Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. (2017)
May08

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. (2017)

You Humans Have Issues: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. (2017)   First off, pop-pickers, the soundtrack is not only equal to that of the first movie, it’s better. It had to be said. Secondly, any sequel-worries you may have will evaporate in the first ten minutes:  there’s yet another quiet prologue on Earth before the brilliant credits sequence blasts you into outer space happiness, with Baby Groot dancing to the ELO’s ‘Mr. Blue...

Read More
Revisiting Stephen King’s Different Seasons
Apr26

Revisiting Stephen King’s Different Seasons

Revisiting Stephen King’s Different Seasons   Reading this collection of four excellent pieces in 2017 is a very different experience to having read it back in 1983, shortly after its initial publication. It’s not that my opinion of Stephen King has changed much; if anything, I appreciate him even more now than I did then.  Rather, in what is surely a unique case, three of the collection’s four stories were turned into films that are...

Read More
Alan Moore’s Jerusalem
Apr12

Alan Moore’s Jerusalem

An Abattoir of Poppies: Alan Moore’s Jerusalem   “The last word that he said, it was Jerusalem.”   Yeah, I know what he means:  I thought it was going to be my last word an’ all. I seem to have been living with Alan Moore’s ‘million word magnum opus’ for more than three months, including a break to take a trip back home for my dear old mum’s 81st birthday. Do you remember that episode of Friends where Joey just has to get through all...

Read More
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Apr04

Ghost in the Shell (2017)

I Wasn’t Built for Dancing: Ghost in the Shell (2017)     Aside from buying a few issues of Lone Wolf and Cub back in the ‘80s, I know almost nothing about Manga comics and I know literally nothing about Ghost in the Shell, the Japanese comic book by Masamune Shirow, on which this film is based.  In fact, until yesterday I didn’t even know that there was a controversy over the casting of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role....

Read More
Get Out (2017)
Mar21

Get Out (2017)

Racist Black Comedy: Get Out (2017)   “If I could have voted Obama in for a third term, I would have.  Best President this country ever had.”  Well, that’s one way to put your affluent white daughter’s black boyfriend at ease:  patronise the hell out of him. Then again, since it’s the second time we’ve heard this and Get Out has only been running for twenty minutes, then maybe it’s a sincere statement.  Perhaps Daddy did think that a...

Read More
Kong : Skull Island (2017)
Mar15

Kong : Skull Island (2017)

Show Me The Monkey! Kong: Skull Island (2017)     Loved it.  Loved it, loved it, loved it.  And probably for the ‘wrong’ reason:  because it was fun.  It was just heart-pumping, kid-on-a-haunted-house ride fun. And it’s a giant monster movie.  The kind where giant monsters beat the living bejeezus out of each other.  Tons of action and truckloads of… fun.  You’re not meant to have fun at these movies anymore, didn’t you know...

Read More