The Saga of Jonathan Volsung

Tarsem Singh’s Immortals: a triumph of vision and spectacle

13 November 2011

Tarsem Singh’s Immortals is a strange beast, a hybrid creature not unlike the minotaur of legend, part man, part bull. In legend, the minotaur has a man’s body and a bull’s head. I guess that makes it about one fifth bull. Well, the proportion of bull in Singh’s movie is considerably greater than that, but…

Jonathan Stroud’s The Amulet of Samarkand: an infernally good read

21 September 2011

Gerard Wood

Books, Reviews

Fantasy, Jonathan Stroud

If you’re familiar with Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy, you might be wondering why we’ve chosen to take a look at the first novel, The Amulet of Samarkand, some eight years after it was published. Our only defence is “better late than never”. The trilogy and its prequel, The Ring of Solomon, slipped under our radar…

Marcus Nispel’s Conan the Barbarian – a one dimensional movie in 3D

24 August 2011

Gerard Wood

Reviews, Screen

Fantasy, Marcus Nispel, Robert E. Howard

Marcus Nispel’s Conan the Barbarian doesn’t really justify the effort of a review, and the less time I spend thinking about it, the happier I’ll be. But I was outspoken in support of Nispel when he was appointed to the helm of this reboot, so it’s only reasonable that I make some atonement for that…

Flashback, by Dan Simmons: “scarily possible” future or Right wing propaganda?

2 August 2011

Gerard Wood

Books, Critique

Dan Simmons, Dystopia, SF

Dan Simmons’ latest novel, Flashback (July 2011), is “[a] provocative novel set in a future that seems scarily possible,” proving “why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers.” So says the publicist anyway. Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers, but sadly Flashback doesn’t prove that. And…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two

17 July 2011

Gerard Wood

Books, Reviews, Screen

Adaptation, Fantasy, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

Well, it’s finally over. Ten years in the making, the Harry Potter movie saga has come to an end and by Merlin’s most baggy Y-Fronts, what an end it is. Since David Yates took over as director of the franchise with The Order of the Phoenix (HP 5) and scriptwriter Steve Kloves returned to the fold…

Richard Carpenter’s iconic Robin of Sherwood now on Blu-ray

1 July 2011

Gerard Wood

Reviews, Screen

Richard Carpenter, Robin Hood

Over the years we’ve had cause to mention Richard Carpenter’s BAFTA award-winning series Robin of Sherwood on a number of occasions, typically to recall in passing what an outstanding piece of television it is. As it first aired in the UK in the ’80s and we struggle to keep up with new material, there’s been…

Game of Thrones Season Two starts shooting in July

20 June 2011

Gerard Wood

Books, News, Opinion, Screen

Adaptation, Fantasy, Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, HBO

Season One of HBO’s Game of Thrones has come and gone and left a dedicated following of slightly shell-shocked fans in its wake. There’s little romance to this fantasy about warring families, political intrigue and the bloody struggle for power, and with a narrative dominated by grim realism we ought to be prepared for the…

Thrilling conclusion to Dora Machado’s Stonewiser Trilogy

12 June 2011

Gerard Wood

Books, Reviews

Dora Machado, Fantasy, Stonewiser

Over the years we’ve received a lot of novels for review, and it’ll probably come as no surprise that many of them are for first time authors seeking some hard earned exposure. That’s something we can sympathise with and we do our best to read what is sent to us, but more often than not…

Kenneth Branagh’s Mighty Thor

20 April 2011

Gerard Wood

Reviews, Screen

Kenneth Branagh, Marvel, Superhero, Thor

It’s fair to say that when Marvel Studios announced back in 2008 that noted Shakespearean actor and director Kenneth Branagh was to direct Thor, there was an outburst of hysteria from some quarters. Even some of us who are fans of Branagh’s work from way back were a little surprised by the decision as there…

The Adjustment Bureau: almost a first-rate SF movie

5 April 2011

Gerard Wood

Reviews, Screen

The Adjustment Bureau has the makings of a first-rate SF movie. It looks great, has the pacing of a thriller and a refreshing focus on story and characters over effects with good performances all around (starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie and Terence Stamp). On one hand it’s a love story about two people…

New writing & Old

Tarsem Singh’s Immortals: a triumph of vision and spectacle

Jonathan Stroud’s The Amulet of Samarkand: an infernally good read

Marcus Nispel’s Conan the Barbarian – a one dimensional movie in 3D

Flashback, by Dan Simmons: “scarily possible” future or Right wing propaganda?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two

Richard Carpenter’s iconic Robin of Sherwood now on Blu-ray

Game of Thrones Season Two starts shooting in July

Thrilling conclusion to Dora Machado’s Stonewiser Trilogy

Kenneth Branagh’s Mighty Thor

The Adjustment Bureau: almost a first-rate SF movie

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