The War of the Worlds (1898 H.G. Wells)

"By three, people were being trampled and crushed even in Bishopsgate Street a couple of hundred yards or more from Liverpool Street Station; revolvers were fired, people stabbed, and the policemen who had been sent to direct the traffic, exhausted and infuriated, were breaking the heads of the people they were called out to protect."

I'm a big fan of the musical War of the Worlds by Jeff Wayne and WotW has been on my reading list for a long time and finally, Finally! I have gotten round to reading it. Written in 1898 Wells' language is pretty typically Victorian making it a little tricky to read for modern audiences. If you do persevere it is well worth it for the intelligent Sf and excellent themes and insight. 

There are three really brilliant things about this self reflective novel; the attacks on the media, the intelligence of the science and the amazement and captivation by such horrifying and unknown creatures. Throughout the novel it is shown that the media both use the aliens to sell their papers and misinform because of lack of knowledge. There are many amazing ideas in the book including the way the aliens bodies look because of the difference in gravity, this is just one example, the many innovative intelligent ideas are some of the best I have read because of their logical foundations. Finally the narrator's constant captivation by the Martians, his still fear and emotional states are really amazing, you feel like you are in his head. The two things that contrasts this feeling are the self reflective style and the sheer number of other peoples stories that are told by the narrators single voice. This is one of the reasons the book has not had a decent film adaptation, because its many peoples stories told by one person through a retrospective narrative that is difficult to translate into film. 

I really enjoyed the book despite the "hither and thither"s and such other victorian language that I usually find hard work. Its well worth a read and is a slightly different story to the musical I have yet to hear the radio drama but am looking forward to it. It has amazing ideas well translated and mixed with strong emotional turmoil. Sf's fans should read it for sure!

7.5/10

Alternate Avengers Opening, Metal Gear Solid the Movie

Avengers Assemble Alternate Opening

I had heard in an interview that this was the original narrative, a frame to make the audience question the success of the avengers. Some people have labelled it as depressing and dark and it is to an extent, more interestingly it hints to the arc that could be included in A2 and makes the weird shadowed figures and Maria Hill more important to the series. I like it as a deleted scene but understand why it was taken out, the opening they did use got the audience straight into the action before the fairly long "recruiting" section of the film. This may have made the film a slightly different animal, it will be interesting to see if any other deleted scenes follow this story or if A2 and 3 are effected.

Metal Gear Solid, the movie

Shortly after the news of Assasins Creed being developed into a film by Ubisoft Avi Arad announces that he is producing a MGS film with Fox! His statement mentioned his role in bringing comic books into movies and the producing machine said that video games are the comics of today... that doesnt make much sense but basically means hes going to be playing with lots of money to get another new genre into the market. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not, video games dont have a good history in film but MGS has a pretty good story and depending on writer and director it could be a treat. On the other hand it could end up looking like a cheap MI knock off, the main trick will be to convert the unique stealth gameplay into a film without just making an average spy film.
What do you think? 
Do you like the Avengers Deleted Scene?
Will it MGS the film work?
Comment on FB Twitter or blogger!

MARVEL! SHIELD TV SERIES

S.H.I.E.L.D Series announced for ABC

A pilot has been pitched to Disney owned ABC for a SHIELD series produced and run by the husband and wife Dollhouse duo Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon of course stated when discussing the series that he would write and direct the pilot and show up from time to time. 

My mind is literally RACING with ideas of where this could go, there is so little info about it as it has only just been announced. The only thing that has been said about it is that it would be autonomous from the avengers sequel and not a spin off. It might just be my understanding of those two terms but to me that means it will not be in the same universe or at least not the same universe as Avengers 2. Whether this will be the case or whether it will change I don't know but I would personally hope someone forces it to be tied to A1 and 2 as that could bring about some amazing stuff. Anyway GOOD NEWS!!!!

Breakfast Club (1985 John Hughes)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088847/
"You ask me one more question and I'm beating the shit out of you."

This film is a classic for sure, its funny, smart, well acted and most of all its got heart. Maybe its a little preachy or over the top but thats the point! It doesn't take a genius to see that this film is telling all college and school students that no matter how extreme a stereotype you are you can make friends, specially if you have a common enemy.

The plot is simple, five kids of different backgrounds get slammed into detention together on a saturday morning. They start the day hating each other, the Jock, Sporto, Beauty Queen, Psycho and Criminal do not get along, in any way. Throughout the day they befriend one another and by the end of the day they are all friends... ok it sounds cheesy but somehow it does it without too much cheese.

With a cast full of soon to be big names the film is full of amazing performances particularly from Judd Nelson who plays the comedic criminal with an abusive family. Whilst all of the characters are extreme stereotypes that only emphasis the point, even the most stereotypical of people can eventually put their differences aside. I really like this film, the humour is perfectly balanced with the drama and it makes for an amazing watch!
RIP John Hughes
8/10

Forbidden Planet (1956 Fred M. Wilcox)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049223/
"Another one of them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin'. Nothin' to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans."

A simple smart scifi from a time without much understanding of space, computers or CG Forbidden Planet is an instant classic that still has the ability to entertain and charm a modern audience. 

It comically boasts to a modern colour and cinema scope but whilst the visuals largely still stand up as realistic (or at least not bad) it is the simplicity and intelligence of the story that grabs the average viewer. For me personally this film is almost perfect, it fits into a category I really love "old SF". I love this kind of film and book, I love reading something that was written long ago enough that I consider it to be long past that melds that past with a piece of technology or with concepts that still belong to the far future. This melding of past and future, although unintentional, endears it to me as a viewer and gives the film its charming quality. However I should review the film not my personal love of SF!

