by David | Jul 17, 2013 | Books, Geekery, MOVIES, Slider
Eason children’s buyer and pop-culture-vulture David O’Callaghan (aka. The Shepherd) is extolling his wisdom over on the Eason blog. Namely the MASSIVE number of awesome book to movie adaptations coming down the line - with, as he points out, every major studio having a teen novel in its pocket.
The Class of 2013/14 is looking pretty awesome.
O’Callaghan’s first batch of picks? Percy Jackson & The Sea of Monsters, Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones, How I Live Now, Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
But wait - there’s more - what with Divergent, The Fault In Our Stars, Seventh Son (Spook’s Apprentice), The Book Thief, Vampire Academy and The Chaos Walking Trilogy all to come.
Go on, follow the herd and read The Shepherd’s wise words!
by David | Jul 16, 2013 | Books, Geekery, MOVIES, Slider
San Diego Comic Con is back. BIGGER than ever… as the con has moved from geek-fandom to a centre stage entertainment tannoy - here are some highlights!
REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
TV: the final series of both Dexter and Breaking Bad will be playing out with a bang! While stalwarts Game of Thrones and Supernatural are at the top of their game and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be splashed just about EVERYWHERE.
FILM: Expect to see some RoboCop bashing (the pics leaked so far haven’t inspired much hope, but maybe, just maybe) and there’ll be more Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Marvel Studios will be spilling the beans on what is to come. Comic Con will be centre-stage for Warner Bros. to announce any new plans for DC projects too - Justice League, maybe?
Gravity will get people talking - with Cuarón in for the duration to talk about the space epic - and The World’s End team will be around with Simon Pegg, Nick frost and Edgar Wright all on hand. With animation taking over the box office this summer - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs previews will be getting a licking.
But wait there’s more - with Ender’s Game and Riddick both landing later this year - the creative teams will be making lots of noise. The Ender’s Game political posters alone should be whetting your appetite.
EXPECT LOTS OF:
Thor 2. It hits later this year - and Thor: The Dark World will be teasing fans all week. (And there should be some Doctor Strange announcements, Ant Man and some first looks at the new Captain America)
300: Rise of an Empire was previewed over the weekend - so expect some blood spilling and ass kicking.
There is no telling where The LEGO Movie will go. But expect it to be AMAZING.
Divergent and City of Bones. Both adaptations are landing in the very near future with both making waves.
One favourite comic series - Gervioux’s I, Frankenstein - has been getting some coverage - but not much as of yet - but expect there to be LOTS as the pic of Aaron Eckhart moves across the web.
With Pacific Rim making headlines - the Godzilla remake will no doubt be making waves and flashing green flames across Con all week too! Preview posters are appearing everywhere so there’ll be lost more to hear!
Tome Cruise is making headlines with the news that his new feature is coming to Comic Con - with a new name - Edge of Tomorrow - and lots of pics/footage to share.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:
Entertainment Weekly’s The Visionaries’ conversation between Edgar Wright, Alfonso Cuarón, and Marc Webb will make one incredible panel. Forget the gossip, hype and madness, these three directors talking for an hour is more exciting than almost any exclusive footage.
Fox haven’t announced their slate so expect BIG things to come.
Matt Smith is taking a lap of honour before winding up his time as Doctor Who.
by David | Jul 15, 2013 | Books, Geekery, Slider
That’s a lot of abbreviations - for those who might need it: Publisher Catnip explore the lack of gay fiction in Young Adult fiction in the UK:
On speaking to an agent who receives both UK and US submissions, I was told that the US manuscripts featuring gay protagonists often tended towards being too earnest for the UK market, where we tend to shy away from anything too ‘issues’ based. For the UK, we need storylines that reflect our society and attitude, books where the main character just happens to be gay.
So, why aren’t publishers picking up UK-based non-straight protagonists?
OK. So that agent I mentioned just now, would you like to hazard a guess as to how many of the UK submissions featured a non-straight protagonist?
None.
I asked around and got the same answer from other agents and editors - I’m not saying this was an extensive study, but the agents I talked to receive something in the region of 12-15,000 submissions a year. Gay sidekicks? Tick. Siblings? Tick. Even parents might feature, but not one protagonist.
by David | Jul 15, 2013 | Geekery, MOVIES, Slider
It’s setting the world on fire for the last 4 weeks - and here’s a rare chance to glean an insight into the making of Despicable Me: with a short film caught at an exhibition in Paris, featuring art director Eric Guillon, production designer Yarrow Cheney, and character development artist Michael Defeo.
by David | Jul 12, 2013 | Geekery, MOVIES, Slider
How To Train Your Dragon is BACK. Following the success of the first film AND the awesome Riders of Berk TV spin-off - Dreamworks are getting excited about the next installment:
by David | Jul 10, 2013 | Geekery, MOVIES, Slider
I made it to a Pacific Rim preview last night - and it lives up to the hype. Of a kind.
The hype and build up to every smash-blockbuster is a rollercoaster - the tension and teasing, knowingly being manipulated and excited by marketing and posters. Already this year there have been those moments during and after massive releases that you watch the credits roll and wonder what it was you just watched - World War Z and Star Trek both left me admitting a little dissapointment. But not in the film, more in my own expectations. I was hoping for more.
I wanted them to be, inexplicably, more. And in that come-down after watching, first time round, inevitably there is a second watch, you question yourself. Was it me?
Then come the one-line reviews with friends: “it was good. It was entertaining. You’ll really love it.”
Pacific Rim is 132 minutes long. THAT’S A LONG MOVIE. And before you sit down to watch, you already know the premise. Don’t expect exposition or science on the monsters in the opening act, there is no need. Pacific Rim is a movie about monsters fighting robots - and you already know that before the lights go down.
Like Abrams’ Star Trek earlier this year, Rim is so fast that doesn’t allow you to question anything - it’s a fully loaded sensory experience that doesn’t relent to allow refelction. It is about monsters fighting giant robots.
Pacific Rim is a movie about monsters fighting giant robots.
Those fights are beautiful. They are wondrous and they are utterly believable: unlike Superman, released a few weeks ago, the giant robots are vulnerable. Being thrown through a building isn’t ignored, the collateral damage and wasted cities are watched and you believe it.
The choreography of each fight is incredible, snippets of small in-jokes and tiny macro shots of the real world add humour without slowing the pace dramatically. They get bigger and better as you watch and realise how invisible the space between you and the experience.
It is a huge experience - Del Toro creates and shoots a world that is believable - there is no break in it. No montage or camera effect that forces you to disengage from his story-telling, but rather offers a relentless raid that overlooks the occasional cheesy line, obvious trope or questionable point. Pacific Rim is carefully structured and there is so little of it that isn’t on-screen for a reason.
There is nothing about Del Toro’s Pacific Rim that is an accident. It is more than a marketing campaign, and more than an homage to Japanese Kaiju. But it delivers in both these roles in abundance.
It is a movie to be enjoyed. It’s good, entertaining. And you’ll really love it: Pacific Rim is a movie about monsters fighting giant robots.
And please stay through the credits, it’s worth it.
