Messages

1

Books & Comics / Re: SPACEWARP - New Venture from Pat Mills

« on: 13 July, 2020, 02:42:55 PM »

The preorder link on the site connects to Amazon.com, and it disallows those of us located in UK (and probably elsewhere outside USA) from preordering.

I successfully preordered it via the Amazon app connected to UK site however.

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Books & Comics / Re: The Stringbags

« on: 13 July, 2020, 02:27:30 PM »

I finished this today. As mentioned earlier, I'm not really a fan of war comics but I thoroughly enjoyed this. I felt a bit emotional at the end.

A story well told and beautifully drawn and coloured. Well done to all involved.

It was very educational. I knew that biplanes ruled the skies during the Great War, (albeit different models) but I never knew they were so widely deployed during world war 2, and as torpedo bombers too!

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 13 July, 2020, 12:45:57 PM »

Mr Mercedes on Starzplay.

I was a bit reluctant to watch this as I've read the novel and sequels, because I mostly know what happens and I tend to worry how these adaptations will measure up.

I needn't have worried where season 1 is concerned. While there are small changes (to be expected) it's pretty faithful to the novel. The characters while a little different to now I imagined are close enough to work. And being spoiled for certain plot points didn't ruin the journey. I liked it a lot.

I'm curious what route they'll take in season 2 as the second novel in this series mostly focuses on different characters in a different place before joining Hodges and Holly later in the novel. I suspect this one will be more of a departure, but we'll see.

I also wonder if they'll incorporate the supernatural elements from the third book*, or just keep it a straight detective story.

*Actually the supernatural stuff is introduced in the second book, but that's mainly a tease of things to come in the third book. The events of book 2 are not supernatural at all.

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Off Topic / Re: Ebayballs

« on: 11 July, 2020, 12:27:30 AM »

I particularly like their description:

Lame

Strikes me as counterintuitive if they actually want to sell the thing, and at that price! Maybe it's supposed to be a reverse psychology thing...

Seeing as the image is of a different ebay auction I'm guessing they got defrauded and, probably having no luck with ebay's complaints policy, have resorted to this.  Shame they used the 'l' word.

That makes sense.

And apologies for my comment  about liking the description, Sheridan! I was amused by the fact they provided a short negative single word description of something they were trying to sell and didn't even think about the connotations of the word they used.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 11 July, 2020, 12:08:31 AM »

As self-important as he is, Shatner's Trek outing was plagued by problems beyond his control, ranging from writer's strikes and rainstorms in the movie's desert shooting locations to ILM being unavailable to do the SFX.
For all that, I've always had a soft spot for it, as it's lighter in tone and more of a romp than most of the other movies.  Its throwaway nature places it among the good bad sci-fi b-movies of the era like Spacehunter and Ice Pirates.

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone? Ages since I've seen it, but I loved that as a kid! That being said, I can understand why it's considered bad. That bit at the start with the model ship with the model figures, oh my. But yeah, I found it a lot of fun.

Those mutant kids creeped me out.


Last film watched: Spirited Away on Netflix.

I enjoyed that a lot aside from a resolution at the end which just didn't quite work for me. The river name bit. Maybe something was lost in translation, though.

Quite an odd little fantasy film, but this isn't a bad thing. Very charming.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 11 July, 2020, 12:03:19 AM »

Shatner's gloriously pretentious explanation of the symbolism of the mountain-climbing scene is toe curling - save yourself the time and stick with the musical remix

Ha ha! Brilliant! First time I've seen that, thanks for posting!

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Other Reviews / Re: 2000AD SCI-FI SPECIAL 2020

« on: 10 July, 2020, 01:57:08 PM »

Are you aware that that was an alt-universe version of terrible 2000 AD character Angel?

Nope, I definitely wasn't, and I don't know who that is. Before my time maybe? I figured it was supposed to be another version of Zombo what with the green skin colour etc. In my defence, it's the kind of shenanigans that would occur in the Zombo strip, what with the anti-zombo thing, etc.

So one for the 'over my head' threadmaybe, but thanks for the explanation. Or I'm just rubbish. 😄

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Off Topic / Re: Ebayballs

« on: 10 July, 2020, 01:47:55 PM »

I particularly like their description:

Lame

Strikes me as counterintuitive if they actually want to sell the thing, and at that price! Maybe it's supposed to be a reverse psychology thing...

9

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 10 July, 2020, 01:39:45 PM »

Got to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier on the rewatch, turns out I could remember so little about it that I'm now a bit unsure if I ever saw it in the first place.

It's not great eh? I know it's got a bad rep (Rotten Tomatoes has it pegged as the worst in the series) but even going in knowing that it does feel like the first really shoddy one, after being really pleasantly surprised with how great 1-4 have held up. It still has its fun moments and I quite like the central premise but overall does feel like a weaker TV episode stretched out to a feature.

Still quite enjoyed it though and I know there's more good stuff to come so will continue on!

Yeah, it's not great, but I liked the Sybok character a lot.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 06 July, 2020, 03:09:36 PM »

Ginger Snaps

I remember watching this in the early 2000's and it definitely spoke to me back then.  I really loved it.  Then I went over ten years without seeing it.  Returning to it after all this time had me worried.  I have remembered things from my past being better than what they were, where I failed to see their problems and faults.  Most of the time I'm OK with that.  My youth isn't sacred.  Nevertheless, I didn't want this film to be worse than what I remembered.  Thankfully, it wasn't.  This was like meeting a friend you haven't seen for years and picking up where you left off, not missing a beat.