In the film soldiers travel through space to the planet Altair 4 in the footsteps of a ship, the Bellerophon (a greek chimera god in myth, also the name of a planet in firefly) sent years ago to colonise the planet. The planet is not colonised when they arrive, they are greeted by a robot and taken to the last surviving member of the beleophon Dr Morbius who warned them on radio not to come. Dr Morbius informs them that the rest of the crew were killed by an unknown planetary force and that he and his daughter have lived happily since and the crew can leave. SPOILER When the crew refuse to leave the ship starts getting attacked by an invisible creature, the captain of the ship falls in love with Dr Morbius' daughter and goes to confront Morbius and take Altaira back to earth. He and the ships Dr find Morbius in a Krell room, his study, Morbius tells the story of the Krell, a race millions of years ahead of humans that died in a single night after creating a machine that would end the need for physical instruments. When the Doctor decides to use a Krell machine to boost his brain power he discovers the creature is Dr. Morbius' id working through the Krell machine, the machine that killed all Krell in one night. The doctor dies as Altaira and the captain escape in the ship, Dr Morbius sacrifices himself to save his daughter. END OF SPOILER

Well thats the synopsis pretty much :s One of the most amazing things about this film is that it was made before computers, before space travel and before most popular SF! The contraptions they come up with in lack of computer screens and actual tech is refreshing and opens the film up to some cool unique visuals. The characters are all fairly simple, the drunk cook and flirty soldier add amusing comedy, the captain and Altaira's love story is simple but romantic and Morbius is a well designed villain. A pretty basic rewrite of The Tempest Forbidden Planet is a masterpiece in its own right, its fun light and entertaining. To present day audiences it shows a glimpse of the world before CG and computers (even though its set after CG and Computers) and teaches an audience a good story well written is all you really need. One of my favourite films for sure, it just makes me smile! Watch it, you wont be disappointed!

9/10

"Assembling the Ultimate Team" Avengers Assemble Doc

Its not ling now until Avengers Assemble comes out on Dvd and BluRay, and with the jam packed special feature edition BluRay comes a 90 minute doc about the cast and crew.

That is one of the clips of the doc which looks to shed some light and be a nice little insight into the film making world that brought us the avengers. I am looking forward to seeing this but hope it comes out on DVD and Bluray not just the Bluray edition!

Larp. Larping Around, Dara O'briain's Tough gig

I am a LARPer, I'm not ashamed of it, its good fun. The publicity around larp isn't all that big and most people don't know much about it so this is a little attempt to illuminate a few people with a few video's. It is the big CP event tomorrow I hope everyone has fun, wish i was there!

Firstly Larping around. This 10min doc is a good piece of work showing the LARP that I attend. Although it focuses largely on kit it shows a few peoples perspectives and is a fair representation of the kit side of LARP. It also includes some good battle scenes and is a generally nice little piece.

In a field of really POOR diy docs about LARP this one stands out as a professional looking infommercial style doc that gives a good insight and good images of the LARP community. This is for sure the best LARPdoc I have seen! But my work will be up there competing sometime!

Another goodish representation of LARP is in Dara Obriain's Tough gig in which Dara, the funny guy that he is, takes the challenge to do a gig in front of and about Larpers. So here it is

I think maybe he is a little harsh at times but it does pretty fairly show what goes on at LARP. You get a war, you get attacks on your camps and you get some people that think the while LARP is for and about them and their character is the most important thing in the world.... they can be annoying, some people do get too into it but they are easy to ignore. I liked the stand up and although this isn't the exact larp group I go to it shows how much fun it can be!

Well thats a little look into the world of Larp, I would really like to do some personal work surrounding larp either fiction or non fiction but I have a lot of project on at the moment so that will be something for the future. Its not something everyone will enjoy, some people just wouldn't get it but its like that for every hobby. Give it a try if you want, if not don't but at least try and understand it and understand why we do it! Well thats my little little attempt at spreading understanding over for now.... :)

Chain Reaction (BBC4) Minchin, Brown, Moran

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lv7ys

I don't do a lot of Radio but I saw that Derren Brown and Tim Minchin were the interviewer and interviewee  on Chain Reaction this week. If you are unfamiliar with the show the interviewee of one show then becomes the interviewer and picks out a person to interview.

There is only one day of the Tim Minchin Derren Brown interview left so I will quickly review it. It covers Britishness and Aussieness in Tim and Derren's eyes in a comical way but seriously delves into creative processes, Tims past, life, work and Beliefs. The analytical look at Tim's make up of comedy is really interesting, the way he talks about the tension between his form and content creating comedy. I like the discussion about the way messages come across in Tim's work, the way he carefully looks at beliefs is really important and enlightening. Its a tricky thing to review but basically it is really interesting, both of them are really intelligent guys and it makes a really good discussion about comedy, beliefs, ego and quite largely atheism. Anyway WATCH IT WHILST YOU CAN

I then watched the Tim Minchin Caitlin Moran interview, this is largely about feminism and Caitlin's life. Whislt I had never heard of the columnist Caitlin Moran I did really enjoy the interview and liked listening to the views and beliefs of Caitlin and agreed with quite a lot. The only two interviews I have listened to I have really enjoyed, they have been intelligent and enlightening. I think, this is the main feeling and aim of the show and will continue to watch them and implore you to too!

The Wild Hunt (2009 Alexandre Franchi)

"Why are my sons dreams filled with sorrow"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1493886/

I watched this last week in a craving for something LARP related, it's an interesting indie horror with some comical but interesting characters and a slightly warped and unfair representation of LARP.

If your not familiar with the concept of Live Action RolePlay, it is an activity in which you get dressed up in fantasy apparel and play a character you make up in a fantasy world of magic and swords. It is wicked fun and fighting criminals and monsters gives you an amazing adrenalin rush giving normal people a chance to feel like a hero. My only big problem with the film is its misrepresentation of larp. Whilst it manages to show how in depth, fun, immersive and interesting it can be the horror aspect of the film uses this to create a good but unfair thrill for the audience. The Larping community is horribly misrepresented, whilst it is an obvious extreme that would never happen the public opinion of the hobby is fairly low and this representation is something that uses fear of the unknown and creates fear for an unknown. As a LARPer I implore you, if you watch this film remember like most horrors it is exaggerating something innocent to scare an audience, Larp is good friendly fun!

