Tabula Rasa lj

Kyla has reviewed The Wolfman (pretty poster image to come).

We saw The Wolfman last night, possibly a world premiere, if you are into such things (if so -- and it's unlikely, even if we did beat London and LA -- my first since Mad Mad Beyond Thunderdome...) We didn't get to be in on an interview with the SFX guy as promised (technical reasons forestalled it), but that was ok.

The movie was good. Lots of great elements that don't really transcend, but a good solid monster flick.

To go with the soundtrack I posted a while ago, I stuck my vampire slideshow up on picasa. It's a strange lot of imagery, it must be said.

Vampires

Demons is a newish itv show about modern day demon hunters (with our plucky young hero being the last heir of Van Helsing). Good cast, including Philip Glenister as a mostly burnt out (American) mentor figure, but it's basically a kids show. Thus far about half the eps have had a strong enough idea to rise above the somewhat cheap production values. Being short (6 eps) is in its favour.

Children of the Corn has now been remade at a SyFy tv movie and, bizarrely, it's not too bad. Its main problem is that a lot of it is gratuitous -- not just the sex and violence. From the arguments of the couple to the Vietnam flashbacks, it all seems a way to pass the time, rather than forming any sort of coherent narrative. But it looks pretty good, and the actors don't embarrass themselves (Preston Bailey as the young cult leader isn't the best of them, but my later realisation that he was Dexter's step-son was certainly amusing).

Speaking of Dexter, I did finally come around to appreciating S3, though it is still a pale reflection of previous years.

Authorities announced today that vampire self-immolation has become the leading cause of bush fires in the state.

I love it.

And there is a lot to love in Daybreakers, the new vamp flick from the makers of Undead. It looks gorgeous, it is full of ideas, and has some kick-arse action along the way. I also think the characters (especially the humans) get a bit lost amidst the style and the plot, leaving it a little hollow. But definitely recommended.

I'm not a big fan of Sam Raimi, as his slapstick horror is not really for me -- I was hoping Drag Me to Hell would be closer to The Gift than Army of Darkness, but oh well. He also makes TV shows, at least in a peripheral role, including two of my favourites: American Gothic and Xena. Now he's got two more on the box, so we've been checking them out.

Legend of the Seeker, is deeply, deeply generic fantasy, with wizards and tyrants and prophecies and such. It looks like Xena (good old New Zealand) without the pomo sensibility and humour (both of which managed to twist into trauma). So it's bland, but saved somewhat by Bruce Spence as a wizard, and Bridget Regan as the heroine (who is striking in all sorts of ways). Episode 5 is actually rather good.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand doesn't look anything like Xena at all, despite naked bits of Lucy Lawless. Basically it is Rome with gladiators instead of soldiers, presented in the ultra-stylised look of 300. At least in theory. So far it's a mess, with crude dialogue (whether it's trying for salty or Shakespearean), and political intrigue lacking in sense or suspense. But, you know, Roman gladiators is probably worth a couple more episodes at least. Maybe by episode 5 it will be good.

I'm at work, bashing futilely at a computer.

Stupid computer.

I dreamed about Top Gear last night, despite never having seen an episode. I just had to google the name, to make sure it was right.

I blame you, livejournal.

(I think they were using cars to smuggle something across a desert, but the details have fled. This is no doubt fortunate.)

Way back when, I speculated that the director's cut of Watchmen would be the better movie. I was right. It feels long, and many of the flaws are still there -- but it is more coherent, and still full of extraordinary moments.

I mentioned the Dante's Inferno xbox game a while back. There's now a demo and, coming soon, the tie-in poem (as found by peculia):

( Be afraid )

The demo was sort of fun -- the bits of poetry inserted at odd moments were amusing -- and the interface and map look rather good. It even gets some points for sheer chutzpah (you can collect Beatrice stones to auto-atone souls). But the combat is that arcadey style I've never been into.

We've been trying to find a weatherproof cat tower for our front balcony, now we've ascertained it's safe for the kitties to be out there. This seemed uncommonly difficult, until we stumbled across a couple of chairs lying beside the road in a nearby street, being thrown out. Well, I think they're chairs, but they stack neatly enough:

From Cats

Now we'll just have to see if the cats take to it.

