Christopher Priest

I was sad to hear recently that the great science fiction author, Christopher Priest, has passed away at the age of 80. Priest was one of my favourite writers and his haunting, deceptively complex novels had a profound impact on me.

His novels were disturbing, chilly views into unreliable realities: always technically brilliant, always thought-provoking. Priest made his name as a science fiction author with such novels as Fugue For A Darkening Island and Inverted World, but his fiction quickly moved on to become uncategorisable, nearer to the "mainstream" ( whatever that is ) but, paradoxically, further away from standard literary fiction with its seemingly-endless supply of navel-gazing. Priest's characters always seemed trapped in hostile landscapes, puzzles and mental mazes, always searching for meaning which proved to be slippery and contradictory.

While this all sounds a bit dry, Priest's coolly deliberate prose allowed his characters' emotional states to slowly work out on the page, especially more so in recent novels like The Separation and The Adjacent. Recurring themes of magic, illusions, split / double personalities and, above all, the unreliability of perception gave his stories an eerie, fable-like quality. At the same time, he was unafraid to tackle such current issues as terrorism, climate change and xenophobia, grounding the fantastic in our own uncertain world. The term "slipstream" could almost have been coined specifically for his illusive, allusive work.

I don't think Christopher Priest has ever received the praise and attention he really deserved, probably because of the very nature of his work, but there are certainly a lot of fans who have enjoyed puzzling over his intriguing fiction. His passing is a great loss to the literary world, but I'll leave the last words to his partner, Nina Allan:

Chris’s physical presence may have left us, but as readers we are lucky: a writer’s soul is immortal, instantly present and accessible through the stories, essays, criticism and novels they have left for us to find. As I said to Chris many times these past weeks and months, in this most important and essential of ways, he will always be with us. The work goes on.

The Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials

Doesn't time fly? Well, it certainly does when you're a chronologically challenged, quantum-entangled mysterious traveller with an uncertain future and ever-changing past. But, enough about me. It's, er, time to talk about the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials and the long-awaited appearance of the 14th AND 15th Doctors... ( Spoilers lurk ahead, obviously )
 

The Star Beast

I'd been dubious about the return of Russell T Davies, David Tennant and co. ever since hearing the news. I always think going backwards, in art or in life, is a bad move and this return of the Who old guard seemed a regressive nostalgia-grab to me. As it turned out, I enjoyed the 14th Doctor stories more than I'd expected, and I was never the biggest fan of Ten / Tennant. 

Based on a well-loved Doctor Who Weekly comic strip by graphic storytelling titans Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons, this first Special was a breezy, full-tilt romp, deftly reintroducing Donna Noble and her now-extended family, as well as The Meep ( cutesy action-figure-in-waiting turned intergalactic villain voiced by Miriam Margoyles ) and the pleasingly panelogical Wrarth Warriors. It was good to see appearances by the wonderful Ruth Madeley and British TV legend the late Bernard Cribbins in his final role. Lots of colour, action and spectacle, with hints at the ongoing storyline to come. All of RTD's expected strengths and weaknesses were on display, but it certainly gave the show the kick up the arse it probably needed.

Wild Blue Yonder      

After doing a splashy "Earth in danger" story, the second Special flipped to science fiction weirdness. Trapped on a giant spaceship at the very edge of the universe, Donna and the Doctor found themselves alone, without the Tardis, and up against a uniquely terrifying enemy. More or less a two-hander, this episode gave the stars a chance to bounce off each other and act their socks off, as the characters faced distorted versions of themselves. A cool concept, some very unsettling tea-time body horror, and plenty of chewy dialogue for Tennant & Tate to get their teeth into. "My arms are too long!"

The Giggle

The finale ( or was it? ) of the 14th Doctor era, this third Special finally saw the arrival of The Toymaker, the ancient foe of the First Doctor, now regenerated into Doogie Howser. This was a suitably crazy episode, taking in creepy puppets, John Logie Baird, dance routines to the Spice Girls and, oh yeah, the end of the world again. Neil Patrick Harris was great fun as the immortal, games-obsessed villain, while there was some satisfying closure to the "lonely alien" aspect of the 10th / 14th Doctors' personalities. Easter Eggs abounded throughout the episode and, for all those fans constantly harping on about a multi-Doctor story for the 60th, this came about in a roundabout fashion as the Doc "bi-generated", with the 15th Doctor splitting away from his predecessor. This was a canny move as it opened up the chance of Tennant's Doctor returning yet again someday ( and, surprisingly, I wouldn't be too upset if he did ) and also gave some proper screen time to Ncuti Gatwa, making a big impression ( in his boxers! ) as the next Doctor.

