A New Look For Eclipse

Derek and I had a very long and productive story conference today (that's a fancy way of saying we chatted online about the book a lot). Now I'm really looking forward to reading #1! We're putting a lot more thought into the pacing of the book and you're going to see the focus more evenly distributed around the members of the team.

While the interior pages of the book are now going to have a more traditional comic book look to them, we discussed keeping the cover art as 3D rendered pieces. As such, that means working up fully textured versions of the new Young Gods models. I thought I'd share the first of these here, so...um....here it is. This is, of course, the new look for Eclipse. In the original version of The Young Gods, Eclipse was sixteen years old. We're revising all the ages downwards for the new version, and so the new Eclipse is now thirteen.

I'll be working on the other characters over the next few days, and I'll post pictures here as I do them. Then I'll start working on some pin-up and cover art to promote the series with.

We've set ourselves a deadline of the start of the Bristol Comic Expo in May to get the first issue complete. By then we will hopefully have a finished book that we can start showing to publishers. It would be great to find a home for The Young Gods in the UK.

The Karate Kid

Forgive me while I pause, for a moment, from reviewing movies and whipping you into a frenzy of excitement over my various comic book projects and simply take on the role of a proud father.

On Friday evening my four year old son, Zak, had his first ever Karate lesson at a local dojo. He loved it. I have never seen him enjoy himself more in his entire four years of life. I loved watching him, it was such a wonderful feeling. At one point during the lesson he stuck his hand up in the air and waited for sensei to call on him. "Yes, Zak, what would you like to say?" His simple, but exuberant reply was, "This is REALLY cool!" He followed all the moves as best he could and paid close attention to the teacher for...well...most of the lesson. He is only four, after all! On the way home he asked me to help him learn to count in Japanese.

It's hard to explain just how this one short hour spent with my son made me feel. I guess...like a dad. What more can you ask for?

You can rest assured that as soon as that white belt gets a red stripe added to it, I'll be posting a fresh picture of my little Karate Kid up on this site. So...my apologies to those of you who come here for the reviews....for those of you who are interested in comics or 3D art...or for the many of you who blunder in here in search of a Fan Club for Skander Keynes...you'll just have to indulge me every once in a while. At least until he reaches 8th Dan....

The Young Gods welcomes new writer!

The reworking of The Young Gods #1 kicked up a gear yesterday as I recruited Derek Hartley to take over the script writing duties for the series.

I think it's only fair that I acknowledge my own weaknesses, and "the words" are definitely not my strongest point when it comes to comic book creation. I'll still be handling the plotting of the series, the first six issues are fairly well plotted out already, but I'm sure that derek will ultimately have a fair amount of input where the plot is concerned too.

I think working with someone else will be both good for me and good for the project. For one thing it will give me more of an incentive to actually get the pages done.

We'll both be attending the Bristol Comic Expo in May and are aiming to have the first issue complete by then so we can pitch it to any publishers that are in attendance.

If anyone else is interested in getting involved in The Young Gods, I'm open to any and all offers. I'd particularly like to find a colorist and a letterer and I'll consider any offers from pencillers.

For now, however, I'd just like to welcome Derek on board and hope that we can raise the quality of the book to the point where it's picked up by a publisher.

I'll continue to post regular updates on our progress here.

First look at The Young Gods new look!

This is my first attempt at my new method of creating the artwork for The Young Gods. The "pencils" were created using Poser, printed out and inked using the traditional method of brush and ink, then scanned and coloured in Photoshop. I'm not 100% happy with the inking, but it'll take me a while to get used to inking over the Poser images.

As you can see the biggest changes are Eclipse and Outrage, who are both now the ages that I orginally intended them to be. Everyone's a bit younger really, Juice is cuter, and Impact is a bit sassier. Paladin is fairly unchanged, his costume ahs been simplified, and Revenant is the most unchanged, although he's lost his shirt and his clothes and hair are now white.

All in all I'm fairly pleased with this is a "proof-ofconcept" kind of thing. The next step is to produce some sequential pages...well...the first issue...to see how it works.

As usual, click on the picture for the full size version.

The First Annual Cyber Hellfire Club Motion Picture Awards "The Cybies"

The nominations for the Oscars have just been released. Now, I usually disagree with the Oscar nominations, and with the winners too, but this time I've been left astounded by one category in particular: Best Visual Effects. The nominations are Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong and War of the Worlds. The effects in Narnia were good but there were several shots that were less than perfect, the effects in Kong were VERY patchy, with at least one sequence being awful; and as for War of the Worlds...the effects were good but certainly didn't stick in the memory. This would all be fair enough if there weren't two films whose effects really stood out as head and shoulders above everything else. The effects in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were outstanding, and should have received a nomination at least. However, it's the lack of a nomination for Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith that really beggars belief. Not only should this film have been nominated for Best Visual Effects, it should win, hands down. Firstly there's the consistency of quality throughout the film. The effects in Episode 3 are consistently good...unlike King Kong which has some outstanding scenes, but is let down by a lot of sub-standard work. Secondly, there's the sheer quality itself. The opening shots alone set the bar for quality of SFX at a new high point. Personally, I feel that ILM managed to capture perfectly that same jaw dropping feeling that the opening shots of Episode 4 created.

So, without further ado I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and present the First Annual Cyber Hellfire Club Motion Picture Awards....The Cybies!

Best Leading Actor

Ralph Feinnes - The Constant Gardener

Best Supporting Actor

Skander Keynes - The Chronicles of Narnia

Best Leading Actress

Ziyi Zhang - Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Supporting Actress

Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener

Best Animated Feature

Howl's Moving Castle

Best Art Direction

Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Cinematography

Batman Begins

Best Costume Design

Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

Best Director

Mike Newell - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Best Makeup

Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

Best Music (Score)

Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

Best Picture

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Best Sound

Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

Best Visual Effects

Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

Best Writing (Adapted)

The Constant Gardener

Best Writing (Original)

Serenity

Movie Review: The Punisher

Well, I know I said I wasn't going to start reviewing movies I'd seen on TV, but after seeing this on Sky Movies I just had to comment.

Released in 2004, The Punisher stars Thomas Jane (Deep Blue Sea) as the titular character out for revenge when crime boss Howard Saint (John Travolta) has his entire family killed. The is the Punisher's second big screen outing after 1989's attempt starring Dolph Lundrgren was a fairly big flop.

This more recent effort didn't exactly set the box office alight either, but it has obviously raked in enough money to justify a sequel, as IMDB lists Punisher 2 as currently being in pre-production.

I didn't really know what to expect from this film. It certainly wasn't very heavily promoted in the UK, and the buzz surrounding the film at the time of its release was generally poor. Indeed, Sky Movies gave it one star out of five, which prompted my wife to comment , "Are you sure you want to watch this?"

What followed was a very strange, very flawed but very watchable movie.

As is fairly obvious, I'm a big comic book fan, and a fan of Marvel Comics in particular. However, The Punisher is a character I've never been particularly familiar with. I know his origin story, his look, I've read a few comics with him in them, but that's it. So I can't comment too much on how true to the comics this was, or whether the supporting cast from the movie were drawn from the comic.

Firstly this film is very dark, very violent, and very, very graphic. We're talking multiple, graphic stabbing, beatings and shootings. Lots of blood.

Secondly, this film is very funny. We're talking a comedy, fat neighbour here.

Occasionally the violence and humour are mixed...those moments are particularly strange.

Thomas Jane fits the role of Frank Castle very well, but this movie does commit one of the cardinal sins of comic-book movies. This film is The Punisher's origin story. Pick up the first issue of just about any comic book, it's highly unlikely that it will be the character's origin story, at best you'll get glimpses of the character's origin in flash backs. For me, The Punisher in particular would work much better this way. His origin is so intense...that...for me...introducing us to the happy, likeable Frank Castle and his perfect family, and then killing them all and destroying him before our eyes is a little bit too intense. My personal view is that it would have been more interesting to introduce us to The Punisher first, and then explore what made him that way. That also saves us from the "Crumbs, I've been watching The Punisher for half an hour now and there's still no sign of The Punisher..." effect. That would also give you the option of starting the movie with a big, set-piece action sequence starring your title character, which is always a plus point.

I guess I should mention John Travolta, who is in this movie. I can't stand John Travolta. I liked Pulp Fiction, but that was more in spite of him rather than because of him. He's ok in this film, but, well, check out this article on Scientology from the Conspiracy Archive to see why I have a general dislike of him.

So, a flawed but watchable film. I'll be interested to see what they do with the sequel.

