The Future of Star Wars. Captain America Casting.

The Future of Star Wars

DISNEY have bought the rights for Star Wars by buying Lucas Film!!!! Thats right, Princess Leia is a Disney princess... because thats the important part of this story... Anyway Disney are planning to release Star Wars VII in 2015 with the plan to bring a new film out every few years. With all the nerd rage directed towards George Lucas you can't blame him for wanting to get the franchise off his hands and after the largely disappointing Episode I, II and III (although in my opinion I is the best... not a massive Star Wars fan tbh) and the poor Clone Wars franchise this £2.5 billion deal marks a new era for Star Wars.

A lot of fans are worried and that is understandable, Disney can make mistakes and the Star Wars series has been going down hill for a long time but who knows, maybe fresh contributors are what it needs. One of the Disney executives in charge has talked a lot about the deal as has Lucas:

Personally I think its a good thing, a real moving forward in the series rather than a milking of the already existing property feels more satisfying and as far as Disney are concerned don't forget how amazing their latest big blokcbuster was... The Avengers isn't their original property but with the right director and writer it was one of the biggest hits ever so have a little faith fans, this could be good!

Captain America Casting
Firstly Maria Hill (Cabie Smulders) is returning to the Marvel world after her appearance in the Avengers in the upcoming Captain America The Winter Soldier. How big is her role going to be? Who knows but the viallian for the film has also been cast, Frank Grillo has been cast as Crossbones meaning this is going to be one jam packed film with both Crossbones and Winter Soldier storylines mixed together. Keep your eyes open, plot details probably aren't far away!

AVX

This is going to be a pretty big and comprehensive review of the AvX storyline and what comes before and afterwards. I am biased I have to tell you that

I always have, its the comic I enjoy and read most of and I am a particular fan boy of Scott Summers the mastermind and leader of the X men.

I don't believe you can start talking about AvX without mentioning a few of the comics and events that lead up to it and if we are to start at the beginning we have to go back 7 years to House Of M. Dont worry I will be brief...
House Of M

An epic story that changed X men comics in a massive way and climaxes in the immortal words "No More Mutants". If you live in a cave and haven't read House of M it is a story in which the Scarlet Witch, mutant and avenger, changes the world to suit her, Magneto and his mutants rule her world but are overthrown by Avenger and X Man alike to revert the world to what it was. However when Scarlet Witch changes the world back she alters it a little almost making the mutant race extinct by whispering "no more mutants" and dropping the mutant population from over a million to just 198. I love this story and I love what it did to the comics but the reason it is relevant is because, although nobody has attached a number to it, a lot of mutants must have inadvertently died because of losing their abilities. For example anyone flying, anyone who could breath underwater, anyone physically deformed, anyone possessing power within them (chamber for example nearly died), even wolverine would have died of adamantium poisoning... Since then mutants have been simply surviving and trying not to die out, a difficult task when feared and hated and blah blah blah...
Also in the House of M universe Xavier is dead (you might notice a trend)

Messiah Complex
I will be doing a full review of this but basically a new mutant birth, the first since M day, and everyone wants her for themselves. Who gets her? After a long struggle and not just a few bouts of fisticuffs Cyclops gives the baby to Cable to take to the future to train and look after until she is ready. No Avengers appear in this graphic novel but I wouldn't expect them too, its not their comic simple as that. Xavier is shot at the end of the graphic novel and presumed dead (just saying... a trend)

Second Coming
Again I will be brief, a full review is coming... Hope and Cable return. When San Fransisco is threatened the Avengers appear to help out but cant get into Utopia to help out because of a massive red shield. (No appearance by Xavier, Nightcrawler dies though... who isn't Xavier but still...)

X Sanction
A little more relevance now, in X sanction Cable turns up to beat the crap out of the Avengers for something that is about to happen. The reason this is so relevant is not because of what is about to happen (presumably he means AvX and wants to protect hope but that doesn't make any sense as she won in the end. Did cable agree with his dad and the Phoenix 5?) but is relevant as it puts into context what X Men and Avengers relations are like. Take this from Cyclops for example "You'v lost control son. Maybe its the techno organ virus maybe but. This isnt the way to solve anything... Cap I'll have you out of there in no time" or even "you've got to free the avengers. Cable-- my son-- has to be stopped" and as a team they stop the avengers, Cap lets Cyclops take his sons body as the Avengers take custody of Cable's weaponry, fair enough. Shows the X Men and Avengers are on friendly terms at least. A wicked miniseries in general with awesome art and scripting. It ends with a conversation between Cable and Cyclops about the avengers coming for Hope as she manifests as the Phoenix which is chilling and exciting! Cue AvX (Xavier also doesn't appear but what was he gonna do think nasty things at Cable?)

Just before getting into AvX I want to again talk about Cap and Scott and Avengers Xmen relations as they are through Uncanny X men #9 and #10. The world is in danger as space criminals brake free of an orbiting prison. Both the avengers and the x men are on hand to help out. as the Avengers arrive cap says to Cyclops "Together we've got the manpower, but we are lacking a teleporter. If we coordinate..." and Cyclops finishes his sentence with "...We'll be more effective. Understood and agreed" See! Like team mates! Tactitions! Admittedly the story ends in 10 with Cap saying that Cyclops has shown that the world is less important than hope by leaving (if you dont get it, read it! Its wicked) bit Cyclops admits his mistake and leaves. This is the kind of relationship the two have shown, they hold no hatred for each other which makes the start of AvX a little confusing.

