this week on 100 Films

This week has seen 100 Films in a Year go a bit Batman crazy in anticipation of the release of The Dark Knight Rises, including both new reviews and old ones re-posted to the new blog.

The headline piece, now, is my spoiler-free initial thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises. Other than that, click through for reviews of...

The Batman Series
Featuring new reviews of Batman (1989), Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Batman (1966)

Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

Batman: Year One (2011)

The Dark Knight (2008)
My original review from 2008.

The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience (2008)
My thoughts on seeing The Dark Knight in its intended IMAX format back in 2008, sadly something I won't be able to repeat for The Dark Knight Rises.

More next Sunday, including new-to-new-blog reviews of M and four Wallander films going up later today.

"Batman: The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland

As regular readers will have noticed, I've been reading a lot of stuff by Alan Moore lately. Moore is widely credited with revolutionising the comics medium over a series of works, and I'm finally beginning to catch up with them. Most of his stories are wholly original tales, such as Watchmen (the most praised of them all) or V for Vendetta; when not, they're usually his own tales from re-used material, such as From Hell (a take on Jack the Ripper) or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which takes Victorian literary characters and makes a superhero team out of them). In this context, The Killing Joke is a rarity, because it's a Batman story -- a well-established existing character, obviously. Published in 1988, the 46-page tale is from the same era as Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, and not long after Watchmen -- all part of the growing-up and 'darkening' of comics in the '80s. Arguably this can be seen in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, but with 2006's Batman Begins taking elements from Year One and Dark Knight Returns and the forthcoming The Dark Knight reportedly using Killing Joke as the basis for its version of the Joker (not to mention Watchmen finally being released next year), it seems the full effect of this particular movement has taken a bit longer to hit our screens.

But enough of that, what of the tale itself? It has two prongs: a 'present' element, in which a recently escaped Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and psychology tortures him, attempting to prove that anyone can be driven mad as the Joker was; and a past thread, in which a young father-to-be has quit his job to be a comedian, but is considering a crime to make ends meet... Within this, Moore packs in all his favourite regular tricks and techniques: there's the opening few panels that pull out from extreme close-up to long shot; two stories told in parallel, one revealing the past of a character; a version of match-cutting in and out of these; zooming in and out of items/faces across multiple panels; retaining the same static 'shot' across multiple panels, often while something develops in the background; long passages with no dialogue; using several panels to show a character performing a simple action; an act of sexual violence as a key plot point; a deliberate blurring of the line between hero and villain; long, wordy, philosophical speeches; and mirroring techniques in the structure -- here, for example, the opening line of the finale is inserted as the book's first line, while at the same time Batman's opening dialogue is repeated over the climax. To say Moore is repetitive or constantly copying himself may be a bit much, but he certainly has a tendency to re-use a certain set of techniques in new arrangements to craft his tales (a bit like Steven Moffat with Doctor Who, then).

The story aside, Bolland's art is fantastic. Stylistically, it looks like it was drawn now, not 20 years ago, which in part must be due to fresh colouring. Bolland was never happy with the original colouring of the book -- he was scheduled to do it, but ran out of time and so it had to be completed by John Higgins, who didn't have the same vision as Bolland -- and so he was glad to have the chance to re-do it for this new edition. I haven't seen the original to compare fully, and it will surely upset some purists, but it looks brilliant. Bolland has clearly utilised all the modern computer-based techniques available to colourists, creating a subdued pallet that suits the story's nature. While the gaudy colours of Watchmen create a thematic counterpoint to the grim, realistic story, here I think such a technique would just undermine the point, so Bolland's new work fits like a glove. From the odd frame I've managed to find of the original colouring online, I'd actually quite like to get hold of that just for the sake of comparison.

