15 June 2013
Cast: Amy Adams, Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe
Script: David S. Goyer
Genre: Action, sff
Setting: Metropolis, USA - Kansas
6 Stars
1 Comment
This is a Superman film. And a Superman origins film at that, so you can guess at some of the plot. Clark Kent dealing with his superhero side, becoming Superman, and learning about where he really came from. But this … Continue reading
23 July 2012
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hardy
Script: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan
Genre: Action, sff
Setting: Gotham city, USA
9 Stars
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Before this review begins, I’d like to just wish everyone affected by the attack in Colorado the very best. I really have no words to express how horrible that was, especially when you read stories like that of Jessica Ghawi’s, … Continue reading
5 July 2012
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Denis Leary, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Rhys Ifans, Sally Fields
Script: Alvin Sargent, James Vanderbilt, Steve Kloves
Genre: sff
Setting: New York
4 Stars
2 Comments
Do I need to give a recap to this story? I mean, you know that it is a Spider-man film, and if I tell you it is an origin story well, I’m sure you’ll figure out that there will be … Continue reading
4 May 2012
Cast: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Clark Gregg, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston
Script: Joss Whedon, Zak Penn
Genre: Action, sff
10 Stars
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aka Avengers Assemble, which is a totally crap name. Even Marvel’s the Avengers would’ve been better. Stupid marketing decisions are stupid. Okay, so long time readers of the blog here will know that I am a huge fan of Joss … Continue reading
14 August 2011
Cast: Chris Evans, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson, Sebastian Stan, Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones
Script: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Genre: Action, sff
Setting: 1940s, USA
7 Stars
6 Comments
Too short, too unfit, too ill for military service, all Steve Rogers wants is to join up and serve his country in fighting the Nazis. He has been picked on all his life, but refuses to back down, once you start running, he believes, you’ll never stop. When Dr. Abraham Erskine discovers this desire he begins to pull strings and gets Rogers into the army, into a special, experiemental unit, to be precise. Soon Rogers is no longer too small, or too unfit, he is in fact a super-soldier. Although what can one man do? Well, propaganda. He is sent off touring the states in an effort to try and persuade the public to buy war bonds. And then, on to Europe to entertain the troops. But they aren’t interested in his performance, they want to see the girls. Rogers, however, is very interested in the news that this is the 107th, the very same unit his best friend joined, but of Bucky there is no sign. Rogers decides that he has had enough of Captain America the stage hero and decides to go in and rescue the missing soldiers.
But you don’t really need that back story do you? I mean, we’ve all heard of Captain America, the superhero who fought the Nazis, right?
6 June 2011
Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Lucas Till, Michael Fassbender
Script: Ashley Miller, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Zack Stentz
Genre: Action, sff
Setting: 1960s, USA
7 Stars
2 Comments
Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr weren’t always the famous Professor X and Magento. This is their origin story, the origin story of the original X-Men. Set in the 1960s with the Cuban Missile crises at boiling point, the pot of tensions is being stirred further by Sebastian Shaw, a mutant who has been doing the rounds since the 1940s. He believes that mutants are the superior race, and that they must destroy the inferior human race in order to take their rightful place as masters of the earth. Lebensraum and all that.
21 January 2011
Cast: Cameran Diaz, Christoph Waltz, Jay Chou, Seth Rogen, Tom Wilkinson
Script: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Genre: Action
3 Stars
2 Comments
Britt Reid is a spoiled little rich boy. One day, after his father dies he wakes to find that his coffee has been badly made. In a fit of rage he demands to know why! Why isn’t his coffee its … Continue reading
28 April 2010
Call no: 800
Genre: graphic novel, sff
Setting: future, Russia
2 Comments
by Mark Millar
I love the idea behind this graphic novel. Superman, instead of being raised by the Kents in Kansas, instead lands in the middle of Russia and is raised on a collective farm. Growing up, instead of embodying the American Dream, he becomes the Champion of the common worker. And so much of it is just cool. There are loads of great touches, I loved the idea of the alternate Batman.
Unfortunately it never got beyond the “oooh that sounds cool” aspect of the story.
22 April 2010
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage
Script: Bob Fisher, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Thomas Lennon
Genre: Action, family, sff
Setting: USA
3 Comments
Dir:Matthew Vaughn
Writ: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar & John Romita Jr.
With all the people out there who love comic books, with all those millions of people who love superheroes, why hasn’t anyone ever tried it. That’s what Dave Lizewski wonders. It isn’t that he thinks it is sensible, but surely it stands to reason that someone, somewhere will try it? Or has tried it? Well, why not him. So he goes online and buys a scuba diving suit, and low and behold, Kick-ass is born. Things do not go well for him. He’s a weedy teenager out on his own trying to fit the bad guys. He gets his ass kicked, on more than one occasion, but he also gets famous. And comes to the attention of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, two real superheroes who know enough about their job to keep themselves totally secret. Did I mention that Hit-Girl is like eleven or something? Continue reading
25 January 2010
Genre: graphic novel, sff
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Writ: Mark Millar & Illus: Bryan Hitch
I was a little disappointed in these graphic novels. Mainly because they often seemed to look for the cheap laugh while at the same time trying to be all gritty at the same time. You can usually go for one or the other, but both at the same time usually doesn’t work.