Comic Book Monday - Captain America - The New Deal Review

When I started University, I did not really have an interest for the world of comic books. Yes I was a fan of comic book films, but I had never really explored the original source material. It was not till I met people at Uni and in my places of work that I started to read all types of comics. At the beginning of this year Marvel released a fortnightly graphic novel collection that features 60 of the comic book giants best work. As soon as I saw this I was interested and thought it was a great way to read a lot of the Marvel Universe. I have not been mistaken so far, as I have read some great tales, but have also struggled with some boring and uninteresting yarns. As a new comer to this world I thought I would share my thoughts on some of these books for other new comers and anyone who is interested in the colourful worlds of comics. I have decided to start with "The New Deal" a story involving Captain America. 

Captain America is a soldier, a war hero and an icon of justice for America. So it makes total sense that you 
would create a story arc around September 11^th, but of course you would not have the Cap (big mates) breaking through the cave ceiling of Bin Laden’s hideout and beat the living crap out of him that is too obvious! But what happens in “The New Deal” is just a little lame, it is too picture heavy and there is not enough dialogue, and to be honest by the time I made it to the last chapter and the reveal of the big bad, I was bored and did not really care, so much I had already forgotten most the story and what the point was (and it was a quick read)!

The opening was good, seeing the Cap stand amongst the rubble of the fallen towers and trying to help find the people trapped is what you would expected from an American Icon. To then turn around to Nick Fury and tell him that being part of the rescue at ground zero is more important than the mission he is being told to leave New York for, makes you realise how much his home country means to him. It sums up the character in a nutshell and makes him a very powerful image for the United States. It’s a shame then that the rest of the book falls flat, giving none of the other characters any depth at all! Nick Fury just seems a bit of a bastard and like I said before I find it hard to recap on anyone else as they were so forgettable.

So to sum it up there are much better Captain America comics, like the "Winter Soldier", and maybe they should have just had the Cap find Bin Laden and beat the crap out of him, it would have been so much more entertaining!! 

New Look, New Title, More Blogs

Welcome to the new look of Fan of Bad Movies! 

While I still watch films that most people would not second glance at, I do a lot of other things too, and I have decided to widen the things I write on here. I have re-named the blog “Life of a Fan of Bad Movies” which will now focus on lots of different things including weekly reviews of Films, Graphic Novels and thoughts. So check back tomorrow for the first Graphic Novel post.

My 2011!

As Christmas is nearly upon us and then a week after that we will be in the New Year I thought I would do a quick blog on my year of 2011.

This year has been a great one, the best in years. After a dodgy start the year really picked up with loads of filming, festivals, travelling and has ended in both me and Mel back in my home village of Cold Norton. We have had some pretty good blockbuster movies (Captain America, Super 8, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), a few average (Thor, Pirates 4) and some pure rubbish (Transformers 3). I have played my way through Lego Potter and Pirates, wasted my money on DJ Hero and become addicted to Arkham City, which has started off a new obsession for Batman Graphic Novels. I have seen some brilliant bands including Muse, Pulp, Eminem, The Offspring and Noah and the Whale. Had another very exciting set of filming take place for “I am Tim” which ended in a very pretty and gory looking series 2 on youtube. I hopefully have spent my last year in shared housing which I was sad to leave as I enjoyed the company of the people I lived with, and I was very proud of Steve and Jonny on filming their first feature film on very little budget, which I can not wait to the finished article next year sometime. Most of all this year Mel and me decided to take a 7 week break and have a little trek around Europe, which saw us taking in some amazing sights and opened my eyes up to art, music, architecture and just so many cultures, but most importantly how much I love the woman who convinced me to do this trip and how I want to spend the rest of my life with her experiencing whatever the future holds! Come on 2012 you got a lot to do to out do 2011!

The Things You Find

While sorting out the word documents on my Laptop I found this list that I made over 2 years ago for some Facebook thing and I thought I would re-share it with you guys. Enjoy!

1: I have a 2.1 in Film and Television production

2: Even tho I'm 22 I love toys and collectables that i do not need.

