Thursday 25 August 2011

The Winslet - Otherwise Known as SUPER Kate - My LOVE!!!


So as if I need another reason to gush about how amazing Kate Winslet is, she is now a superhero!  And no we're not talking spandex wearing superhero...although the idea of her running around in her nightdress saving people is ever so slightly alluring!  ;)  My long term girl crush and total future wife...well until Miss Lianne Spiderbaby came along...played real life hero...The Winslet played superhero to Richard Branson's elderly mother.  The Winslet saved Branson's 90 year old mother after a fire broke out in his mansion on his private island.  


Aaaaah, private island...how much fun would that be to have.  I'd love to have my own private island.  With my own private Winslet to save me when things got too tough.  


Fright Bytes Episodes 8 and 9 - Geektastic Explorations of the Viscera Film Festival and Comic-Con!


Woot, so a little while ago I mentioned that in an up and coming Fright Bytes we would be seeing an interview with the amazing Elvira.  Well, I can happily say that the episode is up on YouTube and it is great.  Whilst getting an awesome view around Comic-Con (see Team Fangoria above^^^)...which one day I shall visit...we also get an interview with the stars of the new flick Creature and the aforementioned interview with the amaaaazing Elvira.  And is it just me, or when she speaks, is she not really like me...or more like, I'm like her.  I totally thought that...creeptasticular!  Am I right or just dreaming...let me know!?!!! :)  We also get a great Q&A from the super foursome of directors that are known as Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Tim Sullivan AND Adam Rifkin - the director of the most awesome Beagle movie EVER...UNDERDOG!!!! ;)  Anyhoo, my Beagle obsession aside, the subject at hand is their new movie Chillerama, an anthology of four segments of madness...which I cannot WAIT to see!!!


And for those of you who missed the episode prior to this, where Ms Hotness Spiderbaby was at the Viscera Film Festival, you can check it out below:


Wednesday 24 August 2011

Why I'm Still Not Sold on Anne Hathaway as Catwoman!

Okay so when Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker in The Dark Knight, my first thought was hmmmm!?!  When Ledger first started out with films such as 10 Things I Hate About You...I hated him! (Pictured below in all his cheesiness!)  Now if I had only seen the film once or twice I'm sure it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but my darling beloved house mate Becky, the gorgeous darling that she is...she spent the whole freakin' summer I lived with her watching that goddamn movie!


After that he continued to do cheesetastic films and I just was NOT a fan!  When he did movies like Ned Kelly and The Sin Eater, I started to warm a little bit more to him but it wasn't until Lords of Dogtown (pictured below) that I saw a truly great performance and started to realise what a wonderful actor he really was.


Now I'll put my hand up and say I've never actually seen Monster's Ball so can't actually comment on that.  Brokeback Mountain was another good performance but I don't totally love that film.  Hanging around with a bunch of lads definitely dimmed my viewing of that movie though, I'll be perfectly honest. Too many Brokeback Mountain jokes prior to my first viewing made it impossible for me to watch without laughing...which was really annoying!  Candy and I'm Not There are other good examples of excellent Heath performances prior to The Dark Knight but I didn't see either of them until after The Dark Knight!  So anyhoo, even though I was warming to him more and more, I was still incredibly sceptical and didn't think he could pull off the part of The Joker!


And then the first picture of him all Joker'ed up was released.  I was dumbfounded!  The photo was haunting, it sent a shiver down my spine.  Straight away I thought, The Crow. If he wasn't playing The Joker he would have been perfect as Eric Draven.  In hindsight this was a fact that was all too close to the truth and when Heath was pronounced dead before The Dark Knight was released, I knew this shuddering similarity was all too real.

