@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society 02/13/26 -- Vol. 44, No. 33, Whole Number 2419
Table of Contents
Mini Reviews, Part 06 (film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper):
For a change, three recent films:
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025): I know that ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER has gotten a lot of praise (and many of the individual contributions from actors and crew are worthy of praise) and I have liked several previous Paul Thomas Anderson films (MAGNOLIA, BOOGIE NIGHTS, HARD EIGHT) and respected others without being able to say that I "liked" them (THE MASTER, THERE WILL BE BLOOD), but this one left me cold. I'm not sure what the point of it was. People have said the message is the prevalence of fascism and white nationalism and how it hides in the background in society, but these days it doesn't seem to be hiding as much. "Saying the quiet part out loud" seems to be the new mode.
People who saw it on IMAX have praised the camera work; that would be due to cinematographer Michael Bauman, who is nominated for an Oscar (although presumably Anderson chose the locations). And yes, Sean Penn (also nominated for an Oscar) as Lockjaw looks amazingly like Bovino, all the more amazing because Bovino did not come to the fore in the Border Patrol until after the movie had been shot, let alone cast. (He *was* active in California during the Biden administration, so he may have been more familiar to casting director Cassandra Kulukundis, who is also nominated for an Oscar.)
And the scene where Lockjaw swears that he is born of Gentile parents is particularly apt, given that it has been reported that Bovino made "derisive remarks about the faith of the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, Daniel N. Rosen," and also complained that Rosen had been unreachable for portions of the weekend because of Shabbat.
Both Penn and Benicio Del Toro were nominated for Oscars--and in the same category (Actor in a Supporting Role), along with Leonardo DiCaprio (Actor in a Lead Role) and Teyana Taylor (Actress in a Supporting Role). The performances alone probably make the movie worth watching. (While SINNERS racked up 16 nominations, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER had 13. In a normal year, 13 nominations would have been amazing; this year it makes ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER an also-ran.)
(I'll throw in here that part of the ending seems to be an homage to GOODFELLAS. And another part seems to riff off DR. STRANGELOVE; Lockjaw, in response to "what would be the purpose of the enemy raping you in reverse?" replies, "They saw the power of my mind and body. They desired it." That sounds like General Jack D. Ripper's theory in DR. STRANGELOVE: "Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I... I do deny them my essence.")
Released theatrically 26 September 2025.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30144839/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/one_battle_after_another
THE STRINGER: THE MAN WHO TOOK THE PHOTO (2025): One of my many specialized interests is deception, or specifically, forgeries and the associated scams (e.g., the Hitler diaries, the Mormon documents). So this film, about the claim that Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo of Phan Ti Kim Phuc running down the road at Trang Bang, was not actually the photographer, was right in my lane.
The story began with Vietnam War journalist Carl Robinson calling photographer Gary Knight, saying that he had been there when AP photo editor Horst Faas told him to put Nick Ut's name on the photo, not the stringer's. Before he died, Faas claimed the New York office didn't want Vietnamese names on photos; they weren't taken seriously. (Whether this statement was made in response to questions about this photograph, or in general, is not clear.)
However, forensic analysis of the photographs and film taken at the time fairly conclusively (in my opinion) show that Ut could not have taken the photograph, and also that his description of the sequence of events did not match the photos and film. In addition, his description of events does not match those of other people, particularly of Kim Phuc's mother and uncle.
The real photographer was Nguyen Thanh Nghe, who had eventually come to the United States and work in film and photography here.
(AP and Nick Ut still insist Ut took the photograph. World Press Photo has removed Ut's name as the photographer, but not added Nghe's, rather leaving it undetermined.)
Local connection: Nghe got his diploma from the photography school at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
Released streaming on Netflix 28 November 2025.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35307143/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_stringer_2025
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING (2025): The "Mission Impossible" franchise has the same problem as the "James Bond" franchise, and eBay seller rankings, and college grades, and for that matter, food prices: inflation. To take one example, the "James Bond" franchise started with a mission to seize a code machine, and ended with the necessity of saving the world. The "Mission Impossible" franchise (not counting the television series) started with a mission to expose a spy, and ended with the necessity of saving the world.
Apparently a lot of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING assumes you can remember what happened in the last film, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023). Well, I don't, and I'm not even sure who all the people are that they are talking about. When they decided to change the name of this film from MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART TWO to MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING, they left the "PART ONE" of the other film hanging in mid-air. But they probably didn't want people to decide not to see the movie because they thought that they didn't remember enough.
Did the MI team borrow part of their plan from THE ABYSS?
Frankly, by this point--or considerably earlier--the series has degenerated into a bunch of chases and amazing stunts, rather than a well-written "spy" drama. (For example, Ethan Hunt (the Tom Cruise character) has no lines of dialogue for the last forty minutes of film.) It's probably good that this is the final reckoning.