The Church On Ruby Road

And so this is Christmas / And what have you done? / Another Doc over / A new one just begun

( Sorry. ) 

Christmas Day saw the ol' blue box show returned to its rightful place in the festive TV schedules with the proper, full-length debut of the 15th Doctor. ( Yeah, the whole Timeless Child storyline ensures this numbering is irrelevant but we still seem to be calling him the fifteenth, so I'll go with it. ) And, what a debut! Fizzing with energy, colour and vigour, this "soft reboot" of the show saw the newly-regenerated Doctor meeting up with new companion Ruby Sunday and her family, some hungry goblins and... Davina McCall? 

From the first glimpse of Gatwa's Doctor, spinning deliriously around on a dancefloor, he was a whirlwind of charisma and style, with a grinning, positive energy that pumped an injection of sheer exuberance into this 60-year old show. Equally adept at the quieter, more reflective moments ( although there weren't many of those! ), he more than lived up to the promise of The Giggle. Millie Gibson's Ruby was a sparky, warm character, with an underlying melancholy due to her "foundling" status. Ruby's mysterious past will obviously play into future stories and RTD instantly connected her rootlessness with the Doctor's own recent discovery of her / his own uncertain origins. The Church On Ruby Road was hugely entertaining and firmly placed Doctor Who back in the mainstream with its unabashed Labyrinth - meets - It's A Wonderful Life vibe, and with all that Disney money up on the screen in the form of a huge goblin ship floating over London, and a full-on musical number for Ruby, the Doctor and those pesky goblins. ( A lot of fans hated that, but I thought it was a blast. )

After my misgivings about the RTD2 era, these Specials turned out to be a lot of fun and I'm really excited for the next season. May can't come soon enough...

Avatar: The Way of Water and other films from 2022

I haven't posted anything about movies on here for ages so I'm going to do a quick rundown of the films I saw at the cinema last year. There were a lot of anniversary screenings of old classics in 2022, probably as a way to get bums on seats again after the empty cinemas of the bloody pandemic days, and also maybe an attempt to get Netflix-junkies off their arses. It was such a joy to get back to the cinemas again after all the uncertainties of the last few years. As Empire magazine put it, 2022 was "the year the world woke up". In the time-honoured, but pointless, tradition of TGW-S I'm going to talk about the movies I saw in reverse order, starting with the biggest and wettest blockbuster of the year:

Avatar: The Way of Water

James Cameron finally delivered his sequel to Avatar ( The Biggest Movie Of All Time!!!  etc ) and took us back to the paradise planet of Pandora, where Jake and Neytiri  - 10 years after the original story - were now raising a family and looking towards the future. Unfortunately that future included hordes of "sky-people" ( or humans as we're also known ) returning to Pandora for some payback after their previous ignominious defeat. The Sullys were forced to flee their arboreal home and head to the coast to try and join another tribe and fight off the mechanised might of the human invaders. 

As ever with Cameron movies, the plot and themes weren't much more advanced than the average Disney cartoon but... the spectacle... oh, the spectacle! Seeing this in Imax 3D was just jaw-dropping: leaps and bounds ahead of the ( still bloody impressive ) first movie, Cameron now took us underneath the seas of Pandora to find a whole new aquatic world. Properly immersive as very few 3D films actually are, this movie made the audience feel totally surrounded by all the new fauna and flora that swam, swayed and darted throughout the frame. Every inch of the screen seemed to be filled with detail, with colourful creatures, with hidden dangers. And also with emotion, as Cameron piled on the agony and joy for the Sully family, even risking the demise of a newly-introduced but engaging character. It was all very string-pulling, mainstream entertainment... but no less wonderful for that. Sarah, Sophie and I all really enjoyed the movie and completely bought into the world that seemingly bubbled around us. A lot of people have been very snobbish about Avatar but I thought it was a monumental piece of film-making, a fantastic showcase for what cinema can be, and definitely something worth getting off your arse to go and see.

The Thing ( 40th anniversary )

From 2022 we time-warped back to 1982 and John Carpenter's masterpiece of paranoia, terror and dogs whose heads split open. As we all know, 40 years ago another, more cuddly alien ruled the box office ( "ouch!" ) and Carpenter's shape-changing monster movie was mostly dismissed as being too grim and downbeat. Of course, it's now regarded as a classic and it was cool to see it on the big screen again. ( I actually saw it back in the day as part of a double-bill with another remake, Paul Schrader's Cat People. Quite a night out! ) We've seen the movie countless times but it still hasn't lost its tentacled grip, and the restored picture was sharp enough that you could see every bodily fluid and gooey substance sprayed across the screen. "Whatever it is, it's weird and pissed off."

