From A Library – Jack of Fables: The Nearly Great Escape

Jack of Fables #1–5 by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges and Tony Akins

Vertigo has always been one for capitalising on a success, so it is no big surprise that Fables, their current bestseller, gets its own spin-off in the character of Jack of all Fables, exiled after the mess with the megasuccessful film trilogy. Here, Jack is leaving Hollywood after being driven out by the Manhattan Fables for endangering them, when he is captured by the Golden Boughs Retirement Community. This is a nice idea – it reveals where the other Fables who are not in the main book have all ended up – and it has an excellent premise: the Head Librarian Revise is out to neuter the power of stories and magic. His success can be seen in the way the old fairy tales, full of violence and tragedy, have been mollified and made tame. Therefore, Jack is the big prize – not only is he a huge source of stories (being all the Jacks in the fairytales) but also his films have reinvigorated interest in myth and fantasy.

The story then becomes a prison break, admittedly from an interesting prison with intriguing characters, but rather straightforward. There are a few other problems, one of the largest being Jack himself: he is (deservedly) cocky but this makes for an annoying and unsympathetic character, especially in his irritatingly smug first-person narration. We also spend most of our time with Jack, meaning we don’t get to know all the other characters particularly well.

This collection is enjoyable (spoilers – Jack escapes, obviously) but it doesn’t grab the way Fables does. It is entertaining but ever so slightly irksome: you don’t want to read anymore about Jack because he’s a bit of annoying wanker.

Akins art is a little flat and uneven – his Goldilocks’ body shape changes oddly in the nude scenes, the faces are inconsistent (even though he does have a way with facial expressions) and there’s a very Vertigo feel to the artwork. But he tells the story cleanly and clearly, and everyone is recognisable as an individual character rather than duplicates.

I wish the series success – Fables has been one of the most charming and consistently entertaining ongoing series in mainstream comics for some time now, and Willingham deserves some kudos – but I think I’ll be sticking with the main book only for the foreseeable future; I don’t think I’m missing out on anything.

Film Review - Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I was in a quandary about watching Sweeney Todd. On the one hand, I enjoy the films of Tim Burton, especially those with Johnny Depp; on the other hand, I’m not a great fan of musicals. Fortunately, seeing a free preview solved the dilemma.

I had never seen the musical or even knew the story, apart from the obvious facts deduced from the title; I was intrigued after its appearance, of sorts, in Jersey Girl and Kevin Smith’s appreciation for the musical. The story is straightforward – Depp is Benjamin Barker, a talented barber with a wife and daughter, who is sent to Australia by a judge (Alan Rickman) who covets his wife and child. He returns, changing his name to Sweeney Todd, and vows vengeance. He returns to the shop he once had, above the pie shop owned by Mrs Lovett (Helen Bonham Carter), who secretly loves him still and recognises him. Setting up as a barber once more, he thinks of only getting Judge Turpin into his chair. Things get complicated when his young friend falls in love with his daughter, the ward of Judge Turpin, who moves her into an asylum to punish her for threatening to run away with the boy. But vengeance will be had, no matter what the cost …

The most notorious aspect of the story is the killing of men and them turning them into pies, and this is not ignored in the film. Men’s throats are cut and fountains of arterial blood flow on the screen. It still makes for a very bizarre musical. The music itself fits well with the theme and the film, dark and foreboding or lighter when appropriate, but the songs themselves didn’t impact. I have already forgotten the tunes and lyrics of most of the numbers, so little impact did they have. The only two that stick in the mind are the shaving face off (but that is more for Sacha Baron Cohen’s hilarious portrayal of Pirelli, which had everyone in the audience in fits of hysterics) and the duet between Mrs Lovett and Todd about turning people into pies. Still, the story is strong enough to cope with having to burst into song every so often (something that is also noticeable by its absence in the adverts for the film; no singing is shown in any of them).