So anyhoo, pretty much sold on him as The Joker I was in Glasgow airport, we were dropping my friend Gog's off as he was leaving for China that day.  Waiting around in the airport, I'm sure someone had went to the toilet or to get food or whatever...anyhoo, I was standing outside WHSmiths.  I turn around and sitting on the shelf was the latest edition of Empire magazine...I scream, with delight...and run over to grab the magazine, "OH MY GOD"ing all the way.  On the cover was Heath fully dressed as The Joker, it was amazing.  It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, and one of the best Empire covers EVER!  He looked amazing.  That was it, I was sold!  From this moment, I knew that he WAS The Joker.  End of.  So I literally bounce over to the counter in excitement to buy the magazine, the guys behind the counter bemused by my dorkiness!  From here on out, everything I saw prior to the film being released, I became all the more giddier with excitement.  

The first time I saw The Dark Knight was at the IMAX in London.  It was one of the best days of my life!  I was with my one of my bestest friends in the world, Nia...and my new found friend Yvonne.  Earlier on that day I had met two of my idols, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz!  Creator and producer of The X Files.  After meeting the two men who we all deemed to be Gods, we went back to the place we were staying, got changed into our Batman t shirts and set off for The London Dungeon.  Which is beyond awesome by the way!  After screaming and laughing our way round the Dungeon we got ourselves some rubber bats and set off for the IMAX.  


Now the opening sequence was done in 3D and that on an IMAX screen was immense.  You were literally sucked into Gotham City, it was amazing.  Too much more of that giddiness though would have been a bit too much so I'm quite happy it was just that scene that was 3D.  Anyhooooo, I loved the film.  It was perfect.  It was a thing of beauty.  The hospital scene and then also the scene where the Joker is speeding through the streets at night with his head hanging out the car vehicle window, I thought to myself, this is one of the defining moments of modern cinema.  Heath Ledger as The Joker was the most perfect choice ever.  He was flawless.  My doubt had been completely retarded and I, alongside pretty much the rest of the world, had been proven wrong.  Heath Ledger WAS The Joker.  He IS The Joker.  Nobody even comes remotely close.  Simples.  

So now that I have explained my thoughts on Heath and how I was oh so happily proved wrong, here is my problem with Anne Hathaway being cast as Catwoman.  As a girlie, Catwoman is a very important character, I want to see her done right...so badly!  What actually incited this blog was the fact that I was watching Batman Returns last night and posted to Facebook that Michelle Pfeiffer WAS Catwoman and that I thought she was perfect.  Which I do.  Now I have conversed with people before about how we all thought the same when The Joker was cast and that how Christopher Nolan is brilliant and we totally trust him.  Now the thing is...I do trust him...110%...with male characters!  With female characters he's not so shit hot, as the Rachel character proved with Batman Begins.  But still...I'm keeping my hopes up.  Even if it doesn't seem like I am.  Now obviously his Batman lives more in the real world, that's almost what makes it so good.  Tim Burton's Catwoman wouldn't work so well in a Nolan film, I am perfectly aware of that!  In all fairness, I would rather that Nolan hadn't went with Catwoman at all.  If I had to choose a female villain I would have went with Harley Quinn.

But for whatever reason, he has went with Catwoman, a reason that is more than likely down to studio pressure.  When Anne Hathaway was cast as Catwoman, both myself and pretty much every other female nerd I know expressed a massive bleugh reaction!  She has never been one to stand out as an actress to me, and with the exception of the fact that I love her wonderfully pale skin...that's pretty much where it ends for me in any kind of liking towards her.  BUT...I still kept telling myself that Nolan knows what he's doing, we're all going to be eating our words in no time...just wait till we get the first pics of her.  And then we get THIS -



Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for Nolan's realistic vision but doesn't she kind of remind you of Jessica Alba in the latest Spy Kids movie??


Only time will tell if this works or not, and I truly hope that it does!  I want her to be good as Catwoman, I'm just really not feeling it just now.  Michelle Pfeiffer is still Number One in my Catwoman eyes, yup yup yup!  But as I said, only time will tell...I hope I'm wrong in my doubt!





