Cold Bananas Movie & TV Reviews
Reviews of movies, TV, comics and books by John Hansen, Michael Olinger and Shaune Redfield.
John’s “The X-Files” Season 9 flashback review, johnvhansen.com, June 12, 2011
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For the last few months, there’s been a lot of talk about how “The X-Files” (8 p.m. Sundays on Fox) has become so much worse now that David Duchovny — and his alter-ego Fox Mulder — have left the show. A lot of the criticism is from people who are no longer watching the show.
John’s “The X-Files” Season 8 flashback review, johnvhansen.com, April 9, 2011
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With his gruff voice, his business-like approach to solving cases and his willingness to at least be open-minded towards paranormal explanations, Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) has made “The X-Files” seem like a brand-new show in its eighth season.
John’s “The Lone Gunmen” flashback review, johnvhansen.com, May 8, 2011
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At first, “The Lone Gunmen” didn’t seem like an obvious choice for a spinoff series. After all, while Byers (Bruce Harwood), Frohike (Tom Braidwood) and Langly (Dean Haglund) provided quirky comic relief in many “X-Files” mythology episodes, their cult following was based more on the fact that they made geekdom cool than on the characters themselves. Even after seven-and-a-half seasons, we knew almost nothing about these guys’ backgrounds.
John’s “The X-Files” Season 7 flashback review, johnvhansen.com, March 19, 2011
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“The X-Files” Season 7 (1999-2000, Fox), episodes 1-7 – “The X-Files” has recovered a bit after a sluggish start to its seventh, and probably last, season. Chris Carter’s brainchild has earned its place as a cultural icon, featuring great chemistry between FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dan Scully (Gillian Anderson).
It was great to have “The X-Files” back with the six-episode miniseries earlier this year on Fox, and now it’s available on DVD, and you get a lot of nice bonus features (including commentaries on three episodes) for your $14. I prefer the small-screen method of reviving the show, rather than the big screen, as it allows different types of “X-Files” stories to be told for about the same time and cost commitment as a movie.
Continue reading “All 6 episodes of ‘The X-Files’ 2016 miniseries, ranked (TV review)”
IDW’s “X-Files” Season 10 comics mark the first time Chris Carter has a story credit on an “X-Files” comic – he co-wrote Issues 1-5, “Believers,” with series helmer Joe Harris – but, ironically, IDW’s series now seems less canonical than Topps’ or Wildstorm’s. Although neither Carter nor Harris has issued a statement about the canonicity of the series, it seems pretty obvious that this is what happened: When IDW’s “X-Files” launched in 2013, it was intended to be canonical. Then, in 2016, Carter changed his mind when he relaunched “The X-Files” for TV, no doubt figuring that too much of the TV audience was unfamiliar with the comic to make the new episodes tie in with the comic.
Continue reading “‘X-Files’ flashback: IDW’s Season 10 Issues 1-9 (2013-14) (Comic book reviews)”
In 2002, I watched “The X-Files” series finale with a couple of friends at a friend’s apartment. Obligatorily, we watched it with no lights on. I had been keeping up with the series, and was generally an apologist for it even though I didn’t pretend to understand the details of the alien colonization/government conspiracy mythology. My two friends had stopped watching the show years earlier, but felt they should watch the finale for old times’ sake and see how it wrapped up.
Continue reading “First episode impressions: ‘The X-Files’ miniseries (TV review)”
While “The X-Files” has a proud tradition in comic books — enjoying stints at Topps, Dark Horse (one “Lone Gunman” issue) and Wildstorm – it’s never felt as much like the TV show as it does in “The X-Files” Season 10, which is now nine issues into its run with IDW Comics.
Continue reading “‘X-Files’ comic book feels more like the TV show than ever before (Commentary)”
It used to be that when a TV show was canceled, that was the end; any dreams of future projects remained just that — dreams of the fans. But producers and creative types are starting to realize that just because a show ends, it doesn’t mean the fan base stops caring. “Buffy” is about to wrap up Season 9 in comic form (and Season 10 is on the way), a “Fringe” novel is on bookshelves, a “Veronica Mars” movie and books are planned for next year, and “24” will also return for another season in 2014.
Continue reading “‘X-Files’ Season 10 comic book heads up TV blasts from the past (Commentary)”
I think the second “X-Files” movie, 2008’s “I Want to Believe,” is a nice thank-you letter to fans, who are given one last chance to follow Mulder and Scully into the darkness (plus: Hey, there’s Skinner!). It certainly has its detractors, though: The film scores a 5.9 on the IMDB ratings (compared to an 8.9 for the series as a whole and 6.8 for the first movie).