The main characters are all very good, both in acting and even singing. Depp shows he can do everything, the talented bastard, and Carter is great as Mrs Lovett, pining for Todd and dreaming of a future together even after the pies and revenge. In a reunion of Harry Potter actors with Carter, Rickman and Timothy Spall as his fixer are equally good (although Rickman’s singing voice seems rather higher than one would expect based on his mellifluous speaking voice, especially in a duet with Depp).

As usual with a Burton film, it is the director who has an equally good performance. The film is shot in almost black and white, leaving room for only one colour – the shocking claret of blood. As mentioned, the film is not afraid to show the violence of the piece, as we see throats slit in front of our eyes and blood gushing everywhere. London never looked more Victorian and run down than in Burton’s vision of a bleak and dirty capital city. The camera swoops and haunts the back streets and the passionate faces (Todd in revenge, Lovett in love). It is the perfect story for Burton, one inspired by love but reeking of darkness.

The film is a powerful one, with the effects of revenge and violence being felt on all in the story (this is not a happy movie, just in case you didn’t know; it’s a tragedy but with songs) and, even though you may wish otherwise, you know how it will end. I would agree with an opinion I read – the story is strong enough and the Burton film powerful enough that the singing isn’t really necessary – but then I guess that is what makes it so different from the usual fare. It also has an unexpected turn of events that I didn’t see coming, so I can’t help but enjoy and recommend the film.

Rating: DAVE

From A Library - Book: Knight Life

Knight Life by Peter David

As well as comics in my library, they have actual text-only books as well. I know, weird. Having read Peter David’s comics since Incredible Hulk, I had been wanting to read his own novels (rather than his Star Trek stories). This version of Knight Life was the revised text – PAD had gone back to it to update and expand it quite substantially – so bear that in mind when reading my thoughts.

Arthur has been returned from a suspended state by the immortal Merlin (he is ageing backwards, so he is now a twelve-year-old boy), and is running for mayor of New York under the supervision of Merline, with Percival as their accountant (he is immortal due to drinking from the Holy Grail). Guinevere has been reincarnated as Gwen de Vere Queen, with whom Arthur reconnects. Morgan and Modred are still alive (the latter as Moe, a PR to the republican candidate), with Morgan wanting to destroy everyone as usual. Arthur is honest charismatic and a born leader of men; Gwen is a modern, smart woman in a bad relationship with a useless layabout of a writer called Lance.

This is a fun tale of Arthur Penn (short for Pendragon) as the independent candidate who runs for mayor based on his ‘old’ ideas about things, e.g. his response to the question about the death penalty is that the wronged party of a murder should determine the punishment. Of course, things don’t run smooth when Morgan gets involved.

Compared with his comics, this novel doesn’t ‘feel’ like PAD – the story is relatively ‘straight’ and the jokes are less abundant (although there are nice small gags thrown in: Merlin talks about his skill with computers is dues to being involved from the start – IBM stands for Invented By Merlin) but it is an enjoyable tale told in a straight-forward manner, all with PAD’s excellent grasp of story construction and the world of fantasy in the real world.

Oscar nominations 2008

The Oscar nominations have been announced and, seeing as I haven’t seen any of the films in the major categories (except Sweeney Todd – review upcoming), I think I am overqualified as a blogger to weigh in with my uninformed opinions.

Best motion picture of the year
Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood

Big surprise is Michael Clayton – all the reviews were of the good but not great variety – even more than Juno, this year’s little film that could. Based on the Golden Globes, Atonement gets the nod (although not enough to get Joe Wright a nod for best director; this always seems strange to me, but it does happen fairly frequently). The two contenders should be No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood – the only deciding factor will be the subject matter: No Country for Old Men is too dark for the Academy, so I think they will plump for There Will Be Blood for best film and No Country for Old Men for best director(s).