30 Day Horror Movie Challenge - A Favourite Classic Horror Movie

Okay so when I saw I had to pick a classic horror movie, I thought, in what term does classic mean, hmmm??  Seeing as how my first thought was Creature from the Black Lagoon, I'm going with that one!


What makes this film so special then...it has EVERYTHING a Morleysaurus loves most dearly!  The story goes that a geological expedition in the Amazon uncovers a fossilised hand with webbed fingersl from the Devonian period...a hand that could prove to be the link between land animals and marine animals.  The leader of the expedition contacts his friend Dr David Reed, an Ichthyologist who convinces the financial backers to fund a trip back to the amazon to find the rest of this amazing fossil.


Upon arrival at the site, they find the entire research team dead.  At first thinking a jaguar had attacked the camp they soon come to the realisation that the team were attacked by a piscine amphibious humanoid...a creature exactly like the fossillised hand.  Bwahahahaha.  So yes, straight away we have Geology, Palaeontology...the Devonian period - my favourite Geological period out of the Paleozoic Era.  The whole point of the creature coming out of the lagoon is due to global warming and rising sea levels and what not.  It's the perfect example of how global warming is destroying our planet.  So yes, add  to all these geektastical loves of mine a monster stalking and killing people and it's a movie of downright freakin' awesomeness!


Creature from the Black Lagoon is a beautiful movie and at times incredibly haunting.  Like all the Universal Monster movies there is a chilling, and melancholy aspect to it.  Some have said that unlike monsters such as Frankenstein, you don't emphasize with the Creature...but I disagree.  This poor animal should be extinct, but he's not.  He doesn't understand the time that he is in, he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong.  In that respect, he is exactly like Frankenstein.  And like Frankenstein he's got his eye on the girl and funnily enough, she screams at him whenever he goes anywhere near her!  Poor poor Creature.  Heehee.


Now talk of a remake of this movie has been going on for like 20 years or something, with some pretty fucking rad directors attached as well if I do say so myself.  If a remake was done right, then you know what, I'm all for it.  Directors such as Breck Eisner, the man behind the rather awesome remake of The Crazies, Guillermo del Torro - who is now playing with "big fuckin' monsters" in Pacific Rim.  Other names such as Peter Jackson, John Landis, John Carpenter...pretty much the masters of fucking horror...lots of their names have been attached to the project.  This I could dig.  The reason why I'm actually kind of behind a remake is that I LOVE the story, I want to see that story out there again.  But only in the right hands would I like to see a return of the Creature from the Black Lagoon!  :)


Tuesday 23 August 2011

Why All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a Much Better Film than I'd First Thought!


Okay so the other week John Squires wrote a blog regarding All the Boys Love Mandy Lane over at Freddy in Space, about how much he loved the film, but also more to the point, asking the question as to why it has never actually been released in the States.  Now when this film first came out and was touring the film festivals, I have to say, I was majorly geeking for it.  I loved the premise of it and everything about it was looking pretty darn sweet!  When it was released here theatrically it was out for about a week or something and I was gutted to have missed it.  Thankfully though it was released a few months later on DVD and so yay, I was finally getting to see this modern horror, one that I was so looking forward too.  So on the day of release I run out to Blockbusters, all excited and stuff...got my DVD before running home to watch it...AND...

...I hated it!  :(  


Now the point of this blog is to retract some of the venom that I spat after my first viewing.  I might have just ever so slightly over-reacted when I said it was the most over-rated piece of shit in recent history.  Now my initial problem was I didn't get just why all the boys loved Mandy Lane.  I was expecting this incredibly quirky character, one who was not only beautiful outside but on the inside too.  I'm not a huge fan of Amber Heard and I've always found her a bit average...I just don't get all the love for her.  The only reason I could get why they would all love her was that she didn't put out, and so in that respect she was a challenge for them...which she kind of was.  


Supporting cast wise, I thought the teenagers were all beyond douchebaggery levels, which I know would have been the point, but even amongst douchebags there is always at least one that you don't want to be brutally murdered...right!?!  The only character I actually liked was Garth, the groundsman.  

