Hulk nerd

The new Black Static (#31, Nov-Dec 2012) is out now, and Peter Tennant’s regular ‘Case Notes’ column contains a review of my book, and I’m pleased to read that he has many good things to say about it (see pages 85-6 in the mag) … 

Jennifer Connelly in-joke.

“Tony Lee abandons his usual acerbic style to produce a fanboy treatise on Ang Lee’s 2003 film HULK (Telos Publishing) … this isn't simply a critical assessment, but on occasion feels like an attempt at canonisation ...

Agree with him or not, Lee’s enthusiasm is infectious and his amiable prose makes his arguments all the more convincing. Taken on its own terms, the book is a powerful piece of polemic, and there is no doubting its value as a source book for those who wish to appreciate Ang Lee’s achievement ...

All things considered, this is a nicely packaged text that’s insightful and informative, and a pleasure to read regardless of how you feel about the source material.”

This issue of the British Fantasy Award winning magazine also features my latest ‘Blood Spectrum’ column of DVD/ blu-ray reviews. Here’s a listing of what’s covered – 38 titles including a couple of TV boxsets, sprawled over 15 pages - plus my ratings:

 

            Die & Die Again

Zombie Contagion (1/10)

Ultimate Zombie Feast (4/10)

            Halloween Pro

Blade II (6/10)

Blade Trinity (5/10)

Lady Snowblood (6/10)

Lady Snowblood: Love Song Of Vengeance (6/10)

Basket Case (5/10)

Basket Case 2 (5/10)

Basket Case 3: The Progeny (5/10)

Cube (7/10)

The Devil Rides Out (7/10)

The Mummy's Shroud (3/10)

Rasputin: The Mad Monk (5/10)

The Curse Of Frankenstein (7/10)

            Wonky-Cam Blues

Closed Circuit Extreme (1/10)

Apartment 143 (2/10)

Chernobyl Diaries (3/10)

Lovely Molly (2/10)

Cabin In The Woods (7/10)

The Pact (5/10)

Snow White And The Huntsman (6/10)

Spartacus: Vengeance (4/10)

Rosewood Lane (4/10)

The Thompsons (5/10)

We Are The Night (8/10)

Grimm - season 1 (5/10)

Red Lights (4/10)

Storage 24 (4/10)

            Samhain Round-Up:

Silent House (4/10)

The Harsh Light Of Day (2/10)

Dead Man's Luck (3/10)

My Ex (1/10)

Inbred (0/10)

Some Guy Who Kills People (1/10)

Cockneys vs. Zombies (3/10)

Monstro! (4/10)

Killer Joe (3/10)

Excision (6/10)  

Interzone #243 (Nov-Dec 2012) has also just been published, with excellent use if colour throughout, and my usual ‘Laser Fodder’ column of DVD/ blu-ray coverage appears at the end of the mag. Here’s the line-up of reviews, with my ratings:    

            Alien Agenda

Avengers Assemble (8/10)

Prometheus (8/10)

Fringe - season 4 (7/10)

Alcatraz - season 1 (3/10)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (5/10)

Demon Hunter – The Resurrection (6/10)

Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (1/10)

Supernatural - season 7 (4/10)

            Retro Spex

The Testament Of Dr Mabuse (7/10)

The Birds (8/10)

Short Circuit (5/10)

Flight Of The Navigator (3/10)

The Man In The White Suit (7/10)

 

 

Marvellous

Good news! Avengers Assemble is now available to order on blu-ray and DVD... released on 17th September.

Assembly

I saw the Avengers movie, yesterday. This isn't a review (I shall wait for a release on disc before attempting a proper critical assessment), it's just a few general comments, and my initial reactions to a movie that I've waited decades to see…

Well, I liked it a lot! It's a great super-team adventure, but I'm not convinced (yet) that it is a real classic of genre cinema about comicbook heroes. I'd have to see it at least a couple of times more, to decide on whether it's an 8/10, or 9/10 (for effort), movie. Avengers Assemble managed to fulfil my expectations of it, but failed to surpass them. That said, Joss Whedon was faced with a quite impossible task - of pleasing fans of Marvel comics and followers of the franchise of recent movie productions, including Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. 

The director and cast took it all seriously, but still made it good fun. Whedon's best movie to date is not in the same class as The Dark Knight, or Ang Lee's Hulk. Thankfully, however, the level of humour in Avengers Assemble is judged almost perfectly, throughout, with very few jokes at the expense of the characters, and no embarrassingly bad scenes that may have prompted me to cringe at slapstick or blatantly camp performances – of the sort we have seen before in The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, X-Men, and Iron Man movies.  

I don't much care for that poster, though, as I would prefer a proper artwork version, such as this one. I hope the movie is a huge success, and would like to see production planning for a sequel (or two), starting next year. I'd also really like to see an extended version of Avengers Assemble on blu-ray, perhaps before Xmas… Is that too much to ask?