Rating: 6/10

An Experiment In Colour

Well, I was bored at lunchtime the other day so I decided to try and figure out how to colour comic book pages. Mainly meant as just a bit of fun, I'm also expecting to have to colour the new version of Young Gods #1 if I ever get it finished, so I wanted to try and figure out exactly how to go about it. For a first attempt I'm fairly pleased with the results. As usual, click on the image for a larger version (Pencils: Ryan Stegman Inks & Colours: Ian Sharman).

On the inking side, I've just completed two pages that Ryan Stegman sent me and I'm pretty pleased with my progress. It's all starting to click into place now. Tonight I'll be making a start on a page that Inaki Miranda has sent me, which will be a challenge as it's in a totally different style.

It looks like I'll definitely be attending the Bristol Comic Expo in May. I'll be taking the train there and staying at the Hotel for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to it as I'll be able to meet up with everyone I've met via the Markosia site and hopefully introduce myself to a few other companies...assuming there's anyone there to introduce myself to! Hopefully I can come away from it with a few more good contacts, and maybe some inking work. We'll see....

Movie Review: Memoirs of a Geisha

I was not particularly keen on seeing this. It's not that I only like big blockbuster action films, after all I raved about Constant Gardener, it's more that I wasn't in the mood. Plus, I know it's the second film to be directed by Rob Marshall, whose only other directing credit was for Chicago...which I thought was awful. Also, I was tired, fell asleep during my second viewing of Underowlrd Evolution the night before and have a ton of work that I really should have been getting on with at home. But still, having been accused on many occasions of refusing to see films that my wife wants to see, I felt duty bound to sit through this. I'm glad I did.

The film has had seriously mixed reviews. Based on a novel by Arthuer Golden, it tells the story of a young girl who is sold to a Geisha house and fights to find love and independence against a backdrop of misery and abuse. Set in mid 20th Century Japan, some have criticised the film for casting three Chinese women in the three leading female parts. Others have criticised its highly idealised depiction of a Japan that never really existed. Yet more have criticised the decision to have the cast deliver their lines in a heavily accented English. I have to confess that I viewed this film from an entirely Western perspective am not possibly qualified to criticise it on any of these grounds. I was not aware that the actresses were Chinese, and have no idea why they were cast instead of Japanese actresses. From my point of view, it doesn't matter, and didn't affect my enjoyment of the film one bit. As for the depiction of Japan...this is Hollywood, Americans struggle to depict their own culture and country accurately. I've learnt to live with Hollywood's depiction of Britain and British life and to just enjoy the story. I've also had to put up with Hollywood casting Irishmen to play Scots, the Welsh to play English, etc, etc. Considering the fact that of the actors that have played that great English icon James Bond, one has been Scottish and another Irish, I think we just have to accept that Hollywood is just like that. As for the final point about the accents...well...I would agree that at times it seems a little odd, but in general it's not too jarring. It's clear that this film is portraying a very Western view of the "Mysteries of the Orient" and as such, it succeeds. It's not supposed to be a realistic portrayal and shouldn't be judged as such.

Most reviews I've read have focused on Ziyi Zhang's portrayal of the adult Sayuri, which is outstanding, but it is as a child that we first get to know this woman and become engaged in her story. The young Suzuka Ohgo is captivating as the little girl who is sold without knowing what is happening to her. Feel and understand her pain as she is seperated from her sister and thrust into a totally alien environment. An environment where she is hated by older Geisha Hatsumomo (Li Gong) purely because she is pretty, and therefore a threat.

The plot is complex and winding often leading us down the path of despair as we believe that all of Sayuri's hopes of being with the Chairman, the object of her affections, have been dashed forever. Ken Watanabe is, as always, outstanding in this role. Of course, the presence of Watanabe-San in any film is a cue for my wife to spend the whole movie sighing.

The real outstanding set-piece moment in this film comes when Sayuri performs a dance in the theatre. This is an attempt to make her the most desirable Geisha in Japan, so that she will attract the highest bidder for her virginity. This partiular subject is handled very tastefully, with an incredible degree of subtlety. The entire film is very tastefully done, considering the subject matter, with no sex and no nudity. Returning to the dance - it is purely breathtaking as she dances in a rain of petals, with a particularly effective lighting effect at the end of the dance, as the petals turn red and look like a rain of blood.

The entire film is beautifully shot and wonderuflly acted and really should be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. This is another film to take your other half to and rack up loads of brownie points for seeing a movie they want to see, while thoroughly enjoying it yourself!

Rating: 9/10

Movie Review: Underworld Evolution

Underworld came and went so quickly at my local multiplex that we missed it before we even knew it was out. I couldn't wait for it to come out on DVD and it has since become an essential part of my DVD collection. I'm still trying to justify to my wife that we need to get the extended version, but she's never been too keen on us having two versions of the same film. Still, not wanting to make the same mistake twice, we made sure we got to see this latest chapter in the war between Vampires and Lycans on opening night.

I had mixed feelings going into this. I love the first film, it's brilliant, but that left me with a mixture of high expectations and dread where the second film was concerned. I know the creators always envisioned this as a trilogy from the start, but could they stick to that vision given the higher budget that the success of the first film brought?

The answer is a categorical YES! This film can immediately take it's place among a select elite of films - it's a sequel that's better than the first film. Basically, every element of the first film that was good is built upon and improved. The stage has already been set, so there's no time wasted here. The film picks up literally seconds after the original ends. It's a true sequel, not a rehash just to cash in on the first film's success.

It's really hard to say too much about the film without giving away many of the suprises, but suffice it to say that one of the strengths of this series is the excellent cast. After the death of Bill Nighy's Viktor at the end of the first film (Nighy makes a small but sufficiently hammy cameo appearance during a flashback to the 13th century), the last remaining Vampire Lord, Marcus is awakened...and he has a very old score to settle. Played by Tony Curran, probably best known as The Invisible Man from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Marcus is the right blend of charismatic and dangerously unstable. Wheares Nighy's Viktor was evil suppressed and under control, Marcus is wild and out of control.

Despite not appearing in the trailer, Scott Speedman is back as Michael Corvin, the Lycan/vampire hybrid who has won Selen's heart. He plays a fairly major role in the film but I did feel that one of the film's flaws is that it didn't sufficiently explore just what he was and what he can do.

Lastly, of course, there's Selene herself, played by the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale. A heroine tough enough to appeal to women, and sexy enough to appeal to men too. What does Underworld have that Blade doesn't? I think the answer would have to be the lovely Kate (actually, to be fair, Underworld outperforms the Blade series in just about every department).

I'm off to see this again tonight, it's that good.

Rating: 9/10

Elephants From Norway Go Mad In Winter

"Oh, good grief!" Will probably be the response of the few people out there who know what this is.

To be as brief as possible, when I was eighteen I decided to write a book. The surprise was that I actually finished it. With a cast including Mad Elephants, Angels, Demons, Nuns and Militant Kumquats, it is, at times, a little odd.

While it's far from being the best writing in the world it is, at least, genuinely funny at times (well, I think it is...).

What it definitely is, is ten years old, and so there are numerous pop-culture and sporting references that are seriously out of date.
I guess I'm making it accessible here because it is, after all, a piece of me. Hopefully some people will read it and it'll make them laugh. I really don't expect anything more of it than that.

So, without further ado, here it is, a novel, by Ian Sharman: Elephants From Norway Go Mad In Winter

Note: It's probably best if you save the file to your hard drive and then open it, rather than opening it in your browser, as the text doesn't wrap in the browser window which makes it almost impossible to read.

Two Hundred Hits and Counting!

Well, here's to the first two hundred hits!

The site is beginning to take shape now and it's starting to receive a steady stream of visitors.

Internet Explorer users may have noticed things going a bit odd over the last couple of days. I got the site just how I wanted it, and then decided to just have a quick check to see how it looked in IE. Oh dear....everything had gone a bit wonky. I personally use Firefox both at home and at work, and the site displayed perfectly. Still, everything's fixed now, and the code's a little bit tidier too. I would recommend Firefox though, not just for viewing this site, but in general.

I think I've made a decision regarding The Young Gods. I'm going to completely redo #1. As much as I was very happy with how #1 turned out, it really isn't what I had in mind when I started. It was a huuuuuge learning process, and, as such, I feel I can now better achieve what I originally set out to do. I've still got a lot of setting up to do, but I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on the book this week. It'll end up having a lot more of a traditional comic-book look to it.

I'll post images as soon as I can.

'Till then, I'm just going to enjoy hitting the 200 hit milestone.

Young Gods featured in Daz3D's Gallery of the Month!

