Wednesday 29 February 2012

The Woman In Black

Cast
Daniel Radcliffe
Ciaran Hinds
Janet McTeer
Roger Allam
Screenwriter
Jane Goldman
Director
James Watkins
Running Time
94m 47s (cut by 0m 6s to obtain a 12A certificate)

The story follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client's papers. As he works alone in the client's isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease growing when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black. Receiving only silence from the locals, Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent. (CBS Films)


I went in with low expectations but I enjoyed it. I jumped several times and the ghosts were genuinely unsettling.

Thursday 23 February 2012

May Comics

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

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



EARTH TWO #1
Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art by NICOLA SCOTT and TREVOR SCOTT
Cover by GREG CAPULLO
1:25 Variant cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
On sale MAY 2 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
• First issue of an ongoing series from writer JAMES ROBINSON and artist NICOLA SCOTT!
• Who are the heroes of EARTH 2 – and what befell them?
• Starring ALAN SCOTT, JAY GARRICK and many others!
• You may think you know Earth 2…but this is DC Comics – The New 52, where anything can happen!
• Don’t miss the extra-sized debut issue!

Robinson and Scott are great plus the JSA characters. It should drop to $2.99 next issue.


WORLDS’ FINEST #1
Written by PAUL LEVITZ
Art by GEORGE PEREZ, SCOTT KOBLISH and KEVIN MAGUIRE
Cover by GEORGE PEREZ
1:25 Variant cover by KEVIN MAGUIRE
On sale MAY 2 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
• New ongoing series featuring POWER GIRL and HUNTRESS of Earth 2!
• PAUL LEVITZ teams with amazing artists GEORGE PEREZ and KEVIN MAGUIRE.
• Discover why these two heroes are stranded on our Earth – and what it means for the heroes of the DC Universe.

Levitz' Huntress mini is great plus Power Girls return. I got Teen Titans in the eighties which was drawn by Perez.


SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #1
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by PERE PEREZ
Cover by GARY FRANK
On sale MAY 2 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
• The SMALLVILLE story continues in this new ongoing series!
• Based on the hit CW show!
• Find out what happened after CLARK KENT puts on the costume.


Miller and Perez were brilliant on Batgirl so getting this.


TAKIO #1
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (w) • MICHAEL AVON OEMING (a/C)
Bursting from the pages of last year’s best-selling graphic novel! From the Eisner Award-winning creators of POWERS comes this all-new, all-ages superhero adventure for a new generation! Taki and Olivia are sisters with superpowers! In fact, they are the only ones in the world with superpowers! So obviously, they have to become superheroes! But is the world ready for real-life superheroes? Are the girls ready for the challenge? And will the accident that made them who they are reveal secrets that will change their lives forever? The answers are no, no and yes. This is a brand-new all-ages adventure. A new book for comic-book fans of all ages. A book you can share with your kids or just enjoy for yourself. TAKIO is on the 2012 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens List!
40 PGS./All Ages …$3.95
© 2012 Jinxworld Inc.

If the second issue is $2.99 then yes. Still haven't read Powers beyond maybe the first couple issues.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

The Muppets

Cast
Jason Segel
Amy Adams
Chris Cooper
Rashida Jones
Screenwriters
Jason Segel
Nick Stoller
Director
James Bobin
Running Time
110 minutes

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary and Mary from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets' former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate. (Walt Disney Pictures)



I watched the show in the seventies but can't remember too much about it now. I enjoyed the The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island although Muppets from Space the last film before this one I've never seen although I think it was on TV just a couple days ago but I didn't bother to do anything about it, don't know why really. The first few movies I can't remember what I though of them.
It was a combination of enjoyable (mostly the songs) and dull. Perhaps it's only for very small children in which case it's too long but the story was just overly simple. Two things which surprised me were how few Muppets there were, I seem to remember the other films and the show having what seemed like more than a hundred Muppets in lots of scenes but this seemed to only have a little more than a dozen plus the fur on Fozzie looked ancient.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

The Descendants

Cast
George Clooney
Shailene Woodley
Beau Bridges
Judy Greer
Robert Forster
Screenwriters
Alexander Payne
Nat Faxon
Jim Rash
Director
Alexander Payne
Running Time
114 minutes

Matt King is an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family's land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries. (Fox Searchlight)

Pleasant and interesting.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Haywire

Cast
Gina Carano
Antonio Banderas
Michael Douglas
Bill Paxton
Ewan McGregor
Michael Fassbender
Channing Tatum
Screenwriter
Lem Dobbs
Director
Steven Soderbergh
Running Time
92 minutes

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive. Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary. (Relativity Media)

Enjoyed it a lot but was hoping for something more thrilling both in terms of story and action. Hopefully she'll  be offered more good movies and choose to do them because this could be the start of something great and not before time. I often wonder if Sigourney Weaver had been happy to do action movies and had been offered and said yes to Die Hard how that would have played out.