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 (699/0)
Review of 'Silo' 1.1-1.3
Just saw the first three episodes of Silo on Apple TV+, show-run by Graham Yost, whose previous impressive credits include The Americans, Sneaky Pete, and Justified, based on the Wool series of novels by Hugh Howey that I haven't read. These first three episodes bear some resemblance to most post-apocalypse stories, and even more to Apple TV+''s much lauded Severance. But Silo has a story and an ambience all its own, and it looks to be on its way to a top-notch science fiction series.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Review of Pretty Much the Final Episode of 'Picard'
Well, I stopped reviewing Picard Season 3 after the 3rd episode of that season in March. Why? A combination of work on the radio play of my alternate history story about The Beatles, "It's Real Life" ... and, truthfully, I wasn't finding this final season all too captivating. But I've watched the rest of it in the past few days, and I thought the final four episodes were pure gold. Here's why:
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Diplomat'
My wife and I just binged the first season of The Diplomat and loved it. [Spoilers ahead ... ] To begin with, it seemed like for most of the first episode -- in fact, until to the very end of that episode -- we were watching an updated, 2023-rendition of West Wing, on a more global scale. Which would have been very welcome. But the news at the end of this first episode made The Diplomat much more than that. Almost a James Bond, without the central character being an MI6 agent with a license to kill. So think The West Wing in politics, and Bond in terms of intrigue bringing the world to the edge of nuclear war, and that's even more welcome than just an updated West Wing. More welcome, that is, as fiction on the screen, not of course as reality.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Criminal
Review of 'The Last of Us' 1.9
The Hollywood Reporter tells us that as of last night's season finale, The Last of Us surpassed House of the Dragon in "full season viewers," and I'm not the least bit surprised. House of the Dragon was superb. The Last of Us was something else, something more, and well, the season one finale on HBO Max last night was the best episode in the series.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Last of Us' 1.7-1.8
[Spoilers ahead ... ] Well, first of all, I was glad to see that Joel was alive at the beginning and conclusion of The Last of Us 1.7, fulfilling what I said in my review of 1.6 a few weeks back, that if you don't see a character's head cut off or blown to bits, there's always a chance that she or he survived.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Sam's Requests
The sepia-toned 45 turned on the table, twisting souls -- I know -- and mashing potatoes. Soul Twist The ship operated on sheer thought. This was a big advantage -- no fuel was needed -- but the thinker had to be awake and focused. If there were no enemies or obstacles ahead, she could doze, even sleep, and the ship would coast, as her eyes floated under her rippling lids. But today was not such a day.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Fiction
Review of 'Sharper'
This seems to be a season for non-linear neo-noir caper thrillers set in the New York City area. A few months ago, Kaleidoscope appeared on Netflix (here's my review on Vocal), which was so linear you were invited to watch the episodes of that series in any order you chose. Sharper, which debuted on Apple TV+ a week or so ago, is a movie, not a TV series, so you can't really choose the order of the parts you watch. But the parts are equally non-linear, and the story every bit as captivating.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Criminal
Review of 'Star Trek: Picard' 3.1-3.2
Good to see Star Trek: Picard back with the beginning of its third (and final) season on Paramount Plus last week. All kinds of fun things in the first episode, including Riker back with some great repartee and all sorts of other good touches including Riker accidentally calling Picard (who's now an Admiral) "Captain" once again. But my favorite moment came at the very end, when--
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Last of Us' 1.5-1.6
Another superb two episodes of The Last of Us on HBO Max -- 1.5 and 1.6 -- in what is shaping up, hour for hour, as the best post-biological apocalypse series I've ever seen (and as I keep saying, right, that includes The Walking Deads).
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Ark' 1.1-1.3
So, The Ark debuted on the Syfy Channel three weeks ago to a typical chorus of baying critics who carped that the disaster in deep space movie was itself a disaster, and the series was as "imbecilic" as NBC's time travel series La Brea. I did stop watching La Brea in the second season because it wasn't going anywhere. But at this point I have higher expectations for The Ark.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Last of Us' 1.1-1.4
So why would I watch yet another post-apocalyptic series -- apocalypse caused by some biological agent? I mean, aren't Station Eleven, Y, not to mention our real COVID-19 pandemic enough? And for that matter, the endless Walking Deads, which I stopped watching a while before COVID hit? Well, yes. But something moved me to watch The Last of Us on HBO Max, and here I am reviewing the first four episodes of the series, and telling you I'm going to watch the rest of the episodes of this inaugural season.
By Paul Levinsonabout a year ago in Futurism