The Lost Boys ( 35th anniversary )

Another anniversary screening, another cult classic. The Lost Boys is of course the late Joel Schumacher's camp vamp movie starring a mullet-wearing Keifer Sutherland and other lesser lights of the Brat Pack era, as well as the always-excellent Dianne Wiest. It was one of the first films Sarah and I saw together ( in 1987! ) and remains a non-guilty pleasure to this day. It's silly, cheesy fun with endlessly quotable dialogue ( "You're a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire! Wait 'til Mom finds out!" ), some seriously homoerotic undertones, and a cast that are having a ball. We went to see this on Halloween and ran into Michael Myers who actually sat about two rows behind us. ( I think he'd probably seen Halloween Ends about three times that day and fancied a break... )

Nope ( which was what I said when I saw Michael Myers coming up the escalator! )

After being hugely impressed by small-screen viewings of Jordan Peele's first two movies, Get Out and Us, I knew I had to see his next offering at the cinema, no matter what. Nope had been preceded by an enigmatic ad campaign which suggested it was a "UFO movie" but not much beyond that. It was certainly tantalising and knowing that the UK's own Daniel Kaluuya was one of the stars made the film an even more exciting prospect. So, was it a "yep" or "nope" for Nope? It was certainly a visually stunning movie, Jordan Peele making the most of every inch of the widescreen frame, with some excellent performances. Kaluuya and Keke Palmer played brother and sister partners in a business which supplies horses to Hollywood movies and really made you believe in their relationship, often fractious but always loving. The Hollywood aspect was crucial as the film had a lot to say about people's appetites for spectacle, for getting that "perfect shot", and for what happens to people on the margins of the movie business, especially people of colour. The biggest problem was the pace. The film was often deathly slow and could have done with some judicious editing and maybe a bit more action. But, what was there was often breath-taking: the eerie sight of *something* darting through clouds above a deserted valley, a literal rain of blood, a primate TV star destroying a studio set and its occupants  -  so many indelible images. I'd still say Us is Peele's most successful, most affecting movie, but I'd give a qualified "yep" to his latest. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Robocop ( 35th anniversary )

Back to 1987 again, and this time also to a near-future Detroit to meet the future of law enforcement in Paul Verhoeven's Robocop. The same director's Total Recall is one of *the* quintessential 1980s movies and, while not quite on the same insane level, Robocop is still a lot of over-the-top fun. Savagely satirical ( "I'd buy that for a dollar!" ) and simultaneously gloriously stupid, Robocop remains hugely entertaining in its gonzo, balls-to-the-wall fashion. Lashings of the old ultra-violence, weapons-grade swearing, enough flying glass to re-glaze Crystal Palace and hilariously cynical villains. Oh, the villains. Robocop is a film that's in love with its bad guys: top 1980s character actors ( Miguel Ferrer, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith ) all vie to outdo each other as the meanest, nastiest hombres on the block. Scenery-chewing has never been such fun. All of which leaves the lead characters, played by Peter Weller and Nancy Allen, somewhat side-lined. Weller gives as good a performance as possible under his armour and prosthetics, trying to portray a good cop outrageously manipulated by the system into becoming a dehumanised walking weapon, but it's never really the focus of the film.

Thor: Love & Thunder

Another day, another Marvel movie. Although the young, 1970s version of me who grew up reading Marvel comics would have thought a seemingly-endless supply of movies based on those characters would be nirvana ( or Asgard ), the 2023 version of me is starting to get bored of them. Heresy, right? For the most part, no. Most of these MCU films have become so generic in terms of plot and character, and the overwhelming CGI slug-fests lose their charm after the first dozen or so. I really enjoyed Taika Waititi's last Thor thilm... sorry, "film"... Ragnarok, which was broadly spectacular, stuffed with great moments and lines, and had exceptional villains in Cate Blanchett's Hela and Tom Hiddleston's Loki. This latest adventure, while featuring a sterling performance from Natalie Portman as an arse-kicking female thunder god, suffered from a surfeit of lame, would-be-ironic humour which undercut any drama or excitement and just became irritating. Thor himself is now a parodic shadow of the original movie character and, although Chris Hemsworth's charisma just about saves it, maybe it's time for this Nordic demi-god to shuffle off to Valhalla...

