Film - Cloverfield

JJ Abrahams new film Cloverfield has been surrounded in mystery. Nobody knows what its about only for the first teaser which starts with a going away party which is interuppeted by a unknown disaster in New York City, resulting in the decapatated head of the statue of liberty rolling down the street!

Its filmed from a hand held camera which replicates images seen during 9-11 and creates realisim, suspense and tension. Should be good!

Film - Hellboy

I got the Directors Cut of Hellboy on DVD last week at Play really cheap (under 10 euros!) and its worth getting for all the extra stuff (nearly 3 hours!). Theres Mike Mignolas art for the film with detailed commentary by Mike, and a short piece with comics teacher Scott McCloud (more on him later!), and other stuff that I haven't got around to watching yet! Worth getting.

Comics - Hellboy

Hellboy is a success story for its creator Mike Mignola, who created the character in 1993. Unlike the creator of Batman Bob Kane, Mike didn't have to wait 50 years to see his creation done justice on the big screen. The Hellboy film in 2004 was a big hit and Hellboy 2 is released this summer! The new film focuses on the fantasy side of Hellboy, so I did a bit of research I bought Hellboy the Chained Coffin and Others graphic novel.

Its a nice collection of short stories with Hellboy investigating cases involving shape changing goblins and other unearthly creatures, based on irish and other fantasy stories, all done in Mignolas unmistakable style that no others can match!

TV - Bionic Woman

The new Bionic Woman TV show is a remake of the 70s show brings Jamie sommers into the 2000s with more problems than just getting used to the idea that 50% of her body is robotic! The lead actress Michelle Ryan has put in a lot of work to change her voice to sound more american-its a big change if you have ever heard her on Eastenders! Its on hiatus now due to the Writers strike in America. The team behind the Battlestar Galactica revival (more on that later!) is behind this, with some actors from that show. Theres a trend at the moment of taking shows from the 70s & 80s and re-making them in a more realistic post 9-11 world. The first few episodes have been good so far!

24-08-08 Update - Series hasnt done well which is a pity as it started so good. Doesnt look like it will get another series. At least you should be able to get the season one boxset cheap!

TV - BatmanThe Animated Series

'The Dark Knight' looks great! It is maintaining the same actors and gritty realistic treatment that made Batman Begins a success.





I got the DVD collection of season one of 'Batman - the animated series' recently. It is amazing watching it again because its really dark for a cartoon show! Reliving those days of coming home from school and catching the latest episode, should keep me going until the new film!

Comics - Tangents

I first saw Miguelanxo Prados work in the british anthology Crisis, which was a british comic that set out to use comics to tell more mature stories and used european artists work because they explored relationships in comic form. I loved Prados chalk drawings on brown paper.

The writing isn't bad either. Tangents explores relationships and the stories usually do not have happy endings. Jealousy, unrequited love, old flames long extinguished are just some of the subjects.

A book that should be read, and shows just what comics are capable of. Available from Play.

TV - The Lost Room

Once in a blue moon a TV show comes along that is above the rest. This is one of them. In the tradition of The Twilight Zone, this pilot mini series examines ordinary people in extra ordinary circumstances. The premise behind the show is that an accident occurs at a motel room which affects everyday objects in the room. The objects get supernatural powers ranging from invincibility to controlling time. I got the DVD collection the other day and I'm hoping to watch it again soon. Run time is 252 minutes, so thats going to be a long evening! I got it on Play at a good price! Catch the opening title on Youtube.