of things to come

It’s nearly May which means blockbuster season is once again upon us, the time of the year when Hollywood releases their most expensive special effects ridden movies for us to feast upon. This year seems to possibly be one of the more diverse blockbuster seasons in years with for example only one super hero movie (X-men origins - Wolverine) hitting the screen this year. There is plenty to look forward to and there should be something for everyone. Starting off the season this year is X-men origins - Wolverine (April 29 - Australia, May 1st US) which sees Hugh Jackman return as the metal clawed Wolverine and how exactly he came to be. From trailers this promises to be a movie that will have X-men fans getting exactly what they want and still wanting more. Early reviews have been positive and even though a rough cut of the movie was leaked out on the internet a few weeks back should have people streaming into the cinema in no time at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCTDVNgNUeY

Just one day later (April 30) we get Daniel '007' Craig in the World War 2 drama Defiance. Though out in the U.S. a while ago and not technically part of the blockbuster lineup I thought it worth mentioning just because a) I live in Australia and b) it is a movie you should go watch if you are not the type to go for big special effects movies. Daniel Craig plays Tuvia Bielski who with his brothers protects over 1000 Jewish none combatants in the Belarussian forests, Russia. Based on a true story Defiance is reminiscent of such WW2 epics as Schindler's List and Piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIO8OI0JP50

On the other side of the spectrum we find one of the three truly major epic movies this year, namely the STAR TREK (May 7) reboot by J.J. Abrams. Trekkies and Sci-fi enthusiasts in general cant help but marvel at the current trailers flooding the media waves. It has been a while since a grand science-fiction space epic has graced the silver screen and Star Trek seem to deliver just that. Now for the first time will we see how captain Kirk starts forming his grove in the captains chair and how the fameous crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise come together for the first time. Now it's the guys turn to get payback on their girfriends for Twilight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yrdEe95Hs0

If you are a mystery buff then 2009 offers something just up your mysterious little alley: Angels and Demons (May 14). This follow up to The Davinci Code once again sports Tom 'where have you been' Hanks as Robert Langdon trying to stop terrorists attacking the Vatican as a new pope is being selected and in so doing of course unravels an age old mystery that promises to rock the fundations of civilisation to its very core. Now there is a tagline for you and even though I personally did not like the movie adaptation of The Davince Code I am very excited and intrigued by Angels and Demons. Watch the trailer and be the judge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVeN-58HKk

Russel Crowe, Ben Affleck Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels all star in a movie you might not even have heard about up until now. State of play (May 28) is by definition not what you would call a blockbuster movie, but given its cast and release date it is worth mentioning. IMDB says it best:

"A petty thief is gunned down in an alley and a Congressman's assistant falls in front of a subway - two seemingly unrelated deaths. But not to wisecracking, brash newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey who spies a conspiracy waiting to be uncovered. With a turbulent past connected to the Congressman and the aid of ambitious young rookie writer Della Frye, Cal begins uprooting clues that lead him to a corporate cover-up full of insiders, informants, and assassins. But as he draws closer to the truth, the relentless journalist must decide if it's worth risking his life and selling his soul to get the ultimate story."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsxWeJngC-M

Next up is the second of the big three epics this "summer" - Terminator: Salvation (June 6). Where Terminator movies in the past have focused on Terminators going back in time to try and, well terminate, the future savior of humanity John Connor or his mother Sarah, Salvation brings us to the post apocalyptic future where humanity is at war with the machines and SkyNet. Christian 'get the f%@k off my set" Bale plays John Connor as he leads humanity in a war they seemingly have to chance of winning. As part 1 of a planned new Terminator trilogy, fans of the Terminator franchise have allot to look forward to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRwby_vjg88

Just on the heels of Terminator comes another robot epic - Transformers 2 - Revenge of the fallen (June 25) I have no idea what this movie is about, but there will be big transforming robots fighting while humans get trapped in the middle. Not being a fan at all of the first Transformers it is hard to get excited over the new chapter, but then again the series has nowhere to go but up so fingers crossed. Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb2fUOW1ne4

Late last year Harry Potter fans were given the (for them) devastating news that the next film in the franchise Harry Potter and the half blood prince had been delayed until the summer season. Well the wait is almost over and Harry Potter...6? opens July 6. And if you are a big Harry Potter fan it might interest you to know that Hoyts are showing every Harry Potter film on the big screen starting with The Philosopher stone June 11 and every week until July 6. So go and enjoy the magic all over again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96QRVfto7OM

Lastly we have G.I. Joe (August 6) which might prove that this years blockbuster season will end with a whimper and not a bang, ironically enough. Problem is this movie just looks bad, but have a look and judge for yourself.