Yes, today's good news is that a picture of Impact fighting the security drones from Young Gods #1 was selected to feature in Daz 3D's Gallery of the Month for January 2006. Basically, that means a little bit of exposure for me, and a $25 voucher to spend on the site. I'm chuffed because those gallery of the moth images are all pretty amazing, and it's great to have my work be judged as equal to that.

I almost entitled this post "OK, what's with all the ads?" because I also want to explain...well...why there are all these ads all of a sudden.

Firstly, there are the Ads by Google. Basically, Blogger has recently added a facility for me to quickly and simply integrate ads generated by Google which will be generally relevant to this site. As you can see, they are just a single line of text ads and are as unobtrusive as ads can get. Why have them at all? Why does anyone put adverts up anywhere? To make some money. I'm not really expecting to make much, if anything, from these adverts, but I do put a lot of time and effort into maintaining this site (admittedly mostly for my own amusement) and it really wouldn't hurt to get a little something out of it.

Secondly, there are the new Daz3D ads. Basically, I've signed up to the new Daz3D affiliate program. That means that, yes, I will make some money if you click one of these ads and then buy something from Daz. However, making myself money is only a part of why those ads are there. If it wasn't for Daz3D there would be no Young Gods, and if there were no Young Gods then I would never have hooked up with the guys from Markosia, and if I hadn't have hooked up with the guys from Markosia then I wouldn't be inking again...and so on... Basically, I really want to support Daz3D because it's a fantastic resource and I would genuinely recommend them to anyone wanting to get into 3D artwork.

So, there you go, I didn't want to stick the ads up without commenting, and I certainly didn't want anyone to think that I'm in any way "selling out" by plastering ads everywhere. This is still a very young site and we've had relatively few hits, but the site's popularity is growing. I'm fascinated seeing where people are accessing the site from, and what keywords they've used when searching Google or MSN that have led them here. Quite a few people have ended up here because they're fans of Skander Keynes, who plays Edmund in The Chronicles of Narnia. I must admit to finding this a little odd, but hey. (And, of course, it's no coincidence that I've just mentioned him again, either). The really cool thing is that over the last few days I've started to see people coming to the site after specifically searching for my name or for the site itself, so things are starting to take off.

Oh, and lastly, I finally found out who the mystery Spanish person is. So...here's a big hello to Inaki Miranda! Inaki is the penciller on The Lexian Chronicles, published by ... of course ... Markosia! To bring things full circle - you'll be able to see both my3D art and Inaki's pencils in the forthcoming Lexian Chronicles tradepaperback, due out in March.

Movie Review: The Producers

What is wrong with people?

I've just been reading online that, supposedly, loads of people have been walking out of this movie. The critics have panned it and the word on the street is that it's awful.

To be honest, I did get the impression while I was watching it that while half of the audience were pissing themselves with laughter the other half were thinking "What the hell is this?!"

To be honest, I've never understood the whole walking out of a movie thing. It's the cause of a fair bit of friction between my wife and me. She says that part of the reason we got Unlimited cinema passes was so that we could walk out on bad movies without feeling that we've wasted any money...but I still won't walk out. Even if she's sitting there complaining that she's bored and huffing every five seconds. The problem is that no matter how bad a movie is, once I've got more than about twenty minutes in I want to know how it ends. Mary Kate & Ashley's "New York Minute" was on TV the other night and we put it on while we ate because we wanted to watch something we wouldn't mind missing the end of because we both had work to do later that evening. And I was STILL reluctant to stop watching it.

Anyway, that's all a moot point with The Producers because we both loved it. We've both grown up with Mel Brooks films. I have clear memories of being sat in front of Blazing Saddles at a very early age so that I could enjoy the campfire scene (parp!) and, of course, being a family of Star Wars fans, we all went to see Spaceballs at the cinema. But be it Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety or Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Mel Brooks films were a staple part of both of our childhood movie diets.

Which makes it all the more odd that I haven't actually seen Brooks' classic 1968 original movie The Producers, which almost makes me feel unqualified to write this reveiw of the new movie of the musical of that original classic. Of course, I was minus eight years old when it first hit cinemas, so I have a bit of an excuse...

This new version sees the hit broadway musical based on the 1968 film brought to the big screen with much of the cast from the stage version intact. Both Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are outstanding in the two lead roles, but the real surprise is Uma Thurman...who knew she could sing and dance? Apparently not even her... Oh, and it's no surprise that Will Ferrell is totally off the wall insane as the neo-Nazi writer of "Springtime for Hitler." Apparently he begged them for the part.

Which brings me to one of the few sticking points in this movie. While Mel Brooks remains one of the few people in the world who can get away with lampooning Nazi Germany in this style, there are still times when it leaves you feeling a little uncomfortable. You know...when you catch yourself doubled over with laughter...at Nazis...and...um...yeah...

Gary Beach is also outrageous as the supremely over-the-top-camp director of "Springtime" who ends up playing Hitler after Will Ferrel's character breaks his leg. Some might argue that Brooks can get away with the Nazi jokes because he's a Jew, but maybe he can't get away with the gay jokes because he's straight (unless there's something I don't know...). But, really, the scene where we meet the director and his partner provides some of the funniest moments in the movie, and, ultimately, it's setting up the joke of having a gay man play Hitler in the campest style you can imagine.

This film is brilliant. Very, very funny and entertaining throughout. Plus it has Uma Thurman acting sexy. Yum.

The generally accepted view is that Mel Brooks isn't funny anymore. This movie puts that lie to rest. Looking at his filmography, that opinion seems to be based on Dracula: Dead and Loving It, which is one movie that I did switch off before the end (actually, after only about five minutes...ugh...). It would be more accurate to say that Mel Brooks doesn't make movies anymore, hopefully this film marks the end of that trend.

Rating: 8/10

Look to the Skies

Chemtrails - Predictions

This article may seem a bit obscure to some of you, but it's a topic that I keep coming into contact with.

I sincerely hope it's all paranoid delusion because the alternative is unthinkable. However, we seem to have seen a series of unthinkable events over the past six or seven years.

If this guy's right then it would seem that whoever is behind it has also set up the perfect excuse for a worlwide pandemic - avian flu.

As I said, though, it's probably all paranoid delusion...

...I hope...

(By the way, to find out more on this ubject I'd recommend clicking the "Conspiracy Archive" link to the right).

Inky Fingers

I've been having a great time this week visiting an old passion of mine.

It's ok, my wife doesn't need to be worried, I'm talking about inking comic books.

A brush, a pot of ink and a page of exquisite pencils (courtesy of Ryan Stegman) and I've been in heaven. I don't intend on putting my drawing board away again, ever. I'm back for good now. I'm just going to keep working at it until someone starts paying me to ink. I just have to find some more pencils to practice on...

Meanwhile, enjoy the sneaky peak at my inks here.

Movie Review: Just Like Heaven

This probably isn't going to be a long review as I saw this a few days ago now so it's not quite as fresh in my mind as usual.

I went into this movie with fairly low expectations, which is usually a good thing as it wasn't likely to disappoint me (unlike King Kong...). I've seen quite a few films starring Reece Witherspoon and they've all been fairly enjoyable, but I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see a film starring her before.

The basic plot os that a landscape gardner (Mark Ruffalo), who is getting over his wife's death, moves into an apartment that was formerly occupied by a workaholic doctor played by Reece Witherspoon. Soon after moving in he encounters her "ghost" and after some initial anomosity towards each other they fall in love. I won't say much more than that about the plot as I don't want to spoil the twist (my wife figured it out about five minutes into the movie and spoiled it for me...ah well...).

I've read some critics complaining that the premise is not very realistic. Ummm....well...no...but...uh...it's a movie. Not only that, but I expect these same people praised Batman Begins for being so realistic. I don't need to spell out the absurdity of that, do I?

So, yes, this movie is silly, and light and fluffy and sweet. It also made me cry, a lot. Both sad and happy tears. To me, any movie that can elicit an emotional response like that has got to be good.

I don't want to go on about this film too much, but I would heartily recommend it. the cast are excellent, with some wonderful chemistry between Witherspoon and Ruffalo. Witherspoon is especially good and you can really understand why he falls in love with her. The supporting cast are also superb. Donal Logue provides a lot of laughs as a slightly dodgy shrink, but the stand-out performance is from Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) as weird book store owner Darryl. Early on I suspected that he was going to "make the movie" (as in, be the best thing in it) but he was actually slightly underused.

Take your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife to the cinema and snuggle up in front of this movie, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 9/10

So Little Time...

Wow, what a couple of weeks!