The plot is based around Eric, Bjorn who is Eric's brother and Lyn Eric's boyfriend. When Lyn and Eric fall out she joins Bjorn in the world of LARP to escape and get some time away. Eric decides to leave his disabled father for a day to look for Lyn and bring her home, an anti-Larper its fair to say Eric doesn't fit in but with the help of a ref in the game he finds Lyn or Princess Evlynia as she is known in LARP. He cannot win her back from the hands of the LARPers who have (in game) kidnapped her, and so with the help of his brother, a Viking leader, sets to win her back ingame to win her love out of game. SPOILER The rest of the plot is pretty basic, they win her back, it ruins the game of LARP as the Ref's were not notified and the main antagonists stop playing. This is a low point in the film, these people wanted an escape and some fun and an outsider has ruined their war. One of the antagonists is particularly twisted however and kidnaps the princess yet again, this time for real. What follows is a slaughter by the antagonists, in a typical horror twist the game turns ugly and the antagonists crush the rest of the players and brutally murder Eric. Lyn, scarred by the beating and murder of her boyfriend jumps off a waterfall to her death. One of my favourite bit of the film is its end so BIG spoiler alert! Bjorn who throughout the film has used a prop Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor and prayed to Viking gods and been a really good in character player, returns home to look after his father. Accused of running away from his duties a his brother who died in his arms he vows not to fight any longer, not to fight in Ragnarok, not to be part of the war or the stories any more. The film ends with an amazingly brutal scene, the main antagonist is sat in a hut in Canada and goes outside to pick up his paper, when he steps back in Bjorn crushes his spine with Mjolnir and follows the crawling man killing him with a blow to the head. He leaves through the back door he came through, I imagine pleased with the justice in his actions. END OF SPOILER

Now on to the actual review! I assume the majority of the fairly low budget for this film went into the sets and lighting of the LARP scenes that take up the majority of the film. I say this because the other scenes in the film set in the family home are of quite a poor quality, it is possible that the overexposure in these scenes is accidental and a lighting problem. On the other hand I believe that the over exposure is a stylistic choice, they make the scenes look unreal and distort the vision of the audience. In contrast the LARP scenes are filmed normally making them seem to the audience more normal, this reflects the experience of Lyn and Bjorn who use LARP as escapism and in the case of Bjorn see it as a better, clearer world of right and wrong which gets distorted throughout the film. This smart little insight improves the film and elevates it above the "just a horror" category and into a slightly more intelligent film. I enjoyed the moments of comedy in the film and the LARP was strongly believable until it turns dark.

A decent horror, I think it uses LARP to take an analytical look at right and wrong in more simpler times compared to now, a comparison that is personified in Bjorn and Eric. I enjoyed the film however I did feel as a larper a little bit like I was being made fun of. I remembered however it was exaggerating for effect and got over myself enough to enjoy the film. Once the theme of right and wrong came apparent I enjoyed the film even more! Its worth a watch for horror fans Larper and non Larper alike.
7/10

Seven Psychopaths, Avengers Deleted scene

Seven Psychopaths character posters.
The 7 Psychopaths character posters have been revealed, each is titled with "the one who...." the amusing titles give hints to their characters and again Im looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.
See the posters here http://www.cinemablend.com/new/All-Seven-Character-Posters-Seven-Psychopaths-32560.html

Avengers Deleted Scene
I can sum my opinions on this up by saying it offers a good insight into banner and a good point on people however it is good that it was deleted as it makes his arrival in the film more spontaneous. I really want to see the 3 1/2 hour version of the film, cant wait!

Tony Scott, Guardians of the Galaxy

Tony Scott dies after jumping from a bridge.
It was reported yesterday that Tony Scott jumped from a bridge to his death after being diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer but this has not been confirmed. Its a shame to think we wont see any more of his high concept action thrillers in the cinema, it is a tragic loss for the film industry and his friends and family. I feel the need...

Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn?
James Gunn is first in line for Marvel's upcoming galactic blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy, he may seem an odd choice as he has had little blockbuster directorial success. He has however directed Super, an indie comedy about a superhero, it could be that its this cult indie director that marvel is specifically looking for, with Whedon doing the company brilliant things it wouldn't be surprising if they were looking for more indie talent to spread across the big screen. Anyway Super is a pretty good film and Gunn's comedy is something the GotG film would credit from for sure.

Ghost Rider Spirits of Vengeance (2011 Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor)

"Your the Devils baby momma"

I am usually as positive as possible and will be throughout this review, to put that in perspective whilst I was watching the film I was practically foaming at the mouth. This film is bad, there is no kind way to put it, I can maybe just name 3 things I liked; Idris Elba, Anthony Head and Blackout, (although he wasn't as good as he could have been) this means the rest of my review has to be what was wrong with the film, might be a long review!

It actually started promisingly, some cool looking monks, Elba being cool, big fights and an average car chase, my hopes were up, maybe the reviews were too harsh... then I heard Cage's voice and it all went down hill from there. The comicbook sketchy recap of the first film was awful, it made a mockery of the character and just looked bad, the only redeeming part was the black and white flashback to "the deal". The rest of the film is laid out in the next scene as Moreau (Elba) sums explains the whole backstory of every character and lays Blaze's mission out for him whilst antagonising Blaze for no reason. It was just cheesy simple exposition. 

So far in the film Cage has lived up to his standard as Blaze and is still ruining the series, there was still hope however for ghost rider himself until the next scene. The devils child is at risk of capture however through a psychic link with Danny (the devils child, not danny ketch the actual ghost rider character, so why use his name? I dont know) GR can find and save him. Upon his arrival GR charges a gun with helfire and begins to pick off the attackers, one quick thinking thug drives at GR with a car and momentarily disables him until GR smashed through the window and ends the thugs fight.... no he doesn't thats a lie.... it would have been better than what GR did do, he showed up and growled, that right he stood in the middle of a group of typical thugs for hire and growled at them, after a lacklustre battle GR gets pasted by grenade launchers and the thugs escape with the boy.

Blaze teams up with "the devils baby momma" to find Danny, who has fortunately been kidnapped by her ex, they go to a former associate of the head kidnapper and the film hits a new low... a new low for films in general. Blaze's interrogation of the thug isn't comical bad, its not scary its not unhinged or enlightening its one of the worst scenes I have seen in my life. Part of the concept was cool, manic laughter to make Blaze look mental, it didn't work, when Cage is playing Blaze nothing works! He doesn't look scary crazy he looks stupid, he threatens to "eat his stinking soul" if he doesn't talk, not only that but his whole speech it full of cliche and shit "this thing has no reason or conscience, only hunger", "I am the only thing between you and him" are two examples of said shit. Then the visuals take a turn from mediocre to worse as half of Blaze's face starts to turn into the GR in a piece of CG stupidity. It then Robyn neither of us had any idea what country they are in! Not important but still wtf!?!

At the next fight for Danny, who is in the first place they look, the odd sound of GR arriving that might be a techno remix of a lion, sounds and fight begins. The action to note would be a flash bang grenade that apparently causes GR to float and spin around. GR wins this battle by getting in some sort of crane with a spinning blade that looks like a robot wars contenders wet dream. With the preset beliefe from the clearly amazing first film every vehicle GR gets in is charged and so a scene with a giant flaming spinning blade being controlled by the GR actually unfortunately does exist, clearly it shouldn't. Also mentionable in this scene is GR being shot in the face and then throwing up burning bullets, another poor attempt at a cool new trick. If he is going to charge things with hellfire they could at least take some inspiration from  the comics and make it shotgun shells!

