TTA mags

New issues from TTA Press are out now...


Interzone #249 includes my regular 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up with ratings:

Ikarie XB-1 (7/10)
Lifeforce (8/10)
Grimm - season 2 (6/10)
Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (7/10)
The Night Of The Hunter (5/10)
Pacific Rim (8/10)
Under The Dome (6/10)








Black Static #37 has my latest ''Blood Spectrum' review-column. This month, I'm looking at a batch of 21 titles:

The Body (6/10)
Byzantium (8/10)
No One Lives (7/10)
The Walking Dead - season 3 (6/10)
Only God Forgives (8/10)

    RetroGasm
Squirm (6/10)
The Mummy (4/10)
The Wicker Man: Final Cut (6/10)
Halloween (8/10)
The Witches (5/10)
Creepshow (7/10)
The Fury (6/10)
The Headless Ghost (3/10)
Pin (6/10)
The People Under The Stairs (7/10)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - part 2 (7/10)

    Tolerable Cruelty: Round-up
The Last Exorcism - part II
All Superheroes Must Die
I Spit On Your Grave 2
The Disco Exorcist
Thanatomorphose 

Pleased to get my name on the covers again!

Holmes

At first, I was a bit sceptical about Elementary... 

By making Dr Watson female (just a gender-switch gimmick?), and Sherlock a troubled junkie in recovery, have they changed the characters too much? 

No, I found this TV show really works as a refreshingly contemporary updating of the classic detective franchise. Far more than just a formulaic variation of Monk meets Lie To Me, this crime drama set in New York revitalises the iconic Holmes and Baker Street lore in ways that the BBC series Sherlock  largely failed to achieve. 

Entertaining as comedy (without ever lapsing into sitcom mode), and winningly effective as psychological character study, Elementary is appealing and fun as mystery, and - at halfway point through the superb season one - I'm enjoying this DVD boxset a lot more than any other TV 'cop show' that I have seen recently.         

Heatwave

British summertime. My low rate of activity today was enlivened by delivery of the latest TTA Press mags.

Black Static #35 (July-Aug.) includes my regular 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. This issue's line-up:

Curandero: Dawn Of The Demon (4/10)
In Their Skin (3/10)
Texas Chainsaw (5/10)
Apartment 1303 (4/10)
Beautiful Creatures (5/10)
Mama (6/10)
Warm Bodies (4/10)
Maniac (6/10)
Stoker (7/10)

    RetroMania
Black Sabbath (4/10)
The Brood (8/10)
Kuroneko (6/10)
The Legend Of Hell House (7/10)
The Man Who Haunted Himself (8/10)
Motel Hell (5/10)
Spider Baby (6/10)

    Tedium Scene: Round-up
The Incident (2/10)
Kill For Me (2/10)
Death Game (3/10)
Static (3/10)   

Also received BS sister mag, Interzone #247 (July-Aug.), featuring my usual 'Laser Fodder' reviews, as follows:

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (4/10)
Cloud Atlas (8/10)
Oz The Great And Powerful (5/10)
Falling Skies - season 2 (4/10)
Robot & Frank (7/10)

    Retronautics
Scream And Scream Again (6/10)
Devil Girl From Mars (5/10)
The Invisible Man (7/10)
Quest For Fire (8/10)  

This issue's book section has my review of graphic novel, Sláine: The Grail War by Pat Mills, Nick Percival, and Steve Tappin. If there were rating for book reviews, I'd give this 2000 AD reprint collection a 6/10 score.

TTA mags

Interzone #246 is out now, and it includes my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up, with ratings:

Journeyman (4/10)
Life Of Pi (7/10)
Fringe - season 5 (6/10)
Dr Who And The Daleks (5/10)
Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 AD (6/10)

This issue also features a new column of incisive comment on genre matters, 'Future Interrupted' by Jonathan McCalmont, here considering whether SF is actually exhausted or just resting for a bit.

I read in dismay that, according to Dave Langford's reportage in his 'Ansible' link, the self-styled Barftas awarded Nicholas [sic] Cage a worst actor prize for Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance. As I wrote in Interzone #241, that comicbook sequel was very good fun (score: 7/10), and Cage is rarely less than entertaining, whether he goes crazily OTT, or not. I think some people really do need to see a few truly awful genre movies, with dully amateurish 'acting' before criticising a major box-office star like Cage, simply because they fail to appreciate the often satirical edginess of his typical screen pesona.

