Normally at times like these I would explain that I've been very busy, too busy to write on Tom's blog. I'd say my computer was broke or the Internet had been over run by an intelligent virus targeted solely at preventing me from sharing what little knowledge I have with the world. It is none of these things, I have in fact been doing nothing, absolutely nothing, to the point it had both friends and family worried.

Why?

What other reason can a man have to slip into the deepest darkest recesses of procrastination than a broken heart. Yes I was dumped, and dumped hard. And for a while there it didn't look good, my world was a cliche of memory inducing songs and drinking alone in the afternoon. So what could possibly have dragged my semi-washed, bearded, booze stinking carcass from that deep dark hole?


1) I ran out of booze, take note if you intend to loose yourself to despair stock up on the essentials.

2) I saw Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, and like Moses climbing that hill and chatting to a fiery shrub, I was saved. Or at least I felt much better for having seen a damn good film, which is almost the same.


Now I could almost leave things there as far as a review goes. The film was so good it pulled a broken hearted man back from the brink, you won't get that in Total Film I'm sure.

This is the film Edgar Wright has been building up to since Spaced, it has Spaced written all over it, it virtually is Spaced the movie. The story, the tone, the acting, the script it's all Spaced, and this is in no way a bad thing. This film could not have been more lovingly put together as every moment is an absolute joy, I'm not kidding when I say I was literally sat for the whole thing with a stupid grin on my face, right from the moment the 16bit Universal logo and music kicked in I knew that I would love this film.

I know that there are going to be people that don't appreciate this film , it is an out and out geek film, there's a lot of comic book surrealism that would be lost on my mum for instance, but that's my mum and her taste in movies is patchy at best. That doesn't mean you need to be a geek to enjoy this film either, it's one of those multi-layered affairs, the general viewer will watch and enjoy the witty dialogue and hands down best action sequences I've seen in a while. Your casual geeks might pick up on some more of the references, maybe catch a little of the Zelda music tinkling in the background from time to time, while you uber-geek shall feast on cornucopia of nods and references that will most likely give him a seizure. And his friends shall weep not, for they will know he died happy.



It has literally just occurred to me that there is nothing unnecessary in this film, yes there's lots that if it wasn't there no one would of noticed it's absence. But what if they had...yes it would still of been a good film but now because of their care and effort we have a great film, a classic.

I could go on but I can't be arsed except to say...Ramona Flowers xxxx

When making films about a young man struggling to win the heart of his true love it is essential that the object of this love be so outstandingly desirable that you go away and tell your friends your in love with a character from a film. You friends then scoff and tell you to "get a life" and "it's just the break up affecting your brain", until of course they watch the film too and then the same thing happens to them. Ramona Flowers is that amazing.

So after watching this amazing film, with amazing acting and music and script, and the most drool inducing female lead. And after we see Scott win his fights and get the girl in the kind of fist in the air type action I love, I left the film with a renewed sense of hope. That if I fight for what I love and don't give up I'll find my own Ramona Flowers in the end.

Bullshit!

It's a movie, in real life you do the right thing and you get crapped on. So I didn't leave with a renewed sense of hope bla bla, however I did enjoy the film so much the world doesn't seem so dreary anymore, and I enjoyed it enough to get back out in the world and come tell you about it.

Like I said you don't often get a review like that.

Sweet

Lost is gone.



Heroes got cancelled, I know! Shocked silence...no-one saw that coming.




Yey Fringe is still awesome, but that's not enough to feed my TV beast.



Thank you Frank Darabont and AMC!!!

The Walking Dead is perhaps one the greatest comic book series around today, and definitely the greatest zombie one. If you haven't read it, go and do it now, that's not a suggestion.

It's got everything you want from zombies and then they add a bit more. Plus the truly great idea that if there is ever a zombie holocaust I'm heading to a prison, genius idea.

Now I am a little apprehensive about how this is going to pan out, it is TV and this is zombie holocaust, but this is Frank Darabont for Christ-sake, not to mention AMC are currently one of the best stations in the US for amazing TV. With Mad Men and Breaking Bad under their belt I've a feeling they're on for another winner, fingers crossed for September.

Add to that, the author Robert Kirkman seems to be pretty heavily involved and it all looks freaking sweet.

Here's a treat they've dropped on the OBLIGATORY BLOG, going to keep an eye on that one, looks like there's some real work going into the design and planning on this one:

Wolverine and the X-men...

It always sounded like a blatant attempt to cash in on the Wolverine character and his current popularity. And well I was right, as usual, however these clever cartoon folk have done something very cool. They also made this new series kick ass.

For the premise watch the trailer here -


Wolverine And The X-Men - Official Trailer - The top video clips of the week are here

Love this trailer, gives you a great idea of the kind of ass kickery and fast talking Wolverine does best.

So its a world without Xavier, Wolverine's in charge and mutants are on the run, but that's just for starters. What is so bloody clever about this is the way they have squished 50 or so years of x-men history into the cartoon. And they've cherry picked some of the best stuff, but the little elves have done it with finesse so that plots from early x-men blend seamlessly with some of the newest material.

I don't want to go into much more detail because it could ruin some of the surprises, if your a big fan of the x-men you MUST watch this as it really is a treat. And if your not big fan then you MUST watch it also otherwise I will come to your house, sneak in while you sleep, a screw with your mp3 playlists.

Whats more the superbly written story arch leads perfectly into a second series which looks to be even more of an ass kicking fest. He really is the best at what he does.

Sweet.

There is currently more comic book films in some stage of development than there are sweaty palmed geeks looking at Internet pictures of Hayden Panettiere. Some of these are good ideas, some of these are certainly bad but its the same for any movie, you get a bunch of idiots behind the scenes who don't know the first thing about movies but lots about money then your screwed. Strangely however there seems to be some interesting developments surrounding a lot of these films that could mean alot of them are going to rock, brains seems to be winning over brawn.


The latest buzz is possible casting for the Watchmen film, this ones been in development since film was invented, its an enigma, the grail of comic book movies. Does it matter that Heroes already covered its storyline in a rather competent way so everyone who hasn't read it will think its old news? Who can say.

The casting rumors for this film have been churning away for some time now and heres the latest: Ozymandias is to be played by Matthew Goode, Laurie Juspeczyk (hope i got that right) aka Silk Spectre is to be played by Malin Akerman. The last two have been around for a little longer with Billy Crudup as Mr Manhattan and the finally the biggest character in the whole thing, the man whose special ability is being a bit wrong in the headbox, Rorshach is to be played by Jackie Earle Haley.

Now other than Crudup I haven't really experienced the acting ability of most of this cast, though thats not always a bad thing. One good thing however is Goode is a Brit and he's playing the bad guy and you know we rule at playing bad guys.

The other casting rumor to hit is an odd one, from an odd development, its the Punisher sequel and this ones had some big ups and downs. I personally loved the first film, I don't think it was perfect but it had a certain violent charm that just made me smile. The role of Punisher was in the hands of Thomas Jane originally and he'd been behind the sequel 100% right after the last film. Intrigue ensued however and he has now dropped out stating that he could not be involved in a film that would be in no way faithful to either the source material or the action movie genre.

So who have the got to replace him, Ray Stevenson of course, don't recognize the name, me either but if I mention Titus Pullo you may know who I'm talking about. Its our friendly neighbourhood killing machine of Rome fame. But just cause he can rip a room full of guys apart in a few seconds leaving nothing but blood stained walls and an ichy pool to wade through, does that make him a good choice for The Punisher? erm...actually when you put it that way.

Before I go can I just point out these films change more than public opinion, you fickle bunch, so expect more updates.