AvX 0
Not a lot good happens in this issue... Hope and Cyclops' section is pretty pointless except for showing that Cyclops doesn't want Hope to know about Phoenix. Scarlet Witch's part brings her back into the MU for anyone who didn't read the largely inconclusive Avengers Children's Crusade. It also welcomes Scarlet Witch back into the avengers with the words "Once an Avenger always an Avenger" Her guilt absolved by all but the Vision who still isnt happy with her, understandably.

AvX 1
Finally! It starts with Nova crashing to Earth saying "its coming" cool and exciting again! And then it drops down hill with a marvellous misrepresentation of the military character Cyclops has become, he beats Hope for not training hard enough (also a misrepresentation of how much Hope trains) thus starting one of the worst things about AvX, the feeling none of the writers have read comics recently and dont understand or know the characters the way the readers do!!! The phoenix appearing is done in a cool way although Romita Jr. art is hit and miss throughout. When Cap consults Wolverine he obviously immediately jumps on the offensive, thats expected, see Schism! Cyclops talks a little about why the phoenix is important and the Rebirth it could bring to the mutant race, he talks about it logically and without emotion and like Cyclops would which is nice... just before the ego's clash! A double page spread full of good points about who should hold Hope, neither suggest they both keep her which would make the most sense but Cap threatens Cyclops and Cyclops responds by blasting him into the sea, and so ends all reasonable debate and discussion. Both actions out of character and quite stupid! Cyclops is the type of character to take help when he can get it, and Cap is not the type to be aggressive but more likely to offer help rather than threaten to take Hope. This is probably the most annoying thing in AvX well written until the last few panels of absolute S**T which are an excuse to get the ball rolling on a sales boosting series of brawls that should be in "What if?"'s. Obviously the Helicarriar is there also showing that Cap was never just going to stay on the island with Hope and the X men and watch over her like a sensible person, he was going to Take! her. And what if they did take Hope? What was their plan? how would they protect her?

AvX 2
AvX 2 continues to get the characters wrong, scott particularly talks like a jealous brat however the battle for the beach is a cool idea and the double page spread of Cyclops vs Cap is really cool. These are still outweighed by the fact that the fight is stupid and pointless.

AvX 3
Finally through Magik's trick some of the tactics of Cyclops and Cap come into play even though they are in a fairly minor way it is nice to see them finally thinking about strategy rather than just butting heads. One of the best bits of dialogue in the whole storyline is also in this issue, delivered by Tony Stark to Cap "It wasn't too long ago I was saying things just like that and you were on the other side then", a brilliant call back to Civil War. Cap and Wolverine's fight is another highlight of the issue, the art is fairly good and the reasoning behind it even better. Finally it is nice to see Hope thinking back to her training with Cable in the shortlived and Cable series.

AvX 4
Issue four is one of the most boring issues, after the slightly better issue 3, 4 begins with Hope louring Wolverine to her with beer... illogical and stupid but apparently it works. Then they go to the moon and the X men and Avengers follow them... that is it. The whole issue.

AvX 5
More butting heads and random battles fill the majority of issue 5 along with a weird, silly and giant Iron man suit to capture the Phoenix. Hope also decides that it is time to die and that she can't contain the phoenix, Wolverine tries to kill her but Cyclops wont let her. The Phoenix doesn't get captured but does split up and inhabit "The Phoenix 5" Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Magik and Colossus. Which all look a little silly...

AvX 6
Firstly Copiel takes over the art and does a better job than Romitta Jr. despite the silly costumes. The new Utopia looks pretty cool and the things the Phoenix 5 have been doing, with zzzax for example, seem to be for the good of everyone. Somehow the comic still displays them negatively, blaming them and acsing them of being evil, this one sided representation of Avengers being good and the X men being the villains is one of the more annoying themes of AvX. The worst thing they do in the comic is give nations an ultimatum "no more war" (the second of many "no more"s) how evil!!! Beast finally begins to redeem himself for the last few years of pathetic wining by saying maybe the x men are the heroes and the Avengers shouldn't fight them but that doesn't last long. Finally another of my hates for this storyline is brought into this issue K'un Lun I don't read many Avengers titles or know much about Iron Fist but WTF!?!? This made up land and sudden made up origin is an attempt to explain a force which already has a history ie. the Mkran crystal and the Shiar. This is pretty much forgotten about so that an Avenger can have a back-story relevant to the Phoenix and actually have a reason to be in the story but its done in a pretty half assed way. Hope also decides it is time to change sides and go with Wanda, not the Avengers or the X men but Scarlet Witch... you know the one who decimated the mutant population.

It was around here I thought of my own end to AvX, Cyclops gets all of the Phoenix in him and then opens the "black box" in his mind and lets out the eternal hunger of the Void and it consumes the eternal power of the phoenix and all settles itself out.... unfortunately that not what happens.

