The Cloverfield Para-problem - The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
A script, by Oren Uiel, bought by Paramount ,who announced the movie in 2012, started a production cycle that we mere mortals are not meant to understand. Supposedly, this script landed near the divine hands of JJ Abrams who saw fit to repurpose it for the goals of a franchise attempt: God Particle became The Cloverfield Paradox….
The Strain Or The Struggle
Somehow, I just couldn't (and still can't) find salvation in The Strain, either the books or the TV show.
I guess the clue is in the name, really?
Space, The Final Front-Bore
These are the voyages of the starship Orville. Its meaningless mission: to explore a world that has already been established; to seek out moments that are meant to be humorous (and aren't); to badly go where science fiction and comedy have probably gone before.
"Hey, there's a new Seth MacFarlane show on TV that's basically trying to do a comedy version of Star Trek. Will we give it a shot?"
When The Shit Gets Shitty
You know when you're having one of those days when life is just being a bit of a dick to you?
Yeah, that day's been running for a few months at this stage, like some sort of time-travel of something. I am in Groundhog Day and don't even have the joy of putting up some snow.
Last blog-post, did a video game review thingy; this means I haven't written a shit in...three and a half months. As a guy who wants to write shit, that counts as a fail, doesn't it? I did publish a short story, The Shortest Night, but even I wasn't all that happy with it (because, you know, I have dumb standards of myself.
Just Us & Injustice
My darling husband decided he'd be nice to me and buy me a copy of Injustice 2 for no other reason than he thought I'd enjoy it (if only he'd stop playing Friday The 13th for long enough for me to get a go on it.)You see kids, part of the fun of Netherrealm games is going through every single character and checking out their stats and playability, their moves (and how devastating they are) and how impressive they look.
What, just me?
Oh.
Who Ranges The Power Rangers? - Power Rangers (2017)
It's been a long time since I've watched anything Power Rangers (but perhaps not as long as some people.) As a child, I watched the first incarnation of the show because it was full of superheroes, villains and mechs (I didn't fully know what mechs were at the time.) The show played with all my creative senses in ways I didn't understand at the time: my desire to have more of this world lead me to write about it, I suppose a childish version of fan-fiction. (I did the same for the X-Men cartoon and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.) These stories all taught me how to tell stories; what was my narrative aesthetic and what I liked (or hated) about characters and action.
Putting Your Dick In Crazy - Tom Hardy's Taboo (2017)
Saturday evening on the BBC: I think the polite term here is "fluffy," full of appointment-viewing that you're not exactly heart-broken to miss. (Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing are on the better end of the spectrum, some weeks anyway; then you have perpetual hanger-on Casualty, a show that's lasted longer than most of its patients.) Whatever some Whovians might insist (that's the word, right?) it's not that usual to find something meaty, substantial and enthralling on the Beeb of a Saturday night.
But that's enough about Tom Hardy, I should probably talk about the show.
Taboo brought sex and ultra-violence to Saturday viewing for a whole eight weeks, and on an evening usually reserved for fluff, the show tried hard to give Game Of Thrones a run for its money. It's a comparison that isn't entirely deserved: Taboo stood out on its own merits, but there were enough beats and faces that at least someone on the production office had to know what they were doing.
Bullet Buffet - Free Fire (2016)
Director Ben Wheatley brought his latest film Free Fire to the ADIFF last week (the Audi Dublin International Film Festival, if you're not into your abbreviations.) The film has already been seen at a bunch of other festivals, but it seemed appropriate for Wheatley to bring this film back to this side of the atlantic. With him, Wheatley brought the Irish actors who feature in the film, Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor and Patrick Bergin.
It's actually become something of a pilgrimage for Wheatley of recent years: he brought High Rise to last year's festival (yep, went to that as well) and Sightseers made an appearance back in 2012, a much smaller affair in the great scheme of things. Wheatley has moved from humble beginnings, and based on the Q&A after this screening, it seems that people liked it.
Holy Lego Bricks, Batman - The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
Everyone has their own favourite take on the Batman character (and they will talk a lot about why their favourite is the 'right' one, ignoring every other Batman presented before them.) So it's quite rewarding to watch a film that brings the best of every Batman together, clicking the pieces into one functional and enjoyable whole.
Just like Lego really.
Well...that was an easy segue.
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