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises

By all accounts, it seems to be Daniel Day-Lewis. Clooney, Jones and Depp are there as previous winners/nominees, and Mortensen is the surprise nod (what, for flopping his todger out?), but Day-Lewis has to get it.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton

Wilkinson continues the Michael Clayton surprise, Hoffman is in because of ‘previous winner’ status (and supposedly hilairious to boot), Bardem is a previous nominee and apparently terrific. Holbrook is the sentimental vote, and Affleck is the big nominee for the apparently ignored TAoJJbtCRF (as I shall abbreviate it to). Bardem seems to be the favourite in this, but I’m not sure if the 'ignored film' factor might work for Affleck.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie in Away from Her
Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney in The Savages
Ellen Page in Juno

Blanchett should have won for the first Elizabeth; this film and performance are apparently not in the same category, and it would be a shame if she got it here. Linney is a proven proper actor in a proper film; she has the potential to finally get the vote in a very unusual and interesting mix this year. It’s nice to see Page and Cotillard, but I can’t see them winning in this big category. The sentimental vote for Christie could be the other contender, but I don’t know if it’s quite enough.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There
Ruby Dee in American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan in Atonement
Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton

Ah, the supporting actress category, always a mixed bag. Blanchett was apparently great but don’t know if it will help in the split vote and the fact that she won a supporting actress previously (they might want to wait for a big role to get best actress). Strange to see American Gangster get a shout. Swinton is a very interesting actress, keeping the Michael Clayton surprise going, but I don’t know if it’s enough. Ryan might be in with a shout for Gone Baby Gone (still unseen in the UK due to its storyline) and there is hope for the young person vote winning it for wonderfully Gaelic name Saoirse (pronounced Sear-sha) for the Big English Film, always a popular choice with voters.

Best animated feature film of the year
Persepolis, Ratatouille, Surf's Up

Persepolis is surely too serious and heavy to win this award? Everyone assumes that animated equals light an fluffy, don’t they? I think that Pixar will continue their winning streak, but it could be interesting.

Achievement in cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Roger Deakins
Atonement: Seamus McGarvey
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Janusz Kaminski
No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins
There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit

Will the split vote for Deakins work against him? I hope not; he is very talented cinematographer who deserves the award after five nominations.

Achievement in directing
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Julian Schnabel
Juno – Jason Reitman
Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy
No Country for Old Men –Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson

Amazed that Gilroy is in here for Michael Clayton – they do like their tyros on worthy flicks, don’t they? A nice surprise for Reitman, but he’s there to make up the numbers; even Schnabel can’t expect much. The two(three)-horse fight is between the Coens and Anderson; as I said in the best film category, I think the Academy will give directing to the Coens (previous form includes giving best film to Crash and directing to Ang Lee, or film to Chicago and directing to Roman Polanski, or film to Gladiator and directing to Traffic).

Achievement in film editing
The Bourne Ultimatum: Christopher Rouse
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Juliette Welfling
Into the Wild: Jay Cassidy
No Country for Old Men: Roderick Jaynes
There Will Be Blood: Dylan Tichenor

I would love to see The Bourne Ultimatum win for the technical expertise (and because I've actually seen it), but it would be even better if ‘Roderick Jaynes’ won, if only for the Coens to reveal their editing nom-de-plume.

Achievement in visual effects
The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers

Surely nerd-tastic Transformers will win – the effects were stunning. (And I've actually seen all three films in this category, so that qualifies as an almost valid opinion.) Any other decision is just stupid.

Adapted screenplay
Atonement (Christopher Hampton), Away from Her (Sarah Polley), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Ronald Harwood), No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen), There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Hmm, always a tricky category. You would think the big two films would be the main contenders, but it always seems to throw up an unusual winner. Will Atonement get a consolation prize for being ignored in the main acting categories? I can’t see Polley or Harwood win, but I have no objections.

Original screenplay
Juno (Diablo Cody), Lars and the Real Girl (Nancy Oliver), Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy), Ratatouille (Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird), The Savages (Tamara Jenkin)

Hurrah for Ratatouille and Brad Bird for getting the nod – good to see that people realise that animated films just don’t appear as if by magic. I don’t know if it will win but I can’t pick a winner here; Gilroy might get a sympathy vote (Michael Clayton won’t win any of the big awards) but the ‘original’ definer of the award might work to the advantage of Cody, Oliver or Jenkin. Again, no clear leader.