Also just published, Black Static #34 closes with my 'Blood Spectrum' of movies & TV reviews. This issue's coverage:

Sleep Tight (4/10)
The Echo (5/10)
Bait (3/10)
The Collection (4/10)
Spartacus: War Of The Damned (3/10)
White Tiger (5/10)
Slice & Dice: The Slasher Film Forever (3/10)
The Hidden Face (5/10)
True Blood - season 5 (6/10)

    1980s Retro
Scanners (8/10)
Scanners II: The New Order (5/10)
Scanners III: The Takeover (5/10)
Blood Simple (7/10)
Evil Dead 2 (7/10)
Knightriders (4/10)

    Slack-Jawed & Lifeless: Round-up
Baron Blood
The Facility 

Matching for IZ 241 for offering something new, but offering different content, BS 34 has a new column by 'Blood Pudding' (sounding too much like, or quite the opposite, of mine..?) by Lynda Rucker, who ponders the on-going debate in literary/ media circles about whether horror is dead, or currently being reborn.

   

Just published

Behold, a new issue of Black Static (#32) - with the free 'scent of darkness'!, and the latest Interzone (#244), too - boasting cover artwork by the great Jim Burns. Here's a listing with ratings for my first DVD and blu-ray review columns of the year...

'Laser Fodder' (IZ)

Death Watch (7/10)
The Arrival Of Wang (5/10)
The Castle (6/10)
The Lord Of The Rings (8/10)
U.F.O. (1/10)
Continuum - season 1 (6/10)










'Blood Spectrum' (BS)    

     URBAN MONSTERS
The Amazing Spider–Man (6/10)
The Dark Knight Rises (8/10)
Dredd (6/10)

Sound Of My Voice (4/10)
Southern Comfort (8/10)
Zombie Flesh-Eaters (2/10)
Berberian Sound Studio (6/10)
When The Lights Went Out (5/10)
The Possession (6/10)
House At The End Of The Street (5/10)
Stitches (1/10)

Booklets

Just received copies of two magazine issues…

Black Static #30 (TTA Press) includes my ‘Blood Spectrum’ column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, this time sprawling over 12 pages due to the booklet style format. Here’s a listing of the movie coverage with rating scores:

            Phenomenal inactivity

Amityville Haunting (1/10)

Paranormal Incident (1/10)

            Dead reckonings 

Zombie 108 (1/10)

Remains (3/10)

Extinction: The G.M.O. Chronicles (3/10)

[REC] 3: Genesis (6/10)

            Snowy summer

Snow White: A Tale Of Terror (5/10)

Snow White: The Fairest Of Them All (4/10)

Sydney White (4/10)

Grimm’s Snow White (3/10)

Mirror, Mirror (8/10)

Blood Car (5/10)

Orlando (7/10)

The Reverend (2/10)

The Victim (3/10)

Elfie Hopkins (2/10)

Gone (4/10)

Livid (8/10)

The Aggression Scale (3/10)

Dark Mirror (3/10)

The Hunger Games (5/10)

Curse (2/10)

            Decay products: round-up

The Devil In Me (2/10)

Axed (1/10)

Creature (1/10)

The Fields (2/10)

Truth Or Dare (2/10)

Piranha 3DD (3/10)

The Raid (5/10)  

Latest news is that Black Static has won this year's BFS award for 'best magazine'.

Also switching to the new smaller format (which boasts a laminated cover, more pages, and a spine), Interzone #242 has my ‘Laser Fodder’ column of movie & TV reviews, and this issue’s line-up features –

            Nazi stomp

The 25th Reich (4/10)

Bloodstorm (2/10)

Outpost II: Black Sun (5/10)

            Animagic

Planzet (3/10)

Starship Troopers: Invasion (5/10)

Ao - The Last Hunter (3/10)

Battleship (5/10)

Lockout (4/10)

Alphas - series 1 (5/10)

Wrath Of The Titans (6/10)  

Both titles have the advert for my movie book about Ang Lee's HULK, available to buy from publisher Telos, here.  

