LIKED
– Batman and Robin #1 I liked for two reasons. Firstly I liked it because it was a fantastic, fun comic and return to form for “good” Grant Morrison (as opposed to the “eh” Grant Morrison of Final Crisis). But more importantly, I liked it because now I can start a pool wherein whoever is closest to figuring out how late each of the first twelve issues is wins the pot. (I am guessing #1-3 on time, #4 a week late, #5 three weeks late, #6 five weeks late, #7-8 two months late, #9 two months two weeks late, #10-11 six weeks late, #12 one month late.)
– For Dead Set, the British miniseries about zombies attacking the set of Big Brother, I will make an exception to my “zombies are the new tired old meme” belief, because at least this is zombies with a clever twist, and so long as I don’t just get handed another frigging zombie story (which most zombie stories, let us be honest, are), I am fine with it. Come on, you have to love any series that turns Davina McCall into a zombie and does it straight up.
– Also an exception to my general zombie disinterest: Pontypool, the zombies-as-memetic-disease horror film from Bruce McDonald. Given that Bruce McDonald (Dance Me Outside, Highway 67, and so forth) is generally a pretty awesome filmmaker, I went into this with high expectations. I was not disappointed; he’s still got that same clever sense of timing that always makes his films so surprising when you don’t expect it.
DIDN’T LIKE
– I got to see Land of the Lost for free and that is about what it was worth. Why doesn’t Will Ferrell do more movies like Stranger Than Fiction? I mean, it was a critical success, did okay at the box office (not that Ferrell needs it, he’s got to be richer than Midas by this point), and Ferrell said he enjoyed making it, so why aren’t there a few more good quirky dramedies being offered to him? It would be nice to see Ferrell play something other than Loud Shouty Asshole (But Not Really An Asshole) Guy again and again.
– Got about twenty minutes into Sex Drive, which I watched because multiple people told me it was a cut above the usual dumb sex comedy, and then gave up because it is decidely not a cut above the usual dumb sex comedy. In fact it is rather below a cut. Can something be below the cut? This was below the cut.
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Your odds may be changed because Quitely is only drawing the first and last arcs.
The day that you and Charlie Brooker meet and/or have a writing conference is the day that Satan sends his armies into the offices of media empires everywhere to drag the bullshit back where it came from.
Strangely, despite being a huge Brooker fan, I really didn’t like Dead Set. I didn’t even get all the way through the series.
Then again, I was expecting more comedy and less drama, so that may have thrown me.
What about Plants Vs. Zombies?
That’s pretty good.
I’m still on the fence with Batman and Robin. It was an okay issue, but like just about everything Morrison’s done with Batman I enjoy the ideas behind it far more than I do the actual final product. Because it was just a normal sized issue Morrison didn’t really have room to show a lot about the new status quot, or for Dick to come off as having much personality. Also, I probably would have preferred that the villain be a more familiar Bat-villain for this first time out to have a common connection between the old and new during the transition. Of course this is all my opinion.
I completely agree about Will Ferrell. Stranger Than Fiction is the only movie of his that I absolutely love. The only other movies that he is in that I can stand are Elf because his whole “boy stuck in man’s body” schtick work there, and The Producers because he isn’t in it much.
I pretty much wanted to say exactly what BringTheNoise said. I love Brooker, I have 2 books of his columns, I watch his TV show, hes fantastic. Dead set pretty much just left me cold for some reason. Good premise, but… I think it was really just that I was expecting more comedy in my comedy zombie drama. The making of stuff from screen wipe was fantasticly interesting though.
Agreed on ‘Pontypool,’ and it’s nice to hear someone else say so, because many of my friends have refused to see it because of the, apparently, bad reviews in Sunmedia publications especially. It’s a solid film, and does what few horror films in recent experience have done: actually scared me (as compared to the continuing and baffling dominance of the slasher, which don’t frighten so much as disgust…not the same emotions). The entire first half is an excellent example of how to increase tension and fear with the most minimal of effects, a single set, and numerous close-ups.
My reaction between paragraph two and three was was “I see he liked Dead Set. I should ask him if he’s seen… never fuck mind.”
Maybe you’re conflating “making the cut” with “above the fold”?
I really liked sex drive, if for no reason other than james marsden.