Monday 24 December 2012

The Christma Eve Movie Is

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Just finished watching the new Spidey flick aaaaaaannd......it was good, I enjoyed it. It felt really comic booky in the parts where Webhead was on screen and he had way more sooper dooper skills than the 2003 movie. Couple of downers though: No Mary Jane (but at least we didn;t get no Kirsten Dunst binty, hated her as MJ.) Never seen the guy who played Peter Parker/Spiderman before either but he reminded me of Andy Murray When the film featured the normal day to day stuff it felt like I was watching a high school sitcom on Bravo which was crap but like I said, the action comic book feel of the superhero scenes make up for that
Preferred the 2003 Uncle Ben and Aunt May though. Sally Fields and Martin Sheen? No. And no "with great power comes great responsibilty" line? That is Spidermans 'lesson' which stops him acting like a hothead. Oh and it lacked his wisecracks too. Had one or two but not enough.

My fellow countryman Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors/Lizardman was inspired, and much better than going through the Green Goblin saga again

Friday 21 December 2012

The Dark Knight Rises

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The Bats Boogie

Okay I dont do reviews here, these are simply my thoughts and musings about The Dark Knight Rises, packed neatly into a blog. Now it is always a pleasure to welcome Batman back in whatever he appears in, be it his natural home the comic, in a movie or videogame and I was as excited as anyone for The Dark Knight Rises. Its a good movie too, no doubt about that but (the inevitable BUT) it is a bit too bloated for me to begin doing Catwoman style cartwheels.
Nolan could easily have chopped 30 mins off it and made the film more 'potent' because if he had there would have been less bothersome nudges of reality for the audience. For example the cops go underground for what seemed eternity. I assume those officers were sent down shaving kits, clippers and a hearty meal before emerging to battle Bane's forces? Ah Bane! One of my favourite comic villains, I must applaud Tom Hardy for nailing the part so well. Some disliked his voice but I thought it was great; a muffled, cut glass sound with equal doses of menace and mocking.
The baddies in this trilogy have all been a joy to behold; Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow (present as ever in TDKR,) The Joker and Bane will not be easily forgotten by cinema goers. The late Heath Ledgers Clown Prince of Crime shining brightest from the already ageing posters thanks to a truly mesmerising performance.
I dont see Catwoman as such a great character in this movie. Seems like Hathaway is trying too hard to impress and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the real talent like Oldman and Bale. And her take on Catwoman suffers from it because she is the most fake looking out of all the villains who have appeared in the trilogy, the others seem to fit the world with much more ease. (And yes im well aware Selina Kyle is not all bad.) Also she's nothalf as good looking as others seem to think. Admit it, she's not.
Of course lets not forget the Dark Knight himself; Christian Bale has been an utterly convincing Batman (but I am a teensy bit biased as we're both Welsh.)
Do you want to know something though? Batman Begins was the best out of the three (in my opinion.) It was gritty, raw and showed Bruce Waynes real inner turmoil and his struggle to become the Dark Knight. Go back and waych it again, im sure you will agree. Anyway as single titles you could pick out flaws but watched as one loooong movie, this new Batman reboot has been a success.

*As a huge comic book fan/nerd I'm wondering would Nolan & Bale comeback in say 10-15 years to do a version of Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns?

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Thursday 20 December 2012

Bedlam

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Like ballet but more violent

Bedlam is available to buy (first issue free) from the Image Comics App on iOS and Android. It costs just £1.99 from Issue 2 on and is certainly worth a look if dark, stylish, well told stories are your thing. Its also firmly on the violent side of things so don't go expecting fluffy tales before bedtime here.
It all revolves around a deranged villain who goes by the funky~ish name of Madder Red and readers will instantly think of him as being a lot like The Joker with his love for drama and ultra violence. And like old clown face Mr Red is no mindless monster, he's an intellectual who claims that the suffering of innocents isn't the thing that motivate him. Oh no, its all about problem-solving with this frightening looking chap.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Action Force

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The Red Shadows

Action Force was a 1980s range action figures based on Action Man. Several publishing companies have produced comic books based around the figures.

Friday 7 December 2012

Planet Hulk

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Picked Planet Hulk up on dvd (in Morrisons of all places) for a mere £3. And thanks to the superpowers of Yourube, you can watch it for free below! Highly recommended by this humble blog, as is the follow up story arc, World War Hulk.