3: My claim to fame is that a sweaty jade goodie pushed past me at V festival

4: I once got so into a TV show that I thought I was part of it, and that was only a year ago

5: I have a fear of dolls and Ballons

6: Milkshake is a weakness to me, I love milkshake

7: I want to own a VW Camper Van, but i do not want to learn to drive

8: I'm not afraid to admit that im a geek

9: Until at least 10 years of age I was scared of the following movies: Ghostbusters 1 and 2 and Who Framed Roger Rabbit

10: When I draw the characters and images all look like demons and devils and I normally write the words

"Death" and "Darkness" above them

11: My Dad would never let me have a games console, so my close friends came together to get me a PS2 for my 18th birthday

12: I have had this thing (corn, maybe?) on my foot for the last 5 years but i want to see how long it will take to go away on its own!

13: At least once a day I disappear into my own little world in my head

14: A couple of days ago I had my first proper nightmare in about 10 years, it included a grudge looking child flying at me

from under a sofa

15: I love BLT, and I'm really starting to miss the B part!

16: Whan I was 7-8 my sister convinced me that I wanted to be a model when i grow up

17: When I got my video camera when i was 15 me and the village lot, filmed blowing up slugs and our own version of jackass, which

also included a lot of bangers

18: If I ever win an oscar or bafta, I have promised to thank, My mum and dad, my nan, Judy Kennedy and Mel

19: I know a very important fact of life, in America Burger King is much better then here

20: My dad gave Brois Johnson his left over toilet roll!

21: If I had a super power I would have control over the 4 elements

22: When I was 11 I told my best friend a secert that a girl told me and he told everyone, I felt so bad I went round her house and gave

her flowers

23: I once sat in the emergency room for 4 hours cose I put my arm through a window, and had to watch "I'm Alan Partridge", now I hate it

24: I fired a gun in a real low life american shooting range and it was one of, maybe the most, scariest thing I have ever done

25: It has nearly killed me thinging of 25 facts!!

When Bad Films Turn Out Good

One of the best feelings in the world is to watch a film that you truly think is going to be pretty god awful, and it turns out to be a real treat. I talk of “Orphan”, a horror/thriller about a family who adopt a 9 year old girl who turns out to really creepy. The orphan of the film is the true start. The actress, too lazy to research name, was very impressive creating a realistic Russia accent and a character who was love able but totally creepy at the very same time. The Plot was maybe a little predictable, but the story continued to be gripping and all the actors put in a well rounded effort.

Two other films that surprised and did not totally suck of late, were my green themed rents. The first being “Green Lantern” which managed very well not to be too cheesy by taking it’s self seriously, a lot more then the naff Fantastic 4 films!

The other one, also a superhero movie, “The Green Hornet” was not great but again out did what I thought it was going to be like. It was funny, which is something that Seth Rogan (a comedian) has missed out on of late!

So other all watch bad rated films because sometimes your be surprised what you find!!

Watch and Help

At the minute I am trying to write an idea which I hope to film soon and put on the internet like that picture of a kitten that your mum put on the fridge to show how proud she is of you. But at the minute I think I got that thing called writers block as I got the ideas but I can not seem to write them down, and that is just really annoying! So I thought I would write a short Blog instead to tell you about another thing that is close to my heart.

About a year ago I became part of something that has changed my feeling towards both acting and writing for the better. “I am Tim” is the weird, strange, funny (both Haha and looking) brain child of Jamie Simcox’s and Simon Fisher, and it is these fine gentlemen who decided to give me a chance and trust me with what I see as a pretty big role, Tim’s helpful sidekick. And to say the least I have loved ever minute, from the gore, the brilliant locations, the amazing actors who have taught me so much and even the late shoots!!

I wish everyone would take 10 minutes and check out the first episode, I understand it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but you never know you may love it, the first time I watched Misfits I hated it, now I can not get enough. And if you are a fan or about to become one (wink wink), I want to ask a little favour.