Everything Everywhere All At Once

While I'm on the subject of Marvel movies, one of the better examples of this recently was Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. This hasn't made my list because I watched it on Disney+ but it was a worthy sequel to the first Doc movie and at least went a few more interesting places, courtesy of director Sam Raimi. One thing it didn't really accomplish though was to show us a convincing multiverse, mad or otherwise. Luckily, true multiversal madness could be seen in Everything Everywhere All At Once, the latest movie from Daniels, aka directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan. This starts off as a relatively mundane, but engrossing, story of an Asian-American family ( the legendary Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu ) dealing with the immigrant experience, income tax, divorce and the generation gap. But then it gets weird. Really weird. Yeoh's Evelyn is contacted by an alternate version of her husband who claims she's really a powerful warrior who must unite other versions of herself to save the multiverse. As Evelyn is forced to find her place in this new universe, and find a way to both pay her taxes and save her marriage, the film warps from absurdist comedy to all-out action thriller to a moving meditation on love and family. It's a mind-boggling, dazzling journey, quite unlike anything else I've seen for a long time. Michelle Yeoh gives the performance of her lifetime, making Evelyn a multi-faceted, living, breathing character who convinces as much as a down-trodden laundrette owner as she does as a kick-ass heroine. It's certainly refreshing to see a middle-aged Asian woman taking on such a role in a Hollywood movie, and now she's Oscar-nominated too, which is excellent news. Definitely my film of the year... but... where's the UK DVD?

The Northman

Another film I'd eagerly anticipated was Robert Eggers' follow-up to The Witch and The Lighthouse, both fine, idiosyncratic movies which made a big impression on me. Unfortunately, The Northman wasn't in their league. Eggers' Viking epic, loosely based on a legend that inspired Hamlet, was big, brash and brutal and often boring. The trailers had promised an action-packed revenge saga, but had looked cliche-ridden and I'd hoped for some twists or nuance to counteract the hackneyed situations. That didn't happen. Alexander Skarsgard rampaged his way through the film, fighting, killing, burning villages, burping and farting, but I really couldn't care about him or his quest. It all just felt hollow. The film certainly looked impressive with some beautiful cinematography, courtesy of Jarin Blaschke, but the movie was, to quote Macbeth not Hamlet, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The Godfather ( 50th anniversary )

50 years? Crazy. Any chance to see The Godfather on the big screen has to be taken so, in this case, I drove over to Hereford to meet James and we hit the local Odeon. He'd never seen the film at the cinema before and, like I'd been before, he was blown away by just how masterful Coppolla's magnum opus looks when viewed as originally intended. The Godfather still stands as my favourite film of all time and it was great to share the movie experience with James. I wrote about my last big screen visit with the Corleone family way back in 2009 which you can read here, should you want to, of course. It's not an offer you can't refuse. Nobody's going to put a horse's head in your bed. Honest.

Doctor Who: The Power Of The Doctor ( mini-review with spoilers )

( Well, I say "spoilers" but it's been over a week since the show was broadcast so I imagine all the spoilers have been thoroughly spoiled by now. )

So, Jodie Whittaker's final story, barring of course any return for future anniversary specials or suchlike. It seems like no time since the Thirteenth Doctor first fell to Earth in, er, The Woman Who Fell To Earth and now it's time for her to change again. But first: Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, returning companions and other surprises. 

Even with its 90-minute running time, this special seemed over-stuffed with events, characters, plot-twists and locations... but I still thought it was one of the most fun episodes of the Chibnall era. I think the "Flux" season from last year showed that Chibs was finally getting the balance right ( or almost right ) between seemingly endless expository scenes and full-on action, while introducing some proper tension and interesting characters to his take on the Whoniverse. It's a shame this couldn't have happened sooner and made Jodie's era less frustrating but, anyway, The Power Of The Doctor was a suitably epic finale. 

It was certainly a BIG story with allegedly more FX shots than in any previous Who episode and gave us some jaw-dropping moments as the Doctor and companions hopped trains in space, were caught between warring planets, outwitted armies of Cyberman and Daleks, and witnessed the Master forcing the Doc to regenerate against her will. But, amongst all this spectacle, it was the smaller, character-driven moments that stood out the most. Sacha Dhawan's Master was again gloriously unhinged and at his absolute worst when needling the Doctor's companions  -  his scenes with Yaz were particularly, creepily effective. The biggest surprise was the amount of cameos for returning characters. Even though John Bishop's Dan was short-changed ( I believe due to his stand-up commitments ) there was room for Tegan, Ace, Kate Stewart, Graham, Vinder ( slightly superfluous ) and even some older incarnations of our Time Lord / Lady...

