What's So Great About the Star Wars - The Force Awakens Trailer?

Last month saw the release of the teaser trailer for the new Star Wars film - titled Episode VII - The Force Awakens - which is due to land in December of 2015. It's not too common that we'd get something so far in advance, but it really seemed like the perfect Christmas present for fans of the series. The problem is, we've been down this road before with the Lucas-directed prequels, which went quickly from fan-excitement to fan-rage, leaving us in a place where we only half-hoped any more films would get produced for fear of them being as sterile and lifeless as that trilogy was. So what exactly is it about the new teaser that has gotten fans excited about the franchise again?

Read more »

The Garbage Pail Kids Turn 30

Well, this is news that'll make you feel old quickly; the Garbage Pail Kids turn 30 this year. It really doesn't seem that long ago since I was collecting these, and to be honest, sticking them all over my headboard on my bed. I wasn't particularly good at keeping them pristine anyway (a skill I think I only developed when The Simpsons trading cards came out), but I had great fun trading these with friends in school; they seemed perfectly pitched for kids, despite the somewhat grotesque characters. It's something that seems to be missing for young 'un's these days; we loved the gross-out humour and awful puns, and no doubt children now would, too. So while taking in some of the gloriously revolting artwork, let's have a quick look back at the start of the collecting craze.

Read more »

A Farewell to Dick Smith; A Legendary Make Up and Special Effects Artist.

"Actors have to feel like they are the person they are portraying. I think my work has helped many to achieve that"

During the week, the world of film and entertainment said farewell to a true artist: Dick Smith. Passing away at 92, Smith was an active figure until very recently, though focusing on training and education rather than appearing on film sets. Despite his legacy, it's hard to truly appreciate the mans contribution to the world of film and television without going back to where it all began.

Read more »

5 Things I'd like to see in the new 'Skull Island' film.

At Comic Con over the weekend, Legendary Pictures (Pacific Rim, Godzilla) announced they were making a new King Kong film. Now, Legendary have a pretty good reputation for keeping fans happy with their iterations of iconic material they've handled so far (they were behind both the Batman and Watchmen films, to name but a few), so seeing them get involved in re-booting/reinventing King Kong seems like a pretty good idea at this point. It's early days yet for the project (no director, etc, announced), but seeing as I coming down after a hard few days of King Kong myself, I figure I may as well give my hopes for it, as it stands right now.

Read more »

Under Your Bed.Org - A horror Podcast featuring me as the 33rd guest.

Yesterday I spent a few hours recording the latest podcast for Under Your Bed - the podcast all about horror. The format is fairly straight forward - guests bring three films for discussion, and they dig as deep as they care to over a few beers of their choice. The pacing is fast and the tone jovial enough, and I think we did a good job at getting to the core of these films. My choices? Carnival of Souls, Re-Animator and Lovely Molly from 2011. We drank some of my home brew, which went down a treat (Bren has a good poker face).

If you feel like kicking back and listening in, please do! Seeing as this was my first time doing something like this, forgive my nervousness and the (most likely) dozens of mistakes I made. And yes, that is me dressed as Coffin Joe from Halloween a few years back.

Enjoy!

click here to go to the Podcast.

Harold Ramis (1944 - 2014)

"It's hard for winners to do comedy. Comedy is inherently subversive. We represent the underdog as comedy usually speaks for the lower classes. We attack the winners."

It's with great sadness that this week sees the closure in the chapter of one of the greatest comedic writers of the last 35 years. Harold Ramis passed away due to 'complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis', and just like that, the world of comedy feels that much smaller for it.

Read more »

The late-return fees are getting crippling.

Change is definitely a good thing. I've been writing on blogs for years, and it has always been mainly about film. As most of my friends and family know, I'm film obsessed, specifically about horror and trash genres. There was a stage where I used to watch up to around ten or twelve films a week (my mid-20's was my most excessive) but as I've gotten older, I just can't churn through them the same way I used to. The same goes for writing reviews. I can't hammer them out like I did in the old days, as it tends to take me much longer to find my thoughts on what I want to say (probably that 'getting older' business again), and hey, if you aren't going to put the effort in, then what's the point in doing it?

Read more »