Danny is saved, hurrah and after one day of moterbike riding, fire pissing, water glugging day of travel with the baby momma and Moreau they arrive at the home of the mental random monks who can protect Danny. At the scene of the last ridiculous battle the Devil is reviving the main thug (I cba to learn the names of these lack lustre characters) and turning him into a bastardisation of a decent character in the comics Blackout. In the comics this character can blackout lights around him creating darkness, this sent him mental and he gave himself prosthetic fangs and believes he is a vampire, this leads him to rip out the throat of Danny Ketch the second incarnation of GR. In this film he has the ability to decay things, unless they are wrapped in plastic like his twinkie. The only good thing about the character is his white hair and his ability when fighting people to make the surroundings dark much like the comic book character. This leads to one of the few good visuals in the film. When they have arrived at the monks house they split up, Danny for some reason has become extremely attached to Blaze after their single day of travel, but Blaze has to go with Moreau to get the curse lifted. Which he does, easily, by talking about the one thing that is hardest for him to talk about, his father. His father who he opens up about instantly, he then has to go into a white room with lots of doors in which he turns into ghost rider and throws up lots of chains and its gone, the curse is lifted. Unfortunately the Blackout style character knows where they are and is on his way, it turns out to be a good thing as he interrupts as the monks turn evil and are about to kill Danny so that the Devil can't inhabit his body.

With Danny back in the hands the "profecy" can be fulfilled, this profecy is however flawed! Apparently the devils body on earth is human so weak, however his childs body as it is the son of the Devil would be strong enough to hold him.... hang on there, if the devils body is human and the mother is human why is Danny not 100% human!?! Oh well, a technicality. Moreau, Blaze and the mother go to storm the ruins that the politicians, murderers and thiefs, the devils servants (a ham fisted attempt at a political subtext if I ever saw one) have gathered to help with the ritual. It appears this ritual is made up of chanting and boobling in unison which looks ridiculous! Before storming the castle one of many attempts at comedy hits, HURRAH! Dannys mum is doing her typical "he is the most important thing in my life, the only thing I have ever done right" thing, to which Blaze replies "Well we better make sure he isn't the anti christ then" finally a joke I smiled at!

The storming of the castle is pretty standard and sees the demise of one of the films redeeming qualities, Moreau, and sees GR return to Blaze, not through a contract or will power but by Danny being sick fire on Blaze's face.... duh, obviously that makes sense, I agree he has the devils power but WHY in the devils name choose the visual of being sick on his face over a massive number of possibilities. It magically turns to day and the battle turns into another car chase, cue the flaming truck of stupidity and lack of understanding in what happens when you jump on a moving vehicle (you dont move and the car does, ie you end up BEHIND the car not flying with it). The chase climaxes with GR grabbing the devil once and flinging him into the centre of the earth, a ridiculous climax, I guess that fits! GR waves his hands in happiness and takes a victory bow. He then starts talking about this angel thing.... The GR being a cursed angel, this may be true now im not sure, GR's origin isnt exactly a tidy place but they did get his name right, anyway Blaze goes on about feeling the angel rather than the devil, this visually manifests in a blue flame rather than red making it a happy ending all round. It had to end on a shit line obviously so to the question "did we win" Blaze replies "yes, hell yes"

It is easy to tell how I feel about this film, its mainly because of what it could have been and the fact that the source material is so good. It is a shame to see GR butchered by both Cage and by the directors, it makes sense a little that these guys helmed Crank, GR SOV might as well be crank with a flaming skull and a dab of mysticism. The right way to go would have been with mixing in noble kale and danny ketch, not titling it sov and then doing a third film in which danny was GR and Blaze was himslef like the SOV comics. Anyway this scathing but accurate review has to come to an end at some point, thanks for reading this far, if you haven't seen the film, don't punish yourself by watching it.

1/10

Seven Psychopaths, Joss Whedon on Sleepwalk with me

Seven Psychopaths Trailer

After watching and thoroughly enjoying the wit, comedy and irony of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges I was keen to see more from him. So hearing he was teaming up with Colin Farrel in Seven Psychopaths made me pretty happy and the first few images looked wicked.... so the trailer.... hmmmm. I laughed a few times, specitically at one guy being left with one eye, genius, but I think the trailer is pretty bad, dont get me wrong I think the film will be good but I don think such a fast moving mental trailer paints the film in the best light. I myself came away with most of the plot, little knowledge of the characters and only a slight feel for the film. I think less time should be spent on "the seven" and intertitles and a little more time on who specifically we should identify with. Anyway I look forward to the film and future trailers and have faith that this will be wicked!

Joss Whedon "Boycotts" Sleepwalk with me

I start by saying this is excellent!
I like a little reminder every now and then that although I am a Whedonite through and through and despite his recent success he has had multiple projects that have been small low budget indie type productions that have had hard work and heart poured into them. Obviously Whedon sees Sleepwalk With Me as a similar kind of project for its director. It is good to see him using he recently acquired fame to sarcastically urge fans to boycott Sleepwalk with me and book it at local cinema.

H+, Murder of a Cat

H+

H+ is a new web series produced by Brian Singer about implants in the human brain that give you an online interface and let you connect in an Apple Ipod Tablet mind way. Cool stuff, pretty normal SF, an idea a lot of people have thought of but yeah it is cool and the media style start to the series and the visual realisation of the concept is done really well. The series is to be based on what happens when a virus infects these implants and kills people. Only the first two episodes have come out so it could become apocalyptic or it could go somewhere else who knows but it does look good so far, I will do a full review when it is all out in a few months.

Murder of a Cat

Gillian Greene-Raimi's directorial début, produced by husband Sam Raimi, Murder of a Cat has just signed Dollhouse, Much Ado and Cabin in the Woods star Fran Kranz. This Whedon Alumni is a truly excellent actor, his performance in both Dollhouse and Cabin in the Woods, Topher Grace is one of my all time favourite characters so it makes me happy to see him getting more work. The synopsis for Murder of a cat is :

"A hapless 28-year-old eccentric [Kranz] vows justice when he finds his beloved cat shot dead with a crossbow arrow. After some sleuthing, he is shocked to discover that his cat was living a double life with a mysterious young woman. Forced into an awkward partnership, the two cat owners must embark on an epic suburban murder mystery that leads them to a conspiracy far greater than they ever imagined."

