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 'The I-Land'
I was going to entitle this review of The I-Land on Netflix, "Lost Opportunity." You know, that ABC series Lost, which had an excellent beginning, an absolutely out-of-the-ballpark brilliant third and fourth season, and then took a turn very much for the worse, with one of the worst series finales ever on television? Except ...
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Spy'
Gideon Raff is best known for Homeland, soon to begin its final season on Showtime. In its first few seasons—its best few seasons, by far—Homeland told the story of an American who was brainwashed in Iraq, to hate Americans and identify with terrorists, who returns to the US as a war hero and moves to within a heartbeat of the Presidency. It was all fiction, of course, but...
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'The Deuce' 3.1
The Deuce was back last night with its final season on HBO with another step into the future: New Year's Eve 1985, that is, the last day and evening of 1984. The big villain, at this point, is AIDS. Bobby's afraid he has it (he likely doesn't, at least yet). Gene seems set up to get it. And a lot of people, including Abby on the East Coast and Lori on the West Coast, aren't feeling too well.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Filthy
Review of 'Carnival Row'
Maybe I'm a sucker of steam punk—I am—but Carnival Row, the science fiction, science fantasy, mystery/ detective, searingly political relevant eight-episode series that debuted this weekend on Amazon Prime, is much more than that. As those adjectives suggest.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Geeks
Ejection of Breitbart Reporter from Beto Speech is Inconsistent with Democracy
I just saw the news, that a Breitbart reporter, Joel B. Pollak, who actually is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News, was ejected, apparently for no valid reason (he wasn't being disruptive, though his mere presence was deemed as such) from a Beto O'Rourke speech at Benedict College.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'See You Yesterday'
I just saw See You Yesterday, the Spike Lee production, directed and co-written by Stefon Bristol (with Fredrica Bailey), which came out on Netflix this past May. As a time-travel story, it's good enough. As a narrative about the continuing murder of African-American young men in American cities by cops, as told through the mechanism of time travel, it's a crucial masterpiece.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Mortal Engines'
I just saw Mortal Engines on HBO. It was released here in the US in December 2018, and received almost universal criticism from the usual group of myopic and tone-deaf self-appointed experts. According to Wikipedia, "It was the biggest box-office bomb of 2018 (one of the 10 biggest of all time, as of August 2019)."
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Rook' Season 1 Finale
The Rook Season 1 finale, just on last night, was an excellent, brilliant episode on all kinds of levels, including Gestalt in unified attack action again, and Myfanwy getting the better of the Russian guy who looked like Putin.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