And that completes the categories I want to talk about. I don't know if voting will be influenced by the sad death of Heath Ledger (good obituary from David Thomson here) but the general quality of the majority of nominees (and the overall quality of films last year) mean that it should be a good set of results, especially with the lack of a WTF?! contender.

From A Library – Catwoman: The Replacements

Catwoman (issues #53–58) by Will Pfeifer and David Lopez

First off, something I get off my chest – the dichotomy of having a top cover artist only doing the covers to attract attention but then the different art inside. I always remember the great Brian Bolland covers for Animal Man and then the shock of surprise of seeing Chas Truog’s interior art. Now, David Lopez’s art isn’t as bad as all that – he’s quite good – but surely the contrast between his art and Adam Hughes’ great covers is distracting. Hughes’ work looks like it was born to draw Catwoman (but then his work does that on female characters), so surely anything less inside the book is going to jolt the reader? Maybe it’s just me – whatever, Hughes’ covers are brilliant (especially the Lone Wolf cover).

To the story – it’s an interesting premise: Selina Kyle (Catwoman) has a baby, she has a new Catwoman under her tutelage, Black Mask was shot dead and Selina is a suspect, there is a new villain called Film Freak (Pfeifer likes his film references in this story – Selina’s new identity is Irena Dubrovna, the lead character in the 1942 Cat People – and there are lots of excuses for movie speak throughout) and Angle Man (who it seems has killed Catwoman before?) are out to get Catwoman, and there is a detective out to get to arrest Catwoman for the murder of Black Mask. That’s a lot to be getting through, yet the reader never feels swamped or lost (except for the Angle Man killing Catwoman thing, but that could be just me).

Pfeifer handles all of this very nicely – the plots are juggled well, the characters feel like people and not just parts of the story in order to help the plot along, and he is able to put his own stamp on a book that is continuing a corporate character. This is rather impressive, and it's rare to see in the crossover-dictated DC universe at the moment. Any personality in a mainstream book is to be applauded. Lopez tells the story clearly without excessive fuss; his linework is clean and light, if just short of being spectacular – well, he does have the Hughes covers to live up to, doesn’t he? All told, very enjoyable mainstream comic books.

Books: Storm Front

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

In Book One of The Dresden Files series, we meet Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, a wizard in Chicago who does consultant work for police (particularly with Karrin Murphy in the Special Investgations section, i.e. the unusual stuff nobody else wants). A death involving powerful dark magic occurs and Harry is drawn into a case involving ‘Gentleman’ Johnny Marcone (the head of organised crime, but a civilised boss nonetheless) and a new mage who is not afraid to do whatever it takes to get ahead, even invoking demons in order to kill Harry.

The book is all set up for a series – the world is explained and the background established: how magic works in this world, its laws (and Laws) and logic, the White Council, Mac and his bar, etc. There are lots of nice touches that show that this is well-thought out: electronic devices don’t work well around Harry, a cane as a focus for his magic, Bob the skull (a spirit of air who resides in a skull who remembers things for Harry), the Nevernever as the source of other-worldly things like vampires, Morgan the representative of the White Council who shadows Harry after an earlier incident in Harry’s life that had him in front of the Council, the Sight that magicians have but don’t use often because of all the problems involved. Butcher has created an interesting world and an interesting character through which to investigate it.

The prose, told in the first person, is a little rough around the edges at times, perhaps indicative of a first book, but the scenario and the storytelling make up for it. There are some annoying touches: the ‘Clone War’ remarks (after the throwaway line in Star Wars, which suggested a lot of history without dwelling on it) in the book are too much, indicating future storylines but without any further elucidation to make you feel included in the story; they just irritate with the tease of possibility.

Storm Front is engrossing and the resolution exciting and satisfying, and I can understand why the series was turned into a television series (which I haven’t seen) but I don’t know if I’ll buy any of the further books. I might read some via the library though – that counts as a recommendation, doesn’t it?

