Comics

Amazing Fantasy #15 (2012 reprint) by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko & Jean-Francois Beaulieu

As part of the celebration of Spider-Man's 50th anniversary, Marvel have re-printed his first ever appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, alongside the stories from The Amazing Spider-Man #1, all with new colours by Beaulieu. Some people fundamentally object to that, but where's the arm when the original version has been collected in numerous different editions down the years?

One thing it does prove is how much comic book art has changed since the '60s. You put modern colours on an '80s, maybe even a '70s, book and it looks like it was produced yesterday; this, however, looks like an imitation of an old-fashioned style. Still cracking stories though.

TV

Dexter
5x09 Teenage Wasteland
This season keeps spinning in surprising directions. I'm loving it.

Rules of Engagement
2x03 Mr. Fix It
Random late-night comedy viewing, this time courtesy of E4. See also:

The War at Home
2x11 Out & In
Dear God this was awful. And then, every once in a while, it threw in a couple of inspired funny bits. Weird. And the storyline featured/started in this episode even got nominated for awards, so that's even weirder.

Yes, Prime Minister
1x08 One of Us [season finale]
This, on the other hand, is always excellent. (Even if it took long enough to continue watching it.)

TV

Dexter
5x08 Take It!
Structural changes abound (what I thought would be this season's on-going case, the Fuentes brothers, has been resolved... though it has longer-lasting implications; and that's a helluva cliffhanger too), but that's a good thing -- helps keep the series fresh. I know some fans objected, especially after the high-point of season four, but I think it's working. It may not be the best season ever, but the quality's still up there.

Mock the Week
10x01 (9/6/11 edition) [2nd watch]
11x03 (1/7/12 edition)
In which they discuss the Jimmy Carr thing. Was that really so recent? I know this would've been taped nearly a week ago now, but the Carr stuff feels even older.
(Series 10 episode courtesy of Dave.)
[Watch 11x03 (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Sky Living to screen US Sherlock rival Elementary
by Paul Jones (from Radio Times)

That doesn't bode well, does it? Do Living show anything good?

Also in that article, news that Sky have bought Green Arrow adaptation Arrow -- but that gets to air on Sky1. I thought it looked potentially interesting from the trailers, rather than another throughly cheesy/cheapy/campy Smallville, so we'll see.

TV

MythBusters
6x05 Viewers Special 2!

A Short History of Everything Else
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

Dexter
5x07 Circle Us
I like Dexter's funny-punny titles. This isn't one. Boo. Still, good episode, and the trailer for next time looked incredible too.

Would I Lie To You?
6x09 The Unseen Bits [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

No new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, but it's July today and so the June update is now available. Exciting times.

I also added a few old reviews to my new blog. They were...

Double Indemnity (1944)

perhaps the archetypal film noir — unsurprising, really, when you have Raymond Chandler co-adapting a novel by James M. Cain. Present and correct are the femme fatale, dry-witted lead man, voice-over narration, shadowy photography, murder, cover-ups, investigations, twists…

Read more here.

Public Enemies (2009)

Mann continues his love affair with digital video, but here he pushes it to the limit: gone is any pretence of 35mm gloss, much of the film looking ungraded and featuring the fluidity of video’s higher frame rate. Some reviewers see this as progressive, bringing an unpolished documentary realism to a period setting. Others lament the lack of polish and glamour

Read more here.

Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960)

After the ‘origin story’ becoming the default setting for new versions of well-known heroes in the past few years, it’s quite nice to witness a tale that dives in assuming we know who Robin Hood, Little John, the Sheriff, and so forth, are... This allows the film to get on with its plot, such as it is — a bit of an excuse for an array of action and humour, mainly.

Read more here.

Note that Sword of Sherwood Forest is available on iPlayer to view and download, until 1:44pm today.

More next Sunday.

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
3x09 Unfinished Business [extended cut]

I had thought I was going to watch the broadcast version of this episode -- I usually do with things, first time round (see: Neon Genesis Evangelion. (I say "see" -- I watched that before I started this blog.)). But goodness knows when second-time-round might be, and this particular extended version makes a regular episode feature-length, with 26½ minutes of added material.

According to executive producer Ronald D. Moore, this is "an 'editor's cut'... the starting point for cutting down the episode to the standard length... while it offers a lot more details on the characters, it is a rough cut (unlike the Pegasus extended cut). He considers some scenes better and some worse than in the final cut, sometimes preferring story points only being told by implication and not spelled out. He thinks some scenes may be too long, with the ideal cut maybe somewhere between the two." (There's also an odd situation with the episode's music score, which you can read about in a little more detail here.) So my decision to watch the longer version was based on the premise that if neither's perfect, I may as well see the one with more material.