What I did like about the film the first time round was the final act, that was very well done and a great surprise.  My opinion at this time though was that this wasn't enough to save the film and I still thought it was crap.  And I was sure to vent my opinion when I took the DVD back to Blockbusters and I have always been sure to share this opinion whenever the subject came up over the years.  

So anyhoo, it's about 3 years later and I thought about the film again when I read Squires blog, still genuinely annoyed at how much I hated it.  Feeling crap after having spent the day throwing up I'm channel hopping and the film is about to start on Film4 as part of their Frightfest season.  So I think, what the hell, let's give it another shot.  Besides, I felt too ill to argue...even with myself.  


Visually I think the film is great.  The characters are still annoying.  I still don't get exactly why the boys love Mandy Lane...apart from reasons stated above.  The final act is brilliant...and a total surprise.  And you know what...the film didn't suck.  I actually kind of enjoyed it second time round.  I have to admit that I like Amber Heard a little bit more nowadays, maybe that helped.  I still think that the character needed more substance, something to make us root for her more.  Something that would have made the end act all that more satisfying.  Even I'm not that sure what exactly I wanted more from the character but there was definitely something!


So yes, the point of this blog is to admit that I was wrong.  Amongst a slew of wank-munchery films that we are so often subjected too...this is actually one of the better ones.  Maybe time will tell if I grow to love it.  All I know is that I'm a lot happier NOT hating it.  As freaktarded as that may be.  So thank you Squires for inspiring me to give it a second chance, and to softening my opinion on the film.  It's not often that I admit that I am wrong but I kind of was a bit harsh on this one.  Haha.  

And ooh, FYI, if you're a fan of the director Jonathan Levine then I totally recommend you check out his follow up film to All the Boys Love Mandy Lane...The Wackness, it's a brilliant film with an ace soundtrack! :)


Friday 19 August 2011

30 Day Horror Movie Challenge - The Last Horror Movie You Saw in a Theater


Okay it sucks that I haven't seen another horror in the cinema since Insidious...that shows how lame cinema's here are for seeing horror...however, it is also with great  pleasure that I get to write about this film as my last cinema visit as this is what horror cinema is truly about!


From the very opening credit sequence I was hooked.  It was literally a thing of beauty and awe!  Now yes, I admit, I have openly geeked over my love of director James Wan and writer/actor Leigh Whannell from the very first time I watched Saw!  I fucking love these guys, they are amazing at what they do and I can happily say that James is one of the coolest guys I know and he is always a pleasure to speak too.  And a dork...can't forget the dork part! ;)  So yesss, much love already, haha.  Anyhoo....


From the moment that the title INSIDIOUS blares across the screen in all its glory, I literally wanted to be sucked into the film!  It is easily one of my all time favourite opening sequences of a movie...it's THAT good!!!

There is this beautiful creepiness about Insidious, the kind that is rare in horror today.  It exists but you have to dig beneath the surface...a favourite of recent times is definitely The House of the Devil...that film is fucking perfect and brilliant and creepy as fuck!!!!

The basic plot of course is that a couple and their family move into a new house, a beautiful house at that...damn you Heidi fucking Honeycutt and your review I read previous to seeing the film.  Heidi, as lovely as she is (man I want to go out drinking with her, haha!!!) did a review that kept running through my head "how can they afford to live in a house like that!?!"  I am clueless to American house prices so was able to put that aside but still had Heidi like the wicked devil, singing in the back of my head.  Haha.  Damn you Heidi!!!

Anyhoo back to the house...whilst exploring the oh so cool house, the young boy falls and bangs his head.  He goes to bed and the next morning when the dad goes to wake him up, he won't wake up leading the doctors to believe that he is in a coma.  Lots of totally freaktarded things start to happen and the family think that the house is haunted.  But lo and behold, it turns out that it's not the house that's haunted, but the child!  