AvX 7
All that happens in this issue is we find out the Scarlet Witch can hurt the Phoenix 5 and Namor gets pissed off... That is literally the whole issue!

AvX 8
Again a pretty simple issue, Kubert takes over the art and does a damn good job with awesome pencils and panelling. Wakanda get destroyed which is monumental and amazing, by a power mad Namor who as Magneto states has "always been his own mutant". However he is defeated by all of the avengers and most notably the Scarlet Witch. This is where the storyline starts to get good, now that there is no question about who is good and bad the X men become classic villains. The main development in story is that as one of the Phoenix 5 die the others get stronger.

AvX 9
Hope continues to train, boring, battles go on again and again with the avengers on the losing side and the x men falling further and further into despair. However one of the best bits of art and writing comes in a double page spread in which Spiderman gets pummelled and beaten to ensure the Avengers escape. Whilst doing so Spiderman tempts the two phoenix powered mutants with the power they would have if they killed each other, so they do... It confuses me however that they both die, neither one is a victor... At the end of the issue Cyclops goes to K'un Lun to take back Hope, I don't really know why... or why the Phoenix 5 don't just bring mutants back but whatever thats only a massive plot hole. I think its this issue a third "no More" is said, No more avengers... I think most fans are now tired with the No More theme, No more mutants was epic but we are all just bored of the pun now.

AvX 10
WTF is with the stupid giant dragon?!? I mean really who came up with this!?! Not much needs to be said about this issue, along with the dragon Hope punches Cyclops to the moon again a big WTF stupid moment. Also how do you get to the moon from K'un Lun, wouldn't you have to go through some magic portal to Earth first? Again the X men get more evil surprise surprise. Oh and Charles Xavier gets involved (theme is coming).

AvX 11
The first issue of AvX I actually liked! The art goes back to Copiel who does a wicked job again, bringing the story to life with just maybe a little too much fire but oh well... Hulk is recruited, a little late, and the final attack on the Phoenix 2 begins, the mind fuck of Xavier mixed with all of the avengers attacking Cyclops is too much so he does the only sensible thing and doubles up his strength by defeating Emma. With his new power he kills the person who has lead his whole life, Charles Xavier

It is brilliant, hopefully he will stay dead, this was the best way for him to die and with his death will come the rebirth of his dream. Scott finally has all of the Phoenix's power and becomes the Dark Phoenix. Bad Ass!

AvX 12
The epic final issue begins with Scarlet Witch and Hope wining at each other and some mumbo jumbo about magic and technology not meshing but the final battle takes over pretty quickly and is damn brilliant when drawn by Kubert. Scott begins to destroy the planet in traditional Phoenix style and finally gets brought to Hope and the Scarlet Witch. In a final outburst of energy, whilst battling Hope and Scarlet Witch, Cyclops sees a red headed woman walking towards him as he mutters Jean, Hope steps forward with Scarlet Witch and finally defeats him. This is really cool but not as good as #19 of Uncanny X men which tells the battle more chillingly through Cyclops' eyes. In a second the Phoenix jumps into Hope who fixes everything in an Ex Machina kind of way and finally with Scarlet Witches help and the clearly necessary words "no more Phoenix" the phoenix force is banished forever... hopefully. Not only is everything ok again but Mutants are born! The rebirth of the mutant race has begun and Scott knows it, I believe Cyclops was right! The conversation between him and Cap is brilliant, he knows his actions but still believes he did the right thing. In Uncanny X men 19 the issue ends with him finding out about the new mutants and with his arms crossed and cuffed he holds his head high.

As a Cyclops fan I am actually pretty happy with this ending, it adds depth to his character and if he becomes some kind of villain he will beone of the best ever, the motivations behind what he did make a lot of sense (even if they jumped the gun a little) and they shake the MU up in a new and fun way.

To me Marvel NOW is what is happening because the .1's failed but still it looks pretty exciting.

Anyway as far as AvX is concerned I still think a lot of it was pretty poor, it could have been done in a better way over a longer period of time but I guess the conclusion was pretty nice. I leave you with two images to express my opinions of AvX

Basic outline for my Creative project realisation Zombie study

Basic outline for Zombie Study
Zombies are a big topic, there are a lot of films to cover and a lot of themes and areas to explore so I am going to split it into weeks. I have also recently found a few useful academic texts, firstly "Generation Zombie: Essays on the living dead in modern culture" Edited by Stephanie Boluk and Wylie Lenz which seems to offer a large number of interesting essays, secondly "Dead Man Still Walking: Explaining the Zombie Renaissance." by Kyle Bishop and finally for now "Back from the Dead" by Kevin J Wetmore Jr which is a look at remakes of the classic Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero) as reflections of their times.
Some of the area I wish to cover are:

The history and origins of Zombie films.
The horror of Zombies.
How much money zombie films earn in relation to other films of the year.
Zombie's as consumers
Zombie films as reflections of their time

I cant think of much more right now but I'm going to start with the origins and history of Zombie films very soon.

Iron man 3 trailer

Wow!