Well, there is no trailer to be found (good sign there) so you might have to go find it yourself if you can be bothered. I sure can't.

Comics, collectibles and B.O.

I got up at 9AM, got dressed and tried to wake up. I was not at home, but rather at my friend Keith's house and if we were to get a ride to the train station we had to move now. I packed my belongings and we were soon on our way. It didn't take us long to get there and on the way we had met up with Shaun who was the only one of us who actually knew where we were going. We knew we where getting close as people
wearing colorful and strange attire became more and more frequent. And once we saw our first Stormtrooper of the day we knew we had arrived at Supernova.

For those of you who may not know about it, Supernova is one of two major Pop-culture conventions that grazes Australia each year (the other one being Armageddon, but we will get back to that one). It is a place for nerds of every size, type and walk of life to congregate in hopes of getting that missing on rare issue for the comic book collection or to catch a gimps of their favorite C-grade TV celebrity.

Now I don't mean to sound cynical or degrading towards such an event as the way I see it everyone benefits. We, the nerds, get the chance to indulge our secret (and for some people there...most people there not so secret) passions and I admit to always look forward to having a look around and see if I can't find something there that I can't find elsewhere.

But for a $25 entry fee I expect more then what Supernova this year could deliver, and it became clear that Supernova is the event that makes you long for the bigger and better Armageddon expo. The celebrities this time around were rather dull in my opinion, with only Hayden whatshername from Heroes (you know, that cheerleader) as the only one that caught my eye, but not even that was enough to make me actually go to the Q&A session with her (the fact that I hate Heroes may have something to do with that).

This is a much smaller expo then Armageddon and it suffers because of this. The store booths were predictable and the merchandise not anything to get excited over and as we all quickly realized after 25 minutes of walking around we had pretty much seen what we needed and gotten what we wanted.

Wrestling fans also got their predictable fix as every expo like this needs to have a wrestling ring for some reason. This is getting old fast (maybe just because I'm not a wrestling fan what so ever, I don't know) and I would be happy if at some point in the future these events would come up with some variation in their entertainment.

And what's with the B.O. in these places? It truly never fails. If there is a gathering of people with nerd tendencies then the lingering smell of B.O. quickly follows. Perhaps its the wrestling, the I-can-only-imagine-being-hot-as-hell cozplay costumes some of the people are walking around in or just the fact that 50% of the population in these places have long ago decided do forgo the entire deodorant revolution. Whatever the case might be, you don't want to stay in one place for more then five minutes unless you enjoy being light headed.

The day managed to drag on a bit longer as one of Keith's favorite animator...or something was there to sign autographs and we both proceeded to stand in line for an hour.

All in all I would call this one a rather big disappointment, but then again I might not be the target audience really. The really hard core Heroes fans and just hard core nerds in general seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, so maybe I'm just being picky. Maybe I'm just not the nerd I used to be...food for thought.

Zombies in popular culture

The dead rising from their graves and attacking the living has been a part of popular culture for ages and is by no means a new phenomenon. It is however not that long ago that zombies and zombie movies was a niche and not well known by the general public (for the most part being found in lesser known comic books and low budget cult horror movies). But the shambling flesh-eating ghouls were put in the spotlight (or at least more so then before) by George A. Romero, creator of the Living Dead trilogy (1968, 1978, 1985). With its underlying (and sometimes not so underlying) social and political commentary, the living dead films soon became fan favorites with Dawn of the dead (1978) is still considered by many to be the best zombie movie ever made.

Since then there have been countless spin-offs, imitations and inspired work that all take root in the zombie mythology established by Romero. Before Romero's films there was allot of variety on how a zombie acted, but Romero set a standard for the zombies to be shambling corpses who relentlessly hunt for human flesh.

RESIDENT EVIL

One of the best, if not only really well known zombie franchise is Resident Evil. It started as a PlayStation game in 1996 and is openly known as have been inspired by Romero's work. The first Resident Evil game takes place in and old mansion infested with zombies and you as a player must do what you can to survive the walking dead. This spawned an entire franchise that would span several more game sequels, comic books and a series of unfortunate films.

