Storytellers have been fascinated with the idea of artificial beings for centuries, from the animated statues of the golem mythology to the robot domestic partners of The Stepford Wives and the "more human than human" replicants of Blade Runner. The more modern spin...
Back in December of 1933, it's hard to imagine any of the original founders of Nissan Motor Company in Yokohama, Japan, anticipating that someday they would sell a vehicle with a curb weight of over 6,000 pounds, but here we are. Ninety years later, I'm test driving...
Congratulations! Your team of four Founders just got dropped on an alien planet. Their goal is to create a self-sustaining outpost but the clock's ticking: They only have eight days to get the base shield up and running before a destructive meteorite shower arrives!...
Imagine a film that's a mashup of Scanners, Memento, and Inception, where things are endlessly unwrapped to be shown as other than what you - and the protagonist - thinks is going on. Those are the main inspirations for the twisty, entertaining sci-fi thriller...
There's a lot going on in the 1947 French noir thriller Quai des Orfèvres (literally "Headquarters"), an early police procedural that has plenty of plot twists and tough, gritty elements to keep viewers glued to the film. It also has a great, if not entirely...
Urban planning is a surprisingly popular theme for board games, particularly tile laying games. It's tricky to set up a town where all the homes are near parks and schools, but far away from any industrial facilities or office buildings. This goes back to one of the...
There's something about a convertible that improves the driving experience. It's ironic that so many of the earliest car models were either convertibles or simply didn't have a top at all (presumably making them terrible to drive in bad weather!). Throughout my life,...
One of the marvelous things about a 52-card, 4-suit deck of playing cards is just how many different games you can play. From the complex to the rudimentary, there are card games for all skill levels. Some are so simple, however, that the entire game relies on the...
There's something very compelling about auto shows, where dozens of manufacturers show off their latest and greatest vehicles. It's a bit surreal with the vehicles in sparkling, pristine condition, locked up and sitting on plush carpet, but that's a reasonable...
While I spend a lot of time in small, compact vehicles, there's still something nice about driving a behemoth now and then. They offer lots of space and a sense of safety that little cars just don't have, with the usual cost that of poor fuel efficiency. Plug-in...
I have been a fan of Chinese martial arts actor and comedian Jackie Chan for decades, and have watched most of his films at this point, from his earliest Chinese classics like Police Story through the more popular Hollywood fare like Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon. He's...
The Spanish conquistadors forced dozens of Central and South American societies to become vassals to the Spanish empire back in the 16th century. A small group of Incan warriors fought back, hiding in the mountains and developing an extraordinary, gravity-defying...
I've had the chance to drive a number of different Infiniti cars and SUVs in the last few months, which has been great. The company consistently gets so many aspects of modern car design right, from an excellent fit and finish to lots of smart and luxurious touches to...
Like too many modern movies, there are so many characters in the fantastic and highly entertaining Chinese action film Code of the Assassins (also known as Song of the Assassins, or, if you prefer Chinese, Qing mian Xiuluo) that it's best if you just assume you'll...
It's hard to disprove a conspiracy. Present factual evidence that there are no lizard men, no UFOs, the Earth isn't flat, or that jet contrails are not, in fact, dropping psychotropic drugs on an unsuspecting populace, and the believer responds "of course they want...
Planet Dave is run by Dave Taylor, who has been writing about film, cars, games, and his lifestyle for many years. He's based in Boulder, Colorado and assures readers he's only occasionally falling into a gravity well or temporal distortion field.