IGN voted The Killing Joke as the 3rd greatest Batman story ever. I'm yet to read most of those that surround it on that list, so can't really comment for myself, but, in spite of Moore's increasingly familiar tropes, it's an engrossing story. The recent oversized hardback re-release, called The Deluxe Edition on the cover, is certainly worth owning -- while its £12 RRP is steep for a 46-page main story, 8-page second strip, and 6 pages of other stuff, it can be had for less and seems worth it to me.

While I'm primarily reading Watchmen at the minute, don't be surprised if more graphic novel reviews -- primarily Batman ones, I expect -- crop up over the next week or two.

this week on 100 Films

First up, as it's now October that means its time for the always exciting 100 Films in a Year monthly update.

How good was September? This good. Also at that link: five great Shakespeare adaptations.


And that wasn't all this week, oh no. There were also three new reviews published, including...


Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Deluxe Edition) (2013)

Given the choice, I think this adaptation functions better in its original, intended, two-part version; but the single-film version is not fundamentally different to double-billing its constituent parts. [But] though there are aesthetic reasons for choosing to watch The Dark Knight Returns as two separate features, there are several unavoidable reasons why picking up the Deluxe Edition is preferable.

Read more here.


Les Misérables (2012)

Jackman is the star of the show, and brings his musical theatre background to bear on a clearly-sung but emotive performance. He was unlucky to be in the same awards year as Daniel Day-Lewis’ all-conquering turn in Lincoln, because otherwise those gongs might well have been his.

Read more here.


Safe House (2012)

Denzel Washington is a fugitive, Ryan Reynolds is the CIA rookie who ends up looking after him — and later, chasing him — after Something Goes Wrong at the titular abode in this workmanlike thriller

Read more here.


And finally, reviews new to the new blog...


Great Expectations (1998)

It comes across more as an academic exercise in turning a British Victorian novel into a modern American movie than a believable tale that works in isolation. Indeed, many of the changes appear to be designed purely to help distance it: the changed character names, the focus on the love story, and so on. Yet it directly recreates many scenes from the novel, and it obviously retains its title

Read more here.


Solaris (2002)

When Andrei Tarkovsky adapted Stanislaw Lem’s thoughtful science fiction novel in 1972, it took 165 minutes. When Steven Soderbergh did it 30 years later, it took just over 90. Lem hated them both, stating that he didn’t write about people’s “erotic problems in space”, but for those concerned with what the film is about rather than what it (perhaps) should have been about, it seems that an abbreviated running time is no barrier to loading any adaptation of Solaris with a weighty thoughtfulness.

Read more here.


Stormbreaker (2006)

An adaptation of the first in Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling series of Alex Rider novels. It does a good job of translating the book, aided by an extensive cast of recognisable Brits (and some Yanks) and some entertaining action sequences.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Articles

The Dark Knight Screenwriter David Goyer On Batman 3 Rumors: ‘It’s All B.S.’ by Shawn Adler
(from MTV Splash Page)
"“It’s all B.S.,” he said. “ALL of it.”" Sums it up!

Exclusive: Watchmen Video Journal
(from Sci Fi Wire)
"The video, Blue Monday, offers a look behind the scenes at how director Zack Snyder and his team brought the indestructible Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) to life." Includes some previously-unseen clips from the film. I really ought to watch the rest of these video journals...

M. Night Shyamalan Further Ponders Unbreakable Sequel by Rick Marshall
(from MTV Splash Page)
Please please please please please!

Review of The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Jason Sanford
(from Flak Magazine)
"then the public actually read DK2. Reviewers called Miller's minimalist artwork "hastily drawn." Lynn Varley's super-bright digital colors were described as "green, flavored mouthwash." Worse, readers didn't like how Miller mocked the very mythology of superheroes that made his original book so powerful... Which is a shame, because in between the hype and the hate, DK2 makes as revolutionary a take on what troubles the comic books industry as Miller's original novel did... Just as The Dark Knight Returns opened a comic book door to the darker aspects of human life, so does DK2 show how to return fun to comics. It also makes a kind of tangled sense. In a world where Sept. 11 happens and the Justice Department wants postal workers to monitor un-American activity, perhaps the only way a superhero can save the day is to look around, have fun and laugh."

this week on 100 Films

Four new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part II (2013)

two big battles form the cruxes around which the story works: Batman vs the Joker, and Batman vs Superman. I won’t spoil the outcomes for those who’ve not read the book, but both are excellently realised on screen... I’d go so far as to say the Superman fight improves on the novel’s version

Read more here.