I'm not going to give anymore away for those of you who haven't seen this brilliant film, one that is easily one of my favourite films of the past decade.  It's ace in every sense.  Whilst being a wonderful tribute to films such as Poltergeist...my first horror experience, it is also an amazing nod to the superbly creeptastic Carnival of Souls.

Whilst being a thowback to the films of old, it also had a very original feel to it and I absolutely LOVED it...it was the perfect horror in a world full of saturated bullshit!  It was also amazing to have James Wan and Leigh Whannell back...it seems like forever since the amazing and criminally underrated Death Sentence was released.  And ooh, FYI, it turns out that Death Sentence is actually my sister's boyfriend Brett...or Cockonomics, haha, favourite movie of all time...a fact that most definitely made me smile!  So yesss, Team Wan/Whannell all the way!  And whilst Leigh told James that he wasn't allowed to have creepy puppets in the movie, the creepiest puppet master still manages to sneak them in, bwahahaha.  I recommend watching this movie in a pitch black room with a glass of wine, and prepare to be freaked the hell out!!! :P

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Why The Crow is One of the BEST Films EVER! And Should NOT Be Remade...EVER!!!

"If two people are meant to be together...nothing can keep them apart!"


Okay so when it comes to remakes and what not, I have been known in the past to stomp my feet and throw my toys out of the pram, i.e. The Omen (yes I started a petition against that ginger twat!!!)...I can actually support them, yes, I did support Rob Zombie's Halloween. *ducks*  When it comes to The Crow however, it actually makes me actually physically sick.  It's like that feeling when you ache for the love of your life when they are not there...this is how I feel.  Like my heart has been ripped out.  My eyes physically sting from the tears welling up inside at the thought.  The Crow is more than a precious film, it is a tragically perfect film.  One that should be re-released in cinemas for a new generation to enjoy...and if they don't like it as it's not "modern enough" then they can go fuck themselves...simples.

"A building get's torched, all that is left is ashes.  I used to think that it is true about everything - family, friends, feelings - but now I know that sometimes, if love proves real, and two people are meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart."

This film is the ultimate love story.  It is the story of two people destined to be together in a seriously fucked up world.  It is a story that I crave...I want to live in it!


"Who the fuck get's married on Halloween anyhow?" -  One of my favourite quotes in the movie, who wouldn't want to get married on Halloween.  <3  It's the perfect holiday to get married on. :)

As I said before, everything about this movie is tragically perfect.  The life of Rochelle Davis, otherwise known as Sarah in the movie; it has been plagued by tragedy and in fact heavily reflected the life that her onscreen mother actually lives in The Crow.  Thankfully she is turning her life around now which makes me so happy.  The Crow was her first and only role, with the exception of a cameo part in 2009's Hell House.  For anyone to have made such an impact with one film, is evidence of a true and unique talent.  As an advocate for women I think that the experiences that Rochelle has been through in life, makes her a true inspiration and I love her so much! <3

Obviously the tragedy that we focus on most however, is that of Brandon Lee's death.  For an actor to die on set is a horrible, tragic thing.  For an actor to have just done the role of his life, such as Brandon in The Crow...it is sad, it is depressing...and it brings on such a sense of melancholy that to attempt to remake it, it's sick! 


Now I don't have a problem with the director assigned to The Crow remake...in fact I rather like 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo...I just think he should be using his talents to make unique, original films.  Although, IF....and I say IF with gritted teeth...the movie has to be made...I'd rather it was in the hands of someone I like than some douchebag like, hmmm, Michael Bay!!!  But still...all these fucking rumours about actors such as Bradley Cooper (who I like!), Mark Wahlberg (who when good is GREAT, and when bad is....*shudder*) and Channing fucking Tatum...WHAT THE FLYING FUCKTARD!?!!!  He's too ugh to play Eric Draven!!!  