Sounds like it could be a laugh, it really depends how good the script is, hopefully it will be good but we willl have to wait for the trailer to come out!

Daredevil, Looper,

No New Daredevil

Yesterday Joe Carnahan tweeted that his DD reboot with Fox had "gone up in smoke" and as the rights are soon to go back to Marvel it is fair to assume that it will not be swapping director or being remade until Marvel deem it necessary. Carnahan did however release a kind of treatment of the work, he re cut bits of other films to make a kind of trailer showing his kind of interpretation of the film and character, you can see that here

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Watch-What-Joe-Carnahan-Daredevil-Would-Have-Looked-Like-32482.html

Could Carnahan be doing this to get in with Marvel themselves? With the concept that Spiderman would build a universe of his own, much like the avengers universe there could still be a DD film on the way. The future of the man without fear is now up to Marvel, although it could have been good I am glad the Rights are back where they belong with the movie masters at marvel.

Looper, New Trailer

A second international trailer for looper has been released and I have to say I am getting even more excited for Looper in a few months. In this trailer you get to see a slightly better picture of Gordon Levitt's make up and it does do a pretty good job of making him look Willis...ey. We also get a few cool glimpses of 2044 and beyond, the sneak peaks of the technology and world have my SF mind racing! An official site has been released https://www.loopernetwork.com/ When signed up to it you receive the message:

"Congratulations for accepting our proviso.
You are now one of the elite, one of the privileged class of Loopers who has been given a chance to thrive in this gutter of a world. I'm from the future, and if you think it's bad now, believe me— it only gets worse. You're going to want to use this new wealth I'm putting into your hands to prepare yourself and possibly brush up on your Mandarin.
This job isn't for the weak. We value Loopers who aren't afraid to face each day like it might be their last, because some day, you might have to face yourself.
Follow the link to finish your profile, grab a blunderbuss, and get ready— you're going to hit the ground running."
Welcome to the Looper Network. From now on, I'm the most important person in your life."

Pretty cool right, Im looking forward to the subtext and subplots that Johnson puts into it, should be good stuff!

Zombie FUN!

All Friends Fans and Collaborators... I have an idea, I dont think it is original but it will be fun! I would like to do a new zombie project but not a film.... sort of.... The basic premise is to get 5 armed friends with cameras attached to them to try and survive in a forest in daytime against a horde of zombie's, it will take a lot of people but would be great fun, who is interested?

Game Of Thrones Season 1 (2011 - 2012)

"Winter is coming"

I am a little late to the game in watching Game of Thrones (GoT) as I have only just finished season 1 and have to admit I enjoyed it thoroughly. It made me want to play DnD and Larp but thats a good thing, the classic mystical fantasy world was awesome, thats not everything though, the complexity of the story lines and the number of character arcs that are being weaved together are what make this series a really good watch.

BIG SPOILER ALERTS!
One of my favourite things about the whole series is the urgency of the situations. There are a lot of things happening at once, the internal conflicts of the Lanisters and Starks in the middle of the seven kingdoms which has mutliple story lines, Ned and Robert, Neds wife and Tyrion and the soon to be king Joffrey and his promised to be wife. Whilst this is happening the kingdom is in threat from two outside forces, the Wildling's and White Walkers from beyond the wall pushing from one threatening invasion from one side and the Dothraki and the Targaryen's pushing in from the other side. These complex stories all happening at once make you question which is more important out of the conflicts but they are all complex, well planned and have as many twists and turns as you can imagine, it completely grabs you!
SPOILER ALERTS END!

An excellent involved series worth watching and well worth marathoning a whole series at a time! The whores can be a little off putting at times but its awesome in general, Watch it!!
8.5/10

Whedon with Marvel, Turk in Kick Ass 2.

Joss Whedon with marvel till 2015“Joss Whedon has signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios for film and television through the end of June 2015. As part of that deal, Whedon will write and direct Marvel’s The Avengers 2 as well as help develop a new live action series for Marvel Television at ABC. He will also contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s cinematic universe.”

That is Disney/Marvel's official statement... Nuff said

Donald Faison to appear in Kick Ass 2

Donald Faison is in talks to play doctor gravity in th kick ass sequel, I dont know the character but if it is a similar half comical half realistic hero like red mist and kick ass then Faison should do a good job. Its nice to see someone from scrubs might land on their feet!

Arrested Development, The Wolverine, Catfish series., Fox Marvel crossover mess.

Arrested Development
The new 10 episode season of Arrested Development is starts filming tomorrow! The season is set to release  on Netflix in 2013. Series creator Mitch Hurwitz has said he would be happy to do another series if this one goes well. So its a long time to wait but at least it will be on Netflix when it gets here.

The Wolverine images

Images look good, Jackman is looking very wolverine in the second one. That however in the third pic doesnt look like japan, a video on the internet about where the film is being filmed has been released and a japanese concentration camp was mentioned... curiouser and curiouser, fingers crossed this will make up for origins.

Catfish the series

A series with Nev, from the movie catfish (perfectly reviewed here http://reviewreportreveal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/catfish-2010-henry-joost-ariel-schulman.html) is starting on MTV. The series follows Nev and another film maker who travel around to meet other people who have been lied to by partners online. Whilst this has the potential to be good MTV's involvement means it probably wont be, I predict a fairly boring 1 series with the subtle idea of catfish being smashed into the audience with a tv show shaped mallet. 

Fox and Marvel FF and DD meeting crossover MESS

There is a lot of talk about the studios swapping rights and things like that. Nobody knows what is true yet but my guess is none of it. If marvel or Fox wanted different rights they would more than likely just pay obscene amounts of money for them. Marvel has been working since the 2000's to reacquire the movie rights it sold to get out of a financial hole, the result of this has been the Amazing Spiderman and Marvel's Avengers franchise phase one stuff. So I dont think its happening, will let you know if there are any updates and tell you what it means if it happens!