It certainly felt like quite an epic episode -- in character terms, anyway -- dealing with a lot of long-standing issues (even if the viewer didn't know about all of them yet). Moore also notes that there was "a faster pace in the aired version", so it would be interesting to see the contrast. Hopefully someday there'll be a second-time-round and I can watch it then.

Articles

Daniel Kleinman Joins Skyfall
(from MI6)

I am ever so happy about this news! Kleinman designed all the Bond title sequences from GoldenEye to Casino Royale (those two in particular being amongst the finest the entire series has to offer), but was replaced on Quantum of Solace by the director's preferred effects company... who turned in a woeful, uninspired sequence that may be among the franchise's worst. Hopefully Kleinman will be on full form and deliver something incredible once again.


July 2012 Preview
by Ray Subers (from Box Office Mojo)

If you're interested in movies' box office grosses (which I am, at least a bit), then here's an interesting preview/analysis of the next month's films. That includes the likes of The Dark Knight Rises (will it best The Dark Knight? Can it possibly beat The Avengers?); The Amazing Spider-Man (can it equal Sam Raimi's trilogy? Will it get lost in DKR build-up?); Ice Age: Continental Drift (as only the second animated series ever to reach a fourth entry, coming behind two very successful CG 'toons already this year, is it doomed?); and, of course, more (all of which will almost certainly be less successful).


The mystery of The Killing Zone
by John Cox (from The Book Bond)

Easiest way to explain this intriguing work is from the article itself:

One of the more mysterious stories in the world of the literary James Bond is that of the little-known 007 novel The Killing Zone by Jim Hatfield. [It] appeared in 1985 -- the year official continuation novelist John Gardner had off -- and claims on its copyright page to be officially licensed by Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications). But this book is far from official.

More (naturally) at the link.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
7x19 The Broath
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Films

Cars 2 (2011)
[#51 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation (2011)
[#50a in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 2009 by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
3: Let It Come Down
Minions of the Moon Chapter Three: Saviours

The final part of Century begins with Orlando. S/he's been an increasingly big presence in the books -- a lot of background material in Black Dossier, then one of the three leads throughout Century -- but this is the first time the focus has really moved from Mina (and Allan). It remains odd, but his/her increased presence has kind of earnt it.

It also contributes towards his/her character arc. Indeed, if there's one thing I'd note about Century's contribution to the series, it's the focus on character. All three leads undergo significant emotional changes throughout this series, more so than in previous ones I'd say, a lot of it focusing on their varied experiences of immortality. Those seeking an action/adventure book with pop-culture super-beings could probably care less, but despite being that on the surface, LoEG has never been about that -- the much-hated film proved that.

That's not to say the final chapter isn't without incident. I won't go spoiling stuff in case anyone who hasn't read it yet reads this, but the involvement of Harry Potter has received some press attention so there's no point trying to hide it. The stuff at Hogwarts is brilliant, though I'd argue Moore could occasionally do with remembering he's rendering a comic, not a storyboard -- there's a stream of panels that mirror each other very nicely, but putting them in blocks of three (rather than two or four) mucks this up slightly, in my opinion. Maybe he and O'Neill were trying to avoid making it too heavy-handed, but it's a deliberate parallel and the layout obscures it.

Then there's the Big Climax. Two things: firstly, it's good to see Allan turn up again here. He's barely in 2009. That said, when he does turn up his limited page-time is put to good use, with a particularly dramatic mini-arc. No spoilers on the end of it though. That said, I imagine this is quite possibly the end of the ongoing adventures of the League -- Moore has discussed doing other stories in already-established backstory, which is a grand idea because there are so many asides that could be more deeply explored there (and it might placate those who never liked the series' move into the 20th Century). Plus, having tackled the biggest franchise in modern media with the climax to this volume, perhaps it's a wise idea to not keep moving on. That said, there's an unresolved note at the end of this story -- I'm sure we all want to know what that's about!

Secondly (I got distracted there, but this is indeed "secondly"), the person who turns up at the climax of the climax to defeat the villain is genius. Well done on that one, Mr Moore. I loved it.

After three years of waiting and saving-up volumes of Century, I thought it was worth the wait. It's a different kind of story to previous League instalments, and certainly moves at a different pace. But hey, it's presented differently -- three long segments instead of six regular-sized ones, and, compared to most current comics, it comes out at nearly 11 issues of material. Can't sniff at that. But I can understand some of the objections to the series moving away from the style of the first two volumes, because that was great, but Moore and O'Neill are pushing the concept in interesting directions, and that's exciting and entertaining in its own way. You can always re-read the first two after all.