Really wow! I don't know what more there is to say! After the amazing Avengers movie and good Iron man sequel, number three looks awesome. It looks like Stark falls further than ever and that the Mandarin is a true mastermind battering him down. Looks like the Iron man franchise is getting even better! I Can Not wait!

Change of Topic (Creative project realisation)

I had decided to be studying time travel films  but had not quite decided the angle or any specific films I wanted to look at. In the last two weeks I have been trying really hard to get enthusiastic about the research I have been dong but honestly none of it has excited me.

I have therefore decided to change my research project to something that I am currently more interested in. And like they often do, Zombies have infected this piece of work and shall be the topic of my research!

I have studied Zombie films before but in a limited way. In the past I looked at the social commentary within George A Romero's Zombie trilogy (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead). This time I intend to cover a lot of ground from the development of zombie movies, to unique approaches, to the way different forms of media use zombies. I am much more excited about this work and will be reading lots of material soon!

The Walking Dead (Season 3)

The Walking Dead is back with blood, zombies and moping! The first four speechless minutes are awesome, they show the group working through an insane routine with the hitters of the group, now including Carl, securing a safe house for the rest of the party before realising the herd of zombies is still following.

Unfortunately that's one of the best bits about the first episode of season 3. After that the group get straight to the prison, the town and Tyreese are apparently only comic book features, where they continue the slow paced drama from the last series. Rick and Carl pissed with Lori, Hershal loving his kids, Maggie not wanting Glenn to risk himself ect. ect.

Michonne and Andrea have a slightly more interesting struggle on their hands, as Andrea struggles to overcome her illness Michonne tries to decide weather to leave her behind. Michonne herself is quite true to the comics and her zombies look ace!

The final excellent thing about the first ep of S3 was SPOILER Rick and his axe cutting off Hershal's leg in a long brutal chopping scene straight from the comics. Eww but WOW! Maybe the series will try and be as extreme as the comics.END OF SPOILER

So not a bad first episode, its pretty much in line with the rest of the series so if your a fan keep watching, its more of the same. If your not, I dont think this episode is good enough to sway you but hey at leas Shane is finally dead! YAY!
7/10

Dead Girl (2008 Marcel Sarmiento, Gadi Harel)

"She's just some dead girl"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896534/

Zombie in a new horrific and personal way, Deadgirl brings all the scares you would want in ways you wont expect. As always I recommend you watch this and then read my review as I can't help spoiling a few little things and for me part of the joy of this film was that it wasn't quite what I expected however I warn you there are some pretty sick ideas, not visually but still.... ick... an 18 for sure, you have been warned. In a time where Zombies are everywhere, from The Walking Dead to Pride Prejudice and Zombies, they are inescapable and in a kinda funny way like the zombies themselves are all pretty much mindless and formulaic each have interesting flares and a lot aren't bad but they don't do or say a lot, unlike classic zombie films (see Romero).

Deadgirl manages to break the monotony of Zombie formula by making the film about what a group of male teenagers would do with a zombie... a female... naked... zombie.... Pretty sick you were warned already! So the story itself isn't an outbreak story, and unless me and a quick google search are wrong, its one of the only  zombie films not set during or after or focusing on an Outbreak. Instead Deadgirl focus' on the human characters that are outcasts and "freaks" struggling with life in their own unique ways. Noah Segan (Brick, Looper) gives an amazing performance as the twisted ring leader of the crew JT who is a convincingly sick teenager, by convincingly sick I mean he does some really sick things but for some reason (although he starts a little extreme) you really expect it from him and see him fall down and down his depraved hole. It is amazing to see humans look so damn awful when stood next to zombies!

Although I believe JT to be the star and the most interesting of characters he is not the protagonist, as an audience we follow the more morally just Rickie, the bright side of the duo that is "JT and Rickie". However when the friends find a tied up naked zombie they both have different ideas on how it should be treated, before long more people get involved and it spirals and spirals. This is really the more boring part of the story, after the initial argument between JT and Rickie about what they should do with the "dead girl" who JT has already "killed three times" the more predictable narrative comes into play SPOILER and the rest of the film is just one extreme after another pushing Rickie to snap and fight against JT. Whilst in spoiler mode I like the end but think it should have been a little more ambiguous, maybe you just see him go through the door and don't see her but it was still a good ending.END OF SPOILER

As far as simple horror is concerned, I jumped more than once and the subject is horrific, as are many of the visuals but the majority of the story is more of a psychological and thrilling drama with heavy horror elements. I think that is better than horror without substance but thats just my opinion. Deadgirl is dark, scary, thrilling, uncomfortable and unique re-imagining of what a zombie film can be. As a zombie fan I rally enjoyed its take and I think if you can get over the necrophilia I have warned you of then its a really good watch.
8/10

Mark Millar on Fox's Marvel, Antman date

Mark Millar talks Fox's Marvel Movie continuityMark Millar has recently been hired to get Fox's Marvel movie franchise in order and whilst that is going to involve a lot of work Millar has already started talking about sequels and franchises to be remade and melded in the same way the Avengers has in an atttempt to save Fox's marvel movies. Anyway on crossing fox's movies over and doing remakes Millar said;
“Fox have said that they want to build a cohesive universe and I’d personally like this to work in complement to the Marvel one,” “It would be cool if these universes didn’t contradict each other so if you went to see Spidey, the Avengers, the X-Men, etc, as a viewer you would have no idea that all three are coming from different studios. I’d love to make it look like they’re all just happening in one place."