Those rumours aside...I appeal to anyone who has their moohlah in this film...DO NOT REMAKE IT!  The thought itself is criminal.  It is a film of beauty.  A film of perfection.  That level of perfection shall never be achieved again.  To remake a film of this calibre...there is too much too it.  Not only to remake the film, but to remake what is without a doubt one of the most perfect soundtracks of all time....impossible.  The soundtrack, like the film, is perfect.,  It is that perfect image of the 90's grunge scene...a music scene that to this day is damn near impossible to replicate.  


Sarah - "You're gonna say I should be in a cemetery in the middle of the night" "Safest place in the world to be" - Eric Draven "It's because everybody's dead!" - Sarah

Perfection!!!!

Sunday 14 August 2011

30 Day Horror Movie Challenge - Your First Horror Movie


The first time I saw Poltergeist, I was 6 years old...the film freaked the crap out of me!  The thing is, like all things that scare the beejeesus out of me, there is a good reason behind it - that reason would be an overactive imagination and a great big bloody spooky tree outside my bedroom window.  Now, by nature I am a tree people, I love trees, generally the older and spookier the better.  But given the right lightening and shadows, they can be downright freakin' creepy!  This was the case with the tree outside my bedroom window, it totally reminded me of the tree that I had witnessed in all its glorious creeptasticness in this film I'd seen whilst having a sleepover at my friend Rhiona's.  This was also the first time I saw The Goonies as well, woot woot!!!


Every night when lying in bed I'd see the shadow of this demonic tree and would think the poltergeist's were coming to get me too, aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  Even now when I watch it I still find it creepy.  It's such a wonderful film and one that has remained awesome with age too.  With the combination of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg though, what more would you expect!?!

Obviously the most tragic thing about Poltergeist legacy is the tragic death of Heather O'Rourke, the young, intensely blonde child who played Carol Anne Freeling in the three movies.  The year after Poltergeist 2, Heather was diagnosed with the horrid Crohn's disease and was medicated to control it.  She tragically died a year later at the age of 12, her death was listed as cardiopulmonary arrest and intestinal stenosis.  Her mother blames a wrong diagnosis when she first got ill as the reason she died so young.  It's a horrible story and one that makes her amazing performance in this film even eerier, just knowing that she died such a short time after.  Heather O'Rourke will forever be remembered as the little blonde girl from the Poltergeist movies and I guess there are far worse things to be remembered for.  It's just a shame we didn't get to see more from her, I'm sure she would have grown up to become a brilliant actress...as long as she didn't fall prey to the other problems associated with child actors...A.K.A. Drew Barrymore!  Whilst Drew however managed to pull it together again, so many other child actors have been lost due to drink and drugs...which is a sad state of affairs.

All of this aside though, Poltergeist remains my first true horror movie experience, and I LOVE it!!!  I just don't love trees outside my bedroom window! ;)


Wednesday 10 August 2011

Luther - The BBC Show from an American Perspective in the Form of Monty Hawes!!!

My dear peoples of the Jeniverse, I decided to do something a wee bitty different on my blog.  You will all know how much I LOVE the BBC show Luther, and its leading man Mr Idris Elba...sooooo I decided that as the lovely Monty Hawes was such a big fan, I'd get him to write a piece, kind of as a way to get the American perspective on it!  So ho ho, here y'all go...ENJOY! :)

 

My good friend Jennifer Cooper of Musings of a Morleysaurus has asked me to write a little something about the great UK series Luther, starring Idris Elba. She wanted to hear what an American thinks of the series and she knows I am a fan. Of course she has already seen season 2, while we here in America have to wait for BBCAmerica to air the second season in October.

Everyone who has followed this thrilling series knows that it centers on a brilliant, yet troubled English police detective named John Luther. So I won’t give another review of the outstanding first season which had John dealing with the repurcussions of  putting down a serial killer. He was placed on suspension until all the facts were sorted out about how the killer almost died before being brought in.