Repo Chick (2009)

the second of director Alex Cox's “microfeatures”: films shot for a budget below the Screen Actors Guild cut-off of $200,000. By shooting his actors quickly (in ten days) on green screen, then putting in sets made from toys, Cox made the entire film for closer to $180,000. It’s not going to work for every film, but perhaps there’s some lessons big over-expensive Hollywood productions could learn…

Read more here.


Room on the Broom (2012)

It’s a simple story with simple rhyme for little kids, of course, but that’s where its joy lies. Pre-schoolers are treated to far better poetry (because, ultimately, that’s what it is) than the dreary stuff us adults are meant to engage with.

Read more here.


Special (2006)

If you’re looking for comparisons, Special is more in line with Super than Kick-Ass. It doesn’t quite have James Gunn’s crazy surreal touch, but it shares the low-budget realist aesthetic and a surprisingly recognisable cast (albeit with smaller, TV-er faces here).

Read more here.



And new to the new blog...


Ashes of Time Redux (1994/2008)

Reviews talk about it being a confusingly-plotted art film — and those are the positive ones — which, coupled with my relative dislike of Chungking Express, meant I didn’t really expect to like it a great deal. But I found myself surprised, because I really enjoyed it.

Read more here.


The Hurt Locker (2008)

The Hurt Locker is episodic, moving from one bomb-based set-piece to the next. But this is surely a realistic depiction of the environment and this job: they’re not going to end up on the tail of some master bombmaker, or single-handedly end the war in Iraq

Read more here.


Panic in the Streets (1950)

not a particularly film noir-y film noir [but] there’s still a criminal underworld, a (slightly) downtrodden hero, criminal wrongdoings, some shadow-drenched photography, and a smattering of other traits that do place it within the genre, but it’s not a textbook example.

Read more here.


The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007)

allegedly based on Susan Cooper’s five-volume fantasy series... Changes from book to screen abound, however... Fan-baiting changes aren’t the only things wrong with the film, though. For much of the first half I was almost considering a scene-by-scene account of the irritations and weaknesses, but that would mean watching it again.

Read more here.


Son of Paleface (1952)

It slowly morphs into a live-action cartoon, in the process becoming a lot funnier and, in recreating the style of cartoons, technically impressive too. The comedy is genuinely entertaining when it finally reaches these sections

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Chapters I & II

Watchmen is the graphic novel: it's widely credited with revolutionising the comics industry in the '80s (leading to such seminal works as The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, the primary inspiration for the massively successful Batman Begins); it's written by Alan Moore, probably the most prolifically praised writer in the medium; the art is by Dave Gibbons, another high-profile creator; and it was the only graphic novel to appear on Time's list of the 100 greatest English language novels published since the magazine's inception. With the millennial resurgence in popularity of the comic book movie -- kicked off by 2000's X-Men, reaching new heights with Spider-Man, continuing this year with Iron Man, and showing no signs of going away soon -- the time is more than ripe for the long-mooted film adaptation of Watchmen to finally hit our screens. Its release is still 9 months off, but I thought I'd get a jump start on all those who will finally, shame-facedly, read the original graphic novel when hype kicks in next year, and read it now.

Yes, you interpreted that sentence right: this is my first time reading Watchmen.

