A Coruña
My first attempt at poetry in about 20+ years.
Dreams Mean Nothing - The Sandman (2022)
I started to write this piece as a simple review of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, now streaming on Netflix; like the show itself, and the comic series at its origin, it turned into something far bigger, a historical narrative including random characters, with meanings and truths revealed as if from nowhere.
Like dreams, this review has become something more, an essay about writing itself, about narrative, about the consumption of art for both good and evil, and about its very effect on our lives.
Or maybe just mine.
Ravings - How My Brain (Sometimes) Works, The Star Trek Edition
Part Man, Part Spider, No Home - Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Walking out of Spider-Man: No Way Home, I was struck by a lot of things.
With the film opening here in Ireland 15 December, I’m wholly aware that I’ll get to see it before a lot of people: there were signs up in the cinema’s bathroom asking visitors not to discuss the film because staff had not seen yet.
This…does not follow these rules. This is a blog post, from a writer and comic-book fan, talking about a film he’s just seen, dealing with emotion, with narrative, with story-telling…the things I write about.
Zombie Slots - Army Of The Dead (2021)
Heist movies. Yep, we’ve been there. Sure, they were and can be fun to watch, but rarely something that I adore and want to watch again - 2001’s Ocean’s 11, I’m looking right at you. And your totally unnecessary sequels.
Add other elements though, and you might actually get my interest. Give me a narrative in the hands of one of my favourite directors, Zach Snyder and I’m probably going to love.
Add elements like zombies and headshots, and you can have my money.
I See What You Did There - WandaVision (2021)
I can accept change (if you know me at all, please stop laughing as you read this.) But when it comes to narrative, such changes have to be done in a fashion that they fit with the story you want to tell. Or perhaps with the story that wants to be told.
The story that wants to be told in WandaVision, Marvel’s newest comic-book adaptation, is a story of grief and mental health, and how they play in a world of super-heroics. WandaVision brings the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to an episodic TV format, one that will actually be acknowledged on other screens (unlike Agents Of Shield.)
As such, WandaVision is a story that works very well for what feels like seven of the show’s nine episodes, only to dramatically lose such appeal when coming to a close, forgetting any heart and focus it had, moving instead to solely show off its actions and powers.
Dating And Hating - Dating Amber (2020)
It’s not often that I expect to be writing about queer, Irish content, but I guess that’s what I’m doing after watching Dating Amber, viewable now on Amazon Prime. That’s not to say that queer Irish content doesn’t exist; it’s just that…well, we as a country, we’re not always the most vocal about accepting and embracing all things queer, are we?
Is Two And A Half Years Later Still “New”? - The New Mutants (2020…Kinda)
For a film that was originally due to be released Friday 13th IN APRIL 2018, it feels somewhat painful writing about The New Mutants nearly three years later.
And yeah, I’ve specifically waited until a Friday 13th to write and publish this; it seems kind of right, no?
Do you know what doesn’t seem right for this film though? The absolute clusterfuck that is its release.
Partly due to Covid-19 (booo), partly due to production and branding, I still can’t actually tell if this film has been released properly. Well, it has been released: I made the point of catching it in the cinema in those handful of weeks when the cinemas were open, but I specifically wanted to hold off on writing about it until other people would have watched.
Game Of Thrones Minus The Blue Balls - Kingdom, Seasons 1 & 2
A politically heavy Korean narrative that just happens to have zombies in it isn’t quite what I was expecting when I sat down to watch Kingdom on Netflix, but it’s what I got.
And boy, was I happy to get it. Visually stunning, I found it very hard to write about Kingdom and not draw comparisons with Game Of Thrones. So let’s just put my money where my mouth is and say that, yes, it’s fucking better, being nowhere as afraid to embrace its horror/fantasy roots.
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