Although he was quick to mention that the universes have to establish themselves before crossovers begin.

Ant-Man 6 November 2015

Edgar Wright has finally set a date for Ant-Man and its November 6 2015, a few months after Avengers 2! does this make Ant-Man part of phase 3? Will Ant-Man appear in Avengers 2 then get a spin off? Who knows but Wright has easily enough time to finish The Worlds End before beginning Ant-Man and after rave reviews of the test footage at SDCC this year its one marvel movie not to miss! Like your gonna miss any!

A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012 Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell)

"What is your earliest memory?" "The orphanage on fire"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2006040/

A star vehicle for Simon Pegg if I ever saw one, I didn't expect it to be much but was pleasantly surprised! A crazy story of a paranoid writer who just wants to wash his clothes for his meeting, that would be easy if he wasn't afraid of the laundrette.

This really is a mental and quite stylised film that focuses %100 on the character Pegg portrays, who is neurotic as usual but for a change suffers from extreme paranoia. The use of voice over throughout is unfortunately needed but it would have been nice for there to be less of it, but it doesnt ruin the film, it merely offers an insight to the insanity. The visuals are pretty good throughout and make the viewer feel as claustrophobic as Pegg and often use slasher conventions for well deserved laughs. The whole style of the film is almost Gilliamesque (Terry Gilliam 12 Monkeys, Brazil)  in their insanity and comedy and it works really well to create the character at the heart of the film.

This dark comedy is funny and amusing and despite its appearance is definitely worth a watch!
7.5/10

Coulson Lives, SHIELD characters

Big news from NYCC from Clark Gregg himself, thats right Coulson appeared to announce that he would be reprising his roll as Coulson in the SHIELD tv series. Via vidio link Joss Whedon the mind behind the avengers movie (as if you didnt know) and one of the SHIELD masterminds said the following;

"We all love Clark Gregg, there's no doubt about that,""From before we made 'The Avengers,' we discussed whether there was a way for him to be a part of the Marvel Universe, perhaps a part of a TV show even after his death." "He's headlining the 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' show and always was,"

Excellent news to hear however he died... how did he come back? Is it set in a different universe? Is it set before the Avengers? Who knows although Gregg had these ideas of his own

"I just want to say because I won't have another chance to ask this -- 'Have you heard of a Life Model Decoy?'" Gregg asked rhetorically. "I don't know if you've read the theories from the people on Twitter, but there's this guy called the Vision. I don't know if you saw the UK version of the DVD, but the blade wasn't coming out of his chest. There's a tesseract!"

As far as SHIELD is going a few weeks ago we got this info about the rest of the characters:

Skye: This late-20s woman sounds like a dream: fun, smart, caring and confident – with an ability to get the upper hand by using her wit and charm.

Agent Grant Ward: Quite the physical specimen and “cool under fire,” he sometimes botches interpersonal relations. He’s a quiet one with a bit of a temper, but he’s the kind of guy that grows on you.

Agent Althea Rice: Also known as “The Calvary,” this hard-core soldier has crazy skills when it comes to weapons and being a pilot. But her experiences have left her very quiet and a little damaged.

Agent Leo Fitz and Agent Jemma Simmons: These two came through training together and still choose to spend most of their time in each other’s company. Their sibling-like relationship is reinforced by their shared nerd tendencies – she deals with biology and chemistry, he’s a whiz at the technical side of weaponry.

Sounds like an interesting bunch, shame we have to wait to see them properly. A fanboy like myself has to wonder how many characters will be Whedon alumni!

Arrow (2012 s1e1)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2193021/

The latest for DC on television is Arrow, independent from any previous tv appearances Oliver Queen the Green Arrow makes his way back into the world from a shipwrecked island to wreak havoc on the city full he once loved targeting those who cheat and steal like his father once did.

The adverts for this looked a little dodgy and more than a little cheesy but somehow the show managed not to be, it reminded me of the later series of Smallville and a little of The Cape. The series seems to have set up  a pretty simple episodical structure with Queen taking down one corrupt baddie from his fathers notepad per episode. It might get a little old but its a good place for the series to start. His costume looks pretty cool and all in all the style of the show is to be as real as possible so the suit fits that purpose.

SPOILER The reveal of the mum at the end was a little soon for me, it would have been nice if it showed the evil stepdad as evil first if that makes any sense, now they have taken the twist out of the whole first series. Or at least they need a new twist to keep it interesting. END OF SPOILER

Not sure exactly where this is going to develop but its not a bad watch so far. Fairly mediocre in general but if you want a bit of superhero tv its the only thing out there at the moment so give it a watch.
7/10

The Worlds End Poster and Release date, Thor 2 plot

The Worlds End October 25 2013

The third part in the blood and ice cream trilogy, the sequel to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World's End directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The date is set, unfortunately over a year away but the poster is a good start and along with the support cast of Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan its got to be good. If by any chance you have forgotten the plot here it is: 

20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hell bent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their home town and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub, The World's End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching The World's End is the least of their worries.