Thankfully, so far at least, it's brilliant. And it's brilliant in the sort of non-flashy way that means it stays with you and undoubtedly continues to reward, at a level beyond moving from one pretty or exciting panel to the next. Which isn't to say Dave Gibbons' art isn't impressive, because it is, fitting the tone of the story perfectly -- realistic, but with the sort of gaudy neon colours that fans would deride so much in Batman & Robin (one suspects they work better on the page than in Real Life). There's even the odd splash panel, though these are rarely of exciting fight moments and more often punctuating dramatic scenes. The regular pattern of panels -- a hallmark of something written by Moore, it seems to me -- keep things clear and filmic, even if they're rarely the same shape as a film frame.

This is one thing that sometimes bothers me about Moore's style, actually: for a writer so vehemently opposed to film adaptations of his work, he uses a hell of a lot of filmic 'shots' and transitions. They work on the page too, but they're effects that originally come from film and, truth be told, they work even better there. For example, Chapter II focuses on flashbacks to memories of the Comedian. The structural brilliance of this chapter (both within itself and as part of the larger story) aside, Moore transitions into and out of these by replicating a dissolve from the character in an identical pose in the past and present, by placing two similar/identical panels (one present, one past, and vice versa at the end) side-by-side -- it's a very visual technique, consequently hard to explain but very clear when seen! But it's also a very filmic one, which does work better when there's an actual dissolve rather than just consecutive panels.

On a similar note, for a writer so highly praised for his originality and revolutionising of the industry, Moore re-uses an awful lot of the same tropes and tricks, both in the visuals he writes and the plot points within. I expect many of them originate in Watchmen and its in his other books that he's repeating himself, but in reading this close after two League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books (Black Dossier and, before this blog began, Volume II) the similarities are all the more apparent. Nonetheless, if one can place aside the feeling they've read it all before (not a problem if you've not read other Moore books; and, outside of his work, similarities are undoubtedly copied from this), his plot points and imagery are all very effective.

There's a lot to love in Watchmen, even after just two chapters of twelve -- it is, relatively speaking, quite long, which I suspect allows Moore to explore what he wants in a suitable level of depth; even after these two there's a lot to mull over. I don't want to reel off to much because I'd hate to spoil it if you haven't read it. Suffice to say, on the evidence of this opening, it's living up to my expectations. I can see why a film adaptation worries fans (a miniseries would seem to allow the right amount of space), and perhaps I should have joined the masses who'll read the book after the film -- that's usually my rule with adaptations, as that way round you tend to enjoy both more. You can wait to be one of them, or you can get it now, but either way I'm going to echo everyone else (ever, it seems) and say that, if you have the remotest interest in this sort of storytelling, you need to read this.

Pretty strong after just a sixth of the story.

this week on 100 Films

The start of December means two things for 100 Films in a Year this year: firstly, the November update, which is as fascinating as ever; secondly, the inaugural 100 Films Advent Calendar, sharing 25 new reviews throughout (most of) December. The first two are up already and, of course, are shared below -- along with the one other brand-new review posted in the last week.


2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Poor acting, a plot done by the numbers, and a style that sometimes feels like a rap video writ into a film. Oh dear. Yet the chases and other car-based action sequences are pretty coolly done, and there’s more of them than I remember there being in the first film. That’s a definite plus — really, it’s all you want from a film like this.

Read more here.


Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part I (2012)

the team behind these direct-to-DVD DC animated movies have taken a reverent route to bringing DKR to the screen. It’s in two parts because the original story is too long to faithfully adapt in their limited-length movies, but that also works out OK from a storytelling point of view: this first half ends with a major threat rapped up and a great cliffhanger to kick off the second half.

Read more here.


Tombstone (1993)

Not knowing more than the name, and a few key players, I fully expected the gunfight at said corral to be the story’s climax. Maybe it is in other versions, but here it comes about halfway through. It’s the pivot around which the story turns, however, with the first half building to it and the second handling its consequences.

Read more here.


And new to the new blog...


Heat (1995)

will probably always be best remembered for two things: the excellent running shoot out on the streets of L.A., and De Niro and Pacino on screen together for the first (and, so far, last) time.

Read more here.


