Film genres

Ling Taishi, my beloved murder momma.Image: Penguin Random HouseAs legendary war artist Ling Taishi watches the teenaged prophesied hero of her nation, Wen Jian, perform in an over-decorated gladiatorial arena, she quickly realizes that the boy is the worst of all possible outcomes. A deluded, over-indulged, under-trained teenage dirtbag. So much for being the child warrior the Zhuun needed to defeat the Eternal Khan, Taishi thinks;the boy can barely hold his own against underfed foot soldiers without having his hand…

A few of the films celebrating anniversaries this year. Image: VariousBirthdays come every year, but since your favorite films only celebrate landmark anniversaries every so often, we like to acknowledge them here at io9. And so, just as we did last year, every few months we’re going to let you know which major sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and genre movies are marking significant anniversaries in 2022. If you think of the years this includes (1957, 1977, 1982, 2002, etc.), you can just begin to imagine how many legendary…

I’m a big fan of the thrillers in general, but what I love in particular are conspiracy thrillers. This genre is a mostly forgotten art because, in my opinion, few movies today are able to capture the truly unhinged paranoia of prior decades. It might also be that we have enough conspiracies in real life to satisfy.Starting in the 1970s, Hollywood began churning out stories that were far more distrustful of the government than before. After Watergate, the Vietnam war, and a litany of mid-century scandals and coverups,…