Luther is the type of detective that will do anything to bring criminals to justice. The means justify the ends if you will. Which put Luther on a different level from other contemporary TV detectives. What I really like about this show is how they focus quite a bit on his personal life as much as his work life. On American detective shows, you rarely get a glimpse into their personal lives. I mean yeah you get to meet their spouses and kids sometimes and they hang out at the bar with some friends but that is about it. On Luther, you get to deal with his personal life vividly. His problems with his wife is brought front and center. And he has to juggle both his work and personal lives, but on this series  the two will come to clash very violently.


I like the fact that this series is very story and character driven and doesn't rely on action scenes to carry it through. You really care what happens to the characters and become very invested in them over the course of the season. Not to say that they skimp on the action. There is some cool action scenes spread out over the series and they are very thrilling. This is how you make a terrific TV series. America please take note.

I think Idris Elba is just freaking unbelievable. I don’t think anyone will argue that point. I know Jennifer thinks he is awesome and I won’t dispute that. This show depends on his character a lot and Elba does not disappoint. He is such a talented actor and his portrayal of this intelligent but flawed man is very impressive. But every hero needs a good adversary and Luther has one in the beautiful murderer Alice Morgan (played by Ruth Wilson). She and Luther played cat and mouse over the course of the first season and it is a joy to watch. These two seem to bring out the best in each other and Alice seems to be enjoying her dealings with John. She considers this a game. 


That's another thing about this series being above and beyond anything we have here in America. Most detective shows open with the killer or bad guy doing something and by the time the credits roll, they are either dead or in prison. Here we have a person who did kill and got away with it but is still part of the show and very integral to it I might add. I only expect more good things from Alice in the upcoming season 2. Oh god, Jennifer..Alice does return for season 2 right. She has to. I hope so. Don't tell me any specifics just let me know if Alice comes back, yes or no.  She's back for a bit...not a lot but she is definitely still around...the crazy chickadee that she is!!! :)

Anyway, I think Luther is top notch. I rank it right up there with another classic UK detective series...Prime Suspect with the great Helen Mirren. In fact these two series are very comparable as Prime Suspect delved into Jane Tennison personal life as much as Luther does. In fact this would make a great double bill one weekend. Prime Suspect and Luther. Hell Yeah! New idea! You know what would be cooler..a crossover between the two. Tennison is called back in to help Luther with a tough case. Awww, man I'm already geeking out over that possibility. Jennifer, me and you could write it and send it in and see what the top brass thinks. You game?  Haha, that sounds like a pretty damn awesome idea Monty! :)

Well I just wanted to share some of my insights on why I think Luther rocks. I hope this was an enjoyable enough read. Thanks Jennifer for having me do this. And I would love to do a follow-up on this once I see Luther season 2. Do we have a deal?  I can't wait for you to finally get to see Season 2, I know you're gonna love it...despite it being criminally short dammit!!!

Thank you to Monty for this rather insightful Yankee Doodle look into the brilliance of Luther, you do indeed rock!  :P  And ooh, before I forget, you should totally check out both of his blogs All Good Things and Hero Worship!!!  They are both super awesome and totally rad~core! :)

Thursday 4 August 2011

Fright Bytes Episode 7 - Swatting Up on your Vampire Knowledge...Spiderpira Style!!!

Forget all this Twilight wannabe vampire stuff, here's the real deal...and what could be more gorgeous than Spiderpira, heehee, or Miss Lianne Spiderbaby...with freakin' Elvira!?!?!!!  Answer to that question - NOTHING...of course! ;)  Actually, Spiderpira and Elvira is a bit of a tease as to what to expect from the next episode of Fright Bytes where Spiderpira is covering San Diego Comic-Con and meets up with the legendary Elvira, however, I thought this picture perfect to display what's going on in this episode of Fright Bytes!