From A Library - Birds Of Prey: Perfect Pitch

Birds of Prey (issues #86–90 and #92–95) by Gail Simone and various artists

I think it’s to my shame that I haven’t read any Gail Simone comics. Apart from reading her very funny You’ll All Be Sorry column, I haven’t picked up any of the actual comic books that’s she’s written. Not through anything planned, just a mix of limited funds and choice of titles. It doesn’t help that I’m not a huge DC fan. So, when my library had this collection of on its shelves, it was my chance to rectify the omission in my reading experience, even if it does jump into the latter half of her run.

My first read was a bombardment of info: this is a very busy comic – Barbara Gordon (Oracle) is recovering from injuries, Dinah Lance (Black Canary) is being mentored by Shiva, Helena Bertinelli (Huntress) is knee-deep in mob stuff, Zinda Blake (Lady Blackhawk) is trying to adapt to the present (after an anomaly in time has brought her forward to the present) in her very short skirt uniform, the villain Calculator (formerly a bit of a joke) is working for Luther as a villain equivalent of Oracle by compiling information for the villain community and selling it, and there is lots of talking (and that’s not a sexist ‘all women do is talk’ comment, honest; I think it’s a DC thing, where the page is filled with lots of word balloons. Or maybe I’m used to Warren Ellis talking about a maximum words per panel based on old comics.) The wealth of word balloons is not to the comic’s detriment – Simone does good dialogue. She also has a good handle of the characters and putting them into action stories that are relevant to them, but it is her gift for natural and enjoyable dialogue that is one of her strengths.

The art is uneven – it’s mostly in the DC house style, competent but not necessarily inspired; it tells the story but not in a dynamic style, making it feel like it’s slowing down the pace, even in a fast book like this. At least it avoids the T&A trap it could easily fall into (and probably did when Ed Benes drew the book). I rather liked the work of Paulo Siqueria (who reminds me a little of dearly missed Mike Wieringo), even if it still needs a polish. Of course, I love the Dodson covers, so that might affect the comparison with the interiors.

I assume that the missing issue is something to do with the Countdown/One Year Later thing, because we jump straight into the new status quo in the second half of the book. The story of Dinah/Shiva swapping positions is interesting, if a little odd, with Dinah learning from Shiva’s instructor in the original village and Shiva taking Dinah’s place in the Birds of Prey, but with the promise of not killing anybody. However, the rest of the story rattles along again, and Simone makes you care about the characters; perhaps not enough to make me buy the comics but I might read more via the library system.

Film Review: I Am Legend

I Am Legend starts with banal television presenter banter about baseball predictions over the studio/production company credits (to contrast the silence and lack of background music that accompanies the film) before opening on a news anchor talking to an uncredited Emma Thompson as Doctor Krippin (now there’s some sledgehammer subtlety and foreshadowing in a name) about her genetically re-engineered measles virus that has cured cancer in all the patients in her clinical trials. ‘So, have you cured cancer?’ asks the news anchor. ‘Yes’ replies Thompson. Now, this isn’t a big news show or the main item; it seems to be just a bit of filler on local news. Is that how the cure for cancer will be announced? Is that how the scientist responsible for a world-changing event will represent themselves? I think not, but it does let you know that this is a Hollywood film, notorious for their treatment of scientists.

It is the montage of shots that follow this that I Am Legend grabs your attention – a Manhattan devoid of people, cars and noise, overgrown weeds coming up from the pavement, shoulder-high grass in Central Park, deers running through the streets. It is a powerful visual, well worth the decision to change location from the book’s original Southern California – the contrast is stunning. Of course, it was pretty damn stunning (and more haunting) when 28 Days Later did it first with London, but the affect is still compelling – the best bit of Vanilla Sky was Tom Cruise running through an empty Times Square.

Into this wasteland comes Dr Robert Neville (Will Smith), the last surviving human in New York, and his dog Sam, maintaining their existence in a fortified house on Washington Square while he looks for a cure for the Krippin Virus (he is a virologist as well as a soldier), which mutated and killed 90% of the world’s population, leaving 1% immune and the remaining 9% changed into albino, ultraviolet-sensitive, flesh-eating ‘Dark Seekers’ (note the deliberate avoidance of the word ‘vampire’) who fed on the majority of survivors. By day, he exercises, he scavenges for food, gets gasoline for the generators that provide electricity for his house, hunts deer, waits at midday for any survivors who hear his constantly transmitted message, goes through the local DVD rental place alphabetically and tries to maintain his spirits and sanity when he has no human contact for the last three years.