Ivanhoe (1952)

swashing buckles are the order of the day... Most notable is an excellent siege sequence, a moderately epic extended battle that is certainly the film’s high point. The randomly hurled arrows and choreography-free sword fights may look a tad amateurish sixty years on, but the scale and rough excitement of the battle easily makes up for it.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Fiction

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
Top Cop Pops by Vicki Vale
Book One

Frank Miller is a helluva writer, but his opaque introductions (which that Vicki Vale thing is one of, believe it or not) leave something to be desired in my opinion.

Anyhow, this is the follow up to Miller's truly seminal Dark Knight Returns, probably the best Batman book ever written -- so no pressure following it up 15 years later then! It was largely poorly reviewed on release, and I can see why -- Miller's art is too sparse, coming across as rushed more than intentionally sketchy; the large amount of dead space (often only two or three panels on a page, undetailed splash pages for no reason) smacks of padding, especially as the story feels rather slight; plus, despite the room and apparent simplicity, it can be damn hard to follow at times.

It's not all bad -- the basics of the story are a decent idea, and do follow thematically from DKR plus, Superman gets thoroughly smashed at the end of Book One. That's something I always like to see.

Fiction

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
Book Three [the end]
Finally found a chance to finish this. The concluding part is better and more coherent than the others, but still suffers from Miller's over-simplistic over-large art, as well as bunging in a ludicrous number of things from the DC universe that he assumes you'll just know. A comic for comic geeks, then, and as weak as those usually are. Be sure to read The Dark Knight Returns (it's really brilliant), but skip this.

Articles

Dark Knight Animated Movie Sets Voice Cast
by Borys Kit (from Heat Vision at The Hollywood Reporter)
DC finally announce the voice cast for their forthcoming two-part animated adaptation of Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. More exciting is the article comes with eight shots from the film itself, which confirm the style is what one would probably expect it to be: based on the original book, but with the kind of stylistic simplisation and blockier colours animation almost always brings. Looks like it could be good though.

RED 2 Teaser Poster Arrives
by Kevin Melrose (from Spinoff Online)
I enjoyed RED, so I'm certainly looking forward to this one.

Films

Batman (1989)
[4th or so watch]

I realised yesterday that I haven't watched a Batman film since the Adam West one three years ago, and I haven't watched one of the modern (i.e. Tim Burton and later) ones since I saw The Dark Knight in cinemas! With my curiosity piqued, I worked out that I probably haven't watched the others (i.e. Batman, Returns, Forever, and Robin, Begins) since 2006. That's like forever.

So, with the final part of Nolan's Bat trilogy less than two weeks away, I thought, "what better time to re-watch them all?" So I intend to.

Main thought after this one is how weird it is watching it in the wake of Nolan's films. This used to be the dark and serious take on superheroes, treating them in a more grown-up fashion. Now, it looks positively comic book-y. Sure, it's a bit grown-up -- there's elements of psychology and adult relationships, not just Boy's Own Adventure -- but the level of heightened reality and camp... nothing like comic book adaptations now.

Also, you forget just how true it was that the earlier Batman films focussed more on the villains than the hero. Batman's in the first scene, but that's it for a while, and it takes Bruce Wayne ages to appear. The story follows Jack Napier/the Joker and a pair of journalists, primarily Vicki Vale, though (again) I think it's easy to forget how prominent her partner (Alexander Knox, played by Robert Wuhl) is. The film puts a little more emphasis on Wayne/Batman later on, but for a hefty chunk it's not really about him at all. You can really see why Nolan & co thought that was a seam waiting to be tapped when it came to Begins.

(Incidentally, I first saw Batman when I was a kid, so I have no idea how many times I've actually seen it. Same goes for Returns (same situation) and Forever (which I saw in the cinema, but don't really know how many times I may've watched it on TV, etc). All of these numbers are, therefore, a guesstimate.)

shameless eBay self promotion: final update

This is, hopefully, the final update of what I'm currently selling on eBay. All auctions end this evening, at various times until around midnight.