Being John Malkovich (1999 Spike Jonze)

"You don't know how lucky you are being a monkey. Because consciousness is a terrible curse. I think. I feel. I suffer. And all I ask in return is the opportunity to do my work. And they won't allow it... because I raise issues."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/

This is an odd one, undoubtedly one of the oddest films I have seen in my life, and not in a bad way. I don't know how the concept was arrived at but basically budding puppeteer Craig gets a new job as a filer and when moving a cabinet finds a tunnel that leads into the mind of the actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes, you're spit out into a ditch on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike! Insanity! However this leads to confusing love triangles and utter more insanity when Malkovich goes down the tunnel himself. Visually the puppetry is really nice, and it makes an obvious but cool metaphor for the control of a person and Cusack's character, Craig the puppeteer is interesting and almost cool if he wasn't so mad.

Obviously themes of the film in a more real way are about how fame corrupts and what we would do to be someone else. These are nicely played upon and the story becomes quite fairy tale in its end with the story of immortality.

I'm finding this a difficult review.... basically its a really good and really odd film. It has to be watched with a lot of suspension of disbelief but if you can get around its extreme plot I think you will enjoy it... Malkovich Malkovich
7.5/10

The Terminator (1984 James Cameron)

9.9
"Thank you, Sarah, for your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist."http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/

This is the first in my series of Favourite Films reviews! The Terminator is way up there in my top 10 for a lot of reasons, its one of my favourite franchises despite the varying quality of its films. As a franchise the order of greatness has to go 1,2,TSCC,4,3, why? I will explain later but first to the best of them all, the first, The Terminator!

The film opens in the year of 2029, fans will know this is the year Reece travelled back (could be the plot line to 5/6), the dark blue sky is lit by the laser fire of the hunter killers, rubble destruction and skulls litter the wrecked landscape and the text reads "The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged for decades, but the final battle would not be fought in the future. It would be fought here, in our present. Tonight..." Cue the epic awesome and perfectly suited steel sounding drum theme, dum dum, dum, dum dum....

Next comes this scene of genius, a monster of a man, naked odd, appeared from a ball of light vs instantly hateable 80's punks. This scene is what I often quote in its mood as to why I like this film most, the terminator doesn't shoot the guys, push him over or cop out in any way, he punches the guy through the chest, pulling out a blood red hand and murdering the three. You can see from this image alone the cold blue steel in the setting is beautifully fitting, in the scene the dialogue is simple but good, the terminator assessing the language is a smart bit of SF and it is an excellent scene setting the terminator up as a truly evil villain.

Next to appear in the same way is Michael Biehn's character Kyle Reese, at this early interval if you know nothing of the franchise you would think he is just as evil. This is cleverly reinforced by the inclusion of the police, who try and chase him down at every moment vilifying him like the terminator. There is no doubting however that he is cooler, he grabs his trademark long jacket and his shotgun looped round his arm (which is shown to him by none other than john connor himself in Salvation) to set off to do some damage. The Terminator brilliantly introduces Sarah with the phonebook, an excellent narrative device.

The thriple scene of the terminators arming, the first Sarah Connors death, The Sarah Connors menial job brilliantly, ironically summed up by her co worker who says "in a hundred years who's going to care?" and also inter cut with Kyle Reece getting his car makes Sarah look as thought she has no chance in the world at survival, its desperate and worrying for every member of the audience, how could she survive? a specifically nice moment in the whole of this is the terminator asking for a plasma rifle at the gun shop, simply brilliant and funny.

Before the killing, the meeting and the real beginning of the chase begins we get another flash forward/back to into the future which is Kyle Reece's past and see him kicking some more Skynet ass. This is introduced by a genius track down from what we think is a crane wheel, in actuality a Skynet tank, down to some skulls. The future again looks bad ass and we get a glimpse of what fighting Skynet is like.

Cut to Ginger, this bit quite comical, full of false sense of security and false jumps. My favourite moments in the film are Matt telling The Terminator he would "bust him up" and Sarah's ironic repeated answer phone message "Your talking to a machine but don't be afraid of it, talk to it, machines need love too", pure genius!

At the climax of the first act, so much seems to have already happened and the action still has not really begun, the audience knows, as does Sarah, that she is being followed and the police aren't going to reach her in time, exciting stuff. The scene to "end" this climax and start the real action is set in "TechNoir" an 80's nightclub that almost reflects the future, is full of colour and makes a perfect setting for the meeting of the Terminator, Sarah and Kyle Reece. An excellent sequence of slow motion crescendos with Sarah being saved from the Terminator by the unlikely hero Kyle Reece uttering the resonating repeated line "Come with me if you want to live." It comes to light in the following exposition is there to save her, this isn't through boring simple exposition though, not in Terminator, the exposition takes place during a daring car chase of classic 80's action convention. All of the complicated time loop questions are simply answered by Reece with "One possible future maybe, I don't know tech stuff" leaving the film to concentrate on the chase and hunt rather than too much SF. One of the best things about this section is Sarah's disbelief, it adds a certain amount of believability to the film and to her character.

The second act begins after the Terminator escapes and Reece is left to face the cops, the two cops in the lead of the investigation are fairly conventional but brilliant just the same and feature quite heavily in the first and second act. A hard chief with a constant cigarette (almost two) and a simple detective with a tendency to let his mouth run the two make a great double team and inject a little comedy into the dark tale. Silberman however the psychiatrist analysing Reece is a brilliant character who is almost too easy to hate, he believes Reece is completely insane and smiles at the career he could make from him. The only person who gives Reece any credit is the chief lt. Traxler who gives a slight pensive look rather than mocking. A person has a good right to think Reece crazy, in his interrogation room he rants and raves as well as a top class crazy, screaming that the Terminator "will find her and when he does he will cut her throat and rip her heart out". The Terminator himself is a this point patching up and recovering in a gross but still authentic way, he slices his arm and eye, fixing the inner parts of his exoskellington. Although it is clearly a rubber mask used at this point, the waxy look almost makes the Terminator look synthetic, this mixed with Reece's comment about older model Terminators having rubber skin again adds to the overall authenticity of the film, scene and special effect.

Unfortunately for the cops, Reece isnt crazy and after fixing himself, arriving at the police station and speaking those immortal words "I'll be back" the Terminator rips through the police station killing dozens, Sarah and Reece however manage to dodge the cyborg and escape into the night. The two following scenes are Kyle Reece and Sarah Connor building their romantic relationship, Reece's confession that he "crossed time" for Sarah is a beautiful romantic statement and their relationship really blossoms into something beautiful. The first of these scenes contains a cutaway/ dream of Kyles future/past. An amazing visual, beat down sewer pipes, televisions on fire, and terminator detecting dogs, this future is the true terminator future and what Salvation fails to recreate. The scene ends with an epic transition, the photograph of her burns and slowly fades into Sarah's sleeping face, awesome! The scene comes just before Sarah's fatal mistake, ringing her mother, this showcases the Terminator's ability to copy voices and lands both Sarah and Reece into the target of the Terminator once again.