IZ&BS

The new issue of Interzone (#241, July-Aug.) has my latest 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up with ratings:

    Wheelspin Reinvented:
Metropolis (5/10)
Things To Come (7/10)
Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie (1/10)
Iron Sky (6/10)

Humanity’s End (5/10)
Earth 2 (6/10)
Lesbian Vampire Warriors (4/10)
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance (7/10)
Painted Skin (6/10)
Falling Skies – season 1 (4/10)
Hell (4/10)
John Carter (6/10)
Total Recall (8/10)

    Animetrics:
Roujin–Z (3/10)
Howl's Moving Castle (4/10)
Tales From Earthsea (3/10)

    Amicus realms:
The Land That Time Forgot (4/10)
At The Earth’s Core (6/10)
Warlords of Atlantis (4/10)
They Came From Beyond Space (4/10)

    Backlist:
The Astronaut Farmer (6/10)

- * -

With a change in format and publication schedule, Black Static #29 (also July-Aug.) has a more book-like feel, shedding its expensive full-colour magazine style in favour of b&w interiors that - in my honest opinion - weakens the visual impact of its artwork and presents only greyscale photos. Sadly, it seems to me like a step backward in production standards, but I'm certainly pleased to see the higher page-count allows space for my 'Blood Spectrum' column of movie reviews to cover 19 titles:

    Zombiplex
War Of The Dead (4/10)
Juan Of The Dead (4/10)
Exit Humanity (3/10)   

The Howling Reborn (3/10)
The Darkest Hour (6/10)
The Grey (4/10)
Piggy (3/10)
YatterMan (6/10)
Bleach: Memories Of Nobody (4/10)
Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion (3/10)
Bleach: Fade To Black (2/10)
Chronicle (4/10)
Island Of Lost Souls (6/10)
Jabberwock - Dragon Siege (1/10)
The House (1/10)
The Squad (2/10)
The Woman In Black (5/10)
The Innkeepers (5/10)
Absentia (5/10)
Crows Zero II (3/10)
Airborne (1/10)

IZ240

Interzone #240 includes my latest 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, and this issue's line-up of movies & TV stuff looks like this (plus ratings, as below):

Resistance (3/10)
Six Million Dollar Man (6/10)
The Future (4/10)
Space: Above And Beyond (6/10)
Dark Shadows (3/10)
Clone (4/10)
Deadball (4/10)
Yakuza Weapon (5/10)
Haywire (6/10)
Underworld Awakening (6/10)    

TV choices

The last programme item that I went to at Olympus, was a panel about 'What do we want on TV?'

I'd prefer any genre anthology series - Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, etc. Want some originality and more diversity? That's what anthology TV does best. I'm sure we can all think of 100s of short stories that'd make good or even great TV episodes. Why viewers choose serialised storylines over standalone tales, I cannot figure out... Is the appeal of the familiar really that strong and comforting? Although the Twilight Zone revivals have been patchy in terms of quality, when it gets everything right - like Shatterday - it's brilliant entertainment.

Let's have the shock of the new with every episode, please. Bring back one or both of the big anthology shows! At the very least, they could be used as a proving ground for talented new scriptwriters, who can't sell their spec screenplays, but might be able to contribute something fresh and different to the on-going variety of such short-form TV productions.

HULK

My book-length critical study about Ang Lee's movie HULK (2003), is due to be published this July by Telos.

Here's a blurb:

From its 1962 comicbook origins in The Incredible Hulk by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, director Ang Lee’s classic movie Hulk (2003), updates and re-invents the story of how scientist Bruce Banner is transformed into a giant rage monster, and becomes a new antihero for the 21st century. This book reviews the movie’s narrative complexity and its varied genre elements, which include science fiction, tragic drama, action thriller, doomed romance, and a modern fairytale with mythological references, energised by an artistically innovative editing style, and realised by groundbreaking visual effects. 

As a neurotic ‘puny human’ changes into the unstoppable ‘Angry Man’, Hulk offers a study of dysfunctional family relationships, and monster-movie rampages with tank-busting, helicopter-crashing mayhem in ‘hulkgasm’ adventures, that results in a final confrontation of cosmic proportions. A unique aesthetic spectacle, and extraordinary makeover for Hollywood blockbuster cinema, Hulk is the greatest screen adaptation of a comicbook and it rediscovers the enduring legacy of a green-skinned ‘superhero’ without a costume.

Ordering details here: Telos - HULK. 