Its going to be good, I'm really excited already!!!

Thor 2 Plot

“Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

So not a lot of new info at all, we already knew about the dark elf world and Malekith but it is at least nice for it to be confirmed and hyped up.

Time Travel Movie Idea

I have literally only just had this idea so its a little undeveloped but here is a new film idea.

"My name is Andrew Barnett, I am 36 and I am about to jump back in time. However time is mutli dimensional and if I just jump back I will forget everything and live out my life in exactly the same way. So I don't just jump back, I jump into an alternate timeline back to when I'm 15 push out the young me and take over, living my life all over again. I have lived my life 12 times now and I'm about to start all over again."

There needs to be a character who he tells every time, this character sends him back if he is ever in some kind of accident. I imagined a conversation something like "I want to go see the new Batman film" "Don't, you dont like it... and dont just go and see it to prove me wrong because I know you don't like it and you'll only be lying to yourself." "I hate it when you do that"

I the story of the film will have something to do with the origin of his ability. After a quick think I reckon he should have some sort of implant that lets him do this time travel when interacting with a machine. The story centres around a jump into another timeline where the version of him didn't get the experimental implant and can't jump. The character is then faced with his death after hundreds of years of life, he can freak out and attempt to get the research ultimately wasting the last life he has. I imagine some character or other saying its karma for him not doing anything good with his lives.

All sounds like fun ideas, I don't know what I will use the ideas for but thats it at the the moment.

Uncanny Avengers #1 (2012 Remender, Cassaday)

"Easy to show up and criticize after the battle. Someone had to set things right."
http://marvel.com/comic_books/issue/43339/uncanny_avengers_2012_1

For anyone who doesn't know I must say I am a little biased in the marvel u at the moment, I am a big X men fan and a bigger Scott Summers fan so I am a little annoyed with AvX.

I'm not a big fan of the first cover, there are over 17 variants which is silly but this one in particular is Cassaday's own art and it isnt great. The cap and Wolverine are fine and look like Cassaday's usual work. The others on the other hand.... I have never liked that costume for havok, I think its a bad decision to put him in it, he would have been better off in his outfit from the 2007 period when drawn by Larroca. Scarlet Witch, Thor and Rogue all just look wrong, I'm not sure if its the dimensions or the poses but they don't look right. Finally this is an incredibly boring cover, it looks more like a promotional picture than a fantastic first issue. Fortunately the inside art is a lot better.

Simple panelling but thats quite a nice choice stylistically, and in general the art is similar to Cassaday's work on Astonishing X Men, bright classic comic book art, always nice to see and easy to read and appreciate.

As for the story, this is the first issue and it follows the basic kind of recruitment feel that many first issues do, along with Charles' funeral and a few little fights the issue flies past without much story developing so we are going to have to wait another four weeks to see what is in store for the uncanny avenengers.

SPOILER What we did establish was Alex isnt happy with Scott, big surprise, I am personally waiting for someone typically goody to tell Scott he was right, that would be nice. We also learned that Rogue blames Wanda for the whole throw down which is fair enough... she did cause it 7 years ago. Finally the first villain has been lined up, Red Skull with the brain of Charles Xavier!!! A really typical comic book villain idea that mixes the two universes that are steadily becoming one. END OF SPOILER

It seems like all the characters are pretty much back to normal, although we didn't get much info about the team itself and there wasn't much going on #1 of uncanny avengers is a good start and a good read nothing epic, I think the Marvel U needs a break from epic, but its worth checking out!
7.5/10

MJ in spidey 2, David Fincher producing Halo trailer,

Mary Jane in Amazing Spiderman 2
Decedants star Shailene Woodley has been offered the roll of Mary Jane alongside the returning Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker. It has also been roumered that Electo and Harry Osborn are being cast, so maybe a storyline similar to blue? Who knows but its good to see the cast growing. Fingers crossed for Gwens death :D

David Fincher's Halo 4 Trailer
It sounds as though David Fincher director of Fight Club, Seven and recently Girl With a Dragon Tatoo is turning his talents to the upcoming trailer for Halo 4. With Forward Unto Dawn already epic and food brands talking about doing halo themed packs it looks like this could be hyped up to the biggest game release of the year! Fingers crossed as it looks AWESOME!!!

Let the research begin! Creative project realisation

We have finally begun Creative Project Realisation, I wasn't sure exactly what it would entail but today we got a full rundown of the course and the briefs we would have to complete. What exactly are we doing? We begin by researching a topic or theme that we are personally interested in with the aim to become a complete expert. Whilst doing this in our spare time we will also be doing group projects that will teach us the basics of almost every roll of production, from the physical filming side that we have experience in, to the after effects I know nothing about. This will give us the knowledge we need when at the end of the semester we write a short film informed by the teaching and do a 5 minute presentation on how we would get our short film through production. Sounds fun right? Yeah... the only question is, what should I research???

