Saturday 31 December 2011

End of My Year Review 2011

FILM



















Arthur Christmas

Honourable Mention:
Midnight In Paris, Captain America: The First Avenger, Bridesmaids, 13 Assassins, The Fighter





TELEVISION



















Game of Thrones

Honourable Mention:
Homeland, Revenge, Parenthood, Treme, Alphas, Breaking Bad





COMIC BOOK



















Batgirl, Vol. 3

Honourable Mention:
Criminal: Last of the Innocent, Freedom Fighters, Vol. 2, Hellboy, BPRD, Power Girl, Vol. 2, Xombi, Vol. 2



SOFTWARE


GFI Backup 2009 Home Edition

Honourable Mention:
FileZilla, Opera, LastPass, Norton Internet Security, Wallpaper Cycler Lite, Comic Collector


Wednesday 28 December 2011

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Cast
Daniel Craig
Rooney Mara
Stella Skarsgard
Robin Wright
Christopher Plummer
Joely Richardson
Goran Visnjic
Screenwriter
Steven Zaillian
Director
David Fincher
Running Time
158 minutes



Based on Stieg Larsson's posthumously published crime thriller trilogy, "The Millennium Series." The book describes the mystery surrounding the long-unsolved disappearance of an heiress. A journalist recently dinged by a libel case and a young female hacker try to resolve it, stirring up bundles of personal and industrial corruption along the way. (Sony Pictures)

Interesting and engrossing for the most part but the film continuing beyond the mysteries solution seemed unnecessary especially given how long it is.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Tom Brooks’ list of the top ten films of 2011


Video Link


Ten
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Nine
Margin Call

Eight
The Tree of Life

Seven
Beginners

Six
Warhorse

Five
Moneyball

Four
Hugo

Three
The Artist

Two
The Descendants

One
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Cast
Robert Downey Jr
Jude Law
Noomi Rapace
Jared Harris
Stephen Fry
Rachel McAdams
Screenwriters
Kieran Mulroney
Michele Mulroney
Director
Guy Ritchie
Running Time
128 minutes

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room... until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty—and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade, points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by Professor Moriarty. The cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead of Holmes as he spins a web of death and destruction—all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

A little long but very entertaining.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

March Comics

CBR has the new Dark Horse, DC, Image and Marvel solicitations for March.

This is the stuff I'm thinking about in addition to my regular pull list.



RAGEMOOR #1
Jan Strnad (W) and Richard Corben (A/Cover)
On sale Mar 21
b&w, 32 pages
$3.50
Miniseries
Ragemoor! A living castle, nurtured on pagan blood, harborer to deadly monsters! A fortress possessed of its own will and ability to change itself, with the power to add and destroy rooms and to grow without the help of any human hand. Its owner is mad with jealously, its servants aren’t human, and its secret’s horrific!
• From the creators of Mutant World!
• A gothic nightmare à la Poe and Lovecraft!
“Richard Corben and Jan Strnad are like the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee of post-EC monster comics, responsible for classics like The Last Voyage of Sindbad and Mutant World. To see the two of them back together and a project like this is just exciting as hell.” —Mike Mignola (Hellboy, B.P.R.D.)

Corben's art is just fantastic.



SAGA #1
story BRIAN K. VAUGHAN
art / cover FIONA STAPLES
MARCH 14
48 PAGES / FC / M
$2.99
Y: THE LAST MAN writer BRIAN K. VAUGHAN returns to comics with red-hot artist FIONA STAPLES for an all-new ONGOING SERIES! Star Wars-style action collides with Game of Thrones-esque drama in this original sci-fi/fantasy epic for mature readers, as new parents Marko and Alana risk everything to raise their child amidst a never-ending galactic war. The adventure begins in a spectacular DOUBLE-SIZED FIRST ISSUE, with forty-four pages of story with no ads for the regular price of just $2.99!

I got the first trade of Y: The Last Man read it but went no further, Ex Machina I have all of it but have still to read the last 10 or so issues. The art and the genre have sold me on this.




Supercrooks #1
Mark Millar (W) • Leinil Yu (A/C)

When The Market Is Flooded With Competition And The Authorities Are Always On Your Tail, What’s An All-American Supervillain To Do? Go To Spain, Of Course! From The Writer Who Brought You Kick-Ass And The Artist Of Secret Invasion Comes A New Series About A Team Of Superpowered Ne’er-Do-Wells Looking To Pull Off One Last Heist In The Land Of Bullfighting And Delicious Churros.
32 Pgs./Mature …$2.99

Maybe.

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Hugo

Cast
Ben Kingsley
Sacha Baron Cohen
Asa Butterfield
Chloe Moretz
Jude Law
Ray Winstone
Christopher Lee
Helen McCrory
Frances De La Tour
Richard Griffiths
Emily Mortimer
Michael Stuhlbarg
Screenwriter
John Logan
Director
Martin Scorsese
Running Time
126 mins

Based on Brian Selznick's captivating and imaginative New York Times bestseller "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." Hugo Cabret, Scorsese's first film shot in 3D, tells the tale of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. When Hugo encounters a broken machine, an eccentric girl, and the cold, reserved man who runs the toy shop, he is caught up in a magical, mysterious adventure that could put all of his secrets in jeopardy. (Sony Pictures)

I saw it in 2D. It was lushly shot and nicely entertaining. Part childrens adventure, part documentary on early cinema.