Let me start by wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2006 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for me which I sincerely hope will see me well on the way to a long hoped for career change.

I'm going to catch up with some exciting news today, even though I have a movie review pending (I recently saw the excellent Just Like Heaven, I'll post more about it later, but in case I don't, it gets 9/10, go see it!).

To the exciting news! Well, the first bit of news is not so great, Markosia won't be publishing The Young Gods, which is a shame, but not a total shock. That said, I really don't have the time to work on it right now, because of the exciting news that is to follow. I'm not too sure what the future will be for The Young Gods right now, I have some thoughts but nothing fully formed. If there is to be a future for the book it will probably be completely redone with a new art team, maybe with me just producing cover art, but the problem there is finding an art team!

Anyway, enough of that, on to the good news!

The good news is that Morkosia still like my stuff and have asked me to come up with some variant covers/pin-ups for their ongoing title, The Lexian Chronicles, featuring the main character from that book, Reena (who can be seen in the pic' above, expertly pencilled by the very talented Ryan Stegman). This has been quite a challenge for me as it's meant using Poser to produce a picture of a pre-existing character. I've had to replicate her costume and her look, which has been fairly tricky. I'm quite happy with the results (which I won't share with you as they're for Markosia's eyes only right now) but I might be purchasing a better leather texture...we'll see. Hopefully they'll like what they see and my artwork will be gracing the cover of a future issue of The Lexian Chronicles, but even if it doesn't it's been great fun and a rewarding challenge. It's definitely stretched and improved my Poser skills and forced me to dabble in the murky world of re-texturing.

That's not all the good news though! Some of you may know that many years ago I trained as a comic book inker and tried to break into the industry that way. Tim Townsend, possibly the best inker in the world, was kind enough to spend far more time than I could ever have hoped for guiding and teaching me and I got to a point where both he and I felt I was good enough to ink professionally. However, for reasons that I'll never know the doors stayed firmly shut and I ended up working in graphic design (nowhere near as fun). Anyway, flash forward to the present and I find myself chatting online with Midnight Kiss penciller Ryan Stegman about inking. He doesn't currently work with an inker and was commenting on how hard it is to find a really good one. Oh, and he mentioned that his dream was to have Tim Townsend ink his work. OK, to cut a long story short I've dusted off my drawing board, bought a new brush and a fresh pot of ink and I'm working on some inking samples for him. It's been far too long since I've inked but it's going really well so far. I forgot why I used to love inking - because I'm an inker.

It finally feels like all those doors that slammed shut in my face the last time I was trying to break into comics have finally started to open a crack. The difference this time is that I'm older and wiser. Not only does that actually improve the quality of my work, but it helps to keep me firmly grounded. If nothing else, I'm having a lot of fun right now (working 'till gone three in the morning, but having fun) and that in and of itself is great. Anything else is a bonus.

Yes, of course, it would be great to be inking professionally with a healthy side line in producing covers and pin-ups. That is the ultimate goal, the dream. Maybe do some writing too. But that's the future, right here, right now, I'm having a blast.

Movie Review: King Kong

I've read a number of reviews of Peter Jackson's King Kong over the last week or so and they have all been overwhelmingly positive. The only negative comment any of them have really made is that it might be a little too long. I'm afraid this is a gross understatement.

Both my wife and I are HUGE fans of Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and devoured the extended editions on DVD with all their many extras. Jackson maanged to craft a series of films that lasts for well over twelve hours and still leaves you wanting more, so when I first heard that his take on the Giant Ape clocked in at just over three hours long I wasn't too worried. Even the extended versions of the three LOTR films never really drag and you certainly never feel that any scene is uneccessary so I felt confident that every minute of King Kong would be thoroughly entertaining.

However, this is not the case, and it shouldn't really have come as any surprise, considering the source material. With LOTR Jackson was drawing on a vast amount of source material. Tolkein's masterpiece is both rich and vivid with an enormous amount of back (and side) story to draw from. Tolkein crafted the entire history of Middle Earth from its creation (in The Silmarillion) and the many appendices included in the three volumes further flesh out the world and the character's back story (indeed, many people objected to jackson's insertion of the Aragorn/Arwen romance...but it's all there in the appendices!). Despite stretching past the twelve hour mark, Jackson's dilemma with LOTR was always what to leave out, and he did, indeed, leave out a lot of good stuff. With King Kong, however, Jackson's source material is a film half the length of his own, and so he has added much, and this is where the movie really fails.

But wait, before get too deeply into the movies failings, let's talk about where it succeeds. Jackson initially starts padding at the start of the film, and it's a full hour before Kong even appears. However, this is really not a bad thing at all. He does an admirable job of introducing all the characters and provides a plausible and compelling justification for their trip to Skull Island. Jack Black particularly stands out here as movie producer/director Carl Denham. Here he proves that there's much more to him than being a funny fat man and I hope he continues to get more serious roles. Jackson spends the first hour slowly building the tension and so you never really lose interest or start to get bored. You feel that you're constantly building to something and as the ship gets closer and closer to Skull Island your anticipation continues to increase.

When we reach the island Jackson gets out his full box of tricks and does what he does best - shows us something we've never really seen before. The island looks stunning, both terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

There are problems here however, it does look good but every now and again the visuals fall below the very high level they've set themselves. The brontosauras chase, particularly, has some really awful green screen moments. Indeed, some are so bad that you wonder if they're not some kind of weird Jackson homage to old school effects.

It's also while we're on the island that you receive a rather worrying revelation...you don't actually care about what happens to any of these people. That's not entirely true, you do actually care about Jack Black's character, but he's supposed to be the villain of the piece! None of our heroes are particularly engaging and that's a real problem in a film like this. The whole point of this movie is that they are constantly in peril and we are supposed to be on the edge of our seats worrying about what will happen to them.

Worst of all, we don't really connect with Kong. One reveiwer I read praised Jackson for presenting Kong as an animal and not a monster. To me, however, that's his biggest mistake. Kong is never anything more than an animal in this film, and so we never really engage with him as a character. He needs to have a real personality, a real character but instead he's just a beast, acting on instinct.

This really becomes a problem as we move into the movies climax, which is also where the pacing of the film really falls apart. We know what's coming, everyone knows what happens to Kong in the end, so surely we should get there in a timely and action packed manner? After all, there can be no suspense, we know what's coming, right? Well, not in peter Jackson's eyes. The finale is so long and drawn out that I...I fell asleep. I never fall asleep at the cinema! Not even in the worst films! As Kong began his ascent of the Empire State Building I started blowing Zs at the ceiling. A timely nudge from my wife ensured that I didn't miss too much of the movie...I'm not sure if it wouldn't have been better if she'd left me to sleep. Kong can't speak. He's an ape. So Kong and Ann stare at each other, in a deep and meaningful way. Except, as I said, Kong is never anything more than an animal in this film, so, really, they just stare at each other a lot. While planes fly round them, occaisionally shotting at Kong. He's big, so it takes a lot of bullets to bring him down. Lots and lots and lots and lots and....zzzz....sorry, drifted off again.

The biggest problem is that, rather than thinking the people are being terribly mean by hounding Kong to his destruction, you're really left thinking that,a ctually, it's probably quite a good idea. Jackson has Kong wantonly and violently killing people throughout the movie. At one point Kong bites off someones head and then throws the body away, and at the theatre at the end he picks up Ann's stand in and, seeing that it's not her, just throws her away. Beauty has not tamed the savage beast, Kong is not clamed by his love for Ann, if anything it drives him to even more violent and bestial acts. You can't even argue that he would have been ok if Denham had left him on Skull Island. The people of Skull Island lived in fear of Kong and were obviously making regular human sacrifices to him. Kong is a monster and, ironically, if Jackson had just given into that, rather then trying to show him as a simple animal, we might have felt more for him at his death.

This review is threatening to become as long as the movie so I'll start to wrap it up now. Ultimately, this is not a bad movie, there's an awful lot to enjoy here. There's a good one and a half to two hours of great entertainment here, more than enough for a thrilling blockbuster movie. I feel the true problem is that after the vast success of LOTR, no one at the studio was prepared to sit Jackson down and say "This film is too long, you need to make some cuts." Jackson proved with LOTR that you can make a movie that lasts three or eevn four hours without boring people, but he's also proved with King Kong that not every movie needs to be that long.

Rating: 7/10

Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Narnia.

Wow.

I guess I should write more of a review than that. Hmmm...

In my opinion, there are three authors who have so convincingly and completely managed to create the world in which their characters live that you accept that they have no choice in what they write because that is simply what happens. These three authors are JRR Tolkein, JK Rowling and CS Lewis.

