The Emmys are the perfect time to celebrate a show that was 85% great — If you’re one of the many people still seething in rage over the eighth and final season of HBO’s hit fantasy series, I urge you to keep your TV off Sunday night. That’s when the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will be held, and Game of Thrones has a record-breaking…

The sad saga of how fandom transformed from being about love into hate and intolerance — Traditionally, nerds were always portrayed as outsiders looking in: Gazing at the high-school groups of popular athletes and cheerleaders, the cool kids, and all the others who never had a Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Guide fall out of their backpack while rushing to class. Things have changed. It’s a nerd’s…

A paean for the Wachowskis’ greatest, most misunderstood masterpiece — Last week, it was announced that The Matrix would be getting a fourth installment, with stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne-Moss reprising their roles and franchise co-creator Lana Wachowski returning as director. Despite the fact that no one particularly liked the first two sequels, this new movie will probably make…

Jim Henson’s beloved fantasy film — now with a Netflix prequel — forced me to take a moral reckoning — It’s easy to see why so many people love The Dark Crystal. Jim Henson’s passion project is a marvel of puppetry, set in an unbelievably lush fantasy world, which has captivated legions of fans long after the film came to theaters in 1982. So many, in fact, that Netflix is…

Doomsday devices might prove surprisingly useful in the event of the end of the world — Although some of us try to ignore it, the Earth is in seriously rough shape nowadays, and it’s only going to get rougher. There are plenty of plans and treaties and scientific research being done in hopes of keeping humanity from wrecking the planet completely, but we may need to…

Cartoon Network’s lovely, progressive animated series is truly what the world needs right now — There’s very little that’s perfect in this life. Careers, relationships, snack foods — all have their share of disappointments. But once in a while, you’ll encounter something genuinely sublime. Something so good it seems unreal that it actually exists, or that human beings, flawed as they are, could have possibly…

Daniel Craig’s super spy may be totally badass, but he doesn’t do much actual spying — When the 25th James Bond movie arrives next February, it will be Daniel Craig’s last outing as the titular spy, and the end of an era — an era I’m not necessarily sad to see closed. Craig’s tenure transformed Bond from suave super-spy to a man’s man who relied on…

Disneyland’s newest addition is a nerd paradise that plays out like an interactive theater nightmare — When I was young, the idea of an amusement park based entirely around Star Wars would have been paradise on Earth. Now that I’m 42, Disney has actually created Galaxy’s Edge, and I… well, I still desperately want to go. …

The next phase of Marvel’s movies is much weirder than you realize — Now that Marvel Studios has wrapped up 11 years of superhero storytelling with Avengers: Endgame, which has made more money than any other movie in the history of cinema, the company finally felt comfortable telling people what’s next. At last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, the studio announced and/or confirmed its…