After pipe bombs and time travel circle solving love making the third act begins, the Terminator attacks on his badass motorbike to chase the couple to the action climax of the film. The last part of the film is summed up by saying that the Terminator just wont stay down! This is typical of 80's action flicks but fortunately doesnt drag too long.

The last scene answers any questions you might be confused about, John is Reece's son and "theres a storm coming".
9.9

I will review the other films in a little less detail but to put it simply:
Terminator 2
Has good continuity from the first one however the inclusion of John Connor is troubling, whilst I like his character he is one of the most annoying kids alive. It is also more od a big blockbuster franchise kind of film, it opens the series up to a family audience which I have mixed feelings about. But still a good film in general.
Terminator 3
Bad, not much else to say, well written to an extent, especially the ending but apart from that its pretty bad. Just a random action flick not really worth being a T film.
Terminator Salvation
Disappointing but not awful, I dont really like the Marcus story but it does work and could have been good, I also dont mind Bale as John Connor but would have preferred someone else. The main let down is with the world of the film in general, the amount of it set in day time and set in desert rather than in tunnels and sewers was a shame, the future didnt look up to the future in 1.
Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles
Awesome! Plain and simple, its smart, it works and its an amazing stand alone series too. Its a crying shame it was cancelled!

Sf Short

Been thinking of concepts for my Sf short, I think I have decided upon a theme and maybe a name. Not sure yet on everything that will happen but I think I may have written the end :P I am hoping to develop the theme of revolution. Something like; The world is under single control, two brothers by survival live through the fighting and conflict. To fight against oppression or to hide, to live, to continue to survive what can they do? What must they do?

Something like that maybe :)

The Machininst (2004 Brad Anderson)

"A little guilt goes a long way."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/

This is an odd one, it has darkness,  insanity and an actor at his limit, an none of that is even a spoiler. There are quite a few cool moments in this confusing thriller but it feels like you are tumbling down the rabbit hole, whilst this is a little annoying it does make you relate to the character and is probably intentional, so good? I like the film, quite a lot but it hinges on this unusual mystery that doesn't really grab you as a watcher and isn't particularly compelling. On of the best parts of the film is SPOILER the tale around him imagining this woman and child and all of that culminating in him realising he is making stuff up. END.

A good enough film about a crazy insomniac, some good twists and a pretty sick looking Bale. Its no doubt a good mysterious movie however the mysterious psychological thriller is becoming a tired genre and this particular film is only a little above par.
7/10

Colin (2008 Marc Price)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278322/

I really love this film. Mainly because I relate to it, not to the characters but to the film makers. Marc Price is a film teacher who worked tirelessly to create an exciting, fun, interesting and cheap zombie film. I knwo how difficult this is to do! And I have only filmed shorts. Whilst the statement "the first zombie with emotions" would be incorrect, (see any late Romero film!) Colin is one of the zombies (and I know a lot) that I care about most. He is a bumbling, unfortunate, wonderer who the audience cheers on, this is the first zombie I have wanted to be well fed.

The camera work isnt great, there are bits of good stuff in there, the bathroom scene specifically as well as the "zombie experiments" scene, and the cutaways specifically are largely well shot. The action and a large amount of the film is however weakly lit or overexposed and looks cheap... Wake up! It was cheap, its not professional and it doesnt matter. For me that is one of the charming things about the film and one of its most inspiring qualities. A good fun zombie film all round!
7.5/10
(only because of its poor visual quality, if it was done on good cameras with professional lighting and set ups ect ect it would probably be a 9)

Let the right one in (2008 Tomas Alfredson)

"Squeal like a pig. So, squeal."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/

Let the right one in is simply one of the very best vampire films I have seen in my life. In a genre full of crap this horror stands out for many reasons, its haunting beauty, an inventive take on the mythology of vampires and its use of children, not for cheep scares (children can be really creepy) but for strong individual characters with real motives and emotions.

The story opens like many horrors, a new neighbour moves next door and all of a sudden murders begin to occur. The plot itself reads as a little childish; the main character a shy and abused schoolboy befriends the vampire that moves next door and helps him overcome his fear of the bullies that abuse him. The execution of this narrative is so brilliant however that the simplicity of the films major plotline is completely outweighed by the depth of the two main character Oskar and Eli. The themes of good and bad, right and wrong are somewhat unbalanced throughout, whilst you know the bullies are evil you also understand Eli (the 12 year old vampire) is evil too. So why can she kill and it be okay when the bullies cannot even shout names at Oskar without gaining instant hatred from the audience? There are a lot of reasons, there need to be or the film would fall apart. The first is our immediate like and identification with Oskar, everyone has felt bullied at some time and we see him at a really emotional time, it is also easy to tell there is something not quite right about him, obviously he doesn't fit in but the extremeness of his character show make you feel he never will. This is made more apparent when you see him finally fitting in, when he is with his father, in that brief amount of time he seems really at home, comfortable, highlighting how out of place he is in normal life. The only other emotional release he has, his only friend, is Eli, whether they are tapping Morse code through the wall or sending rubix cubes back and fourth you want them to be together, despite their age their romance and companionship is beautiful. There are times in the film where the pair fight or do.... unusual things but these are followed by a subtle acceptance of each other that again strengthens the audiences emotional connection to the couple, who  cares if she kills people, this is a story about child companionship not a horror about vampires.

Visually the snow and picturesque landscapes make for a beautiful backdrop and a brilliant metaphor for coldness. The vivid reds are common in horror but it is not often they are so well contrasted in the image with other colours, this is actually the story throughout he whole film! The horror is pretty classic although it has a nice touch of realism and little bravado it is only so good because it is within this little story about two lost unaccepted children. Whilst I dislike children being used as a cheep horror thrill Eli is something more.... she is damn creepy but she has a human side. The tunnel scene is almost clockwork orange esque and is exceptional as is all of the cinematography within thee film. Almost every shot is visually amazing, inventive or thought provoking. The score to the film is exceptional, the Oskar in love theme and the delicate tracks to narrate the quieter scenes are fantastic, dainty and seem as fragile and emotive as the characters, it perfectly matches the story and the setting.