Nearly everything is currently being bid (hurrah!), but the two items that aren't (as of posting) are emboldened. Sold stuff is crossed out, most of it at the end.

'Exclusive' & New DVDs

300 Special Edition, with The Art of the Film mini-book

Crash (2004) (new)

Wanted with mini-comic & exclusive website access code

Films on DVD

The Da Vinci Code Special Edition

Dark City (theatrical cut)

Dark City: Director's Cut (US Region 1)

The Fountain

Highlander 2-disc 'European edition'

Marnie

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Special Edition

The Ultimate Mummy Collection including The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns

No Country For Old Men

Nosferatu (1922) Special Edition

Predator

Underworld Special Extended Edition

Masters of Cinema DVDs

#1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#71 Mad Detective

TV on DVD

Band of Brothers in original tin packaging

The Complete Fawlty Towers 3-disc set

The Sopranos Series 1 Collector's Edition

The Sopranos Series 2

The Sopranos Series 3

Books

From Russia With Love (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

You Only Live Twice (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

As I said, all items end this evening.

Sold

Batman Begins Special Edition

The Dark Knight Special Edition with mini-comic

Fight Club Definitive Edition (uncut)

Ghostbusters 15th Anniversary Edition

The Great Dictator 2-disc edition

Highlander Immortal Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition

Monty Python's Life of Brian The Immaculate Edition

Se7en 2-disc edition

This is Spinal Tap Special Edition

Underworld Evolution

Zodiac: Director's Cut

shameless eBay self promotion

I currently have a raft of items for sale on Popular Internet Auction Site eBay. So tardy have I been in promoting these items here that some have already sold, while others are already being bid on. (Long-term readers may recognise some of the items from when I did this before, about 14 months ago.)

Here's a list of what I currently have on the go, then, in case anyone's interested. Several are already being bid on.

'Exclusive' & New DVDs

300 Special Edition, with The Art of the Film mini-book

Crash (2004) new

Wanted with mini-comic & exclusive website access code

Films on DVD

The Da Vinci Code Special Edition

Dark City (theatrical cut)

Dark City: Director's Cut (US Region 1)

The Fountain

Ghostbusters 15th Anniversary Edition

Highlander 2-disc 'European edition'

Marnie

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Special Edition

The Ultimate Mummy Collection including The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns

No Country For Old Men

Nosferatu (1922) Special Edition

Predator

Se7en 2-disc edition

Underworld Special Extended Edition

Underworld Evolution

Masters of Cinema DVDs

#1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#71 Mad Detective

TV on DVD

Band of Brothers in original tin packaging

The Complete Fawlty Towers 3-disc set

The Sopranos Series 1 Collector's Edition

The Sopranos Series 2

The Sopranos Series 3

Books

From Russia With Love (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

You Only Live Twice (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

Sold

Batman Begins Special Edition

The Dark Knight Special Edition with mini-comic

Fight Club Definitive Edition (uncut)

The Great Dictator 2-disc edition

Highlander Immortal Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition

Monty Python's Life of Brian The Immaculate Edition

This is Spinal Tap Special Edition

Zodiac: Director's Cut

That's all for now. I'll aim to update this when things sell.

shameless eBay self promotion: update 3

It's Friday! What a good day to bid on something on eBay, eh?

So, here's what I'm selling then. In a different move to the last few days' updates, stuff being bid on in is now normal while the few remaining unbid-on-or-sold-(yet) items are emboldened. Stuff that's sold is crossed out.

