Posted on October 24, 2009 by Darren
Talk about a change of pace. Apparently it was originally conceived that Bendis would be in charge of both Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men during their run. Instead he’s spent almost a decade at this stage with the web-spinner, but he did migrate over to the sister title for a year at the end of Mark Millar’s run. The run is unfortunately too short to fully develop the potential of Bendis on the title, but it represents a massive upwards swing in the quality of the book from the crazy illogical and teen-angst-filled Millar run. It’s still far from a classic, but – read in the context of the entire series – it is perhaps a better representation of what Ultimate X-Men could have been.
And he still doesn't shave...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: bendis, blockbuster, brian michael bendis, comic book, marvel comics, new mutants, review, ultimate marvel, ultimate spider man, ultimate wolverine, ultimate x-men, wolverine, x-men | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Darren
Paul Dini is, for my money at least, the best writer writing Batman today. Anyone doubting that would do well to check out his run on Detective Comics. In a return to the character’s pulpy roots (where buying an issue would generally give you at least one story), Dini’s run is dominated by done-in-one stories (with the odd two-parter and then the five-issue The Heart of Hush rounding it off). It’s brave and daring experiment, and that he attempted it is almost as surprising as how brilliantly he succeeded.
Do you want to point out he should keep both hands on the wheel?
Note: Unfortunately I can’t find a library-bound copy of Death and the City for review, so I am missing the middle chunk of Dini’s standalone stories, but he does go to great pains not to lockout readers who haven’t read every issue he has written. If I find a copy anywhere, I’ll update the review.
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, collection, comic books, curtain down, dc comics, detective comics, J.H. Williams III, joker, opening night, paul dini, riddler, Slayride, stalked, The Beautiful People, The Return of Dr. Phosphorus, the suit of sorrow, the suit of sorrows | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Darren
We are well and truly in Oscar season, in case you didn’t pick up on the Toronto International Film Festival as the kick-off of events (in fairness, it’s been going on longer than that – Oscar season is like Christmas advertising, it gets earlier every year. It’s fun the way that (even at this stage) every minor bump in the road for any picture is seen as potentially the end of its run. I’m not an Oscar-ologist, so I will concede I’m outside my field of expertise. It’s stunning that the perceived snubbing of perceived Oscar-lock Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (heck of a title, there) at the Gotham Awards. It’s got a lot of film critics and Oscar-watchers pondering if the mainstream support that stars like new Academy member Tyler Perry and Oscar-nominee Oprah Winfrey may have actually harmed it. Are AMPAS such snobs that a showing of support from Oprah can ground a film’s chances?
Cruising for a bruising at Oscar season?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: AMPAS, awards snub, best picture, best picture 2010, gotham critics, gotham film awards, oprah, oprah winfrey, Oscars, oscars 2010, precious, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Push, snub, tyler perry | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Darren
The second trailer for The Wolfman hit the interweb yesterday. I’m still on the fence about this one. On one hand, there’s a classic monster movie, Anthony Hopkins and Benecio del Toro. On the other hand there’s Joe Johnson (the dude who directed Jurassic Park III) and what looks like fairly dodgy CGI. The twice pushed-back release date isn’t filling me with confidence for this kick-start to the monster movie genre either. Still, one aspect of the film intrigues me, amid all the forest scenery, interesting make-up and scenery-chewing going on. It’s the ever-fantastic Hugo Weaving appearing as Detective Francis Abberline. Don’t worry if the name doesn’t ring any bells, I’m fairly sure you’ve seen him somewhere – he’s been played by Sir Michael Caine and Johnny Depp amongst others. The problem is he’s constantly upstaged by his most frequent co-star:
Jack the Ripper.