If you want to send me hate mail because I've included JK Rowling in that list then kindly direct it to goawayyoufool@aol.com.

It's clear from this that to become a literary genius you must only be known by your initials and your surname. But that's really besides the point.

Some may criticise this film for being slow in places... my point is simply that it is not slow... this is how these events happened. (Yes... I know it's not real... [ok, it is real, but the film isn't...]).

You can tell by this poorly structured review that I'm never likely to be considered a literary genius. Mind you, if both Charles Dickens and Emily Bronte can be considered literary genius's (geni?) then it's quite possible that anyone could.

I grew up with the Chronicles of Narnia. By that I don't simply mean that I read them as a child and I enjoyed them. I grew up with them, they were an integral part of my upbringing. My parents both loved the books and my dad read them all to me at bed time for what seemed like my entire childhood. He also played me the radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, but Lewis always had more of an appeal than Tolkein. Despite my short stature and hairy feet I have never particularly identified myself with Frodo, the Pevensie children, however, are a completely different matter. My oldest sister was most responsible, however, for ensuring that the Chronicles of Narnia were more than just books for me. She painstakingly traced the maps from the books and combined them together into a complete map of Narnia. These days a fantasy novel isn't complete without a map in the front, but when I was a child these maps were really something special. They helped bring the books to life because close study showed that the world of Narnia really did extend beyond the bounds of the books. It felt like a real, living, breathing world.

This isn't, of course, the first screen adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. When I was a little buy, we had to make do with what was, really, a quite awful cartoon, where the Pevensie children all wore flares and Lucy was blonde. Still, although generally rubbish, it was better than nothing. It was magical because it was Narnia. Then there was the BBC adaptation. Hmmm. Some people really loved this, but, personally, I feel that casting a fat, ugly kid as Lucy was a fairly unforgivable mistake. Also, the animatronic Aslan was just....well...an animatronic Lion. No matter how well done it is it's never going to be Aslan.

So, we come to this latest effort. Oh boy. It's so good it hurts. Let's deal with one important issue first - why make The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe first? For some people this is a moot point, they made it first because it's the first book. By this they mean that it wa sthe first book set in Narnia to be published. However, Lewis himself admitted that he's not entirely sure what order he wrote them in, and that the order in which they happen is probably the best order to read them. there is no wrong or right order though, and the film makers seem to have chosen the order of publication. This probably makes commercial sense because The Lion, The Wicth and The Wardrobe is by far the best known of all seven books. That said, I really, really, really want to see an adaptation of The Magician's Nephew, in order of Narnian history is should come first, but in order of publication it's book 6, which means I could have a looooong wait ahead of me.

Back to the film. The cast are fantastic. The kids...wow... William Moseley is just incredible as Peter. His portrayal of the growth in his character from boy to High King is just superb. But the kids playing Edmund, Susan and Lucy are equally as good. Edmund is especially hard to get right because you have to hate him at the start but deeply care for him by the end. Young Skander Keynes doesn't let us down. Anna Popplewell is totally believable as the sceptic, Susan, and has that "English Rose" kind of innocent beauty. Little Georgie Henley steals the show, of course, as Lucy. It's quite possible that she's actually cuter than a button.

The voice acting si also superb, with Ray Winstone, Dawn French and Rupert Everett standing out, but never over-playing their parts. The real casting genius though is a part which they really struggled with - Aslan.

Liam Neeson really couldn't be any more perfect for this role. His voice is at once soft and gentle but tinged with a hint of hidden danger, he conveys an authority that doesn't come from physical strength but from something deeper...from within.

The effects are fantastic too. Provided by WETA, the people who gave us the stunning visuals in Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy, they're not quite up to that standard throughout. The key digital characters, however, Aslan, the Beavers, are pretty much perfect and at times you just find yourself completely suspending your disbelief.

So...ahem...I liked it.

Mr Tumnus is great too. Actually, it would be quicker to list what was rubbish.

....

....


Wow. That was a long list. What is rubbish, actually, is that I now have to wait for the next film, and I don't know if they're actually going to make all seven (let's face it, a film of The Horse and His Boy isn't going to be an easy sell). One assumes that Prince Caspian will be next up.

To close, this is a very special film. I'm left wondering if, actually, I haven't had a personal relationship with Jesus all these years...but with Aslan.

[Yes...I know they're the same...shut up...]

Rating: 100/10 (Not a typo).

Hello Spain!

Yes... another post... so sue me....

Just wanted to say "Hello" to the mystery Spanish person who's been visiting the CHC! My webstats for this site aren't hugely detailed, but someone from Spain has checked out the site a couple of times in the last few days.

It's just good to know that I'm not just talking to myself (or just my sister).

So...hello mystery Spanish person!

Kitty Kitty Kitty!!!!!!

Two updates in quick succession...I know...I know...

Anyway, just wanted to post a couple of pics of Ellen Page who will be playing my favourite X-Man (techinically X-Woman....but, hey...)...and, actually, my favourite comic book character of all time...Kitty Pryde!

As you can see Miss Page is pretty cute, but click here and then click on the photo gallery, scroll down and you'll see the first promo pic' Fox have released of her as Kitty Pryde! Yowza! She looks great! I can't post the pic' here 'cos it's a Flash site, so you can't save the pics to your hard drive. As soon as the pic' becomes available I'll post it here though.

I can't wait for X3 now!

X-Men 3 in motion.....

And now you can see for yourself what the new characters in X-Men 3 look like in motion by downloading the trailer here. Looks pretty good to me, but I had to watch it with the sound off...

Oh, you'll need Quicktime 7 to view it too, but there's a link to download it on the site.

First look at X-Men 3!

You can catch a first glimpse of some of the new characters featured in X-Men 3 by clicking here.

Personally I think Kelsey Grammer is looking pretty good as Beast, but it's hard to tell from this shot. That said, all of the costumes in the previous films looked better on screen than in their pre-release publicity shots.

I'm a little less sure of the look for Angel...those wings just don't look very real to me.

Anyway, click the link and see what you think!

DVD Review: The Fantastic Four

You'd be forgiven for thinking that all I ever do is watch movies and work on my comic but you would be, in the whole, correct. I do find time to watch a lot of TV too though, and one of my favourite things to do is to combine watching movies and watching TV by...watching movies on TV. Most people seem to think that my DVD collection is rather large, but, personally, I'm always amazed at just how many films I don't have on DVD. I'm actually also amazed by the films that I do have too...for example, of all three Terminator films, the only one I actually own on DVD is Terminator 3. Some would see this as a travesty and I would tend to agree, but the problem is that a large proportion of the DVDs I own have actually been bought for me, or have been bought by my wife.

Anyway, enough of that, let's get on with the review. Actually, no, before that, as this is my first DVD review for this blog a quick note. I'll be breaking down DVD reviews into two sections - The Movie and Extras. Predictable but I thought I'd point it out. Oh, and I'll be limiting the reviews to movies seen at the cinema and new DVD purchases, because to extend it to movies seen on TV would just get rediculous (and besides, I just can't bring myself to write reviews for The Passion of the Christ and Mission Without Permission today [although I bet those two movies have never been mentioned in the same sentence before]).

The Movie

I'm sure that any readers of this blog out there (Hi Jeannine!) will be fairly familiar with the fact that I like comics, and it's pretty much impossible to like comics without at the very least being familiar with the basic premise of the Fantastic Four. Some years ago some lovely person (possibly the aforementioned Jeannine) bought me the first volume of the Marvel Masterworks series, which reprinted, recoloured and in hardback, the first issues of the Fantastic Four. It's classic Stan and Jack at their best but my comic book collecting focused on Iron Man and then the X-Men, so I haven't read a vast amount of Fantastic Four. The basic premise is, of course, that Reed Richards, his friend Ben Grimm, plus his girlfriend Sue Storm and her brother Johnny go into space where they are bombarded by cosmic rays which bestow upon them superhuman powers. Reed finds that his body can stretch like elastic, Sue can turn invisible and Johnny can burst into flame. All of these powers can be turned on and off at will. The real tragedy is that Ben is turned into a rocky monster....permanently. This is clear early evidence of the genius of Stan Lee, and what was to set Marvel Comics apart from their Distinguished Competition. Most super heroes up to that point had become heroes by choice, or at the very least were happy about the consequences of the freak accident that had left them super powered. Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, was not. The accident effectively ruins his life and he truly hates what he has become. It is only the strength of his friendship with his teammates which really keeps Ben going.