It is in this section of the film that has real power – Smith (and the dog – great performance from an animal) gives a great performance of a driven man fraying at the edges, and the sequences where the scares are being suggested by the presence of the Dark Seekers are nerve-jangling. The impact of the scenario – what would it be like if you were the last man on Earth – actually comes through, not something a blockbuster would usually dwell on. The combination of an apocalyptic Manhattan and Smith’s reactions drive the isolation and surrealism of the experience. This is particularly impressive when you consider it is just Smith and a dog onscreen for the majority of the first half.

When the Dark Seekers enter the film, their power dissipates; Francis Lawrence should have been aware of Spielberg’s discovery on Jaws, that the absence of the monster is more powerful. It’s not the CGI that does this – visually, they are more arresting as CGI than human actors in make up – rather they can’t live up to the idea they represented when you can see them in the light. They just become generic bad guys in an action flick – compare this with 28 Days Later (which was obviously inspired by the original novel), where the low budget and the immediacy of the Rage virus have more of an impact when the infected are onscreen. The final third of the film doesn’t seem to connect to the rest of the movie, and it ends rather abruptly and not completely satisfyingly, leaving you longing for the earlier section of the movie.

There are some points that highlight the uneven quality of the film. A cute touch is the Batman/Superman logo hybrid poster for a film in Times Square. But do people stick up front pages of newspapers on their fridges which fortunately explain backplot as much as occurs in this film? Neville seems rational and lucid, even though he borders mentally unstable, but then acts completely irrationally at the very end of the film, seemingly based on the butterfly shape that appears on a screen and a tattoo (but seemingly in tone with the end of the novel). Definitely not a legendary film, but a lot to enjoy in places.

Rating: VID

From A Library: Marvel Zombies

Marvel Zombies TPB (#1–5) by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips

Let's talk about one of those many library books I've been reading while I haven't been blogging.

There are some story concepts that just don’t interest me – horror, continuity porn, superheroes stopping bank robbers – and to that list I add zombies. I don’t mind zombies being in stories (I love Shaun of the Dead, for example) but I won’t go out of my way to read something about zombies. My loss, perhaps, but I can’t see the fascination.

Which was why I didn’t read Marvel Zombies when it came out. A spin-off from a Mark Millar Ultimate Fantastic Four story? Really? Yes, I enjoy Kirkman’s Invincible, and Phillips is a very talented artist, but why would anyone read this? And then it started selling out and being reprinted? What the hell was going on? What was it about this idea that was making people crazy for zombies? I thought I would never be able to find out.

Until my fabulous library obtained a copy of the hardcover collection so I could see for myself. (I love my library, by the way – take a look at all the books I have been able to read because they were stocked in my local library.)

The story continues from the Millar tale – Magneto is alive in the Marvel universe where a zombie virus has infected the superhuman community (it seems to be a little different to the zombie concept, with people being fairly normal except when they hunger for human flesh, and the wounds they suffer seem to not really affect them – losing a leg (Spider-Man), losing an arm (Luke Cage), losing the lower half of the body (Iron Man) or just being a head (The Wasp) – but this is a Marvel comic, so I guess we roll with it). All the zombies want to eat and there is very little food left. So they are quite happy when they see the Silver Surfer arrive on their planet …

Even though I can’t get my brain around the Hulk being able to bite the Surfer’s head off, thus allowing them to eat him and, by doing so, gain a portion of his power cosmic, which in turn lets them destroy Galactus (with the aid of an amplifier), the story follows through on its own logic and is a straight-forward tale. The choice of Galactus is obvious – he hungers for planets, zombies hunger for flesh – and it allows for a siding towards the zombies (even though they, y’know, eat people). Philips draws in his dark but clean style, so that there is never any doubt as to what is going on and who is doing what to whom. Kirkman infuses some humour into it (the Red Skull being happy after scooping Colonel America’s brains from his head – ‘It was worth it, just for that’ – before being killed) but there is only so many laughs you can get out of Marvel superheroes eating human flesh.

