Wonder Woman - in review...

What's it about?
The original superheroine finally gets her day in the realm of big budget blockbusters. This is the origin story of Diana, Princess of the Amazons, the warrior birthed of the Gods, who encounters mankind for the first time against the horrifying backdrop of World War I as she seeks to put an end to Ares, the God of War.
Who would I recognise in it?
Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielson, Lucy Davis, Ewen Bremner, and others.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
It triumphed at the box office and was a critical success story (almost predictably so after the orchestrated clickbait bullying that Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad both received, pitched like some kind of Damascene conversion for DC) - but how does Wonder Woman sit outside all of the initial media interest and flash-in-the-pan obsession with box office numbers? The answer to gaining more female superheros in the genre is to create new, female superheros, not to lazily do an arbitrary bit of stunt writing to ask "what if this guy was a gal?" - because, if you really think about it, how insulting is that to everyone?

Newcomers to comics are disappointed to find that new releases aren't reflective of the hugely popular Marvel movies, while swapping the sex of an established character is a slap in the face to everyone. Not only is it a lazy move on the part of the writers and head honchos of the franchises, it also makes the suggestion that women aren't worthy of having their own custom-made superheroes. Furthermore, the binary sex-swap makes the insulting suggestion that women are incapable of enjoying male superheroes and that men are incapable of enjoying female superheroes, and that both can't find role models in the opposite sex - quite simply, that is utter bullshit.

Wonder Woman's history is a long one that pre-dates a vast swathe of rival Marvel's line-up of household names. Gal Gadot wowed in Batman v Superman (with a spine-tingling soundtrack riff to accompany her), and with DC getting a handle on their 'Expanded Universe', it was likely that Diana Prince's solo flick would turn out to be a cracker - and it certainly is. The film finds the perfect balance between DC's ability to 'go dark' (the merciless slaughter of World War I) and a sense of humour, warmth, and compassion...

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The Walking Dead – Season 2 Deleted Scenes Review...

The DVD and Blu-Ray box sets for Season 2 of The Walking Dead are now available, and among the special features are a range of deleted scenes. The following is a review of those scenes, and naturally there are season two spoilers ahead.

“What Lies Ahead” (2x01)

The bulk of the cut scenes comes from the opening episode of the season, which was originally to be two episodes, but problems arose and Frank Darabont either walked or was pushed from the show during the editing process. The true story will never be known as to what went down, but anyway, on with the deleted scenes:

1)      It appears that a sequence is missing here showing Shane running away from a hoard of walkers as he desperately screams for attention and fires his shotgun (as glimpsed in the season two Comic-Con trailer). As evidenced from the conversation they have once Shane hops aboard the RV and they continue their escape, Shane's vehicle must have run out of fuel and he honked his horn to alert them. Then they come up with a plan to buy them some time – head to the Vatos' hideout at the old folk's home within the city.

2)      Our gang arrive at the Vatos' hideout, but discover a series of dead bodies outside being feasted upon by walkers – Rick says to hell with the noise and they gun down the zombies.

3)      They enter the building and discover yet more dead bodies. Sophia begins to cry and make too much noise, so Daryl tells her to shut up in no uncertain terms (before his character was softened as he became more involved with the group during the season).

4)      The men continue to sweep and clear the building upstairs. Bodies lie everywhere and there is an increasing sense of hopelessness. Meanwhile downstairs the others hide from a passing walker outside the now-barricaded front door, and when Sophia begins to panic Carl calms her down. It's a nice little beat for Carl, who is clearly coping with the situation far better than poor Sophia, and it's a nice juxtaposition to all the death and despair around them.

5)      In an excellent moment of foreshadowing, after they plan to stay the night in some of the upstairs rooms, Daryl points out (in a sneering spat with Andrea) that the people have all been executed before the zombies arrived – clearly there is now a human danger out there, somewhere, waiting for them.

6)      “Cough drops and bonzo beans” - the group, huddled in a small room, lay out their meagre supplies for Glenn to ration between them all. Shane makes friends with Daryl with a peace offering of a bottle of booze he pinched from the CDC. There's also an extra moment between Dale and Andrea – no doubt the first moment for the two of them to have a chance to debrief after he convinced her not to die in the CDC explosion – which adds a horrific reality check from Andrea. Furthermore Rick begins to blame himself for not following Shane's lead in heading to Fort Benning instead of the CDC, but Shane and Lori say he shouldn't blame himself. After Glenn makes a comment about their dire situation, the men exit to formulate a plan – to ditch some of the vehicles, siphon the fuel, and head for Fort Benning. Numerous small character beats here, as well as some exposition which covers a couple of minor plot holes – particularly explaining why their vehicle count is markedly different between the last shot of season one, and the opening montage of season two.

7)      Fast forwarding to the highway, Rick returns from his woodland encounter with walkers after Sophia ran off, and quickly discovers the girl didn't make it back.

8)      Carol stands alone by the roadside late at night looking into the woods.

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