So, the comic book was genius, but is the film any good? Well, actually, yes. Widely criticised for not being as grim and gritty as other recent superhero movies (Daredevil, X-Men, Batman Begins), Fantastic Four is a lot more light hearted and just plain fun. However, this is exactly right for Marvel's first family. The tone of the Fantastic Four has always been a lot lighter than many of Marvel's other books, and a grimmer, grittier feel wouldn't have suited them at all. The performances are generally excellent, Jessica Alba is drop dead gorgeous as Sue Storm, the action is exciting and the effects are stunning. This movie is, above all, fun.

Perfect? No. Not by a long chalk. The Fantastic Four commits one of the worst comic book movie sins there is - tying the origins of the heroes and villains together for no good reason. In the comic book Victor Von Doom is not caught up in the same accident as the four heroes. Yes, he was at college with Reed, but his face was disfigured while he was dabbling in the occult (I seem to recall he was trying to contact his mother) and he creates a suit of armour to hide his hideous face. His powers are a combination of technological (his suit) and mystical (his occult powers). I gues this was deemed all too complicated for the American movie going public, and, besides, you can't have someone dabbling in the occult in a kids film, can you? So, while our four heroes are fairly spot on, we are left with a Doom who is not really Doom. One of Marvel's most iconic villains is reduced to a greedy, power-mad business man/scientist. This is not Doom (it's more like Norman Osbourne). This is a shame, because Doom should be a lot more scary than this. Of course, some might argue that George Lucas already did a much better screen version of Doctor Doom back in 1977.

There are a few other problems too, and I'm going to highlight two of them here. The first is Ben Grimm's fiance. Most reviewers seem to have referred to her as his wife but I noticed last night that it's an engagement ring she returns to him, not a wedding ring. Firstly, I'm not convinced she's necessary at all. I think we're all capable of understanding how hard it's going to be for Ben to fit in after his change without having to see him rejected by this woman. Besides, I don't buy that he would be with someone so shallow in the first place. Secondly, the way she just appears at the end of the action sequence on the bridge and throws the ring at him is just...odd. It doesn't work, it doesn't make ANY sense.

The other prolem is...in an attempt to reverse the process that gave them powers Reed recreates the cosmic storm in his lab. If he's capable of this...why did they have to go into space in the first place? Now, that's a plot hole big enough to drive a truck through.

Despite some major flaws, it's still a good movie and is definitely worth watching.

Extras

As I said earlier, a lot of the DVDs I own are bought for me, and this is no exception. Therefore this is the one disc edition and not the two disc edition, so the extras are a bit sparse. I haven't listened to the commentary yet but I've read that it's very good. The only real other extra here is Jessica Alba's video diary of the FF press tour. Yes, that's right, the press tour. If it wasn't for the fact that she's so damn gorgeous this would be a perfect cure for insomnia. There is absolutely nothing of interest here...at all. Lastly, there's the crushingly disappointing preview of X-Men 3 which doesn't include a single shot of the movie and really is of no interest to anyone other than, maybe, Avi Arad's close friends and family.

Rating: 7/10

Grab a Bargain!

Hello!

Fellow fans of Gillingham FC might want to check this out for a chance to grab a real bargain.

Well, it would be funny if it weren't so depressing.

First look at Young Gods #2!

Well, as promised, here is the first sneak peak at #2 of The Young Gods. This is a panel from page four, where we first learn that Revenant can turn invisible as well as intangible. That's something that his team mates don't know yet. He's worried about how they'll react when they find out. Especially if they find out he's been spying on one of them. Ah...young love...

Hopefully the step up in quality from #1 should be fairly clear. If you haven't seen #1 yet, just click on the link on the right for a free downloadable copy. Yeah, the eBay thing didn't work, and I figure the more online fans I can amass now, the better chance I have of getting this book published.

On the subject of publishing, things are inching their way along in that department. I recently popped onto the Markosia forum to say hello and Harry from Markosia kindly replied thus:

"Hi Ian!

It was good to see you too! You certainly have put together a very interesting package. As I explained, if things move the way we hope over the next few months then we'll chat again.
In the meantime, we'll see you in Bristol!

Harry M"

Defintely a positive sign. So get out there and buy Markosia comics! I'd particularly recommend Midnight Kiss. It's an excellent modern fairy tale. You can order it and their many other fine publications direct from their website...again, there's a link to the right. Go get it....go on....now!

Blogging along....

...singing a song....side by side....

God I'm bored.

Well, nearly a week since Comic Expo and I haven't heard anything yet, but I wans't really expecting to so soon. It feels like ages ago though. Mainly because I'm so fed up with work and wish I could just pack it in and do my comic full time. That's a long way off I suppose but I've just had enough of the daily grind.

Issue two is well underway now and it's looking fantastic. For the...um...about one of you that's read #1....it makes that look poor. I'll probably post a few frames here next week so that you can get an idea of how good it looks.

The last couple of days I've been wondering about self-publishing, which I'm generally desperate to avoid. I have no head for business and would prefer to concentrate on the creative side of things. However, I did check out www.lulu.com which is one posibility. They do publishing on demand and handle the money side of things, and it's free, they only take a percentage of any money made from sales. I don't think it would be practical to use them for publishing a monthly book but if I complete all six issues before I find a publisher then I might consider putting out a tpb via LuLu, and spending the money to get on Amazon via them too. Needs a lot more thought first though...particularly on the marketing side. I've looked into advertising rates in Comics International, not a huge readership but it is the audience I'm trying to reach. Or am I? Do I just want to cater for people who already read comics or do I want to reach people who wouldn't normally read comics? Of course, if I really want to reach comic readers I guess I should look into advertising in Wizard, although I suspect their rates will be a little further out of my reach than CI's. But...they are American and the exchange rate would be in my favour there...

Still, this is why I want a publisher, so I don't have to think about stuff like this!

So...now I know my stuff is good enough I'm almost more frustrated than ever. I want to get it out there now!

Comic Expo report back!

(Don't miss my Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire review! Scroll down...)

Well, I guess some of you are wondering how my trip to the Comic Expo went this weekend?

The anser is that it went really, really well. I talked to up and coming UK publisher Markosia Comics about publishing the Young Gods and they were VERY interested. Nothing's likely to happen before March, but we talked about doing a six issue limited series followed by a trade paperback. It's very early days, we only talked for about ten or fifteen minutes, and I'm waiting to hear back from them now.

But, it was very, very encouraging. At the most I was expecting to get some encouragement from a few people at the con, I didn't dare to dream that someone would be seriously interested in publishing the book.

I'll post a link to their website in the right hand column and keep you posted if there are any new developements.

I'm trying not to get too excited though...I don't want to end up disappointed.

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Wow!

Okay, a tiny bit of background, like many, many, many other people I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I've read all the books. have all the films on DVD and, in fact, saw the last film at the cinema three times - and that was before I had an unlimited card.

Book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is probably my favourite of all the Harry Potter books so far. It's the book where Harry starts to grow up, and he, Ron and Hermione really make the transition from kids to teenagers. It marked the series transition from relatively short novels to big, thick thumping great tomes. A LOT happens in the book and director Mike Newell (best known for Four Weddings and a Funeral) took on a big challenge in attempting to translate this book to the big screen.

Incredibly, he succeeds, fantastically. The studio originally wanted to make The Goblet of Fire into two films, however, Newell decided to focus the film on harry's story, on the book's main plot, and it works well. Yes, there is a LOT missing which will disappoint fans of the book (gone are the Dursleys, SPEW, Winky, Harry's first date and first kiss, etc), but Newell has captured the essence of the book perfectly. The characters are all developed and the overaching plot is moved on.

Newell is obviously a fan of Cauron's slightly darker tone from Prosoner of Askaban as Goblet of Fire retains much of the feel of that film. Each director in this series has the huge advantage of working with a group of actors who are maturing with each other, and so inevitably produce a better performance with each film. Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, really shines in this film, and shows himself to be a great comic actor. Whereas Emma Watson stole the show as Hermione last time, this time it's Ron that steals the show.

That's not to downplay Dan Radcliffe's Harry though, as this is by far his best performance to date in the title role. Wheares one could criticise the previous film for feeling more like Hermione Granger and the Prosioner of Askaban, Goblet of Fire is undoubtedly Harry's movie.


This film is both very funny and very dark, and the entire audience regularly bust into loud laughter during the showing. I went to a late showing so there were very few kids in the audience, but be advised, this is NOT a film for small children, there are some VERY scary parts. This film is a lot darker than any of the others. That darkness is best personified by the presence, for the first time, of Lord Voldemort himself, fully whole again and played exquisitely by Ralph Feinnes (in his second excellent movie of the month!). He just oozes evil and menace here, but also brings a certain humanity to Voldemort, reminding us that he is very much a man who has become twisted and evil, rather than just a monster, some otherworldy spirit of evil.