On the scent...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: abberline, benecio del toro, cinema, detective abberline, fictionalisation, film, francis abberline, frederick abberline, history, hugo weaving, monster movie, monster movies, Movie, real character, the wolfman | 3 Comments »
Posted on October 22, 2009 by Darren
Everyone loves a good, juicy rumour and this is about as juicy as it gets. Apparently George Lucas is working on a new trilogy of Star Wars films in order to capitalise on the 3D film-making craze – apparently remastering the originals isn’t all he had in mind. This sounds like something resembling a mixed blessing to anybody with particularly strong feelings about the original trilogy, but there is one grain of hope: apparently Lucas won’t be directing.
Maybe by the time he makes them, technology will be able to generate good performances from bad actors...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3d, films, george lucas, Movies, prequel trilogy, rumours, sci-fi, science fiction, sequel trilogy, speculation, star wars, star wars trilogy | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 22, 2009 by Darren
A trend I’ve noticed appearing over the last few years is the none-too-subtle attempt to genre-shift movies away from the stereotypical audience demographics associated with those genres to other stereotypical audience demographics. I’m speaking of course of the trend to sell movie genres that have generally been associated as ‘chick fare’ to ‘manly men’. At the moment we have the news that a manly manly musical is being adapted to big screen by Hairspray helmer Adam Shankman – Rock of Ages will be a jukebox musical featuring artists like Journey or Twisted Sister and appears to be a blatant play for the middle age male audience.
Rock on, man...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: film genres, gender roles, genres, mamma mia!, men, movies for me, movies for women, musicals, rock of ages, romantic comedies, sexism, sexist, stereotyping, women | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 21, 2009 by Darren
This is something I was quite surprised to actually learn, as it had been bothering me for quite some time. Anyway, I found an article which handily summates the differences here.
Geeks or nerds? Or both?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: definition, geeks, meaning, nerds, words | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 21, 2009 by Darren
I am growing more and more excited about Thor as every little snippet of rumour leaks out about casting. Which is odd, because Thor is one of the movies coming out on the road to The Avengers which I really don’t care that much about. It’s a superhero movie about a guy with a really big hammer – I don’t want to see that version of Thor. On the other hand, my interest was piqued from the moment that Kenneth Branagh was announced as director. Kenneth Branagh’s Thor I am interested in seeing. Particularly if it stars Robert deNiro and Jude Law. Still, my inner nerd remains skeptical about positioning a film based on myths and magic so firmly as a cornerstone of the on-screen Marvel universe.
What's the point of being the God of Thunder if you can't use it to dramatic effect every now and again?
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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: brian blessed, chris hemsworth, comic books, Comics, consistency, films, internal consistency, iron man, jude law, kenneth branagh, marvel, odin, robert deniro, the incredible hulk, thor, ultimate thor | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 20, 2009 by Darren
I love Sky Anytime. It gives me the opportunity to watch stuff I would normally miss at a time that suits me. This weekend, for example, I sat down for Saturday lunch and decided to see what was available to watch. I found Ghost Town, a movie which never really became large enough to warrant a cinema trip and my family’s Gervais-aversion ruled out a rent. So, I switched it on and I was reasonably impressed with this modern spoof on the ghost story subgenre. There’s nothing too strange or startling or new here, but it’s a solidly entertaining comedy and a more than pleasant diversion.
Dead people see him...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, david koepp, film, films, ghost town, ghosts, greg kinnear, Movies, ricky gervais | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 20, 2009 by Darren
Tell us something we don’t know. Okay, I’m being mean, but Francis Ford Coppola, once so optimistic about the future of the medium of cinema, has become jaded and cynical about the studio system:
The cinema as we know it is falling apart. It’s a period of incredible change. We used to think of six, seven big film companies. Every one of them is under great stress now. Probably two or three will go out of business and the others will just make certain kind of films like Harry Potter — basically trying to make Star Wars over and over again, because it’s a business.
And, yes, this is from the man who made The Godfather III.
But does he have a point?
He gave us The Godfather III and Bram Stoker's Dracula and NOW he's worried about the death of cinema?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adaptations, cinema, creativity, derivative, francis ford coppola, monomyth, Movies, originality, stories | Leave a comment »
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