'Exclusive' & New DVDs

300 Special Edition, with The Art of the Film mini-book

Crash (2004) (new)

Wanted with mini-comic & exclusive website access code

Films on DVD

The Da Vinci Code Special Edition

Dark City (theatrical cut)

Dark City: Director's Cut (US Region 1)

The Fountain

Highlander 2-disc 'European edition'

Marnie

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Special Edition

The Ultimate Mummy Collection including The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns

No Country For Old Men

Nosferatu (1922) Special Edition

Predator

Underworld Special Extended Edition

Underworld Evolution

Masters of Cinema DVDs

#1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#71 Mad Detective

TV on DVD

Band of Brothers in original tin packaging

The Complete Fawlty Towers 3-disc set

The Sopranos Series 1 Collector's Edition

The Sopranos Series 2

The Sopranos Series 3

Books

From Russia With Love (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

You Only Live Twice (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

All auctions end at some point on Sunday.

Sold

Batman Begins Special Edition

The Dark Knight Special Edition with mini-comic

Fight Club Definitive Edition (uncut)

Ghostbusters 15th Anniversary Edition

The Great Dictator 2-disc edition

Highlander Immortal Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition

Monty Python's Life of Brian The Immaculate Edition

Se7en 2-disc edition

This is Spinal Tap Special Edition

Zodiac: Director's Cut

Fiction

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
Book Two
Messy, in much the same way those stupid 'event' books -- like Infinite Crisis or Civil War or 52 -- are messy. It assumes you know who all these characters are, but it's a Batman book, not a JLA or Silly DCU Event book, and while some of them are obvious (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow...), others aren't. At all. The rest of the time, it feels like it's the work of someone who really wants to emulate the quality of Dark Knight Returns (many of its tropes are still there), but has less style when it comes to both art -- over-huge panels, wasted space, too scratchy, etc -- or story -- it is, as I have said, messy.

shameless eBay self promotion: update

As mentioned yesterday, I currently have a raft of items for sale on Popular Internet Auction Site eBay. Here's a list of what's currently on the go, now with stuff that's being bid on in bold (and sold stuff crossed out).

'Exclusive' & New DVDs

300 Special Edition, with The Art of the Film mini-book

Crash (2004) new

Wanted with mini-comic & exclusive website access code

Films on DVD

The Da Vinci Code Special Edition

Dark City (theatrical cut)

Dark City: Director's Cut (US Region 1)

The Fountain

Ghostbusters 15th Anniversary Edition

Highlander 2-disc 'European edition'

Marnie

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Special Edition

The Ultimate Mummy Collection including The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns

No Country For Old Men

Nosferatu (1922) Special Edition

Predator

Underworld Special Extended Edition

Underworld Evolution

Masters of Cinema DVDs

#1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#71 Mad Detective

TV on DVD

Band of Brothers in original tin packaging

The Complete Fawlty Towers 3-disc set

The Sopranos Series 1 Collector's Edition

The Sopranos Series 2

The Sopranos Series 3

Books

From Russia With Love (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

You Only Live Twice (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

Sold

Batman Begins Special Edition

The Dark Knight Special Edition with mini-comic

Fight Club Definitive Edition (uncut)

The Great Dictator 2-disc edition

Highlander Immortal Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition

Monty Python's Life of Brian The Immaculate Edition

Se7en 2-disc edition

This is Spinal Tap Special Edition

Zodiac: Director's Cut

That's all for now. I'll aim to update this when things sell.

shameless eBay self promotion: update 2

So, I'm still selling a bunch of stuff on Popular Internet Auction Site eBay. I promise I'll stop advertising it once it's all gone.

Anyway, here's what there is. Stuff being bid on in is emboldened, sold stuff crossed out. Updated as-and-when.