But it really will be interesting to see where they go next, whether that's back into the old style or increasingly pushing on.

Articles

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
by Edward Champion (from Reluctant Habits)

I'm not especially excited for The Amazing Spider-Man, but I'm not desperate for it to be a failure in the way some fans of Raimi's previous trilogy seem to be. Considering Spider-Man was a huge superhero success, and the first film fullstop to have a $100m+ opening weekend, this one's looking surprisingly overshadowed, tucked between The Avengers (which has already claimed the first $200m+ opening) and The Dark Knight Rises (more likely to challenge that number, though without 3D is unlikely to do so).

Either way, this slagging off is a good read, entertainingly highlighting a myriad of problems with the film. It makes it sound, like I've heard in some other reviews, "fine" -- not bad per se, just uninspired (especially compared to Raimi's first) and consequently uexciting.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

There should have been more this week (even with four titles turning up this morning), but TheHut have been typically tardy in sending out a recent order for several titles. Still, this morning's delivery is quite a boost -- though lower still than it might've been, because I finally got round to removing a couple of DVD box sets.

Number of titles in collection: 1,498 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,156 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 342 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 3,713 [up 8]
Number of films in collection: 1,582 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,579 [up 47]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
3x07 A Measure of Salvation
3x08 Hero
It's been nearly 18 months since I last watched Galactica -- oops, that wasn't meant to happen! I tried reading the episode summary at that link to remind me where I was, but it didn't really help, so instead just settled down to watch the episode and hope the "previously on"s would do the trick. And thank frak for those, they did. Shame I didn't manage one more episode before my accidental abandonment, though, because that really wrapped up the ongoing stories (for the time being, anyway) before apparently moving on to more episodic tales with Hero.

TV

Dexter
5x06 Everything is Illumenated
Halfway through the season and what one might think was the premise has been established. Interesting change of pace, and I presume therefore they still have somewhere different to go with it. Personally, though they'd reach this point was pretty inevitable, I think it's working.

Films

The Lost Weekend (1945)
[#50 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1969 by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
2: Paint It Black
Minions of the Moon Chapter Two: The Distance From Tranquility

Despite being set 59 years later, Paint It Black picks up where What Keeps Mankind Alive? left off in the investigation of Oliver Haddo and his attempts to take over the world with a Moonchild. (Aside: it would be interesting to read the League in chronological order, as the main story part of Black Dossier takes place between the first two parts of Century.)

While the first part almost functioned as a standalone tale, this is very much the next instalment of a longer story -- an Empire Strikes Back, if you will, that does have its own contained narrative but also ends on a devastating cliffhanger. The League is all but gone as the book begins, and as it ends it's certainly destroyed, with one member completely missing (both to the characters and to the reader), so it'll be interesting to see where 2009 picks things up.

I didn't find it to be as satisfying a read as 1910, perhaps, though there's some very nice character stuff about how Mina is coping with immortality. O'Neill's art seems to be scratchier and rougher than usual to me, which is a shame -- it looks positively rushed in places, rendering things too cartoonish -- but he pulls off the crazy climax well nonetheless. Maybe it's excused by rendering the psychedelic world of the '60s, but the gangland stuff feels sketchy too. Hopefully he's returned to his usual level of preciseness on 2009.

Last time I forgot to discuss Minions of the Moon, the three-part prose story that closes every issue of Century. It's surprisingly followable. Not what one might call "readable" -- it's still prose by Moore, after all -- but it's far from his densest, most frustrating work. And it's another League-related story, set largely in the '60s, so that's a plus. Will it fill in any gaps from the main story? That remains to be seen...

TV

Hitler's Children
A one-off documentary about "the descendants of the most powerful figures in the Nazi regime" (so, not literally Hitler's children). I stumbled across it during the Sign Zone last night and was quickly engrossed. It's a fascinating look about the various ways such people have coped with the horrendous events in their families' pasts.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

A Short History of Everything Else
1x02 Episode 2
This episode tackled such historical years as 2005, 2004, and 2011. 2011! I'm not sure HIGNFYs from as recently as 2011 are even on Dave yet! Cast the net a little further back please, programme-makers.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Alien in "3D": Just one frame
by Jim Emerson (from jim emerson's scanners :: blog)

It's a regular screengrab from regular Alien, which means it's in 2D -- but it demonstrates well the three-dimensionality of regular film; and, therefore, by implication, why "3D" as it's currently promoted is just a gimmick rather than a necessary tool.

And aside from that point, the brief article is just a good breakdown of how much a single frame can potentially convey about an entire scene, or movie, or even career.