*Spoilers ahoy!*

Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Peter Davison and David Bradley ( as the Hartnell Doctor ) all put in cameo appearances as aspects of the Doctor's consciousness. This was totally sentimental fan service... and it was wonderful. All did a great job in briefly resurrecting their characters for this special and the scene between the 7th Doctor and Ace was so lovely it brought a tear to my eye. And, talking about blubbing, the final moments between the Doctor and Yaz were very real and quite moving, both actors completely selling the grief of their impending separation. And then it was time for the Thirteenth Doctor to regenerate, for once not inside the Tardis but outside its doors at, er, Durdle Door ( or a facsimile thereof ) in Dorset, in a beautiful scene as she gazed out at the sunset over the sea:

"Doctor whoever I'm going to be next  -  tag! You're it!"

A couple of hours before I'd made the above prediction on Twitter because we'd all seen the photos of the sainted David Tennant ( the best Doctor ever, ever, ever, drool, drool etc. ) filming material for next year's 60th anniversary specials. And, amazingly, I was correct as 13 regenerated into 10... or is it 14? 

"What, what... WHAT?" indeed.

I'm really in two minds ( not hearts ) about the Second Coming of Russell T Davies, which could be fantastic or could be a giant leap backwards, but we've got a while to wait until the RTD2 era materialises on our telly boxes. For now I'm going to remember the wonderful Jodie Whittaker who, for all the show's failings over the last few years, WAS the Doctor. And she was magnificent.

Things I didn't blog about in 2021 Part Three - Madi: Once Upon A Time In The Future

Yes, Dear Reader, you guessed it  -  I'm still looking back at things which I really should have blogged about in 2021 but didn't due to the general existential crisis we were coping with last year, and because I'm a lazy git. I reckon I can get away with these posts until at least October. Well, maybe February.

As I mentioned here in my review of Dan McDaid's wonderful Dega there was an upsurge of graphic novels / comics being crowd-funded and published via platforms such as Kickstarter last year. With comic shops shut from 2020 into 2021 a lot of creators had to find other ways of getting their projects released. Once such project was the science fiction graphic novel Madi: Once Upon A Time In The Future by Duncan Jones, Alex de Campi and a host of top artists...

You could contribute different amounts of money to different "tiers" ( not the Covid kind ) and receive ever-escalating rewards for your cash. For my money I got the absolutely HUGE hardcover edition of the graphic novel plus some lovely art prints and a highly-prized "J-Squad" badge. ( "Who are the J-Squad?" you may reasonably ask. Well, read on. ) I imagine if you contributed to the highest tier the creators themselves would have delivered the book to you, the ink still wet, and maybe helped out with the housework. But I was very happy with the version I received... many months after the expected deadline. Seemingly interminable Brexit / Covid -related delays put the book back and back and no doubt put Jones & de Campi off ever doing such a thing again. Which would be a shame because their fictional, near-future dystopia is far more entertaining than the one we're living through. So, what's the actual book like?

 The tag line on the back cover describes Madi as "a globe-spanning action adventure in a world of drones, militarised multinationals and bad options. But mostly, it's about family." Madi ( the character ) is a grunt in a private army, employed by the Liberty corporation to fight corporate skirmishes, mostly involving securing cutting-edge technology at any price. Like the rest of J-Squad ( "Arrive, Augment, Achieve" ) Madi is basically a cyborg mercenary, a former Special Forces soldier with various bionic implants or augmentations for strength and speed who, crucially, can be remote-controlled by operators via a chip in the back of her neck. As Madi puts it: "Our training gets us to the target and then, by teleoperation, specialists do whatever needs to be done, through us. Maybe you need a brain surgeon behind enemy lines. A bomb disposal expert. A therapist..."

On a mission to retrieve some priceless information, Madi finds said information is actually in the brain of a pre-pubescent boy and things begin to go spectacularly wrong. The story combines cyberpunk with a sprawling road trip, some occasionally goofy humour and lashings of the old ultra-violence. Madi ( the book ) is the third part of a loose trilogy, the first two installments of which were Jones' movies Moon and Mute ( a lot of "m"s here... ) but, after finding he couldn't get funding for part three, Jones collaborated with Dracula, Motherfucker! author Alex de Campi to adapt the screenplay into a graphic novel. Reading the book you can really see how this would have played out as a movie, with some scenes screaming out for a huge budget which, luckily, isn't such an issue on the printed page. Jones had put the word out on Twitter that he was looking for artists and, sure enough, an enthusiastic gang of illustrators turned up to help realise the project. There's an eclectic mix here from the 2000 AD / indie Brit school ( Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, Dylan Teague ) to the Manga stylings of James Stokoe to the clear lines of Tonci Zonjic. The transitions between differing art styles can be jarring but there's some wonderful artwork on display here. De Campi & Jones' dialogue is often sparse but also witty with characters sharply delineated by their actions as much as their words. And, speaking of characters in action, here's a lovely sketch of Madi by the amazing Dylan Teague...