But I still don’t get it. I don’t understand why this was such a big hit and why it warranted a sequel mini-series. Is it the gore? Is it the clean-cut heroes as flesh-eating zombies, still in their costumes? Am I that out of touch? I hope not. If anyone can explain it to me, please leave a comment detailing all the things I am missing out on. I’d be very grateful.

Film Review: The Golden Compass

This isn’t an anti-American thing, but I don’t like the title ‘The Golden Compass’. I can understand the need for a more universal title for Northern Lights (the first part of His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman) but The Golden Compass seems rather derogatory and denigrating towards the alethiometer. It could be just me but it comes across as a kid’s name for it (which might be what happens in the book – I can’t recall exactly) and belittles it. Which is a coincidence, because the film belittles the book. See what I did there?

The Golden Compass the film is the (faithful) adaptation of the plot of the book, not the book itself. In both, Lyra Belacqua is a ward of Jordan College, Oxford, niece of famous explorer Lord Asriel, who is given one of the remaining alethiometers before she leaves with Mrs Coulter to go to London. She then escapes to rescue her friend Roger from the Gobblers, with the aid of the Gyptians and the armoured polar bear Ioren Brynison and aeronaut Lee Scoresby and witch Serafina Pekkala. But that’s it. It’s like someone made a film of the treatment. The book is very plot-heavy, but there is a lot more going on in the book (which makes it so enjoyable) that couldn’t be contained within a film.

It is understandable that the book would be adapted into a visual medium, apart from the plot – the world in which Lyra et al. live is one in which a part of their soul is externalised in the form of an animal of the opposite sex (a daemon) that can change into other animal shapes until they mature (around puberty). This is a fantastic visual, something which the CGI of the film pulls off with élan. Add to this a fight between armoured polar bears, a steampunk alternate England and a fight at the end which includes flying witches with bows and arrows, and you have a combination that deserves to be seen as well as read. Unfortunately, 2 hours doesn’t allow anytime to enjoy it all and it comes off as rushed. People don’t seem to interact, they just spout exposition at each other because there’s no time.

There are some good things – the daemons are exquisite (such as when Lyra’s daemon, Pantalaimon, has his fur turn white when talking about going to the north), the wonderful fight between the armoured polar bears, the final fight scene, the production design of the world in which they live – and 12-year-old Dakota Blue Richards is incredibly impressive as Lyra, especially as she on-screen throughout. Nicole Kidman is perfect as the icy Mrs Coulter (Pullman was right when he could imagine no one else in the role), but she comes off best in the adult roles, with more than effectively cameos for the likes of Daniel Craig (as Asriel), Eva Green (perfectly cast as the ethereal Pekkala), or Derek Jacobi or Christopher Lee as members of the Magisterium.

However, the film never really gels into something special, despite all the good ingredients. The rush of the plot, the lack of substance and, unfortunately, the not-quite-up-to-the-job direction of Weitz (out of his depth on such an epic scale) leave barely an impression at the end of the running time, especially as they end before the book does, robbing the film and the character of Lyra depth and maturation. I can see this as a film enjoyed by children for the spectacle and the presence of a believable and fascinating leading young character, but it will look odd in future viewings on Christmas television when the ending suggests future instalments that don’t arrive (based on US box office), especially as Weitz has gone out of his way to include all the set-ups for the next film.

Rating: VID

New Year, New (Old) Resolutions

I’m sure there are many other posts of a similar nature to this one – resolving to blog more frequently and talking about why the previous timeframe was devoid of regular posting – but that doesn’t stop me from doing it as well. One tries to be an innovator, but one can’t help being an imitator.

