So, its been far too long since I last wrote anything, but I haven’t been sat idle friends!!
Since I last did a blog I’ve discovered the joy of audiobooks (I think I mentioned this before). I have read IT, Carrie and I’m currently in the middle of a great book c
alled The Historian which is a wonderfully clever re-imagining of the Dracula legend, only this time focusing more on the source material of Vlad Tepes. If a vampire themed adventure is your thing, you must try to find a copy!!
I’m still unsure if listening to an audiobook counts as reading it, maybe that’s a discussion for another day.
There’s a wonderful series on Disney + called Pistol. It’s a biographical series of Steve Jones, guitarist with The Sex Pistols. Taken from his biography : Lonely Boy and directed by Danny Boyle its a really well worked series that’s sad and funny in equal measure. Given the turbulent relationship of The Sex Pistols it’s hard to say how much truth is in there, I know John Lydon (Formally Johnny Rotten) has already disputed some of the events in the series, or at least how they’re depicted, but if you’re a fan of the Pistols and don’t mind the semi regular ”C” bomb, it’s worth a watch.
I can’t not say anything about the Netflix series Stranger Things. I know there are still some people who are yet to finish the latest series, but I will say that the sequence with Eddie playing Master of Puppets while all kinds of terrible surround him was one of the best things this series has ever done and that includes Dustin and Suzies Neverending Story duet in series 3. By all accounts series 5 will be the last and I hope they stick to that, too many TV and movie franchises go on for too long, I hope we don’t add Stranger Things to that list.
One of the biggest films of the year so far was The Batman. I meant to write about it sooner, but I have to say I really enjoyed it! Pattinson did a great job as the caped crusader and the stripped back, grass roots feel of it was a refreshing change from what we saw more recently in BvS and Justice League. What I felt was really well done was the sense of this is a Batman who doesn’t care so much about stealth, he just wants to fight and will happily stand toe to toe, rather than striking from the shadows like we see from older versions in other films. The other things the film does well is the details, such as him wearing boxing style hand wraps under his gloves and the black face paint still being around his eyes once the mask has been taken off (this second one has been a running issue since 1988!!!)
I wasn’t totally taken in by the Riddler, and the Se7en inspired feel of him fell a little flat, as a mate said ”If you’re going to go Se7en, really go Se7en!”
The end felt a little disjointed too, seeing a big scale flooding sequence felt almost separate from the rest of the film, though I know they had to get from him being vengeance to hero, it just felt clumsy.
That being said, The Batman and Joker are easily the 2 best things to be released recently from the pages of DC and I hope to see more of them in the future.
Dead Mans Chest 