Captain Marvel, or A Pilot Earns Her Wings (Twice). Here be spoilers. I had a flying lesson once. It was a spur of the moment event, after my mum spotted the hand-lettered cardboard sign along the highway. It was a birthday present, the year I turned 18. I was struggling in school due to bullying, … Continue reading Review: Captain Marvel
Marvel
Review: Dead Pool 2
If you liked Deadpool but wanted more, with Deadpool 2 there's exponentially more of everything. I mean more filmic reflexivity, more in-jokes, more Marvel-DC cross references, more explosions, more X-Men, more un-sighted gags, more cameos, 100 per cent more New Zealanders, more Dopinder, more violence with maximum effort, and pathos too, as well as more … Continue reading Review: Dead Pool 2
Review: Ragnarok-ing the boat
This is the usual warning: spoilers be 'ere. Yes, of course I saw Thor: Ragnarök. And it's everything all the reviews are saying. It is funny, and effervescently bright with a taste of somethings 80s, like a good-humoured summer time advertisement for a soft drink, but with an immortal Jeff Goldblum instead of teenagers. It … Continue reading Review: Ragnarok-ing the boat
Doctor Who: Suspension of relief?
It's been a momentous couple of weeks in Doctor Who news. The announcement of the 13th Doctor kept me smiling all the way to work (or at least until I began to read responses), while the preview for the Christmas episode looks like it could be pleasing (or infuriating) to old school fans and newer … Continue reading Doctor Who: Suspension of relief?
Review: Crimson Peak
It's big news in Australia that apparently Tom Hiddleston is here filming the eleventy billionth Marvel film, Thor: Ragnarok. Although, I'm wishing it was just Ragnarok. In a not completely unrelated event, I finally got around to watching the luscious looking but ultimately ultra-Freudian Gothic-by-numbers Crimson Peak. It's a bit like Phantom of the Opera, … Continue reading Review: Crimson Peak
Review: Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad felt like a long introduction, followed by a self-generated plot, all to lead up to the next Batman film. I think the writers and producers should have taken notice of the marketing and lead ins for Marvel's Deadpool and ripped them off so as to knowingly set Squad up as a tale of multiple twisted love … Continue reading Review: Suicide Squad
Review: this is what’s so civil about war
If you’re going to make a film where the conflict is self-created like in Avengers: Age of Ultron, that’s ok, but to up the emotional intensity and the battle of principles, then Captain America: Civil War is a better deal. Perhaps, the recent elegiac seriousness of Batman vs Superman just highlights the interpersonal stakes, as … Continue reading Review: this is what’s so civil about war
Review: lessons on appropriation
The Dandenong Ranges, just on the edge of Melbourne, is full of Devonshire tea, tourists and the tallest flowing plants in the world. The other day I visited a particularly green and serene bit: William Ricketts Sanctuary. For decades this artist lived on the side of a mountain and dedicated his art and life to the … Continue reading Review: lessons on appropriation
Dead right & so wrong
I don't have the deep back ground knowledge and appreciation of the mythos behind the current Marvel and DC films. I didn't grow up with the comics or cartoons, except perhaps the occasional Superman film or Batman outing and before that Wonder Woman. The only comics I remember reading were the Asterix editions in the school library. But I'm not … Continue reading Dead right & so wrong
A Summerisle not forget
Sir Christopher Lee has passed into the West and into legend. His long career and abilities are now being examined far and wide by those who worked with him and those who admired, his many, many, films, amidst his other accomplishments. What I've found interesting is the focus on how he spent much of his … Continue reading A Summerisle not forget
Writing Bec 