s when racing reached the larger cultural zeitgeist and I tried watching Nascar, Formula 1, and off-road races on ESPN before deciding they weren’t for me. Every race would start with a burst of speed and adrenaline until, inevitably, settling into …

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]]> 44155 ‘Thunderbolts*’: redemption is possible. https://www.popmythology.com/thunderbolts-redemption-is-possible/ Fri, 02 May 2025 02:07:05 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44129 Let’s face it, the MCU has been in a dark place for the last few years. While far from the dire situation that sensationalized, “MCU is Dead,” articles and video essays portray, the studio has struggled to recapture the immense critical and commercial success of the 2010’s. Granted, such a downturn was inevitable as twenty …

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]]> 44129 ‘Mickey 17’ shows us who is expendable https://www.popmythology.com/mickey-17-shows-us-who-is-expendable/ Mon, 03 Mar 2025 04:52:32 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44100 We see them every day. People we pass on the street. People sitting at a restaurant or wandering through the grocery store. People occupying the other seats on an airplane, a train, or a movie theater. Sometimes our interactions are pleasant: a smile, an opened door, a random compliment; sometimes they’re less pleasant: watching a …

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]]> 44100 ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ is anything but brave https://www.popmythology.com/captain-america-brave-new-world-is-anything-but-brave/ Wed, 26 Feb 2025 14:44:58 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44092 There have been many issues with the Post-Endgame MCU output. Constant re-writes and reshoots, rushed or faulty visual effects, repetitive and formulaic scripts, lackluster television shows, projects that seem created solely to introduce a character for later or to have something in theaters, and, perhaps most detrimental, a lack of coherent vision in where the …

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]]> 44092 Pop Mythology’s 10 Best Films of 2024 https://www.popmythology.com/pop-mythologys-10-best-films-of-2024/ Tue, 28 Jan 2025 06:03:50 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44065 Last year didn’t exactly go as well as many of us wanted. Instead of righting previous mistakes far too many people decided to ignore the reality of those mistakes (along with the resulting chaos, destruction, and promise of even more chaos and destruction) thus assuring that this year, 2025, will go exactly as poorly as …

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]]> 44065 ‘Gladiator’ was a roar. ‘Gladiator II’ is an echo. https://www.popmythology.com/gladiator-was-a-roar-gladiator-ii-is-an-echo/ Sun, 17 Nov 2024 06:40:29 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44041 Author’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the events of Gladiator. So if you haven’t seen that film, stop reading, and go watch it. What characters do in that film echoes in eternity. I don’t remember the exact day, but I remember the exact circumstance of the first time I watched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. It …

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]]> 44041 ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’: truth isn’t truth https://www.popmythology.com/joker-folie-a-deux-truth-isnt-truth/ Thu, 03 Oct 2024 11:02:37 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=44014 Author’s Note: this review spoils the ending of 2019’s Joker. If you still haven’t seen that film, don’t read this review. Also, if you haven’t seen that film, don’t see this one. This film picks up months into the aftermath of the previous. For all things, context is important. This story should have ended four …

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]]> 44014 ‘Wolfs’ and the death of art https://www.popmythology.com/wolfs-and-the-death-of-art/ Tue, 01 Oct 2024 23:18:00 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=43999 Wolfs is fine. Some scenes are very good. That’s what I would write if it hadn’t been six weeks since my last review and if I didn’t feel the need to make up for my lack of quantity by maintaining the highest possible quality. Since I only write maybe one review a month, I want …

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]]> 43999 ‘Alien: Romulus’ – it took forty years, but ‘Alien’ finally has a true sequel https://www.popmythology.com/alien-romulus-it-took-forty-years-but-alien-finally-has-a-true-sequel/ Thu, 15 Aug 2024 03:18:45 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=43979 Despite having seen almost every film in the series, the Alien franchise is one that I’ve never felt a particular fondness toward. In fact, given the brutality of the subject matter and the tendency of characters to not survive long enough to make it to a second let alone third or fourth film, it’s mildly …

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]]> 43979 ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is how a universe dies https://www.popmythology.com/deadpool-wolverine-is-how-a-universe-dies/ Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:18:00 +0000 https://www.popmythology.com/?p=43961 Author’s note: This review mentions characters and story developments revealed in trailers, pre-release material, and the opening minutes of the film.  If you’re one of the whiny types who expects everyone else to play dumb enough to make you comfortable then you should go see the movie first before coming back to join the big …

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