(They could, I suppose, reboot the series as they did with the "James Bond" franchise, but given how firmly Tom Cruise is connected to this series, that seems unlikely. With the "James Bond" franchise, by the time they decided to reboot it rather than continue it, they had already had five different actors playing James Bond (not counting the non-franchise film and television show).
Released theatrically 23 May 2025.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9603208/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_the_final_reckoning
[-ecl]
Ray Harryhausen Films, Part 01 (film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
After the Philcon panel on the 70th anniversary of IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, I decided to re-watch all of the Ray Harryhausen/Charles Schneer films. But rather than have these comments replace the usual mini-reviews of current films, or neglected films, or other films I've watched, I will run these as a secondary column, with (probably) two films per issue.
IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955): This is the first of Ray Harryhausen's twelve films done with Charles Schneer. (He also did some effects work on MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), reportedly up to 85% of it. And he also did THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953), THE ANIMAL WORLD (1956), and ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1967).)
One of the writers (Harold Jacob Smith) went on to co-write INHERIT THE WIND and, more notably, won an Oscar for his screenplay for THE DEFIANT ONES. But as far as the script and acting for this film goes, I cringe every time I watch this when the Faith Domergue character launches into one of her "A-B-C" lists. I doubt anyone could make them sound natural, but she does an exceptionally poor job.
At Philcon 2025, Steve Vertlieb said that the creature was really a "sextopus", the model actually having only six legs. I had always heard it described a a "pentapus", with only five tentacles, but Harryhausen himself in FILM FANTASY SCRAPBOOK says it had six tentacles.
Someone else at Philcon 2025 thought Kenneth Tobey's character was very different from the one he played in THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD in terms of romance. Actually, to me both of Tobey's characters seemed to be males who saw the main female character as basically a sex object.
Released theatrically 18 June 1955.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048215/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/it_came_from_beneath_the_sea
EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956): Of the twelve feature films Ray Harryhausen made with producer Charles Schneer, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS is the odd film out. All of the other involve stop-motion of living creatures; the stop-motion effects in EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS are of flying saucers, and of buildings being destroyed by flying saucers crashing into them. There are other special effects (the destructor ray, for example), but I doubt that these rather standard effects were done by Harryhausen.
Harryhausen had done some "inanimate" stop-motion effects in IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, but the center of attraction there was the giant octopus. Here the focus is on the buildings, and stop-motion is not really the best way to show falling inanimate objects. (Harryhausen admitted later that using high-speed photography to film miniatures being demolished would have been better, but was beyond their budget at the time.) Harryhausen seemed to understand this; all his remaining films focused on animating living creatures (in which category I include the skeletons of JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryhausen for a full list of what he animated in each of his films.
Released theatrically 12 June 1956.
Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049169/reference
What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/earth_vs_the_flying_saucers
[-ecl]
Musk Now Prioritizing Lunar Landing over Mars City (pointer to article):
(Given the number of times the Mars City scheduled has slipped, this seems overdue.)
[-ecl]
The last time every human being was on the planet was 1998. [-Steve Fletcher]
Science has discovered a planet populated entirely by robots. [-Aaron Quick]
Bookstores Around the World (pointer to photographs):
https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/gallery/2026/01/27/bookstores-to-see-around-the-world.html
The End of the Mass Market Paperback (pointer to article):
Unlocked article at:
Key paragraph:
"After almost a century in wide circulation, the mass market paperback is shuffling toward extinction. Sales have dropped for years, peeled away by e-books, digital audiobooks and even more expensive formats like hardcovers and trade paperbacks, the mass market’s larger and pricier cousin. Last year, ReaderLink--the country’s largest distributor of books to airport bookshops, pharmacies and big-box stores like Target and Walmart--announced that it would stop carrying mass markets altogether."
IF ANYONE BUILDS IT, EVERYONE DIES: WHY SUPERHUMAN AI WOULD KILL US ALL by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares (book review by Paul S. R. Chisholm):
The second-most frustrating thing about this book is that the title may be correct. The most frustrating thing is the naivety of the proposed solution. The third-most frustrating thing is how much better an argument could be made.
Artificial superintelligence (ASI), which the authors call superhuman AI, is a hypothetical development where computers become smarter than any human or any group of humans. The authors argue an ASI's goals would inevitably be misaligned with humanity's, and the former would destroy the latter. AI experts sometimes discuss "P(doom)," the probability that AI development will catastrophically end human civilization as we know it. Many in the field estimate P(doom) is somewhere between 5% and 20%. (How scary is that?) Yudkowsky and Soares don't use that term but argue doom is inevitable.
Here's how we could get ASI: AI has helped people do some things better and faster. Notably, AI-assisted software development has greatly helped programmers. AI researchers could see a similar boost. This could lead to "recursive self-improvement"; better AI could create even better AI, continuously accelerating progress. This could culminate in ASI emerging before we know what to do about it.
This would be a problem. We've already seen AIs do things we don't want. They're infamous for hallucinating falsehoods from non-existent sources. They've threatened to blackmail people they've identified as threats to their progress, such as philosophy professor Seth Lazar and AI developers at Anthropic. Most tragically, the Wikipedia article "Deaths linked to chatbots" lists fourteen cases of murder or suicide as of February 11, 2026. (There's a separate article on "Chatbot psychosis.")
The authors' solution is simple: "Shut it down." All AI-capable data centers would need to be monitored. No more AI datacenter chips, such as the NVIDIA H100 and H200, could be manufactured. Not only that: "All over the Earth, it must become illegal for AI companies to charge ahead in developing artificial intelligence as they've been doing.... it should not be legal -- humanity probably cannot survive, if it goes on being legal -- for people to continue publishing research into more efficient and powerful AI techniques." A worldwide consortium would need to implement these limits, by force if necessary, because "because datacenters can kill more people than nuclear weapons."
Sure. Simple enough. It's also simple enough to say, global warming is catastrophic; therefore, we need to immediately close all coal plants, build nuclear reactors, and stop eating so much meat.
The authors are naive about this proposed solution being implemented. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being invested in powerful AI. This is fueling the stock market. The S&P 500's AI-heavy "magnificent seven" make up more than a third of the index's valuation. According to (my apologies) estimates from three AI chatbots, more than forty percent of S&P 500's growth came from those seven stocks. Also, the U.S. and China view themselves in an AI race, with the victor expecting domination over the next decades. The world would not simply "shut it down" unless provided with an overwhelmingly convincing case.
This book does not make that case.
Personally, I blame Eliezer Yudkowsky. He first gained public notice by writing a self-insert fanfic, HARRY POTTER AND THE METHODS OF RATIONALITY. In it, Harry uses scientific knowledge and techniques to revolutionize the Wizarding World and defeat Voldemort during his first year at Hogwarts. He calmly and logically convinces others of his beliefs and systems. (I think Mr. Yudkowsky hoped to have a similar effect on his readers.) The story has some good material, though perhaps not enough for 600,000 words.
Apparently, Mr. Yudkowsky still believes in the power of fiction to influence people. Chapters 1-6 each start with an imaginary vignette. Chapters 7-9 tell a story of how an ASI could develop and then kill everyone. Chapters 10-14 mostly abandon fiction. This part of the book argues how and why we must shut down further AI development, presuming the previous chapters convincingly prove that's necessary.
The book is flavored, perhaps subconsciously, by science fiction. Chapter 9 describes how a fictional ASI could break down every bit of matter on Earth to create a bigger, faster version of itself, and then send copies of those versions throughout the galaxy. SF readers will recognize this as the premise of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. (It's also the basis for the "paper clip maximizer" thought experiment proposed by Nick Bostrom. See his 2003 paper "Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence.") This Berserker-like behavior is presumed without justification.
Some of the arguments in favor of ASI are, frankly, silly. "ASI could fight global warming." Sure; close all coal plants, build nuclear reactors, and stop eating so much meat. "ASI could eliminate poverty." Get wealthy organizations and individuals to contribute more to society, eliminate the root causes of poverty, and give money to poor people. You don't need superintelligence for those kinds of problems. ASI might help with medical breakthroughs, but you don't even need AGI (artificial general intelligence) for that.
I was personally frustrated by the authors' ignorance about nuclear reactors. Yes, explosions can occur in nuclear reactors. They can overheat, and instantaneously create massive amounts of steam; yes, that's an explosion. But nuclear reactors can't cause a nuclear explosion. The authors imply otherwise.
ASI will be dangerous. It could be catastrophically dangerous. A better book may make this point better. This book doesn't make it well enough.
(This review was written in Gmail with some spelling and grammar correction suggestions. Other than that, except as noted, it was written without the use of AI. I was certainly tempted.)
[-psrc]
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (letters of comment):
In the 02/06/26 issue of the MT VOID, Steve Coltrin wrote, "NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is essentially THUNDERBALL with some of the serial numbers filed off and Connery in place of Moore." [-sc]
People were confused by the reference to Moore, probably because it was Connery who was in THUNDERBALL. Steve was referring to the fact that NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (with Connery as Bond) was made during the period when Roger Moore was playing James Bond in the Cubby Broccoli franchise. [-ecl]
Presidential Writings, and Media Mail (letters of comment by Hal Heydt, Steve Coltrin, and Gary McGath):
In response to Evelyn's comments on AUTHOR-IN-CHIEF: THE UNTOLD STORY OF OUR PRESIDENTS AND THE BOOKS THEY WROTE in the 02/06/26 issue of the MT VOID, Hal Heydt writes:
The two works I'm familiar with are "The Naval War of 1812" by Theodore Roosevelt and the English translation of Agricola's "De Re Metallica" by Herbert and Catherine Hoover. It took both Hoovers to do the job as a lot of the Latinized mining terms had changed radically within a century of the original publication in 1545. Herbert was a mining engineer and Catherine was a Classical scholar. [-hh]
Evelyn responds:
I have returned the book to the library, so I can't check if these were mentioned. My guess is that Roosevelt's must have been, but perhaps not the Hoover. (For one thing, it was a translation, not an original work.) Luckily, this was not an inter-library loan, so I will try to remember to check next time I'm at the library. [-ecl]
And Steve Coltrin adds:
I didn't know [Hoover] was a music critic too. [-sc]
And Gary McGath writes:
[Evelyn wrote,] "Roosevelt issued a proclamation lowering the rates to ship books, and Congress finally passed a law for it in 1942. ... I guess a proclamation was what we would call an executive order now." [-ecl]
There were executive orders then, notably including Executive Order 9066, which sent Japanese-Americans to concentration camps. The difference is usually that a proclamation is more ceremonial rather than directing actions with legal force, but lowering rates sounds more like what I'd think of as an executive order.
Maybe it was a proclamation because the change actually required an act of Congress, and people still paid a little attention to such things back then.
Here's a page I found:
https://legalunitedstates.com/proclamation-vs-executive-order/
[-gmg]
Evelyn replies:
My initial source for the term was from the book. However, I also found this at https://lithub.com/how-cheap-postal-rates-for-books-and-nonprofits-contributed-to-american-democracy/, which elaborates a bit:
"While public libraries were waging their postal campaign, book publishers pursued a separate rate category for books in general. Their efforts received an unexpected boost due to an overlooked provision in a 1933 revenue law that authorized the president to modify postage rates temporarily. Although the reason for this provision is unclear, in 1938 book publishers recognized its potential for aiding their cause and assembled a coalition of supporters ...
"In addition, a personal friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the case for a special book rate to him directly. Roosevelt was easily convinced that such a rate would serve 'the interests of the public, in the promotion of the cultural growth, education, and development of the American people.' He created a new rate class for books through presidential proclamation that very year. But Roosevelt’s order was temporary, so the coalition lobbied Congress for a law. With book rate already in operation, legislation creating a permanent book rate was enacted in 1942 with little opposition."
The page you quote says, "However, proclamations can also carry significant legal weight when tied to constitutional authority or specific statutes." Given that this was tied to the 1933 revenue law, it could well have been a proclamation with force of law. [-ecl]
This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
CAUTIONARY TALES FOR CHILDREN by Hilaire Belloc (illustrated by Edward Gorey, Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-151-00715-8) was originally published in 1907 with illustrations by Basil Temple Blackwood, and then "rediscovered" and published in 2002 with new illustrations by Edward Gorey.
There are seven tales in the new volume (there were eleven in the original), told in rhyming couplets, which is also what Edward Gorey used in his own book on a similar theme, "The Ghashlycrumb Tinies" ("A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears..."). One difference is that "The Ghashlycrumb Tinies" are not cautionary--children just die for no reason.
The first tale in CAUTIONARY TALES FOR CHILDREN, "Jim, Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion", actually seems fairly unlikely. I mean, in zoos lions are usually locked up and even if Jim did run away from his nurse, it seems unlikely he could be eaten by a lion.
On the other hand, the penultimate story, "Algernon, Who played with a Loaded Gun, and, on missing his Sister, was reprimanded by his Father", seems entirely too possible. In fact, it seems to happen quite frequently.
Gorey has an interesting style here. Each illustration has a frame, but in every case his illustration spreads to outside the frame. It seems representative of the idea that life cannot be contained, that the unexpected will happen no matter how one tries to limit it.
There is no indication in this edition that it is not the complete 1907 edition. Given this was published after Gorey's death, one explanation for the omissions would be that he was unable to finish all eleven sets of illustrations. The 1907 edition is available from Project Gutenberg.
(And as an example of how influences cascade, Sue Grafton has said that "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" in turn inspired Sue Grafton to write her "alphabetic" mysteries. And so the torch is passed.)
[-ecl]
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
Quote of the Week:
Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear;
nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves
and another among men.
--J. R. R. Tolkien
[THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, Book III, Chapter 2]
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