BS #26

The latest issue of Black Static magazine is #26 (Dec 2011-Jan 2012), and this Bristish fantasy award-winning bi-monthly features my 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

Here's the line-up of new & forthcoming titles covered, with ratings:

Umbrage: The First Vampire (1/10)
Helldriver (7/10)
Smallville - season 10 (7/10)
The Human Centipede 2 (5/10)
Guilty Of Romance (4/10)
Conan The Barbarian (5/10)
Super 8 (4/10)
Cowboys & Aliens (4/10)
Kill List (2/10)
Frankenhooker (6/10) 
Troll Hunter (4/10)

Interzone

The latest issue of Interzone (#237) includes my regular 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, and here's this month's line-up:

13 Assassins (7/10)
The Event (2/10)
Freedom (4/10)
The Devil's Kiss (1/10)
Green Lantern (5/10)
The Woman (6/10)
Alien Undead (1/10)
Maniac Cop (6/10)
Saint (7/10)
Assassin: City Under Siege (5/10)
Panic Button (1/10)
Deadly Blessing (5/10)
Redline (6/10)
Silent Running (7/10)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (5/10)
Final Destination 5 (3/10) 

Interzone #236

This month issue of Interzone (from TTA Press) includes my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's the line-up with rating scores:

The Twilight Zone - season 3 (7/10)
Source Code (4/10)
La Jetée (3/10)
Level Five (1/10)
Sans Soleil (2/10)
The Vampire Diaries - season 2 (2/10)
Stargate Universe – season 2 (4/10)
Supernatural – season 6 (4/10)
Insidious (4/10)
Julia’s Eyes (4/10)
Eureka - season 4.0 (3/10)
51 (1/10)
Quatermass And The Pit (8/10)
Warehouse 13 – season 2 (5/10)
Muckman (3/10)
Cannibal Holocaust (1/10)
2001 Nights (6/10)

    Used Clumpage: round-up
Cowboys & Zombies (0/10)
Strigoi (3/10)
Wreckage (1/10)
Hatchet II (0/10)
Midnight (3/10)
Black Heaven (4/10)
Pieces (2/10)
Rogue Ninja (3/10)
The Holding (4/10)
The Roommate (1/10)
Territories (1/10)
Sacred Blacksmith – season 1 (2/10)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer – season 8 motion comic (1/10)

The issue also has my first editorial for Interzone, so there's even more of my ramblings!

Black Static

The latest issue of Black Static (#24, Aug-Sept) includes my regular 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

Here's the line-up:

The Task (2/10)
Conan The Barbarian (8/10)
The Devil's Rock (4/10)
Giallo (4/10)
Obsession (6/10)
Slaughter High (1/10)
Bane (1/10)
Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (1/10)
Evil Rising (4/10)
Moby Dick (1/10)
Scream Of The Banshee (2/10)
The Violent Kind (1/10)
Hobo With A Shotgun (6/10)
Limitless (5/10)
The Silent House (2/10)
Super (3/10)
Almighty Thor (0/10)
The Lost Bladesman (6/10)
The Rig (1/10)
Sucker Punch (5/10)
Twin Daggers (2/10)
The Witches Of Oz (3/10)
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec (8/10)
Quarantine 2: Terminal (5/10)
Second Coming (2/10)
Uninhabited (2/10)
Wasted On The Young (2/10)
Waterborne (0/10)
Iron & Blood: The Legend Of Taras Bulba (4/10)
Red Riding Hood (4/10)
Scream 4 (5/10)
Beastly (2/10)
Atrocious (0/10)
Attack The Block (5/10)

       Eyes Wide: anime round-up
Yu Gi Oh: Bonds Beyond Time
Shikabane: Corpse Princess
Black Butler – series 1, part 1
Sekirei – complete series
High School Of The Dead
Nabari no Ou – series 1, part 2

Blood Spec

The latest Black Static (#23, June-July) includes my Blood Spectrum column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, with 30 releases (including a couple or three boxsets) covered in 9,000 words over 11 pages. Here's the line-up, with my rating scores...

