The Man with No Time

As I’ve talked about before, since the start of my undergraduate degree eight years ago the amount of television that I watch has dropped off quite sharply. The only things I really watch on television any more are sporting events, such as the 6 Nations, F1 Grand Prix, and the BTCC. Plus Dr Who and Top Gear. Part of the reason for that was time; as a student I just didn’t have the free time to be regularly watching a TV show, so some of my favourites I had to reluctantly let fall by the wayside. Some I’ve since picked up on DVD or download, and have sitting in my ‘to watch’ queue. I suppose to be strictly accurate I should have said ‘traditional television’ above, as over the last couple of years I’ve started watching more and more YouTube, BBC iPlayer, and other online streaming services. This has really allowed me to get back into TV shows, as it allows me to watch episodes when and where I want rather than being tied down to the airing time. That flexibility has been ...

....or Loki 3 as I've seen some people refer to it, which is somewhat fitting given the popularity of that character and the  resulting screen time that he gets! (Loki 1 being Thor, and Loki 2 being Avengers Assemble of course). So I went to see Thor 2 at the cinema yesterday. The latest step in Marvel's dominion of blockbuster cinema, it continues to advance the Marvel Universe's cinematic storyline in several parallel paths. But is it any good? I thought Thor 1 was one of the surprises of the pre-Avengers phase of the Marvel superhero film craze, so I was interested to see how the second instalment would compare. The poster image for Thor: the Dark World. Oddly similar to the Iron Man 3 poster in many ways. (Credit: hdwallpapers.in)

The summer blockbuster season is in full swing, and it's looking like another good year for geek films. We've already had a swathe of sci-fi and superhero films (not all of which I managed to see unfortunately), and the next few weeks see several more hitting the big screens. So lets take a look at the latest one, and review "Man of Steel" As I think I've mentioned before on this blog, my childhood superheroes of choice were Spiderman and the X-Men. Both are Marvel properties, and as I've grown older I've tended to prefer Batman to Superman as far as the DC stable goes. That's not down to the Dark Knight trilogy either, but to the excellent cartoon series that Batman has had over the years, mainly the original Animated Series and Batman of the Future. However, I do remember watching "The New Adventures of Superman" with my Mum. "It's not an S. On my planet it means hope." The new logo looks very cool indeed, and has ...

Blockbuster season starts early this year, with a couple of big releases around the end of April and the start of May. The first of these is Iron Man 3, the concluding part of the highly successful trilogy starring Robert Downey Junior. I really enjoyed the first two Iron Man films. I was never a huge fan of Iron Man as a character before this trilogy, but my only exposure had really been the animated series. It was part of a raft of Marvel  animated television series, along with the X-Men, Hulk, Spiderman, and the Fantastic 4. I always preferred the X-Men and Spiderman, but Downey's portrayal of Tony Stark really won me over the first time around, and was even better in the second instalment. I was certainly excited for part three after the trailers, but did it live up to my expectations? How cool is this logo? (Credit: collider.com)

Time for another film review! This time around I’m going to be looking at second of the three films that I’ve been looking forward to all year, and another check mark on my ‘films to see in 2012’ list. This film is possibly one of the cinema events of the year in fact, particularly for those of us with a tendency towards geek hood. It’s time to look at “The Dark Knight Rises”   One of the official posters for "The Dark Knight Rises" (Credit: screenrant.com)

Last weekend was a busy one for me. As well as trekking along part of the Fife coastal path on Saturday, and playing in the Warmachine: Colossals launch event on the Sunday, I also decided to go and see "The Amazing Spiderman". After my day of gaming finished I had just enough time to get lost and find somewhere for dinner before the 20:00, 3D showing at the Livingston Vue cinema. At the time I would have preferred 2D, but in hindsight I think that 3D was a decent choice. The previous Spiderman trilogy , starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, is generally well respected among comic-book aficionados as being faithful to the character and history of one of Marvel's most recognisable super-heroes. At the same time the three films are considered pretty good by the more general public, and certainly the first and second films are regarded highly by most viewers (the third however is generally panned). As such there was significant apprehension about a reboot of th...

Time for my first reviews on this blog. In the last couple of days I've watched a couple of films, and have been mulling over my thoughts on them. One is an old classic that I've only just got around to watching, whilst the other is a brand new blockbuster. Read on for my thoughts on both of them, and to see what I'm looking forward to this summer.