So at the moment I'm thinking Time Travel! I have done studies on Science Fiction before but thats one big genre, now I am thinking specifically about time travel, there is a vast wealth of material on Time travel including film, television, books, art, plays and even philosophy. So there are a lot of things based on or about time travel, thats one reason for doing it, another is my personal interest, its a wicked subject, confusing and mind boggling for sure but how different forms of media tackle the complications of time travel is just one of many interesting discussions about time travel I wish to consider and study with the aim of creating something unique and interesting at the end of the study.

Our group project has already begun, with the study being pre prepared as the Uncanny which nicely links into studies I have done before on Freud, Todorov and Horror so I think I know what roughly is being asked of us... In our 5 person group we have each come up with a short story within the parameters set (gushing blood, fire and the uncanny) and are meeting up next week to discuss who's idea to go with. My idea is that a scientist creates a clone who comes to life to kill and replace his creator, stabbing the scientiist in the throat the clone assumes control and completely removes his creators existence by burning his body to a crisp. Im not sure who's idea we will go with but mine fits all the parameters so its a possibility for sure.

All there is to do now is start researching!

(Image from http://i2.cdnds.net/12/15/618x330/movies_10_classic_time_travel_films_7.jpg The Terminator 1984 James Cameron)

Slither (2006 James Gunn)

"My easy-going nature is gettin' sorely fuckin' tested."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439815/

James Gunn's Slither is a monster movie from space written with wit and humour parodying the classic monster body horror movies of the 80's which were often themselves parodies of horrors from the 60's and 70's. Its funny, bloody and light-hearted providing big laughs and little ironic giggles whilst using typical characters and a typical story that is brought to life by Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillion.

Slither, once you know exactly what it is, is comedy to its core, the redneck little town turned into zombie style apocalypse looks pretty normal and trashy but has to be seen with parody in mind, once that is achieved you will enjoy it, trust me. If you give it a watch, you wont be disappointed  Fillion  is hilarious and the whole script is full of witty lines that are easy to enjoy even without the knowledge of classic horror conventions. 

I watched this as research on the soon to be Guardians of the Galaxy director, after seeing both this and Super I am confident in Gunn despite his lack of conventional productions. Anyway give Slither a watch, there is a good laugh to be had by all!

8/10

Prometheus X Blade Runner, Robocop images

Prometheus special feature links to Blade Runner

Some people loved and some people despised the Alien prequel prequel thing that was Prometheus, with its success warranting its sequel Paradise. The special features on the blu ray have been released and this specific one is somewhat eye catching... It links the universe of Blade Runner and Alien, the diary transcript, or whatever it is, tells the story of how Weyland was mentored by another android creator.  The details are clearly referencing Blade Runner and the Tyrell corporation. This links the two universes, who knows of this is just a little nod for fan boys or if its more of a hint to what the planned Blade Runner Sequel will be. Ridley has always said he believes the Blade Runner world could be what the Nostromo left behind in the first Alien film, maybe we will see those ideas come to fruition... or maybe it is just for fanboys.

Robocop Images

..... Does it look good? I really cant decide, I think I might have to wait until we see official images of the costume, all cg'd and properly lit rather than crappy snaps from the set. Fingers crossed it will be ok but who knows. The official banner looks much sleeker, cooler and shinier, hopefully that is an indication of how it will look properly on screen.

the beginning of doc level 5

Level 5 Documentary has begun we have received our briefs and are beginning work already! In this weeks lesson we began by trying to define documentary, a task which we learned is not as easy as it sounds. It may have something to do with content, contributors or theme among other things.

Documentary is most easily defined as "a representation of the world we already occupy"(1) which is extremely broad but works for almost all documentaries. It definitely covered the Doc's we watched in class, the first was Touching the Void (2003 Kevin Macdonald) a film about two climbers who get lost. The thing that stands out about this doc, or this kind of doc, is that it is representing something from the past, it therefore uses recreations to show what it was like. Although voice over is provided by the climber, the recreation uses a large amount of drama techniques such as lighting, sets, actors and music. These elements are used to dramatise and represent what happened to the climber but are obviously an extreme representation of what happened. This dramatisation brings the status of documentary into question, the technique is often used and widely accepted despite its dramatic elements, it shows that doc doesn't have to be fact or actual footage.

We then watched Grizzly Man (2005 Werner Herzog) a film about Timothy Treadwell, this is a very personal documentary about Timothy who lived with grizzly bears in the wild, protecting and loving them. He used his camera as a tool to document his life and to be his friend, his diary and his companion. The clip we watched showed Timothy at a deeper level, it showed how he bared his soul to the camera on some occasions and on others he took repeated takes of introductions to insure he had the appropriate stock footage and had good takes of every shot. This shows both the truthfulness of doc's through Timothy's raw emotion as well as the lies and retakes used in the editing process of docs.

The Alcohol Years (2000 Carol Morley) was another of the conventional docs we watched, however we only saw the intro. This consisted of peoples opinions of the director Carol Morley's life in the 80's of which Carol was so drunk she knows little of herself. This was clearly another different style of doc, it showed opinion, a completely subjective look at the subject through the eyes of people that both liked and disliked her. It was an interesting way of looking at someone however a whole hour long doc would have gotten a little boring as each persons statement was intercut with others and the pace of the film was tiring.