Madi: Once Upon A Time In The Future is a blast, a widescreen spectacular that's well worth a read if you can track it down  -  I believe there are copies out in the wild from Z2 Comics  -  and I'm so glad to have been part of the project in my own small, "give-us-yer-feckin'-money" kind of way. I'll leave you with some more Madi artwork from Duncan Fegredo:

Soundtrack: Hawkwind Live '79 by, er, Hawkwind ( have I got my finger on the pulse or what? )

Things I didn't blog about in 2021 - Part One: Recent Movies

 As anyone still here would have noticed, 2021 has been a pretty poor year for this 'ere blog. Although in the last year we've had ( slightly ) more freedom as things became ( slightly ) safer, and I've managed to get out and do more things, I've done less and less blogging. ( Irony, don't talk to me about irony. ) Anyway, I'm going to write about a few things I should have mentioned earlier, starting with movies...

But first... a slight tangent. Last year ( 2020, that is, anyone remember it? ) I really struggled with reading. I've always been a voracious reader, often with a couple of books on the go at once, but the whole craziness of the pandemic left me unable to focus on prose. I managed to read a lot of magazines and comics and probably way too much crap on t'internet but not novels. I started but didn't finish a few books which I may return to at some point ( Galapagos by Vonnegut, An American Dream by Mailer, Naked Lunch by Burroughs ) but the one book I did read was Frank Herbert's SF classic Dune. I first read Dune when I was about 13 and was totally blown away by it and have re-read it a couple of times in the following decades. I've always loved the book and, while it's no longer My Favourite Book Ever, I really enjoyed returning to Arrakis in preparation for the upcoming release of the new film adaptation. Well, I say "upcoming", but as we all know the film's release was delayed more than once due to the bloody pandemic. And then, it finally appeared like a sandworm on the horizon...

An adaptation of such a complex, dense novel was always going to be a major challenge for any film-maker and David Lynch's flawed but fascinating 1984 version demonstrated the perils of trying to fit the mammoth story into one movie. Visionary Blade Runner: 2049 director Denis Villeneuve made the risky decision to split the story across two movies and the box office success of part one shows the gamble paid off.

This new take on Dune is thankfully hugely successful. And that's the key word: huge. From the endless vistas of sand stretching before the characters, to the monolithic Chris Foss-inspired spaceships, to the colossal sandworms themselves, everything about this movie is on a massive scale. Luckily the drama also finds, er, space for small, subtle moments of character and reflection in between the epic set pieces. The cast are all outstanding, Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson in particular being just perfect as burgeoning prophet / rebel leader Paul Atreides and his mysterious, psychic mother Jessica. Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin add testosterone as House Atreides warriors and Sharon Duncan-Brewster brings gravitas ( and exposition ) as the planetary ecologist Liet-Kynes. The luminous Zendaya has comparatively little to do but will feature more in Part Two and, similar to the charismatic Chalamet, the camera loves her.

Even with the breathing space afforded by the two-film format there's still detail missing here ( the Mentats aren't explained, there's little about the Navigators' Guild and nothing about CHOAM ) but it's not surprising really and doesn't detract from the story. Maybe more of this will appear in the next movie ( due in 2023 ) where we'll also surely see more of Paul's journey towards the later fanaticism and genocide barely glimpsed in this movie. ( Reading Dune as a teenager, I first came across the word "Jihad"  -  I'd never heard this before and presumed it was a term Frank Herbert had created for his science fiction universe. I wonder if this word will appear in the movies? I think it's likely to be replaced, as in the trailer, with the word "Crusade" which, while similar, obviously has different connotations. )

After the protracted wait for Villeneuve's Dune I was so glad to see it and in fact loved it so much I went twice, once to the Imax in Cheltenham and then to the Odeon in Hereford. I think it's a wonderful adaptation of a book that's meant so much to me over the years and I can't wait to see Paul become the legendary, infamous Maud'dib...

Another long-awaited film arrived late this year, the wonderful Edgar Wright's Last Night In Soho.

I've been a fan of Edgar Wright since the Spaced days and the idea of him directing a psychological horror movie was an intriguing one. 

