Category: Film

Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Film

I Really Liked Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s Ending

[Warning: Contains big time SPOILERS for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Read at your own risk. Ye have been warned!]

Ok, so this past week I went to see Guardians 2. This isn’t a review or the like. Instead, there’s a segment that I wanted to discuss. A part of the film that I really liked. Admittedly, it might just be me. On the whole, the film was overall pretty good. There’s a baseline quality from Marvel that they’ve managed to keep across all fifteen of their films so far. It’s an impressive feat where you can say that the worst of the Marvel universe is far behind it, and even at its worst, it’s watchable. The same can’t be said of some of their competition. Anyway, that should be enough general stuff to hide the spoilers below the read more on most websites.

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Posted on in 2017, Comics, Current Writing, Essays, Film

How to Fix the Fantastic Four

What’s up all? I’ve been doing some fiction stuff recently and have strayed away from my earlier bread and butter. There are a few reasons for the shift and I might delve into that later. If you prefer my fiction, that’s not going away. If you prefer my non-fiction/opinion stuff, that’s not going away either. Anyway, enough of that, onto today’s subject.

So, the Fantastic Four film franchise has had a rocky past of late, well more like an ongoing rocky existence. From the 90s Corman film, to the 00s films starring Captain America before he was Cap, to the stupidly-titled 2015 film, Fant4stic. It hasn’t been an easy ride for Marvel’s First Family, with their films being generally received on a scale of Ok to Bad. First, let’s delve into the tricky part of adapting the Fantastic Four for film, and then I’ll throw my hat into the ring attempting to the wrangle the beast at the conceptual phase.

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Posted on in 2017, Comics, Current Writing, Essays, Film

How the MCU Made Captain America Interesting

Who’s strong and brave here to save the American Way?

So, my favourite MCU movie is Captain America: The First Avenger. It’s certainly not the most beloved of the MCU movies amongst the general population (often being overshadowed by its sequel The Winter Soldier, and its direct successor in the MCU, The Avengers), but I wanted to look back and admire its successes. In fact, I reckon the successes of the first Captain America film are a microcosm of the successes of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, without further ado, let’s look at Captain America.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Film

Why Deadpool Was Snubbed for the Oscars (and It’s Not What You Think)

So recently Ryan Reynolds was campaigning for Deadpool to win an Oscar. There was nothing explicitly forbidding the film from winning. It was eligible enough but the prevailing opinion was that Deadpool wasn’t the sort of movie that’s nominated for an Oscar. Which is true, it shouldn’t be true, but it is. Now, I’m going to begin by explaining why Deadpool was unlikely to be nominated for what it was. Then I’ll get to the reason I think it didn’t get the nomination.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Film, TV

The Pop Culture Things I’m Grateful For

I’m tired.

I’m tired of being angry all the time. I want to be positive. I’ve talked a lot of shit about stuff on this website (mostly the DCEU) but I do actually enjoy stuff. I like quite a lot of stuff. I’m not some bitter, pop culture hater. I talk about this stuff because I love it. I admonish DC out of love. They can be better. I know they can. I try and write about the problems to highlight continuing bad trends in writing that hopefully, future writers avoid. This week, however, I’m not going to flagellate the sinners of pop culture. Time to reward the good.

(By no means a comprehensive list, just a collection of stuff I love. I do have to thank my partner Zoe for actually introducing me to half the stuff on this list, my tastes would be kind of boring without her.)

 

Movies

What We Do in the Shadows – Recently, when introducing a friend to this movie I described it as “a movie where nothing seems to happen until the movie ends and then you realise, yeah, something did happen”. What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 mockumentary about vampires. Apparently, this is by at least some of the same people as Flight of the Conchords. So. if you liked that, this will be right up your alley.

The movie concerns three vampires who live in a share house is suburban Wellington. It’s exactly what that sounds like. It looks at and parodies every single vampire trope. It’s a movie that anyone can enjoy but have references to Dracula, Nosferatu, and other vampire fare. The movie has this kitschy charm to it and it’s worth the watch one night with friends.

Probably the best comparison would be to the Thor short that was released after Civil War except, you know, with vampires instead of a Norse God.

