Why is The New Doctor Strange Movie so Dumb?

Just let Johnathan Hickman write new MCU movies. Or even anyone who knows the basics of writing really. Then they'd be less shit. Simples. 🙂 But seriously with the massive budgets at their disposal is it that hard to find decent writers?? The recent Doctor Strange movie had so much going for it. Spoilers ahead,............ It was so well shot with really good acting and some really cool fun cameos. I'm not really a massive fan of big CGI set prices, but for the most part these were really well executed and ceorographed. I think Sam Raimi did a wonderful job with what he had as did most of the actors, especially Elizabeth Olsen. She was truly menacing at times and uses her voice to great effect. But for the love of Odin the writing was all over the place. It's like it was written by a child, with absolutely no attempt to stay consistent with characters or even within its own internal logic. Reed Richards being dumb has now become a major internet meme. Is that what the writer was going for? If so congratulations you've managed to reduce the smartest man in the world to a dumb meme before the new FF movie is even released. That's gonna really help to promote the new movie. I mean does no one read through screenplays looking for inconsistencies or stupid mistakes anymore before they start production? If I was investing hundreds of millions into a project I'd make sure it made sense and didn't come across as completely dumb. I certainly wouldn't just rely on my own judgement... I'd get folks to check over it before filming started. But how could anyone read that screenplay and say "yeah that's great, let's pile hundreds of millions into making that happen"??? A couple of questions... Why did Wanda have to collapse Wundagore mountion onto herself? Couldn't she just do that without killing herself? (I'm assuming she's not actually Dead though) Was she so consumed with guilt after her actions when under influence of the Darkhold that she felt compelled to end her own life? That would make some sense, but it just wasn't convincing as a motivation based on Wanda as a character. She never once showed suicidal tendencies and guilt isnt some thing she has in spades. She had no problem justifing ruing the lives of a whole town to herself in Wandavision. If Wanda is a nexus being why are there multiples of her in every universe? Why has Doctor Strange suddenly become dumb and irresponsible? Why is America Chavez so dull as a character (and dumb)? How did Wong not break his fucking back when he landed on solid rock after falling about 50ft off a mountain top? And yes... Why was Reed Richards so dumb?? In fact why are almost all of the characters really dumb? It's like watching an episode of Neighbours with superpowers. Sorry folks rant over I'm going to sleep now.

Avengers Assemble Sets New Standard

The new Avengers movie was great fun! The touch of Joss Whedon has worked wonders on this tired super team to make it seem fresh, modern and exiting.

This is probably the most surreal of the Marvel movies to date. It has little or no connection to the real world, so the viewer really has to just suspend their disbelief and go along for the ride. And what a ride it is! The visuals are stunning and the action sequences are easy to follow and clear in their direction. Michael Bay and Peter Jackson could learn a lot from Joss Whedon. As you'd expect the dialogue is sharp and witty with some great one liners and well played visual gags. It's a Marvelites wet dream too with loads of comic references and and super cool ending sequence that'll have the fanboys drooling in their popcorn. OK, so it aint gonna win any Oscars (but it should for best director) and the story is pretty much a derivative of old comics with a few cool innovations bunged in (check out how Banner controls the Hulk) but this movie has achived exactly what it has set out to do. It's loved by fans and non fans alike and it's gonna make shed loads of wonga for Marvel.

X-Men is actually First Class

I just went to see the latest X-Men Movie "First Class" and left the cinema feeling very much the way I did after seeing the first Xmen movie years ago: Like I wanted to go and see it again. This movie felt more like that first outing than any of the sequels, espesially the god awful "Last Stand". And don't even get me started on the travesty that was the Wolverine movie. This new movie feels like the start of something special and the performances from all the main players, although not award winning, are solid and real. James MaCavoy is very convincing as the younger, less cautious Charles and everybody else does their bit just fine especially Kevin Bacon who must have been born to play Sebastain Shaw. The story has a decent sence of pacing and covers quite a few years so has a more epic feel than many other superhero films. There's even a couple of inspired humourous moments, one of which was a genuinly unexpected cameo that had the cinema roaring with laughter. The set peices, although few, are executed brilliantly and make the moving bridge scene in Last Stand look like something from Thunderbirds. I still have images from the film stuck in my head hours after watching it, which must be a good sign. Finally there's also some great character scenes and we really feel like we are seeing X-Men History being played out, with all the drama and tragedy of the original comics. I could chose to point out that the continuety of the movies has now been shot to hell, as Emma Frost seems to have gotten younger rather than older in the wolverine movie and Prof X's hair seems to come and go through time, as does his inabilty to walk. Maybe running that school with all those unruley kids aged him prematurely and hey... him and Eric made friends again for some reason when they went to find Jean Grey. Or maybe (please god) they are wiping the last two films from continuety with this one... yay! Then again some of these things have happened in the comics at some point, so who's to say they can't happen in the films? I look forward to hopefully seeing some cool X-Men adventures in the 1970's

Bristol Report

Ok, well Bristol was great fun as always, but we were in the "Tumbleweed Room" so strugged to sell any of our excellent books :-(

In the end we managed to cover our costs after lots of hard work but I am very much looking forward to the event returnig to the old Commonwealth Museum venue next year.

Bristol Approaches

Well my 13th Bristol Comics convention is approaching and I have to say I'm very much looking forward to it. Kicking off with a curry with some of my Comics Industry chums the weekend promises lots of good comic fun for all. We will be selling two of our new books to Bristol folks for the first time. They both sold out at Kapow in London last month so I'm hoping they'll do just as well in Bristol.
This will be the last time that the UK's most adored comics convention will be happening at their current venues I hear and that next year it'll be moving back to the refurbished Commonwealth Museum Venue. Is this true or is it a rumour?? I guess we'll find out in a couple days.

Here's a link to the event: http://www.spexpo.co.uk

Skyline... Don't Bother

I have to say that Skyline was probably my biggest movie let down of the year. The trailer promised so much, but the final product was awful. The acting was wooden, the script was painfully cheesy (and there's cheese abound in this movie, but not in a knowing way... just really bad cheese that stinks). The plot was non existent and the ending was probably the most ham fisted "run out of budget" calamity effort I've ever witnessed on the big screen. I reccomend you really don't spend a moment of your life watching this TV movie with a budget. The best bits are in the trailer.

My latest Graphic Novel now has Trailer

I'm really excited as this is the fist time a graphic novel I have published has:

a) been distributed by Diamond
b) had a trailer made for it professionally
and c) been drawn by an Eagle Award winning artist.

Dave Hitchcock has done a superb job of bringing Gary Young's script to life and it's been a real pleasure working with such a great creative team on this book.

Can't wait to see it in the April Previews.

Here's the trailer: