Broad Street Review

Philly's home for arts, culture, and conversation

Mark Wolverton

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since March 17, 2009

Mark Wolverton is a free-lance science writer and playwright who has also published fiction.

Mark Wolverton is a free-lance science writer and playwright who has also published fiction.IHe is the author of three books, most recently A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He has also worked in independent film, TV and radio. He lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

For more about Mark Wolverton, visit his website at www.markwolverton.com.

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Page 1

Happy VA Day: Celebrating with the Obergruppenführer.

'The Man in the High Castle' on Amazon

Baseball, apple pie, and swastikas

The Man in the High Castle is a revered masterpiece of the alternative history genre. Philip K. Dick’s original novel is mindbending; the Amazon series is considerably more grounded and dynamic than the novel, but no less compelling.

Jan 19, 2016 Articles 6 minute read

“Twinkle, twinkle …” Loreena McKennitt in 2008. (Photo by johan.abit via Creative Commons/Flickr)

Loreena McKennitt at the Keswick

A musical odyssey

Over a career now spanning three decades, Loreena McKennitt remains a singular artist who resists easy categorization.

Nov 03, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

A court case with a foregone conclusion: Rylance and Hanks.

Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies'

Men of principle

Bridge of Spies isn't a spy story; it's a "based on true events" story about a lawyer and his dedication to a higher set of principles than Cold War expediency and political convenience.

Oct 20, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

The ultimate geeky Everyman: Matt Damon in “The Martian.” (Photo by Aidan Monaghan - © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.)

Ridley Scott's 'The Martian'

Science in a leading role

The Martian is far more than rah-rah flag-waving space-geek boosterism. It is, instead, a paean to humanity's exploratory drive, survival instinct, and most of all, intelligence.

Oct 03, 2015 Articles 6 minute read

Freeman Dyson beholds Luci, a self-contained solar-power lighting device. (Photo by Esther Dyson via Creative Commons/Flickr)

Freeman Dyson's 'Dreams of Earth and Sky'

The iconoclastic generalist

As a scientist who has wrestled firsthand with the moral quandaries of mass destruction and total war, Dyson is quite aware of the seemingly intransigent problems that continue to plague humanity. But he's confident that science, free inquiry, and democracy will yet allow the better angels of human nature to prevail and prosper.

May 01, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Mann's usual striking visuals: Tang Wei and Chris Hemsworth (© 2014 - Universal Pictures)

Michael Mann's 'Blackhat'

Hacking into reality

The exponentially increasing interconnectedness and interdependence that computers and the Internet have wrought also allow the potential for damage to be ever more serious and substantial, with the real possibility of taking down not just a bank but an entire national economy, or the killing of not just a handful but thousands. In that dark sense, even Blackhat barely scratches the surface.

Jan 24, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

Desperate efforts at Bletchley Park (© 2014 – StudioCanal)

Morten Tyldum's 'Imitation Game'

A life encrypted

The Imitation Game amply demonstrates the intellectual and personal courage that accompanied Turing's singular genius. A man who penetrated secrets, he was also forced to keep them — not only those of Enigma and its bounty of military intelligence, but also the fact of his homosexual identity.

Jan 04, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Vocalist Annie Haslam of symphonic progressive rock band Renaissance. (Photo by Esa ahola, via Creative Commons/Wikimedia)

Renaissance and Al Stewart at the Keswick

The renaissance of Renaissance

Both Renaissance and Al Stewart are certainly still best known for their work of four decades past, yet in their performance at the Keswick, they amply demonstrated that while time can leave its inevitable mark on an artist, well-crafted and expertly-performed work always remains unscathed.

Nov 03, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

Slo-mo walk away from an explosion, check. (Photo by Phillip Caruso - © 2013 CTMG. All Rights Reserved.)

Antoine Fuqua remakes 'The Equalizer'

All things being equal

The team remaking TV classic The Equalizer for the big screen simply revamped the titular character for a 21st-century audience, keeping his essence while discarding most of the original television trappings.

Oct 07, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

Thomas, Johnson: Dedicated cops in the best TV tradition

Revisiting 'Miami Vice'

1980s noir (in pastels)

More than just the visual style or the cool soundtrack, it's that sense of alienation, of existential heroism in the face of utter futility, that hit home back in 1984. In a way that few if any TV shows had ever done before, Miami Vice depicted a chaotic universe in which the only moral absolutes were those created and maintained by its inhabitants.

Sep 26, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

Nixon announces the release of an edited version of the Watergate transcripts, April 29, 1974.

'The Nixon Defense' by John Dean

Barbarians at the Watergate: John Dean and the new Nixon tapes

John Dean is back with a fresh look at the quintessential political scandal.

Aug 23, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

Sacrifices and compromises: Willem Dafoe and Philip Seymour Hoffman in "A Most Wanted Man" (Photo by Kerry Brown - © 2014 - Roadside Attractions)

Anton Corbijn's 'A Most Wanted Man'

The price of betrayal

Though there are certainly plenty of deceptions and double crosses in A Most Wanted Man, the human element dominates throughout — particularly the very real sacrifices, compromises, and ultimate costs of its richly drawn characters.

Aug 10, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

Before Siskel and Ebert: "Pollice Verso" (1872) by Jean-Léon Gérôme.

The virtues of no opinion

What's wrong with waiting until all the facts are in?

Apr 01, 2014 Essays 5 minute read

Russ Widdall and Sam Sherburne in New City Stage's "Hinckley." (Photo by Ginger Dayle)

New City Stage's 'Hinckley'

The mind of a would-be assassin

A theatrical tour-de-force, Hinckley is a classic example of how much can be done with nothing more than actors on a stage.

Mar 20, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

Rock on

On becoming a performer

Study in A Minor for Voice, Solo Guitar, and Nervous Writer

After 30 years in the audience, watching others perform his scripts, it's time to take to the stage.

Jan 29, 2014 Essays 7 minute read

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