I obviously don’t have the discipline to write something new everyday (and seeing as I write reviews, they do take up a fair chunk of time), so I aim to try for three regular posts (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) with perhaps something on a weekend if time, events or schedule (such as a themed-week) dictates. I’ll still be keeping with my remit of ‘online journal of my entertainment choices’ but I might try to stretch myself with more ‘opinion pieces’ of current concepts, if only in an effort to help the blog be more topical. I think these are achievable goals; if I can maintain that for several months, I’ll be happy and might start branching out.

As for reasons why I have not been posting – well, that’s just a combination of things, one of the weirdest being that I have been writing things. Let me explain, as I confess to a secret. In trying to overdo things and aim for a week of posts, I would create a draft on a day but not actually post anything, then create a draft on the next day but not post anything, and repeat this until I had finished things then post them all at once, making it look like I’ve been regular. I haven’t done this a lot – once or twice on this site – but it caused my recent downfall when my big plans got too big and then I never got round to finishing things. I will go back and finish those weeks off (for example, I have a Stardust week and a TV catch-up week) but it will feel odd after posting this. I have a lot of things written up, ready for posting, so there will be no shortage of content; it just requires me to be more disciplined.

The second reason is the discovery of a new method for obtaining new entertainments. I have discovered that my library has a reservation process that takes in ALL of the London libraries – this means that I have access to an unbelievable number of comic book compilations that I haven’t tried, and I swamped myself with the amount of books to read (that I have written about but haven’t posted). I was like a child in a sweet shop, and made myself sick with all the books I could get hold of, which lead to reading too much and not writing regularly.

The third reason was the presence of decent television on a regular basis in the autumn schedule – with Heroes (very enjoyable but a big poo-plop of an anti-climax), 30 Rock (very funny), a weekly double-helping of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which was really good all the way through, no matter what anyone else said – I write about it in one of my TV catch-up posts that I haven’t posted yet: let’s say it’s here and I’ll edit it later on) and my DVD rental company providing me with the third season of Battlestar Galactica (which was also excellent), I was provided with a surfeit of quality entertainment rather than rubbish that I would bitch about.

The final reason was the coming of Super Mario Galaxy. Even though it came out in November, we saved it as a Christmas present and played it practically every day since – it is exquisitely delightful and thoroughly enjoyable, and I find myself laughing at its imagination and swearing at the screen in exquisite agony at repeated failures to finish a level in equal measure. In the build up to this, I played Super Mario Sunshine from the beginning to get in the mood and as a tribute – I’ve never understood why this has been disliked by the hardcore gaming community: I thought the FLUDD was a great addition, expanding the variety of Mario’s moves; the ability to wander around and explore the levels was a delight; and the variety of levels based on ‘real’ concepts (compared with the mind-bending concepts in Super Mario Galaxy) was great.

Anyway, all this added up to making David a bad Clandestine Critic, especially around Christmas. And then Christmas comes along and nobody does anything, and then the New Year comes along and then it’s time to start things afresh, but I don’t want to start on the first of January (that’s a cliché), so I wait until now, a Monday, to try for the new weekly schedule. Just so you feel like I’m including actual content, I’ll talk about the two new things over Christmas.

Firstly, the Christmas Doctor Who – decidedly average. I’m not a big fan of disaster movies, waiting for the various characters to die, so having a Who disaster episode (particularly one that reminds me of the dull but somehow perceived as ‘classic’ The Poseidon Adventure) isn’t going to help. And Kylie, while she has a nice bum, really can’t act very well. And there were no special bits, a line or a joke or a moment, to rescue it.

Secondly, the Extras Christmas special – Andy Millman becomes a total arsehole you have no desire to watch, let alone see redeemed, and this is supposed to be cheery Christmas telly? If I want to be depressed, I’ll watch bloody Eastenders. The final 10 minutes save it from being a complete waste of time, with the anti-celebrity rant and the resolution with Maggie, but it was only the cameos that made it bearable: ‘Fuck off! I’m Clive Owen. That’s mental.’ was worth it alone and Clive Owen deserves an award for saying it.

And so ends the Return To Blogging post. With actual content. Now, let’s see how we do this time …