LNIS tells the story of Eloise ( Thomasin McKenzie ) a shy, 1960s-obsessed fashion student who moves from Cornwall to that there London Town where spooky shit goes down. Specifically she finds herself somehow back in Soho of the 1960s, first in dreams and then maybe in her waking life, but in the form of a contemporary singer, Sandy ( Anya Taylor-Joy ), trying to make her mark in Soho's seedy clubs. Sandy is picked up by a seemingly lovable rogue ( Matt Smith ) who "helps" her with her singing career, only for things to go very wrong, and Eloise feels powerless to help her. This film is very good at showing the darkness and virulent misogyny beneath the glitz of the Swinging Sixties and Wright's recreation of the times is stunning. The casting of '60s icons Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp and Rita Tushingham adds to the verisimilitude and the film itself is dedicated to Rigg, whose last film this sadly was.

Although Wright's trademark whip-pans and frenetic editing, familiar from his more comedic films, have been toned down here, the direction is still assured and immersive, becoming looser and more jittery as Eloise's mental state fractures. When the psychological horror kicks in, the movie's debt to Polanski, Hitchcock et al becomes apparent although, for me, it doesn't go quite horrific enough. That's a very small caveat though, as the overall effect is very powerful and it's a treat to see Wright working in this genre. The script, co-written by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns is sharp and barbed with some last-reel twists that really hit home. The two leads are both fantastic, especially McKenzie who completely sells Eloise's transformation, while Matt Smith was born to play a Sixties spiv.

I saw this in the cinema room of my fave venue, Gloucester's Guildhall, and it was great to see a film there for the first time since the pandemic hit.

More unblogged 2021-ness to come soon...

Dega by Dan McDaid

One unexpected side-effect of this bloody pandemic is that so many comics creator are now funding and publishing their own works via services like Kickstarter. One such artist is Dan McDaid, one of my fave modern comic guys who has worked on Judge Dredd, Firefly, Doctor Who and many other strips in recent years. I bought a lovely Spider-Man / Sandman page from Dan a few years ago which you can see here.

When I heard Dan had a new, self-published graphic novel coming out I jumped at the chance to support it. The postie dropped it off yesterday and I devoured it instantly, like a hungry, tentacled alien monster eating a small human in a spacesuit... which nearly happens in the book.

Dega is a relatively slim story of a lone, enigmatic human trying desperately to survive in a hostile alien environment but there are some nice twists and turns to the narrative and a surprise appearance by a Kate Bush song. And, of course, there's the artwork. Dan's work is just bursting with energy  -  a loose but lush style of brushwork that reveals just enough details of an image and always suggests more. His alien creatures are suitably frightening and ferocious, while his humans are tough but vulnerable and full of life. I'm not exaggerating when I say Dan's style here reminds me of the lunatic visions of the great Philipe Druillet and, if anything, he can draw a better human being. And, in keeping with the likes of Druillet and Moebius, Dega is printed in a lovely, hardback edition, very much like the classic European "albums" of the '70s produced by Les Humanoids Associes.

As well as the graphic novel itself, the backers of this project also received a postcard and a sticker ( see photo above ) as well as an A5 sketch of their choice. Because I'm a big fan of the way Dan portrays Jack Kirby's characters I asked for a sketch of that scourge of Apokolips, Orion of the New Gods, and here he is:

Great isn't it? It's slightly more "cartoony" than many of the other sketches Dan's posted on Twitter recently but I like it because he captures the sheer power and anger of Orion. Darkseid beware!

Richard Corben

 

I was sad to hear yesterday that the great comic book artist Richard Corben had recently passed away, following heart surgery. He first made a name for himself in the 1970s, working for various Underground comic publishers as well as for Warren magazines and Heavy Metal, and was a pioneer of the graphic novel form with the likes of Den / Neverwhere and Bloodstar. His comic strips were loud, brash and colourful, filled with brawny musclemen, over-endowed women, creepy creatures and outrageous horror. There was also a poetic, lyrical side to Corben's work which often showed through the fleshy spectacle and ultra-violence. He was a master of colour, achieving stunning chromatic effects with the limited resources of the four-colour comic. 

I thought I'd post a few examples of Corben's work from my collection. The first four images are all taken from P.R Garriock's Masters Of Comic Book Art, a wonderful book published way back in 1978 which first introduced me to Corben as well as the likes of Moebius, Druillet and Eisner. The next three images are taken from The Odd Comic World Of Richard Corben, a collection of some of his strips for Warren Publishing. Of course, Corben later went on to work for the likes of Pacific Comics and even went "mainstream" ( -ish ) for Marvel and DC but I'll always go back to the power and raw sensuality of his early material.