Chatroom (5/10)
Confessions (5/10)
Enter The Void (5/10)
Time Traveller (5/10)
Salon Kitty (4/10)
Black Swan (8/10)
Spartacus: Blood And Sand - season 1 (4/10)
Trackman (4/10)
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (6/10)
Fertile Ground (4/10)
Red Canyon (2/10)
Stanley Kubrick: Visionary Filmmaker Collection (7/10)
Agnosia (6/10)
Fading Of The Cries (2/10)
5150 Elm’s Way (3/10)
Psalm 21 (6/10)
Seconds Apart (5/10)
Zombie Undead (1/10)
Cross (2/10)
Cross Of Iron (6/10)
Demons Rising (0/10)
Red Hill (2/10)
Apocalypse Now (10/10)
Eaters: Rise Of The Dead (1/10)
Needle (2/10)
Trail Of The Screaming Forehead (0/10)
Witchfinder General (7/10)
Savage Streets (3/10)
Neighbour (3/10)
The New York Ripper (2/10)

IZ# 234

The latest Interzone (#234, May-June 2011) has my Laser Fodder column of DVD & blu-ray reviews.

This month's line-up (here with ratings) includes:

      Made in Spain: Fantastic Factory
Beyond Re-Animator (7/10)
Faust: Love Of The Damned (5/10)
Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt (6/10)
Arachnid (4/10)

Universal Squadrons (3/10)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – part one (4/10)
The Twilight Zone - season one (6/10)
Woochi – The Demon Slayer (7/10)
Blood Reich: Bloodrayne 3 (3/10)
The Devil’s Tomb (2/10)
Dark And Stormy Night (1/10)
I Saw The Devil (5/10)
Pandemic (4/10)
Sweatshop (2/10)
The Frankenstein Experiment (4/10)
The Walking Dead (4/10)

Lasered

My ‘Laser Fodder’ column of DVD and blu-ray reviews, for Interzone #232 (TTA Press), includes coverage of:

Metropolis (5/10)

The Avengers – series 6 (7/10)

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie (1/10)

K-20: The Legend Of The Black Mask (6/10)

The Hole (5/10)

Mindflesh (8/10)

Dead Space: Aftermath (2/10)

The Shock Labyrinth (7/10)

Oh, and I got my name on the cover, at last.

Yay for me!

   

IZ #231

Interzone's last issue (November/ December) of 2010 includes my 'Laser Fodder' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews... 

The Avengers - series five (6/10)
The Brothers Bloom (7/10)
Fanboys (3/10)
Heroes - season four (4/10)
Dollhouse - season two (8/10)
Black Death (7/10)
V - season one (4/10)
Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (3/10)

IZ #230

Interzone #230

The latest issue (#230) of Interzone magazine includes my Laser Fodder column of DVD & blu-ray reviews, with coverage of 16 new releases...

Stargate Universe - season 1 (6/10)
After.Life (7/10)
Hunter Prey (5/10)
Kick-Ass (5/10)
Fringe - season 2 (7/10)

    blu for you
Delicatessen (7/10)
Mulholland Drive (9/10)
Death Note 1&2 (8/10)
  
    + round-up: when voids collide
Mega Piranha (3/10)
Centurion (3/10)
Basement (1/10)
The Last Seven (3/10)
Beyond The Rave (1/10)
Cherry Tree Lane (1/10)
Death Tube (1/10)
Mega Shark Of The Malibu (1/10)

More bloody reviews

Black Static #17 (from TTA Press) includes my 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD & blu-ray reviews. Here's a list of this issue's coverage, plus ratings:

Dolan's Cadillac (5/10)
Stag Night (3/10)
The Stepfather - remake (4/10)
Blood (5/10)
Left Bank (6/10)
Razor's Ring (1/10)
Dorothy (7/10)
Lockjaw: Rise Of The Kulev Serpent (1/10)
Phobia (4/10)
High Lane (4/10)
True Blood: seasons 1 & 2 (5/10)
City Of The Living Dead (5/10)
Van Diemen’s Land (1/10)
The Book Of Eli (7/10)
Daybreakers (6/10)
Harpoon: The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (4/10)
The Graves (3/10)
Satan’s Baby Doll (3/10)
Homecoming (3/10)
A Lizard In A Woman's Skin (4/10)
RoboGeisha (5/10)
The Wolfman - remake (6/10)
The Haunting Of Molly Hartley (2/10)
Bear (2/10)
Resurrecting The Street Walker (1/10)
Martin (8/10)
Funny Games - remake (3/10)
The Crazies - remake (6/10)
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (7/10)