I really cannot find one thing to criticise about this film. The only thing wrong with it is that it's not longer, but I 100% understand why the cuts were made...and if you want a longer version, read the book!

Outstanding in every way.

Rating: 10/10

Young Gods #1 only 1p!

To celebrate my trip to tomorrow's ComicExpo, which I'm still very nervous about, I'm offering Young Gods #1 for only 1p on eBay!

Okay, okay, it's also to do with the fact that no-one's actually bought a copy yet and I thought that offering it for a penny would be a good way to encourage people to try it.

So, click the link to the right and go get it! What have you got to lose, other than a penny?

Hopefully tomorrow will be productive and I'll find someone to publich the book properly tomorrow, at least I'm hoping to make a few good contacts.

See you when I get back!

Movie Review: In Her Shoes

This week is shaping up to be an excellent week for movies.

Having seen some trailers for this "chick flick" I really wasn't too excited about seeing it. However, Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette were both on Jonathan Ross's show this week promoting it and the chemistry they obviously share was enough to get me along to my local multiplex to check it out (and having an Unlimited card didn't hurt...).

All I can say is ignore the trailers and see this movie (after you've seen The Constant Gardener, of course). One word of warning though, girls, be prepared for your mascara to run...

"In her Shoes" focuses on the relationship between Maggie and Rose Feller, played by Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. Rose is the responsible older sister, slightly frumpy with a good job which has completely taken over her life. Maggie is the wild, carefree, younger sister, whose penchant for excess causes constant conflict between them, especially as Rose feels so protective towards her.

Like most "chick flicks" this is a love story, but its strength lies in the fact that it is not about romantic love, but the love between two sisters. Both Collette and Diaz get this relationship spot on and, personally, I feel that both should be sitting expectantly on Oscar night. Both characters are just so real and three dimensional, I really didn't realise that Cameron Diaz was capable of such good acting. She displays such vulnerability in her portrayal of Maggie's struggles with illiteracy that one forgets for a moment that she is better known for her ability to belch in public than her acting skills (although the former is, in my opinion, just as impressive as the later).

The supporting cast are just as excellent, and unsurprisingly the stand out performance from among them comes from Hollywood legend Shirley MacLaine. She plays the girls' estranged grandmother, Ellen, who was shut out of their lives by their father after their mother's death.

One of the many things I loved about this movie was the fact that it's most emotional moment is not about who's sleeping with who, but it is about Maggie's discovery that her "best day ever," the most cherished memory from her childhood, is actually remembered as a terrible, painful day by the rest of her family. The events of her "best day" led directly to her mother's death, but she was too young at the time to know it, and Rose protected her from knowing at the time and has ever since. Maggie's emotional maturity has been stunted by her sister's desire to protect her from the pain that is shared by the rest of her family, and it is this that has set her on a course of self destructive behaviour.

Okay, all that sounds very deep, but the wonderful thing about this movie is that it is infused throughout with a subtle, gentle humour. Even the most loathsome person in the film, Rose's boss Jim (played by 24's Richard Burgi) is not so much an evil slimeball as just a plain old idiot.

Ultimately, this is not just another "chick flick," it's an excellent movie about two sisters, not learning to love each other, because they already do, but learning to live with each other. Possibly the biggest challenge that faces any siblings. You just can't help loving them no matter what they do.

rating: 9/10

Movie Review: The Constant Gardener

Go and see this film.

As you sit in the cinema silently weeping at the injustice of fictional African children dying needlessly to boost the profits of fictional multi-national corporations aided by fictional government officials ponder this: the truth is worse.

One of this weekend's big news stories was the HIV positive man who received no treatment for his condition and yet is now free of the virus. The experts on TV have said that this is impossible, but has definitely happened, but could be some kind of "freak" incident. Was I the only one paying attention in science at school? The scientists tell us that the HIV virus alters our DNA and that this process, once it has happened, is irreversible. They are now faced with a verified case of someone being infected with the virus and now being clear. So...their irreversible process has been reversed. And yet, no-one is willing to say, "Our initial hypothesis must be wrong." Come on, people, this is simple scientific method. If there is even one piece of evidence that is contrary to your hypothesis then that hypothesis must be wrong.

I wasn't at all surprised to find out that someone who tested positive for HIV could receive no treatment and yet later be tested negative, not after some of the stuff I've been reading online recently. Simple fact: no-one has ever actually found the AIDS virus. It's effects have been supposedly seen and recorded, but the actual virus itself remains illusive. Therefore, HIV tests do not actually test for the presence of the virus itself, but rather they look at the quantity of white blood cells in the patient's blood. HIV supposedly attacks the immune system so a lower white blood cell count will indicate the presence of the virus. Of course, it's a bit more complicated than that, but that's basically it. There is a strong suggestion that what actually kills people who are diagnosed as HIV positive is not the as-yet-to-actually-be-found virus, but the drugs that people are given to combat it.

Faced with evidence to this effect, the President of South Africa tried to stop the many, many people who are dying from AIDS in his country from receiving AIDS drugs. I say "tried" because I believe that he was ultimately unsuccessful, I'll let you speculate as to why.

What does this have to do with this film? Well, if this is all true then millions of people are not dying in Africa from a horrific sexually transmitted disease...they are being systematically poisoned by multi-national pharmaceutical companies. The Constant Gardener does not nearly go this far, although it is lightly hinted at, but at it's core is the theme of corporate disregard for African life.

Ralph Fiennes plays Justin Quayle, a British diplomat working in Africa, who falls in love with and marries Tessa, played by Rachel Weisz. Justin and Tessa's is a wirlwind romance and there is an ever-present suspicion that she is just using him. Her close relationship with African doctor Arnold Bluhm adds to Justin's suspicions and it is very clear that she is hiding a lot from him. What remains clear is that Justin is totally in love with her. Justin's world is turned upside down when Tessa is discovered brutally murdered somewhere she shouldn't have been, and Arnold has gone missing.

All this sets up a tense and interesting thriller, but, of course, that's not what this movie is really about at all. Tessa's big secret was not an affair with Arnold, but that she was investigating a pharmaceutical company's testing of a new TB drug. They know the drug can be potentially fatal but they can save themselves millions in redevelopment costs by testing it on Africans and then disposing of those who suffer this unfortunate side effect.

This film succeeds by showing you an Africa that we very rarely get to see on our TV and movie screens. We are so used to seeing Africans portrayed as famine victims, or as backward people who persist in tribal warfare and barbarism...but here they are simply people. Yes, this film does this most successfully when highlighting the needless suffering of children. Yes, that is manipulative. But it gets the point across, and that point is valid.

"The Constant Gardener" could easily have become a worthy and boring film, but every time the movie threatens to flag and start to bore, the director introduces yet another excellent British actor to recapture your interest. Bill Nighy and Pete Postlethwaite are most notable for this. Both pop up almost when you least expect them to and light up the screen.

The backbone of this film, though, is the relationship between Justin and Tessa. Both Fiennes and Weisz deserve oscar nominations at least for their performances here. They expertly portray what is a genuinely complex, touching and very real relationship. The secrets she is forced to keep from him for his protection drive them apart but at the same time it's clear that it's their love which keeps them firmly together.

This is a very brave film but one can't help but think it's a shame that many who see it will simply dismiss it as a work of fiction when it is clearly trying to highlight very real injustices which are taking place in our world today. Indeed, I've already seen it described by one on-line commentator as "another piece of anti-capitalist propaganda." It is a shame that those few people who are brave enough to point out just how badly we have treated the people of Africa can be so easily dismissed as "bleeding heart liberals."

Life is life, and all life is equally precious. The fact that so many can so easily dismiss the deaths of so many because they are a different colour or because they are a long way away is, frankly, chilling.

In closing, go see this film.

Rating: 9/10

Movie Review: The Brothers Grimm

I don't think it would be unfair to describe ex-Python Terry Gilliam's directorial career as hit and miss. While always full of fantastic images and wonderful ideas his movies don't always deliver a fully satisfying cinematic experience. Sadly, The Brothers Grimm is no different, and perhaps worse.

I have a lot of time for Gilliam's work, which includes Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys and a famously failed attempt to film an adaptation of Don Quixote.

From the buzz I'd been getting from The Brothers Grimm I had thought that Gilliam had finally cracked it and made a film that people would actually go and see, and as I took my seat among a packed audience I thought my suspicions had been confirmed.

