Flavours of the Month: July 2016...

Biting political satire, self-hating comedians, bullet-time, zombies, and a hefty amount of research - just some of the looks, sounds, vibes & flavours of my July 2016...

Click "READ MORE" below for what's been setting the tone of my month...

The Walking Dead Season 7 Comic-Con Trailer Analysis

Find Walking Dead memes here.

Considering that infamous cliffhanger at the end of Season 6, it's hardly a surprise that this year's Comic-Con trailer for The Walking Dead is a bit on the short side. Opening with 80 seconds worth of mood-setting glimpses at each of the characters facing Negan's prized barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille (as the camera lovingly rises up the length of the weapon – ooh err, Mrs!), the remaining 100-ish seconds give us some scattered glimpses and teasing lines of dialogue to whet our whistles.

But what did we get to see in the trailer? Let's dive in, shall we?

Click “READ MORE” below to see some glimpses of The Walking Dead's seventh season...

Space Station 76 - mini review...

What's it about?
Domestic drama and workplace comedy meet ... in outer space. A refuelling station somewhere in the vicinity of Earth in 1976, to be exact. A closeted Captain pines for his lost love, a down-trodden maintenance man struggles with marital disharmony, a young girl has to come to terms with death and her Valium-addicted mother, and the new girl on the scene finds herself stuck in-between it all. Infidelity, gossip, rampant materialism, and visits to a two-foot-tall robotic head-shrinker ensue.
Who would I recognise in it?
Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Matt Bomer, Jerry O'Connell, Keir Dullea.

Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Styled after the sci-fi greats of the 1960s and 1970s, from films like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Silent Running", to hand-crafted low-fi sci-fi TV shows like "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", we find ourselves in an alternative 1976 (or thereabouts, we must assume) with all the kitsch fashion, facial hair, and smoking around children to match...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

Hail, Caesar! - mini review...

What's it about?
Written & Directed by the Coen Brothers, "Hail, Caesar!" is a comedy set during Hollywood's 'Golden Age' - 1951 to be precise - and follows the trials and tribulations of Eddie Manix - head of production and studio fixer for Capitol Pictures. When the lead in one of the studio's biggest productions is kidnapped by a group calling themselves 'The Future', the curious personalities and practicalities of Hollywood ricochet off one another.
Who would I recognise in it?
Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Erenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, and more.

Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The Coen Brothers march to the beat of their own drum, so it's with no surprise that "Hail, Caesar!" is the sort of film that will require more than one viewing to peel back the intricate layers of wry humour that are laced throughout. Skirting away from some of the strictures of traditional screenwriting structure, the film moves with a loose feel. We see glimpses of disparate productions - all of them elaborately realised - from a stunt-filled cheese-ball western and a synchronised swimming spectacular, to a stuffy melodrama and a tap-dance-tastic sailors-on-leave picture. Indeed, the Coen's love for Hollywood's golden years celebrates with rose-tinted glasses on, while simultaneously playing up the more farcical elements of the time (Francis McDormand's scene as a chain-smoking editor, locked away in a darkened room, proves to be both loving and laugh-inducing)...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

Batman v Superman's Extended Version: More Movie Rating Madness...

The sales people will no doubt be out there nudging various superhero movie fans in the side - winking up a storm and mumbling a range of suggestive sounds - at the thought of an 'R-Rated' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ... but, as director Zack Snyder has stated several times, unlike Deadpool, there will be no geysers or gore and flashes of flesh. And with word of just a standard issue single 'F-word', it leads to an interesting issue of America's rating system - doled out by the not-so-user-friendly Motion Picture Association of America (check out "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" for more on that).

BvS is getting an extended 'ultimate edition' director's cut - much like Watchmen did - which likewise pushes the running time over three hours. The theatrical version was rated PG-13 in America (for "intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality") - and 12A here in the United Kingdom by the now far more open British Board of Film Classification. However, the extended version nabbed itself an R-Rating from the MPAA (no-one under 17) - simply due to added 'intensity' from some extended violence which 'tips the scale', according to Snyder.

Want to know what the extended director's cut was rated in the UK? Does a jump from PG-13 to R in America mean a leap from 12A to 15, or even 18, in Blighty?

Click "READ MORE" below to find out...

The Revenant - quick review: film vs book...

What's it about?
Based on the real-life story of Hugh Glass, a tracker for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1820s America, who was savagely attacked by a bear and left for dead by his fellow men. But when he survives, he vows to navigate the hostile landscape and get his revenge.
Who would I recognise in it?
Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Scooping up three Oscars - Cinematography, Director, and Actor (a long-in-the-wait golden baldie statue for Leo) - The Revenant was nonetheless pipped at the podium by Spotlight for Best Film. Much has been said about the glorious photography - meticulously shot during 'the magic hour' to make the most of that beautiful natural light that descends for an hour each day - and the struggle of the production (harsh temperatures, chowing down on raw Bison liver, and so on, all drawn out over months of production), but it's interesting to note - as mentioned in the credits - that the film is only 'based in part' on Michael Punke's book...

Click "READ MORE" below to see how the film differs from the book **SPOILERS AHEAD**...