COMICS

These days there are more zombie comic books then you can count and even marvel, one of the most well known and successful comic book companies have a zombie comic book where all your beloved super heroes have been turned into zombies (Marvel zombies, 2005). Maybe not so surprising as the zombie comics started with Marvel in 1953 (Menace #5).

THE WALKING DEAD

A publication of note since then is The Walking Dead series (created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moor), which started in 2003 and is seen by many as the best zombie comic book ever created. The story is the same as with so many other zombie stores: people trying to survive after the world has fallen pray to the walking dead. What makes this publication so good however (and what makes a zombie story good in general) is the focus on character and the interaction between people in an extreme situation.

"In a world ruled by the dead, we are finally forced to start living"

MAX BROOKS

When looking at how well established the zombie as a horror icon had become, one can not ignore the works of Max Brooks who wrote The zombie survival guide (2003) and the later more serious World war Z (2006). The survival handbook was a just what it said on the cover: a handbook on how to survive should zombies one day roam the earth. This tongue-in-cheek book became a favorite among zombie fans and was followed by World War Z - An oral history of the zombie war, which can be seen a fake documentary (or mockumentary if you will) about the human race war with zombies. It is a chilling tale that gives a more or less realistic view on how the world would react if the dead started rising and attacking the living. In style with George Romero's previous work it is filled with social and political satire and commentary and criticism.

EVOLUTION

In recent years the zombie has also undergone an evolution in two very distinct ways. In 2002 28 days later introduced the running zombie, or the "rage zombie" or "infected." This new breed of undead (though in 28 days later they are called infected and not technically dead though they behave in a zombie like fashion) was a new breed that became far more threatening then their shambling, slow moving forefathers. The running zombie was also featured in the Dawn of the dead re-make (2004) where the dead would run after their victims and rip them apart with brutal force. This new breed of terror replaced the original zombie in allot of publications to come including the Resident Evil franchise with Resident Evil 4 (2005).

The other evolution came in the form of the zombies developing a hint of cavemen like intelligence in Land of the dead (2005) which saw George Romero return to his zombie franchise for the first time since Day of the dead in '85. Here the zombies had completely taken over the world and the few pockets of human civilization that remained discovered in horror that the zombies started showing signs of intelligence, all though primitive. This can also be seen in the aforementioned Marvel Zombies where the superhero zombies have as much intelligence as humans and still has the ability to talk and use their abilities as superheroes.



There are way to many instances of zombies in pop-culture to mention here and there is allot of them that should be recognized for bringing something to the table (cult favorite Evil Dead comes to mind) and there are even more that should just be forgotten as the garbage it is. But one thing is certain: if the dead should one day rise and eat the living, there is going to be allot of people out there who will know exactly what to do. I'll see you in the streets.

For your consideration...

Whenever the name Brad Pitt comes up in your everyday conversation, be it with your friends down at the gym, your girlfriend or local milkman the one general view is that of a handsome pretty boy who the girls swoon over and the boys admire. Or at least its been that way for a long long time and with good cause mind you. But this is of course a double edged sword when it comes to the public view of him as an actor. Take my mom for example who still, when hearing the name Brad Pitt, shrugs him off (and the film in question at the time) as something will happily ignore. No doubt the average movie goer today would be aware of the films he has done in the past that clearly sets him apart from your no talent pretty boys that seem to be on the silver screen over and over again. Or at least, you'd think so, but though many a conversation I have been proven wrong over and over. People seem to remember the Oceans 11's and the Mr. and Mrs. Smith's, not thinking of the more extreme roles that showcase Mr. Pitt as a very rare breed of actor in Hollywood today.

Why am I writing about Brad Pitt? For the less informed of you out there Brad Pitt stared last year in what was easily the best movie of 2008 - The curious case of Benjamin Button. A movie that hopefully and should win him an Academy Award for best male lead if any justice is to be served. So in light of this brilliant film (lest I over praise it) I thought I'd sum up the few roles he has done in the past that makes him the phenomenal actor that he really is. For your consideration: Brad Pitt.

TWELVE MONKEYS - Jeffrey Goines



SNATCH - Mickey O'Neil




BURN AFTER READING - Chad Feldheimer




THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin Button