There Was Something Strange In Manchester's Bowlers Exhibition Centre... And It Looked Pretty Good!

On the first weekend of December, with my wife, Sian, and two friends, Anthony and Ben, I attended the For the Love of Sci-Fi Comic Con at the Bowler’s Exhibition Centre in Manchester. It’s been a pretty busy year for me, with my wedding in February, followed by a three-month trip (aka “greedy honeymoon”) around the world, but it might surprise you to learn that my weekend in Manchester is quite easily one of the most memorable of the year. I have to be careful when saying such things, though, but if you’re reading this, Sian, just remember - we got married on a Friday!

For the Love of Sci-Fi Preview: There's Something Strange in Manchester...

Here's a small collection of pictures from the For the Love of Sci-Fi Comic Con I recently attended in Manchester with Sian and my two equally-geeky friends, Anthony and Ben. I'll be writing up a full blog post, so check this space again tomorrow to find out more about who we met and what else we got up to!

Justice League - DC's Most Unwanted Criminal

The DCEU hasn't all been doom and gloom. I’ll defend Man of Steel as much as Superman would defend Earth. Wonder Woman was also a welcome delight, and to quote myself, was certainly the hero the franchise didn’t deserve. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad (call me two-faced but I didn't hate the latter so much at the time), however, remain the real villains of the series, and whose incoherent and laughable plots played out like riddles or jokes. But now, Justice League commits more crimes than you’d see in Downtown Gotham on a Saturday night. I may not be the greatest detective in the world, but these atrocities are more obvious than a psychopath in clown make-up. 

Paddington 2 Review

Ever since Michael Bond’s first book, A Bear Called Paddington, published in 1958, the Peruvian bear has appeared in over one hundred and fifty books and a number of his own television programmes, from stop motion animation to two-dimensional. He even has his own shop in Paddington Station, as well as his own statue on Platform One. Now, he’s already into his second film on the silver-screen. But thankfully, it’s not in vain.

Jigsaw

Like this franchise mindlessly does away with its characters, I’ll do away with the plot or any discussion around the horror genre. So let’s cut to the case. Following a seven-year hiatus, Jigsaw has returned. While the trailer begs you to ask “how”, given that the most sadistic, self-righteous and delusional killer to have disgraced the silver screen was blatantly killed (and there’s nothing that spells blatant death like this franchise) in an earlier sequel, the question on everyone’s minds is an exasperated “why”.

A Bad Moms Christmas

When the comedy-Christmas movie isn’t a series of outlandish and non-relatable events (you all know who you are) usually fuelled by booze or bad writing or both, it can be a wonderful and heart-warming thing. It’s a bit like eggnog; you have to get the mixture just right, or it will leave a bad taste in your mouth from the offset. That, or it will just be bland and forgetful. Classics like the Home Alone movies (remind yourself that there are only two…) and Love Actually remain a lot to live up to, but that said, each to their own. After all, there are those who love Christmas Pudding, and there are those who do not. In fact, the same can be said about Christmas itself.

In the Shadow

For the past few weeks you've had to endure film review upon film review, without any posts on travel, writing or fiction! But as is the case with these colder months, venturing any further than the local cinema is unlikely. That said, I will be posting about my trip to Cheddar Gorge in the summer as well as a recent trip to Dublin and Galway in Ireland. 

Murder on the Orient Express

Based on the classic Agatha Christie novel of the same name, and following along the tracks of numerous televised adaptations, Murder on the Orient Express (2017) sees Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, arrive in the form of an impressive-moustache-wielding Kenneth Brannagh, who also directs. After boarding the legendary train for a break from his work, Poirot meets a colourful assortment of characters (equally-colourful is the train-hoggingly-enormous cast that plays them). But when an avalanche stops the train its tracks, the passengers wake to find that one among them has been murdered in their cabin. With “probably the greatest detective in the world” on board, so begins an investigation.

Geostorm

In the near future, the earth’s weather has reached such catastrophic levels that the leaders of the world create a hi-tech, multi-satellite-strong orbital network to control the weather and prevent disaster. Three years on, random catastrophes from subzero tidal waves in Dubai to lethal post-sundown solar rays in China begin to occur. Chief Architect Jake Lawson (Butler – who else?), the original designer behind the system known as “Dutchboy”, is summoned back to the International Space Station to find out what or who is sabotaging the system, and prevent a “Geostorm” – a global meteorological event that will wipe out mankind.

Thor: Ragnarok

After defeating Surtur, a giant god-like creature hellbent on destroying Thor’s homeworld, Asgard, the God of Thunder tracks down his father, King Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins), with the help of the portal-wielding Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberpatch). But when Odin suddenly dies, his secret firstborn daughter, Hela (Cate Blanchett), appears to assume power of the throne. Once she destroys Thor’s hammer, Mjolinir, she swiftly seizes Asgard. In trying to fight Hela, Thor and his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the God of Mischief, wind up on the distant garbage planet of Sakaar, where they meet allies old and new, including The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).