Absolutely beautiful artwork from one of the greats of the modern comic book who will be sadly missed.

RIP Richard Corben  -  1st October 1940 to 2nd December 2020

30-Day Film Challenge Week 4

At long last, as we feebly stagger up the last remaining steps of this seemingly interminable journey, the clouds part and we finally see the last installment of this flamin' film challenge. Yep, it's Week 4 and it's  -

Day Twenty-Two
A film that made you angry

Not many films have done this ( no, not even Suicide Squad ) but I'm going with Michael Moore's
Bowling For Columbine ( 2002 ), a frankly frightening look into America's obsession with guns. It can be argued ( mostly by the NRA ) that this movie is a polemic, one-sided and biased  -  and well, obviously it is  -  but that's to hammer home its message and for me ( and probably any other non-gun-toting goon ) it works. By the way, if anyone objects to my choice of this movie, feel free to not comment, I'll only delete it. ( See... still angry. )
"Thanks for not shooting me."

Moving on...
Day Twenty-Three
A film by a director that is dead ( Not for the first time  -  who writes this stuff? )

I Know Where I'm Going ( dir. Michael Powell 1945 )
Known more for his colourful epics ( in collaboration with Emeric Pressburger, of course ) such as The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus, this is a lovely little black and white film from the legendary Powell, full of heart, humour and subtle magic. Wendy Hiller, as the headstrong, brittle Joan, and Roger Livesy, as Scottish laird Torquill (?) MacNeil are both wonderful as the mismatched couple who seem to be thrown together by the very elements of the Hebrides. There may well be another Michael Powell movie later in this challenge. Okay, maybe at the bottom of this very page...

Day Twenty-Four
A film you wish you saw in theatres ( or "at the cinema" as we might say here in Blighty )

Alien ( 1979 )
I was desperate to see this film at the cinema but, as it was an "X" certificate ( that's an 18 for you young 'uns ) and I was only 12 at the time, it didn't happen. Of course, I've seen it many, many times since then. We re-watched it a few weeks back, during lockdown, and I was happy to see it had lost none of its power. Our daughter Sophie had never seen it before and even she was impressed with this 41-year old "haunted house in space" movie. Ridley Scott's finest film? I think so.

Day Twenty-Five
A film you like that isn't set in the current era

David Eggers' seriously creepy, Puritan-era Folk Horror Movie
The Witch ( 2015 )
Featuring Black Philip, the scariest goat in movie history...

"Would'st thou like to live deliciously?"

Day Twenty-Six
A film you like that is adapted from somewhere

Released 10 years ago (!) last week, Edgar Wright's dazzling, underrated adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novels  -  Scott Pilgrim vs The World ( 2010 )
You can read my original review of this movie here, should you want to of course. I still can't believe I took James to see this film when he was only 10. Sadly a flop on release, Scott Pilgrim's reputation has grown over the last decade and it's now regarded as a cult classic  -  although some of us knew that from the start...

Day Twenty-Seven
A film that is visually striking to you

So many films I've already posted would fit this category ( the one above being a prime example ) but I'm going with the wuxia epic Hero ( 2002 ) by Zhang Yimou
Every shot in this movie is just gorgeous

Day Twenty-Eight
A film that made you feel uncomfortable

Pan's Labyrinth ( 2006 )
I'm in a minority here but I really don't like this movie. For a fantasy I found it totally lacking in a sense of wonder and I hated the "real-world" scenes of violence and torture. I've got nothing against Guillermo Del Toro  -  he always comes across as a very affable, intelligent film-maker who is a tireless exponent of horror and fantasy movies  -  I just don't like his films very much.

Day Twenty-Nine
A film that makes you want to fall in love

Midnight In Paris ( 2011 )
Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard fall for each other and for Paris in Woody Allen's charming, witty time-travel romance

And finally, Esther...
Day Thirty
A film with your favourite ending

I could pick many, many great endings ( Some Like It Hot, The Truman Show, Don't Look Now, Inception, Planet Of The Apes,Casablanca, The Godfather, Withnail & I etc etc ) but it had to be
A Matter Of Life And Death ( 1946 )
Powell & Pressburger's remarkable romantic fantasy ends with David Niven's character being saved by Kim Hunter's love. It's arguably corny and sentimental but it's actually just perfect

And that's it for the film challenge. Thanks to anyone who stopped by and a special shout out to Paul McScotty and Sean for leaving comments and giving me ideas for more films to watch.

"Stay classy... Planet Earth"