Heaven’s Gate

Finally get around to watching this beast of a movie and I’m at a loss. I had heard all the stuff about the movie backrupting a major studio, the critical drubbing, the director going psychotic on set and having his career destroyed by the film’s reception. However I have to say that I quite liked it and I can’t understand why everyone considers it to be such a dog. Its no masterpiece but it is a beautifully shot, well acted movie. Why did this movie get such a bad drubbing? Granted the director did kind of go off on one. If it was me I would have cut the entire opening scene at Harvard which was totally pointless and just plain silly, the whole scene makes you think you are watching another movie entirely and not a stark western. Similarly the ending had me perplexed…there was no need for Ella to get shot at the end it was just as sad with all those towns people being massacred! Also Cimino could have made more of the friendship between Nate and Jim, it just wasn’t as developed as it should have been.

On a side note, Christopher Walken is one of those actors that can never give a bad performance, granted he has been in some really shit films, but some how that shit never manages to stick to him…just thought I would throw that out there…

Swamp Thing: How Alan Moore Changed Mainstream Comics Forever

I Just bought a whole load of Swamp Thing comics on ebay, so I thought I would discuss them. I have a few issues of Swamp thing before Alan Moore took over with his run and the difference is staggering. Before Moore took over it was just your standard horror comic with not much to recommend in it. It reminded me of a cheap b-movie rip off of the Frankenstein story…and I don’t mean that in a good way! Then bam! Moore’s ideas and style were just so different from what was happening with that comic in the previous issues. He completely turned the character’s motivations and origins on its head, while still somehow maintaining the foundations and history of the character. Moore managed to trawl through previous often little know comics characters and re-introduce them back into the mainstream D.C universe in often ingenious ways. His writting still holds up given that this run started over 20 years ago! 20 Years! I still can’t believe D.C. had the balls to give him free rein on Swamp Thing! The comic completely abandoned the comics code authority…when was the last time you saw a comic cover stamped with approval from those crazy guys? The impact can be still be seen today not only in the Vertigo line but also in modern mainstream superhero genre comics. Even though the writing is very ‘literary’ he still managed to maintain the comic’s superhero genre roots. Something which can’t be said for Sandman, which I really liked as a kid but now, when I recently reread it, found it to be the bigest pile of Wank ever ( Maybe I should do a course on criticism .. I’m sure ‘Wank’ is not a valid literary movement ) …but I digress. Moore wrote comics for adults ( for good or bad ), he threw out all the rules for what could and could not be done with that medium, while maintaining ( and re-enforcing ) its original goals.

It is absolutly staggering as to the effect Alan Moore has had on mainstream comics.

Batman R.I.P.

I’ve already spoken at length about Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis and I thought I would now turn to his other major work currently being published by D.C. Batman R.I.P. is a strange beast. Upon my initial read, it left me feeling a bit cold and thinking ‘meh’ so what, but then I re-read all the issues so far and I have to say it holds up a lot better then I first thought. The fact that the arc is told on a monthly basis does not do the story any credit, it is a lot harder to follow on a month by month basis – and therein lies the problem – this story will be great as a trade. I hate the fact that a lot of comic writers seem to be writing stories with the fact that it might sell well as a trade sitting in the back of their head. That’s one of the reasons why I like Jonah Hex, each story is short and sweet and succinctly told in 20 odd pages. In fact I would go so far as to say that it is one of the best comics currently being published..but anyway I digress. Batman R.I.P. has other problems, I get the sense that I have read this story before ( remind you of Knightfall anyone? ) but I am curious to see where its going so I will stick around. I have to admit that I love the ‘Batman of Zurr-en-rah’ concept. One thing that I have to say, it is a lot more interesting then Final Crisis!.

Final Crisis Vs Secret Invasion Pt 2 SPOILERS!!!

Just finished reading Secret Invasion #4 and Final Crisis #3. I really liked the lead up in Secret Invasion…I loved the idea of all these old versionsof Marvel Heroes suddenly crashing into the Savage Land and the modern day heroes not knowing who is real and who is actually a Skrull….but now Mr Fantastic arives and shows everyone that all of the heroes who crash landed were Skrulls…what?…What?…WHAT! So the last couple of issues were a pointless waste of time….*sigh* I was hoping that some of the heroes who crash landed were real…it would make for some great storries of them trying to adjust in a changed world…oh well….

Final Crisis on the other hand has kind of gotten better…the plot still requires a Ph. D in fanboy to decipher but its moving somewhere…I may not like where its going but its not bad. Also big shout out to Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds…its V. good.

Trailers From Hell

Check this out! I’m really impressed by it! Just what you want, a bunch of directors talking about their favourite movies while the trailer of the movie plays in the background:

Trailers From Hell

Masters Of Horror

I’m coming to this a bit late and I’m not a huge Fan of Horror ( just ask this guy ) but, from the few episodes I’ve seen, I’ve been really impressed. Particularly ‘Homecoming’. Its the best satire on the ‘Bush Years’ that I have seen. Its also the best thing that Joe Dante has done for a long while ( and I’m a fan of his so that’s not a flippant remark ; ) )