SPOILER
An interesting discussion can be made about the character Hakan, the man who appears with Eli and obtains blood for her. You can kind of tell he is not her father but their exact connection is never revealed. In the book, which I haven't read, Hakan is a paedophile who was fired from teaching and would do anything to be intimate with Eli. The film is not the book, whilst this may have been his original character I personally believe that history has repeated itself and that Hakan was as Eli now is and fell in love with Eli when he was a child and she never aged. Again this isnt confirmed or really suggested, its just an idea, an upsetting one, to think that the companionship and romance may not be unique, but who know it could be different this time round. 
END

I think what really elevates this film is that it has a perfect soundtrack or the images, perfect characters for the images, perfect story for the images and for the soundtrack and for the characters. Everything is perfectly matched and is pretty close to perfect. I recommend this film really, I haven't seen the american remake or  read the book but this film is fantastic, watch it!
9.5/10

My current projects

I haven't posted that many reviews recently so you may be wondering what I am up to, well......

1.Writing any reviews I can at any time I can!

2. Catching up on Minecraft, its epic! My minequest has only just begun!

3. Reading Classic X Men comics from the first run of uncanny, they are pretty bad but I will give you a full review in batches of 10 comics at a time.

4. Reading War of the Worlds, I am a fan of the record a disliker of the films and have been reading the book to review, I would also like to hear the radio broadcast that fooled nations into panic. I will let you know how that all goes soon.

5. Project Cortman. A project I am working on with my bro Jimmy Weaver to give I Am Legend an accurate screen adaptation. I just bought another copy of the book and have begun scribbling thoughts all over it, I may post a few of my thoughts to you guys that have read the book for consideration.

6. Finishing my scifi pilot. Its been going for around 8months and it feels like a marathon episode, I have no idea how long it is in time but im on page 62 now and its nearly finished! Let me know if you want a sneaky read.

7. After said 8 months I am itching to film something in the universe of my movie as a kind of proof of concept and as a visual guide for any readers. I have always said that even though Im writing my SF now I dont want to film it till I am respected and trusted with a budget (fingers crossed that eventually happens) so for now its gonna be a short. Concept images have been posted and Im kinda spitballing ideas whilst finishing the big pilot.

8. Reviewing my favourite films in specific detail. If you missed the post I am going to be doing reivews of my favourite films every Sunday (I hope) for you guys to read. They will be big reviews gushing with the reasons I love the films so much. Some of the films are in franchises, some of them are complete franchises I will talk about lots! Dont miss them!

So thats what I am up to! "Working" hard

One Hour Photo (2002 Mark Romanek)

And if these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this: I was here. I existed. I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/

Robin Williams is a great actor, he is an actor that loves to act, this means his work ranges from poor to perfect. Where does One Hour Photo lay? In my opinion its pretty brilliant and for sure is one of Williams' best performances. Creepy is the best way to describe this film, throughout the first act you feel like something is wrong, this is created by a clever mix of cinematography and some great acting, but no matter what you can't quite pin down why this guy Seymour (Williams) is so damn creepy!

As the film unravels so does Seymour, his mental health destabalises as his routine life is crushed, you watch and wait for the fireworks as he unravels more and more. The post modern kind of look at photography and film is interesting as usual and some of the things the unhinged Seymour says stick in your mind the next time you click a lens.

Visually the film is quite interesting, although the majority is conventional, the mix of fantasy with reality is something that is played around with, the narrative becomes unreliable and that SPOILER! becomes the point, kind of, the "pretend of an act" and the capturing of it rather than the act. Or he did it and hes playing the audience SPOILER END The red stylised scene in the middle is interesting and pretty brave thankfully it is a decent way of getting the audience inside of Seymour's head for a few seconds and it is done extremely well. The photo wall is cliché of course but is still a brilliant visual.

I really like this film despite how uneasy Seymour makes me feel. This is one of Williams' best performances by far, he is playing something out of his usual range and he does it amazingly, Seymour's character and his creepiness is a large part of what the film relies on and Williams couldnt have done it any better. Watch this its weird and creepy and amazing!
8.5/10

Proof, Eccleston in Thor 2, First Class 2 Days of Future Past

Proof Pilot
This has only just been announced so I wouldn't expect to see anything any time soon but... M Night
Shyamalan has joined Syfy! He is writing a pilot called proof to direct, heres the synopsis:
“In Proof, after the tragic accident and sudden death of his parents, the son of a billionaire tech genius offers a large reward for anyone who can findproof of life after death,”
Sounds interesting, there will have to be a lot more to it to make it good but fingers crossed that along with After Earth Shyamalan may be on his way back up after the flops of Devil and Avatar Legend of the Last Airbender.

Thor 2 The Dark World
Christopher Eccleston is supposedly in talks to play the villain in The Dark World, rumours say this would be the ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. This has me excited Eccleston is a great actor although I have no idea what the story will be like so it should be fun!

X Men First Class 2 Days of Future Past
So put simply this is the title of the First Class sequel, unfortunately Singer said that it would draw from the comics of Days of Future Past but not be exact. I have recently... aquired some classic comics and I will be posting a fresh post about DoFP? the comic and the film. Either way its good to see it happening and DofP is a decent storyline, I cant wait!

Pan's Labyrinth (2006 Guillermo del Toro)

"But captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430

Guillermo Del Toro's head must be a pretty strange place... the imagery and imagination it takes to create such an amazing dark fairy tale makes Del Toro a real genius. The best way to describe this film is dark, adult and fairy tale, because that is exactly what it is, a dark, bloody, cool, interesting, fantasy fairytale. A brilliantly visionary film.

I love how vivid all of the colours are, the mood is controlled brilliantly by the cold dark blues and the sepia yellows. The imagery in the fairytale of frogs, fauns, monsters and plants make for some really nice shots, it is clear that the films frames have been carefully considered to make beautiful pictures. The characters are also from fairytale, the evil step dad, the loving housekeeper and the doting mother all represent fairytale stereotypes, the intelligence in the film comes from their seemingly perfect integration into Spain in 1944. The evil character, the captain is typically evil to an extreme, his ways of torture are brutal, a particular favourite moment of mine is where he vows to let a prisoner with a stutter go if he can count to three without stuttering, he is a brilliant character.

A really brilliant film, it is a lovely little fairy tale with beautiful images and narratives. Behind that façade of fairytale it is dark, adult and intelligent. I recommend it to everyone, even if your not a fan of foreign films give it a go, its not a hard one to watch and read.

8/10