The film was directed by Jemaine Clement (who recently played Tamatoa in Moana) and Taika Waititi (the director behind Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and this year’s Thor Ragnarok).

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Film, TV

Not My Superman 2: Dawn of Truth, Justice and the American Way

Come on DC, it’s not that friggin hard.

So, in my last post about Superman, I talked about how to fix Superman by fixing his villains. Essentially, I was examining the plot of potential future Superman movies. From this, I sort of made the assumption that if the villain and the conflict coalesced into a coherent plot then Superman would follow via a basic fucking understanding of the character that setting up the elements of a story would allow. I realise that that’s giving DC and Warner Brothers a little too much credit.

So, let’s be really simple to the studio that still trusts Zack Snyder with their cinematic universe for some reason. DC, like the Flash before him, you’ve already created a great adaptation of the character. Your perfect Superman story is in Supergirl (I’ve been binging the series and have enjoyed it immensely). Mild spoilers for Season 1 of Supergirl incoming.

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Posted on in 2017, Comics, Current Writing, Essays, Film

Not My Superman

(Author’s Note: I’ve only just started watching Supergirl. Will be minimal references to it in this piece)

Superman is my favourite superhero. Not a lot of people understand that. When I talk about Superman people tend to think of Henry Cavill’s turn as Superman, maybe they think of Justice League Animated, rarely they think of Christopher Reeve (blame my generation, millennials ruined Superman. What a title for a curmudgeonly click bait article). Anyway, it’s easy to see how Superman might not have aged well in the public consciousness. Stories come about when characters struggle and Superman, with his bizarre and lengthy list of powers suggest a limitless power. How could someone like that struggle?

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Film, Guest Writer

Our Favourite Films of 2016

Hey all, so I wanted to compile my list of favourite things for 2016. However, I’m not doing it alone. I’ve brought in some of my previous collaborators from Geeked to discuss their favourite picks of the year. You can find their social media links at the end of their pieces. Enjoy!

 

Zoe – Kubo and the Two Strings

(Editor’s Note: I’m so glad Zoe picked this because it just lost out to my number one by the slimmest of margins) My favourite film of 2016 was Kubo and the Two Strings. Kubo combines my love for Japanese storytelling, Japanese aesthetics and themes, and stop motion animation (but stop motion animation that is more grounded, rather than the cartoony Shaun the Sheep, which I also love but for different reasons). The story telling of Kubo was engaging, and different enough that it was hard to predict what would happen next. The standout character of Monkey was refreshing as a grouchy, old mentor who was cautious and suspicious of others, and who over the course of the movie became an interesting and complex character.

Zoe can be found on her website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at zebrafishdm.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Film

Spider-man Fatigue

So, the new Spider-man Homecoming trailer came out. I watched it a couple times. Now, I should preface this with some stuff. Ever since Avengers I’ve gone to see every Marvel movie, and ever since Thor: The Dark World I’ve been to every new one with my partner. It’s rather easy to hear about and see a new Marvel movie every six months. I’ve enjoyed most every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on some level. I watch the TV shows. I’m generally quite an involved individual in the MCU. There have only been a couple of MCU things that I had no interest in: the now-cancelled Marvel Most Wanted, and Spider-man Homecoming. This isn’t Spider-man Homecoming’s fault (in fact Michael Keaton’s Vulture could another great villain for the MCU if he lives up to his trailer presence), or the fault of Tom Holland, or fatigue with the whole MCU. No, now you might have guessed what I’m feeling due to the title. I’ve got Spider-man Fatigue.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Film, Music

Dead Celebrities in 2016

For many, 2016 is the year of the dead celebrity. Now celebrities die every year but the sheer girth of icons we lost this year is staggering. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, and Prince were some of the biggest icons taken from us. The loss of Bowie and Rickman so close to each other at the start of the year led to an outpouring of grief from many on social media. The day each of these men died, my Facebook page was awash with grief. Some saw the deaths of Bowie and Rickman as an omen of the dumpster fire of a year that followed. With the shroud of celebrity death upon the year, every new announcement of a dead celebrity hit home for someone and defined 2016 as the year of the dead celebrity for some. Now, that’s probably not true. People die all the time. Celebrities, by virtue of being people, have to die sometime.

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