Sadly, I was wrong, but it's hard to pinpoint why. The characters are great, the actors are all fantastic (check out Heath Ledger doing Alan Partridge for the whole film) and the whole thing is suitably bonkers in traditional Gilliamesque style. Actually...no...there's where it begins to fall down...it's not quite bonkers enough...either that or it's too bonkers. The film is just never sure of the tone it's trying to set. Is it taking itself seriously? Clearly not. Is it totally bonkers. No. The other area in which the film fails is in getting you to engage with the characters. You like them, but you really don't care that much about them. Gilliam fails to put them in any situations of genuine peril, you never truly fear for their lives, and so you will never come anywhere near to the edge of your seat. It's surprising to me that Gilliam, of all directors, fails to fully utilize the underlying feeling of genuine terror in the Grimm fairy tales.

I had hoped that this film would really serve to vindicate Gilliam after the disaster that was Baron Munchausen, but what we seem to have is a Gilliam film that's afraid to really...well...be a Gilliam film.

That said, there are some lovely touches, I've already mentioned that Heath Ledger seems to be channeling the spirit of Alan Partridge for the whole movie, and Matt Damon is equally at home playing "English." Of course, this is absurd for a movie set in French occupied Germany, but Gilliam is clearly having fun playing with accents in this movie. The children with badly dubbed Newcastle accents recall those dodgy European kid's serials that the BBC used to show in badly dubbed form, like Heidi and that awful one about the kid who lost his laugh. But even this is slightly too subtle and sometimes just makes the film seem badly done, and if you don't get the joke then it could totally ruin the film.

This film could have been brilliant, but it fails in so many areas that I left the cinema feeling totally flat and entirely disappointed. Usually Gilliam's genius more than makes up for the many shortcomings that his films exhibit, but there's just not enough genius here for me to recommend this.

Rating: 5/10

Comic Expo: Nervous....

This month sees the first Comic Expo to be held in Brighton in the UK. I haven't been to many comic book conventions. My first was UKCAC back in 1990 (I think) and I attended the Glasgow Comic Convention back in...um...'94? '95? I'm not sure. The first was purely as a fan. The second was as a penciller. I am NOT a penciller, nor will I ever be. To be fair, there were a few small press/indy people who were interested in my pencils. But, I was young and stupid and so didn't persue any of those contacts.

Anyway, this time I'm attending as a creator in search of a publisher. I am going fully prepared for everyone to tell me they're not interested, I'm expecting some rude comments and I'm hoping for, at best, a few encouraging remarks. We'll see.

Actually, I'm terrified. I REALLY want to find someone to publish my comic and I just know I'm not going to be able to stop my mind racing away with fantastic ideas. Got to keep feet firmly planted on ground. Hopefully I'll make some good contacts though, and this time I'll be sure to follow up on them. My fear and trepidation actually stopped me from saying anything to my wife about the convention until today. I deliberately convinced myself that she'd say "No" so I wouldn't have to deal with actually asking people if they'd be interested in publishing my work...face to face...gulp. Of course she said yes. Hopefully a very kind person (ie. my dad) will look after our kids while we make the trip. Maybe he'll say no and then I can put it off until the convention in May...

Now I have to figure out what I'm going to take with me. I'll need to get some sample copies of #1 made up (it's handy working at a printers sometimes) and do a whole info pack about the book. Maybe I should include some bits about Shine? Or should I keep the focus on The Young Gods? Argh!

The Young Gods #1 eBay Exclusive E-comic!

Excuse the excitement but, hey...

The very first issue of my new comic book, The Young Gods, can now be ordered from eBay for the paltry sum of £2.00. It's an e-comic, in PDF format, so there's no p+p charge.

Just click the link to the right and it will take you straight to the eBay listing. Some of you may have downloaded the free version which was previously available via that link, but the eBay version is completely revamped, with clearer images, revised lettering, covers, credits and a short bio all about little ol' me.

The Young Gods

In the year 2086 humanity faces a new threat, Extra Humans. The government is struggling to cope with the growing number of mutants, aliens and supernatural beings who are living amongst us. People are beginning to panic and so, in 2050, the Department for Extra Human Affairs was established with a remit to try and contain the problem. By 2086 the D.E.H.A. is struggling to cope, so they have formed a new rapid response strike force, The Young Gods. Who better to police the Extra Human community than Extra Humans themselves.

This group of young misfits and rebels must learn to work together despite facing conflict from within and from without. How can they follow a leader they have no faith in? How can they fight people they used to count as allies?

Their first mission sees them taking on an ancient evil, Malak. He is a Nephilim, an ancient race that was spawned when fallen angels mated with human women. He’s seeking a way to bring his “fathers” through to our world, and only the Young Gods stand in his way.

The series is action packed, but the focus is not on the action itself, but on the characters and how they react to the situations they find themselves in. One of the overarching themes of the first six issue story arc is betrayal, and how this affects the leader of the group, Paladin.

Weaving together elements of the X-Men, The DaVinci Code, conspiracy theories, Graham Hancock’s books and much more, the Young Gods is sure to appeal to many.

Movie Review: Corpse Bride

Happy Halloween!

Appropriately enough, my latest trip to the local multiplex saw me experiencing Tim Burton's latest stop-motion masterpiece, Corpse Bride.

In a world where animation houses are shutting down their "traditional" animation department in favour of computer generated movies, the last few months have proved that "tradtional" methods, such as cell shading (see the excellent "Howl's Moving Castle") and stop motion, in the form of Wallace and Gromit and Corpse Bride are very much alive and kicking.

If anything, these movies prove that what has made such CGI masterpieces as Monsters Inc and The Incredibles so successful is not the method by which they are animated but the strength of the stories they've been telling, and the excellence of the vocal talents they've employed. Recent damp squibs like Shark Tale and Madagascar have proved that cutting edge CGI doesn't garauntee you a great movie (either that or no-one can do it properly except Pixar). Disney have, supposedly, abandoned traditional cel animationafter the poor performance of recent cel shaded pictures such as Brother Bear. However, one could argue that The Incredibles was not far more successful than Brother Bear because it was CGI, but because it's very concept was intrisincally more commercial. Personally, I did not go to see Brother Bear, not because it was cel shaded, but because it simply did not interest me. Traditional animation can still enthrall kids, my own kids sat glued to The Black Cauldron which was shown on the Disney Channel the other day...and that's not even a particularly good film!

Anyway, enough ranting, what of Corpse Bride?! I've been a fan of Tim Burton's work since Beetle Juice, but his movies are often a bit hit and miss. I find his work often full of great ideas that just don't quite work on screen. For every Edward Scissorhands or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory there's a Mars Attacks or a Big Fish...neither of them bad films...they just don't quite work. Then there are his flirtations with the "Summer Blockbuster"...the Batman films and Planet of the Apes...where the genius clearly struggles against the corporate realities of Hollywood. It is in the realm of pure imagination, however, that Burton truly shines, with the stop motion masterpiece The Nightmare Before Christmas and now with Corpse Bride.

Looking through Burton's filmography it seems clear that he's at his best when working with Johnny Depp, and once again Depp shines when directed by Burton as the nervous groom, Victor Van Dort. Depp is joined by a wonderful cast of fine British actors, including Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse, Joanna Lumley, Albery Finney, Richard E. Grant, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough (who I though was dead...), Jane Horrocks and, last but by no means least, Helena Bonham Carter as the titular Corpse Bride herself. This cast is simply wonderful and they really bring life to the movie.

The visuals are nothing but stunning. As good as Wallace and Gromit is, the animation here is just ina different class. It seems so real. You buy into the world instantly as Burton's animators craft a world so rich and full of detail that it's hard to believe it's all model work and puppets. The contrast between the dull and lifeless real world and the colourful and vibrant underworld is very stark and serves to make Victor's struggle to choose between his corpse bride and his living and breathing betrothed in the real world only more believable. The character designs are equally inspired, although the appearance of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as Victoria's (Victor's fiance) father was surprising!

The music provides the movies highest point and also its one main weakness. There are two piano pieces, one when Victor and Victoria first meet, and a duet between Victor and Emily, the corpse bride. Both are outstanding and really give you a lift. The sound of the piano cuts through the movie so beautifully it will transport you to another place. On the other hand, the film's songs are a disappointment. They're not bad but they are completely unmemorable. This is a shame because even one stand out song of the kind that gets stuck in your head for days would have made the soundtrack a must have and would have elevated this film to the status of classic. As it is, the songs feel a little pointless and misplaced.

Overall, Corpse Bride is a wonderful movie and not to be missed.

Rating: 8/10