Making these episodes is not cheap and everyone involved puts in as much as they can, and I mean everyone! So to help us along, I ask you to take a minute and check out the IndieGoGo campaign page and the video explaining what the money goes towards, and if you’d like to help contribution towards the Wonderful World of Tim, please help us out. But overall keep watching and enjoy, o yer one last thing please pass on the message of “I am Tim” to anyone you think would enjoy it.

Thank you for reading!

It's Alive, IT'S ALIVE!!!!

As I sat in the cinema with the lovely Melissa Kennedy sitting next to me, I didn’t know what to think of the play I was about to see. A play at the cinema! And I’m not talking about when they take Shakespeare and make it into one of those films that school kids think it is ok to watch instead of reading the play! No this was beamed though the air waves from the great city of London and onto cinema screens not just over the UK, but also the world! Today’s performance was one which seemed to be doing well in the National Theatre, starring a fine actor who had managed to impress me and complete wow Mel with his performance as a modern day Sherlock Holmes, and a director who always seems to do a great job with what ever material he is given. I’m talking about the latest version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Danny Boyle. The play is performed in a very interesting way, Cumberbatch along with his co-star Jonny Lee Miller take in turns to play Frankenstein and his Monster. When I found out that we would be seeing Cumberbatch as the monster I was a bit disappointed as I did not think we would see him at his best. Silly me I was thinking the monster would be a wooden character pushed to one side allowing the spot light for the role of Frankenstein, how wrong I was! Danny Boyle (and of course the writer Nick Dear) had decided to bring the monster into the lime light and make the story more about him, having the play start with the birth of Frankenstein’s creation and not bringing Victor Frankenstein in till about 40 minutes into the play. A short documentary at the beginning of the live broadcast, showed an interview with Cumberbatch discussing his research into the role of the Monster, saying that he studied people with learning disabilities and people who have had to re-teach their bodies and minds after trauma and this was very much visible from the moment he appears on stage. The Monster’s birth scene is like watching evolution in action, seeing him flip around the stage like a new born fish to a baby fawn finding its legs. Cumberbatch is brilliant at pulling this off, never making you what to laugh at the Monsters clumsy ways but feeling sorry for him and wanting him to survive in this harsh world.

The creature that Frankenstein creates really made me think. Why do I not feel angry at the Monster when he burns down the cottage of the man who helped him learn to speak, as the old man and this family are still inside? Is it the fact that after everything the Monster does for the family, doing the farm work allowing them not to go hungry, they see him as a devil and beat him and tell him to get away! And of course you should feel sorry for him as he has not done anything wrong, and in away the creature is still a child learning the difference between right and wrong. Maybe it was just the way Cumberbatch portrayed the beast!

After seeing the play it left me wanting more and to know how close the story was to Mary Shelley’s original text. I do not own the novel, but I do own a copy of the 1994 feature film directed and starring Kenneth Branagh. I know this is nowhere as good as reading the book but at the time I wanted to fulfil my fix and that was as near as I could get to the novel. The film helped to answer some of the questions that the play left out, like how Frankenstein came round to creating the monster. It was an interesting film and managed to keep me entertained throughout the 2 hour running time. The acting was a bit thin in places and maybe a little hammy. It also felt a bit weird that a heavy hitting actor like De Niro was given the role of the Monster which felt like a second thought more then a main character. But maybe that was because I was treated so much with Cumberbatch’s take on the creation, that De Niro felt a little flat. This is being a little picky, but he could have tried to lose the American accent and blended in with the other English cast (Ok, I know it is not an English story but at least they all sounded the same). Do not get me wrong I really enjoyed the film and Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holms, John Cleese and Richard Briers all made it that bit more enjoyable. Plus the Monster was portrayed as that, a Monster! He was made out as a murdering creation that was built from parts of murders and lowlifes and even though he had the brain of a genius doctor he seemed to just use it to be sneaky and plotting!

So I guess I have 2 things to achieve now, 1) read the book (or in my lazy case, listen to the unabridged audio book) and 2) watch some more of the many Frankenstein films that haunt the history of cinema. You never know I may follow up this Blog with further thoughts on the Legend that is “Frankenstein”.