Paul Levinson
Bio
Novels The Silk Code, The Plot To Save Socrates, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Prof, Fordham Univ.
Stories (742)
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Review of 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart'
For as long as I can remember, the Beatles have been my all-time favorite group, with the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys vying for second place. The Bee Gees were in my top ten, for sure. But several things in the past few weeks have brought them into vying for second place too, in my heart and mind.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Beat
Review of Blood Red Sky
I'm not the biggest fan of vampire movies, but I really liked Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and Netflix says Blood Red Sky is currently its most watched new movie, so I gave it shot. And I think it's outstanding, or, more precisely, a powerful, original mix of two venerable genres -- terrorist hijacking of a plane, and vampires -- with pounding action throughout and a great can't-catch-your-breath ending.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Horror
Review of In the Heights
My wife and I saw In the Heights, the Jon Chu movie on HBO Max, based on Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical play. We really loved it. It's a righteous joy of a movie, symbolizing everything that's good about America. That would be that when left to our own devices, we are a land of dreams that can come true.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Beat
Review of McCartney 3, 2, 1
The first thing I want to tell you about McCartney 3, 2, 1 -- Rick Rubin's incandescent black-and-white three-hour six-episode interview with McCartney on Hulu -- is that in addition to being mind blowing and musically joyful, it made me very sad.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Beat
Review of Summer of Soul
My wife and I just saw Summer of Soul on Hulu. We loved it. It's a musical documentary, directed by Questlove, about a festival in Harlem in July 1969, in what is now Marcus Garvey Park. Around the same time as Woodstock and human beings first walked on the Moon. The concerts were superbly recorded -- both sight and sound -- at the time. The line-up included included Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Fifth Dimension, the Staples, Mahalia Jackson, the Chambers Brothers, David Ruffin (he had just left the Temptations), and more. The mystery is why hasn't this been seen until now?
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Beat
Review of The Tomorrow War
I saw The Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime Video late last night. Some myopic critics gave it mixed reviews. I thought it was just excellent. And not because of the time travel, which was ok, but because of the unfolding plot of the movie, which brings in interstellar species, climate change, and parent-child relationships in an original and rewarding way.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
Review of The Nevers, Part I
The Nevers 1.1: Never Say Never I wasn't going to watch The Nevers. I'd pretty much given up on superpowers on television after Heroes. On the other hand, how can you resist late 1890s London, the prime of Victorian times, the birth of The Time Machine, on the cusp of the 20th century? I couldn't, and I'm glad of it.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'For All Mankind': Season 1 and Episode 2.1
Ronald D. Moore is best known for his creation of the Battlestar Galactica reboot and Outlander, two very different TV series which were (BSG) and are (Outlander) justly lauded masterpieces of science fiction (maybe Outlander is science fantasy, but the point still holds). Moore had a lot riding on For All Mankind, another, very different kind of science fiction series. I just saw the entire first season (which began to air on Apple TV in November 2019) and the first episode of the second season (which started airing yesterday). It's at least as good as Battlestar Galactica and a little better than Outlander. In my never humble opinion.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