So yesss, you might have guessed, the latest episode of the amazing Fright Bytes is focusing on vampires!  If you ever wanted a short and sweet, yet highly informative session on the history of vampires then it's all here in this latest episode.  Definitely worth checking out, as are some of the films that Lianne mentions that I've never actually seen.  Here, here to education on a little blood sucking.  And more importantly, it's worth watching just for how much I LOOOOVE the way Lianne says Nosferatu! <3  Heehee!  Also much love to Lianne's brother Steve as well who makes an awesome co-host...clearly awesomeness runs in the family!  Yay!  Check out all the goodness below and be sure to subscribe to the Fright Bytes channel on YouTube as well as check in to LIKE the page for the show on Facebook!  Cheers my dears! ;)

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Captain America - A Most Excellent Avenger in My Humble Opinion!


So yay, went to see Captain America and I have to say, I thought it was great!  Despite some ropey, way too digital scenes, it was the perfect summer popcorn flick!  When I posted on my Facebook page the question as whether to see it in 2D or 3D a nice big long debate started.  The only reason I'd even considered 3D was purely for the time and getting trains back and stuff...in the end though, it made more sense to see it in 2D.  Personally I am not a fan of 3D, I find it gives me a headache more than anything.  When I saw The Dark Knight at the IMAX in London, the opening sequence in 3D was great but that was more than enough for me personally.  And ooh, FYI, did you know, the only bits of The Dark Knight that Heath Ledger saw before his death was in the IMAX in London with Christopher Nolan, how geektastic is that?? :)

Anyhoo, the scenes that I considered to be a bit ropey were the ones that were blatantly made for 3D...something that at the end of the day took you a way from the story a bit and made it almost like a video game.  The movie as a whole was fab though, it wasn't perfect but it was enjoyable enough that it meant that I was able to forgive Joe Johnston for these scenes that weren't so great!


Chris Evans was ace in the role of Captain America, and was clearly the perfect choice.  One thing that I particularly liked was the fact that even though Captain America is your true patriotic American boy, the film didn't feel preachy or filled with the 'we're American, we're so amazing' bullshit that it could have been oozing with, and that was really quite refreshing.


I loved Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, he definitely had the Stark quality about him that we love so much about Tony Stark...he just wasn't as much of a playboy as his son would turn out to initially be, haha.  The supporting cast as a whole was great, especially Tommy Lee Jones, the army colonel who was more than bemused when scientist Dr Abraham Erskine picked a tiny 90lb, asthmatic Steve Rogers as the man he wanted as the ultimate super soldier.  As for Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, superb!!!


Another cast member who was absolutely wonderful was the lovely Peggy Carter, played by Haley Atwell.  Not only was she one kick ass, fearless chick, she also did it with such wonderful style, looking fab throughout the movie!  Loved her! <3


And speaking of a tiny 90lb Steve Rogers, I thought the way that they made Chris Evans look so ickle was fab.  Technology nowadays is so advanced that this sort of amazing transformation is easily possible.  I actually kind of liked how long they spent focused on ickle Rogers as well, as freaktarded as he looked!  I all meant that when he became Captain America he looks so much bigger...but he wasn't too big.  Like not inordinately big...which was good!


So yes, as a prequel to next years Avengers movie, which I am soooooooooooo excited about, like more than you could possibly imagine...it was an excellent start!  It set more characters in motion, something that is happening at a lovely pace with Iron Man and Thor already standing out!  We got to see more of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury character putting his Avengers in place.  When I was going into the cinema to watch Captain America this Dad was just coming out with his two boys after obviously seeing the film and I overheard him say, "Did you recognise the man with the eye patch at the end who was speaking to him once Captain America was in our time...he's the one getting all the superhero's together for the Avengers film!"  Made me giggle at even the Dad's geekiness! :)

Bring on next summer I say, The Avengers is gonna kick some might ass, and yes, major geekgasm to the fact that my beloved Jeremy Renner is in a comic book flick...it has most certainly got this fangirl a bit giddiful and happy with anticipation.  And even more so when at the end of the credits of the film you got to see the trailer for The Avengers...AWESOME!!!!! <3