Finally we watched a clip from Man with a Movie Camera (1929 Dziga Vertov) which is almost as clear a documentary as one can be. It uses absolutely no elements of drama or ant retakes, it is simply shots of the Russian public. Its not particularly interesting but it is a fairly accurate representation. However some would argue, Bazin particularly that as soon as we cut and edit we are no longer telling the truth or being real, every cut is a lie.

We also looked briefly at the history of documentary, of Nanook of the North (1922 Robert Flaherty) and Greerson's "post office" movement in the 30's in Britain, of Humphrey Jennings and the mass observation group. However the biggest leap in doc's came during the 60's, with the development of 16mil cameras and portable sound systems four different types of doc's developed, Direct Cinema (USA), the UK Free movement, Candid eye (Canada) and France's Cinema Verite.

Finally we looked briefly at types of doc, Poetic, Expository, Observational, Particapatory, Reflexive and Performative. After forming groups to do our poetic 2 min and final 5-10 min docs our lesson ended. I don't yet have any ideas but am meeting with the group soon to talk over anything we come up with in the next few days. I believe it may be best to address an issue rather than look specifically at a person or type of person, I feel this way because I have previously done Doc's about specific people and would like to do something new, we would also be less restricted if doing a doc about am issue than we would if we were doing it on a specific group, person or place.

Over the next week I will be finishing the section of "Introduction to Documentary" by Bill Nichols which has some interesting theories and basics about understanding the documentary form.

Bibliography
1. Nichols Bill, Introduction to Documentary, (Indiana University Press, 2001) p20

Forward Unto Dawn (Part 1 2012 Stewart Hendler)

"Axios"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2262308/

Halo 4 Follow Unto Dawn is a unique web series consisting of 5 20 minute episodes leading up to the release of Halo 4. All halo fanboys have been waiting a long time for a large halo project following the production of many Halo live action shorts to support the release of previous games and finally, finally the fans wishes have been answered! Was Forward Unto Dawn worth the wait? Has it lived up to the hopes and dreams of fanboys? So far yes! Hell Yes!

And there it is... A smooth looking awesome realisation of the Halo Universe, set in 2525 the biggest problem the UNSC face are not covenant but "innies", rebels fighting against the government, will this continue? Probably not, 2525 is a big year for Halo, a lot of things start to happen in 2525 and in the next few years so I expect the action to explode soon! So far all we have seen is the training of Thomas Laskey a cadet from an esteemed but deranged family who doesn't quite believe the insurectionists are as evil as they seem. Not a perfect cadet, suffering from cryo burns and constantly disobeying orders Laskey is at a low point, but he is not wrong, he possesses a tactical mind greater than those of his team mates, we as an audience wait to see him tactically flourish and surpass his squad mates.

I personally can't wait to see more, the covenant need to feature soon, the series is only 4 more episodes, whilst I really like the training and the characters I wanna see the war! So far the visuals have been awesome, everything has been spot on perfect. The skylines, the architecture and the equipment look awesome, I wish I had been a UNSC cadet, it looks so damn cool.

An awesome start to a series that I am sure will make a lot of people happy. Hopefully it will get enough views to persuade machinama to do more either with Laskey or with another group of interesting characters. Give it a watch whether you like Halo or not its a good watch. Roll on part two! Axios!

9/10

Wachowski's and Straczynski tv series, Iron man set pics

Wachowski's and Straczynski tv pilot Sens8
The "Wachowski Starship" and Straczynski are currently throwing around a pilot titled Sens8... Nobody knows what it is but with the trio all coming from an Sf background I can make a pretty safe guess at the genre! With the Wachowski's working on Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending (which they have written and may direct) I cant imagine they will work on Sens8 much but who knows, its one to keep your eyes out for for sure.

Iron Patriot and Bleeding Edge armour Set pics for Iron Man 3

Here we see Tony sporting the Bleeding Edge armour (thats its title in the comics) and Rhodey in the Iron Patriot armour... interesting... and wicked cool!

Looper (Rian Johnson 2012)

"Ask yourself: who would I sacrifice for what's MINE? "
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276104/

Wow! Another hit for Rian Johnson, Looper is a smart, exciting and enjoyable film full of interesting characters, themes, stories and awesome visuals. Set in 2044, Joe (Gordon-Levitt) is a looper, an assasin that kills people sent back from the future to be assassinated  When he is sent back himself (Willis) things get a little complicated and that is all I am willing to tell you... not because I'm lazy but because part of the enjoyment of this film is the uncovering of the complex story and the uncovering of the world the film takes place in.

For me the setting is one of the best things about the film, the futuristic slums are close to our own world but have obvious and subtle alterations that stem from awesome SF ideas. The time travel is a little confusing but is easy enough to follow and the way the time travel and memories are used is an amazing idea. Looper is full of amazing ideas, its the kind of film that is so interesting you wouldn't mind watching 10 films just set in that universe! The action scenes are well shot and fun however for me Bruce Willis' scenes are a little poor. The story that unravels is so brilliant, you would never expect it and always want it, truly a masterpiece, GO SEE LOOPER!!!
9.9!