We also saw Sherlock Holmes last night. I must admit I wasn't entirely convinced -- any investigation is an afterthought to the fisticuffs. Still, it had some charm and energy.

We went down to Rob and Cat's last night, to catch up, watch some movies and have a lovely (albeit furry) dinner.

Movie-wise, we spread the love of War, Inc, which should be better known. It's a delirious satire of the Iraq war with John Cusack in fine form. In return we were shown some Hell Boy, which has otherwise passed us by. It was also a demonstration of Blu-ray, which seemed to give us both eye strain. Not quite sure why that happened, but we didn't have a problem with the DVD in the same conditions. Oh well, it's not like I want to upgrade my setup, and we can now refer to it confidently as Blur-ay.

(Meanwhile, when we saw Avatar in 3D, a while back, we had less trouble with it than expected. My dodgy eyesight presumably precluded the full awesomeness which others have reported, but we did get pollen floating in front of the screen, which I guess is a good thing.)

I'm getting on to half way through Stephen King's Under the Dome, possibly his biggest book since the expanded Stand. Obviously, having retired has given him a lot more time for writing.

I must admit it's a bit frustrating so far, mostly because of the dictates of plot. Not so much within the town itself -- cut off as it is from the outside world by the titular Dome -- but in the wider world. I find it hard to believe that the US government, media and public would react as they do. Perhaps it's all a New Orleans metaphor, misunderstandings about technology, and that's just the story he wants to tell.

I mostly mention this because of a wider interest I have in what makes a story believable. It seems to me all in the details (does the Dome have corners?) but what details are needed depends upon the reader (the environmental stuff is great).

I sometimes wonder if my problem with King's clunky dialogue is my own taciturn nature.

Anyway, just ruminating. I shall certainly keep reading and discover some of the answers for myself. There is still magic in there, oh yes.

The Herald website is getting more tabloid with all its celebrity gumf, but this article on the dangers of immersion in acting roles is pretty interesting. I wonder at the j-horror actors as well, although that's not really what they're talking about in the Japanese tradition.

The movie of Dolan's Cadillac has had a painful road to distribution -- it had not been released in the States, and premiered on DVD in Sweden and Finland, which does not strike me as a vote of confidence for a US/Canadian production. It has now turned up on R4 dvd as well, and turns out to be better than expected. It does has a feeling of disjointed set pieces, but it comes together.

Kyla spotted a print therein from our beautiful edition of Poe stories, illustrated by Harry Clarke, which was very appropriate. Less appreciated was the garish ad they inserted before the end credits, for some competition. This is art, you know! It has Stephen King's name on the front; how can it not be?

I know I mentioned this recently, but I've now added the fabulous looking comic, The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes to my gallery. Also, the Black House Comics website is up now, so check that out too.

It's been a while in the coming, but Kyla has reviewed Wake in Fright. It's good, you know.

I haven't written much recently, but if I had, I guess I'd say:

• I recently found another review of Prismatic. Is pretty favourable.
• The November Playboy, complete with Marge Simpson centrefold and Stephen King poem, is an odd thing. But it is a pretty cool poem. (He has another one out in March, or thereabouts.)
• I saw Drag Me to Hell. It was a bit disappointing, actually.
• I bought Juke Baritone's album The Salted Man. I think I must grab his other one as well.
• Somehow I don't think there's much point putting stuff on it up for the Hottest 100, but I'm not sure why he's not played on Triple J.
• Uh oh, better say I liked Bertie Blackman as well.
• Dexter Season 3 is a bit poor thus far. But The Wire S2 isn't.
• The D&D game appears to be working.
• Icecrown Citadel is great. (But waiting in Dalaran for a weekly raid group is tedious enough for me to actually attempt to write a journal entry.)
• I have a twitter account. If I don't have much to say, I guess I should say it briefly.

One thing about Zombieland, it does its thing better than Be Kind, Rewind. (What that thing is, might be telling.)

It was pretty good.

On the way back, we saw a 24-hour gym, and there were indeed people on the treadmills at 11:30 of a Sunday night. Madness.

I can't help but feel there's a missing W in there somewhere.