'Exclusive' & New DVDs

300 Special Edition, with The Art of the Film mini-book

Crash (2004) new

Wanted with mini-comic & exclusive website access code

Films on DVD

The Da Vinci Code Special Edition

Dark City (theatrical cut)

Dark City: Director's Cut (US Region 1)

The Fountain

Highlander 2-disc 'European edition'

Marnie

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Special Edition

The Ultimate Mummy Collection including The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns

No Country For Old Men

Nosferatu (1922) Special Edition

Predator

Underworld Special Extended Edition

Underworld Evolution

Masters of Cinema DVDs

#1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#71 Mad Detective

TV on DVD

Band of Brothers in original tin packaging

The Complete Fawlty Towers 3-disc set

The Sopranos Series 1 Collector's Edition

The Sopranos Series 2

The Sopranos Series 3

Books

From Russia With Love (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

You Only Live Twice (Penguin Modern Classics edition)

Sold

Batman Begins Special Edition

The Dark Knight Special Edition with mini-comic

Fight Club Definitive Edition (uncut)

Ghostbusters 15th Anniversary Edition

The Great Dictator 2-disc edition

Highlander Immortal Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition

Monty Python's Life of Brian The Immaculate Edition

Se7en 2-disc edition

This is Spinal Tap Special Edition

Zodiac: Director's Cut

That's all for now. I'll aim to update this when things sell.

Films

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition (2013)
[#82a in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

This animated movie was originally released in two parts, one at the end of 2012 and the next early in 2013. Now it's been combined into one long movie and is out on US DVD and Blu-ray in a couple of weeks (except at Best Buy, where it's already available). I've reviewed both parts separately (here and here), so this single-cut doesn't count as a new number.

(Although my rule for things-I've-seen-before-in-a-new-form is they must be significantly different, and this is double the length of either part individually, and watching in one sitting is very different to watching in two chunks separated by many months... they're still the same two films. It's not much different to double-billing the existing versions.)

You can read more of my thoughts in the review I posted on Letterboxd. The same thoughts (and maybe more) will, of course, eventually turn up on 100 Films too.

"Batman: Year One" by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli

Batman: Year One is one of the key late '80s tales (like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns) that are credited with re-defining the comics medium. It's as much Jim Gordon's story as Batman's, succinctly showing how Batman's emergence began to change things in a corrupt, ruined Gotham. It's clear that a lot of this formed the basis to Batman Begins, though I'd argue the film's embellishments improve on this version.

The most recent edition also includes a page from an L.A. Confidential-style gossip rag, 'The Crime Blotter'; an introduction by Denny O'Neill (written in 1988); an interesting illustrated afterword by David Mazzucchelli ; a selection of script pages and corresponding layouts; a gallery of sketches and covers (including more roughs); to-scale reproductions of original art and newspaper-print pages; and, finally, another afterword, by Frank Miller.

These extras represent 40 pages, much of it very interesting. Especially intriguing were Mazzucchelli's early '80s submission pencils, which show a detailed realistic style, which was largely abandoned for a scratchy, sketchier style through Year One.

Articles

Outnumbered returns to BBC One
(from the BBC Press Office)
Hurray! Bring on November 15th I say.

Review of Executive Koala DVD by Kevin Gilvear
(from DVD Times)
This sounds wonderfully loopy. I mean, just look at that title, and consider that it's live action! Fabulous.

Tuesday Link-a-Mania by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
A few years ago, the BBC produced a two-part drama called Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, a near-future sci-fi in which a spaceship set out to explore the solar system. It was one of them drama-documentary things, designed to educate about the solar system, but one suspects writer-director Joe Ahearne (of Ultraviolet, Doctor Who, and next week's new BBC One series Apparitions) was more interested in the dramatic potential of the thing. And quite right too -- it's a fab idea (you should check it out on DVD). So I'm exceedingly pleased to learn that the BBC, US's Fox, and companies from Canada and Germany, are teaming up to do a 13-part version. Its plot is described as "eight astronauts from five countries who take on a mysterious six-year mission through the solar system", but is unclear if all six years are in those 13 eps or if they hope it'll run for six years. Either way's good by me. It's called Defying Gravity, which is a crap title so hopefully they'll think of something better.

Also on that link: The Dark Knight nearly breaks $1bn; Joss Whedon discusses more projects in the Dr Horrible vein; Heroes gets simple; and something about Planet of the Apes. Who'd've thought one news item could contain so many interesting bits?