Moderate Fantasy Violence

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  • Alastair JR Ball

Alastair JR Ball is a London based science fiction and politics writer. When not writing he can usually be found in a pub, art gallery or the cinema. He gets stuff ready in advance

  • Year In Review

2022: A year in film

  • 31st December 2022
Everything Everywhere All At Once

In 2022, the cinema was back in a big way, and I was very pleased to be able to watch 36 films released this year; either at the cinema or on streaming services. The world…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Non-English Sci-Fi

In The Silent Sea a dying Earth is more terrifying than horrors on the moon

  • 11th May 2022
The Silent Sea

Netflix’s hit Korean sci-fi drama The Silent Sea has a claustrophobic intensity that makes it addictive watching. The drama takes place in the confined space of a moon base, where murderous inhuman creatures stalk the…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Year In Review

2021: A year in film

  • 31st December 2021
Dune 2020 film

Reading back my summary of film in 2020, I was reminded of the desperate state cinema was in a year ago. In 2020, cinemas were dogged by closures and low audience numbers, due to many…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Politics Articles

The politics of Dune come from our past and not our future

  • 26th October 2021
Dune

Frank Herbert’s novel Dune is inherently political. The book is so clearly laced with politics that a meme has appeared in Dune fandom mocking those who deny that it is a work of political fiction….

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Non-English Sci-Fi
  • Politics Articles

Osmosis shows technology cannot fix our flawed humanity

  • 17th August 2021
Osmosis TV show

Would you put a chip in your brain to find true love? This either romantic or dystopian question is the premise of Netflix’s French sci-fi thriller Osmosis. The show is set in the eponymous tech…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Politics Articles
  • Spy Films

25 years of my love for Mission: Impossible

  • 5th July 2021
Mission: Impossible 25 years

On an episode of the Moderate Fantasy Violence podcast, I described Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible films as “the little franchise that could,” alluding to the streak in the British character that always roots for the…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Music

Ten more new songs to get through lockdown

  • 31st May 2021
Sleaford Mods and Billy Nomates in Mork n Mindy

Now that lockdown is ending and we’re taking our first tentative steps outside again, I have decided to write a tribute to Tom Coley’s list of the new music he discovered during lockdown. My list…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Politics Articles

We Are The Wave shows the pitfalls of doing politics online

  • 14th May 2021
We Are The Wave

The youth are revolting. Gone are the apathetic proto-hipsters of my youth, where the lamest thing you could be was someone who cared about shit. Young people today have embraced politics, from Extinction Rebellion to…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Articles
  • Politics Articles

His House uses horror tropes to help us empathies with refugees

  • 1st March 2021
His House

His House is that rare thing: a horror movie that takes a well-worn trope and does something original with it. In this case, it’s the trope of the haunted house, updated for our modern age…

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Alastair JR Ball
  • Year In Review

2020: A year in film

  • 31st December 2020
Parasite Bong Joon-ho 2020 film

For the last few years, whilst superhero franchise blockbusters have been the undisputed dominant force in mainstream cinema, I have been saying that a change will eventually happen because nothing lasts forever. What I meant…

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Alastair JR Ball
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  • Popular
  • Recent
  • Commented

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Review – Just hanging out, y’know?

25th April 2017

We Are The Wave

We Are The Wave shows the pitfalls of doing politics online

14th May 2021

MFV #34 – Chekov’s Sheet Of Glass

13th April 2017

Nick’s Top Ten TV 2021

30th December 2021

MFV #184 – Oscar Results Honkathon 2023

16th March 2023

MFV #183 – My brain is not happy with that

2nd March 2023

MFV #182 – Men not talking to each other

16th February 2023

MFV #181 – Back to the sea

2nd February 2023

MFV #184 – Oscar Results Honkathon 2023

16th March 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy

2014: A year in film

31st December 2014

2015: A year in film

31st December 2015

MFV #1 – Red Hot Content In The Soul Of The City

18th February 2016

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