Really it is a pretty simple werewolf movie.  I used to think it was a pretty heavy handed allegory for menstruation and growing up and this is the only thing that has changed.  I know think it isn't an allegory.  I think that's blatantly the story and the werewolf stuff is just additional stuff on top.  There is no metaphor or allegory at play here, it is pretty literal.  I'm happy with that.  I'm glad I rewatched it after all this time and that I still like it as much as I ever did.

At some point I will watch the inferior sequel and prequel(?).  Just for completionist sake.

I really like Ginger Snaps. It's one of my favourite werewolf films. While I agree that it is a pretty straightforward werewolf film, the tone feels original.

I have a soft spot for the sequel too, although probably it isn't as good. It did something different anyway.

The (sort of*) prequel ... not so good but it was kind of interesting due to the period setting.

* I say 'sort of' because the story doesn't really relate much to the original. They use the actresses from the first film in this period setting, and it's not clear if they're meant to be ancestors of the others although it's a while since I've seen it, so I might be missing something, or the same characters in a different setting like some kind of parralel world. Ginger's personality in this film is quite different (less rebellious I guess) but that could be due to, upbringing.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 05 July, 2020, 10:33:32 PM »

The Orville

I know it's been out for a while now, but I never saw it until recently. Now I'm near the end of the second series.

I wonder a bit how they got away with this, because it pretty much is Star Trek (particularly TNG onwards) in all but name with a bit more humour and little bit naughtier. And no, it's not because they both involve the crew of an exploratory starship. The uniforms are similar, the theme tune and background stuff is similar, and many of the plots and kinds of story are similar. It's even got quite a few of those TNG type onboard soap operish episodes!

That's not to say I'm not enjoying it. It does make me wonder if I should revaluate TNG as I wasn't keen on that series overall at the time, but I do mostly like this. It is a bit cheesy, sometimes (as was Trek) and some episodes aren't that great, (to be expected) but it's really pretty good.

I'm also watching Castle Rock on Starzplay. I found the first series rather slow going but overall, I enjoyed it. I was a bit worried it would be a mash up of Stephen King stories, but, whilst there are plenty of references, and a suggestion that some stories are part of the history of the townin this case, The Shining, Needful Things, Shawshank Redemption and maybe a bit of The Body the majority of the characters are new. Essentially it's a way of telling  Stephen King TYPE stories in the Maine town(s) he invented, but it's mostly new.

In series 2, one of Kings main characters does become the chief protagonist, but she is dealt with in a different way to the novel Misery. Anne Wilkes talks in the same twee speech patterns as the novel original, and she is clearly treading a thin line of insanity, but here she is a young single mother fighting to protect her daughter, rather than the psychotic older woman of the original novel and film. That being said, I can see how this series version could become the other, despite this not really being a prequel.

I like how the town of Jerusalem's Lot is a major setting for series 2. In fact this series borrows more from the novel Salem's Lot and the related short stories than it does Misery. I also see a couple of ideas that could be borrowed from Desperation and/or The Regulators and The Tommyknockers.

Like the first series, the majority of characters are new (and the one who isn't is a new spin). I've still a few episodes to go, but so far I'm really liking it.

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Other Reviews / Re: 2000AD SCI-FI SPECIAL 2020

« on: 01 July, 2020, 03:25:31 AM »

I enjoyed this special a lot. I had mixed feelings concerning the reprint material, but it turned out that much of it was either published before my time, or I'd forgotten the stories. Either way, most of the reprint stuff was new to me. I do remember the Dante story, but that was welcome. That last panel hurts my heart to look at. In a good way, of that make sense.

I think the only story I wasn't so keen on was Dredd Vs Zombo. I DID like most of the story and I found their interaction very funny but then that super-zombo character turned up and it just got too silly for me. Or perhaps 'silly in the wrong way' would be more accurate as I do like some very silly stuff.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 30 June, 2020, 03:06:38 PM »

And in all that weirdness and hits of darkness it can be quite sweet too.

In that respect, it very much nails the Morrison/Case run which remains some of my favourite comics ever.

I think it might be worthwhile my taking another look and reassessing it.

Oh and sorry for my typo:
"Hits of darkness" = "bits of darkness".

Actually, I guess 'hits' really works too.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 30 June, 2020, 02:37:29 PM »

As way of example of the crazy stuff

Have you read the Morrison/Case DP run? That’s not snark, it’s just that, for me, the TV series does a remarkable job of capturing the quite deranged tone of the comic. It’s not exactly there, but it’s closer than anything I ever expected to see on TV.

No that's okay- I think I have read some of it, and I don't think I was over keen.

Concerning the TV series, I've seen more episodes since my post above, and I'm really enjoying it now, oddness included. I agree that it is very much a comic book film in capturing the same amount of weirdness and OT stuff you'd expect from the comics and making it work.

 Spoilers:
A sentient talking street? I thought it would turn out to be some kind of reality or mind altering trick from Doctor Nobody, but no, it is exactly what it appears to be. I'm not complaining, mind, I found it worked and I enjoyed that episode a lot!

Oh and two words: Admiral Whiskers. Loved it! (Although I found Robot Man's OTT shouting irritating, but he had a valid reason, in the end.)

And in all that weirdness and hits of darkness it can be quite sweet too.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 29 June, 2020, 06:55:08 PM »

After the review above, I watched Freaks yesterday.

Yeah, that was very good. I enjoy how you can easily think it will be one thing at the start.