Category Archives: Film

Guillermo del Toro: Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)

The films of Guillermo del Toro have often dealt with innocence in a corrupt world; sometimes the innocence is found in surprising places, as in Hellboy, in which a demon becomes a savior. He also plays with the idea of … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Comments Off on Guillermo del Toro: Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)

Carl Rinsch’s 47 Ronin

The story of the Forty-Seven Ronin is a very popular one in Japan, where it is known in its various forms as Chushingura. The historical events on which it is based took place at the beginning of the eighteenth century. … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Comments Off on Carl Rinsch’s 47 Ronin

Zack Snyder: Man of Steel

It seems to be the Time of the Reboot. Or the retelling. In the case of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, it’s once again the Superman story, from Day One. The story in Man of Steel relates how the infant … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Comments Off on Zack Snyder: Man of Steel

What’s New for the 6th of January: del Toro: Pan’s Labyrinth, Yugoslav folk music, Richard and Linda Thompson doing trad Irish music, Cape Breton music, a wee hedgehog puppet, Finnan hadddie, more chocolate, Armenian folk music, fantasy noir and a lot more!

Whatever happened next, good or bad, it would be wonderful finding out. — Mathew Swift, the Midnight Mayor, in Kate Griffin’s A Madness of Angels Ahhhh, plump pork sausages sizzling in their own fat, eggs any way you like them, palacsinta … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Commentary, Film, Food and Drink, Graphic Literature, Music, Stories | Comments Off on What’s New for the 6th of January: del Toro: Pan’s Labyrinth, Yugoslav folk music, Richard and Linda Thompson doing trad Irish music, Cape Breton music, a wee hedgehog puppet, Finnan hadddie, more chocolate, Armenian folk music, fantasy noir and a lot more!

Alan Taylor: Thor: The Dark World

In spite of what you may have heard, sequels aren’t always bad. Indeed, sometimes they are better than the originals. Case in point: Alan Taylor’s take on the Thor franchise for Marvel, Thor: The Dark World. Once, before the time … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Alan Taylor: Thor: The Dark World

Kenneth Branagh, Joss Whedon (uncredited): Thor

Kenneth Branagh’s Thor was one of the first wave of Marvel Universe superhero movies, and I admit I didn’t see it until much after its release – thanks to Netflix. There was war between Asgard and the Frost Giants of … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Kenneth Branagh, Joss Whedon (uncredited): Thor

What’s New for the 20th of December: Winter Holiday food and drink, a dreydl tale, Debussy’s ‘War Carol’, Kage Baker and Christmas, an egg nog recipe, a Solstice story, an offbeat Christmas film, Steeleye Span & Pratchett, Christmas Revels, music by Loreena McKennitt and much more!

It was Christmas and Kinlocochbervie had a festive atmosphere about it. Decorations and fir trees decked out with tinsel stood in windows, lighting the dull afternoon with flashes of cheerful Technicolor brilliance, and the door to the Compass was adorned … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Commentary, Film, Food and Drink, Music, Stories | Comments Off on What’s New for the 20th of December: Winter Holiday food and drink, a dreydl tale, Debussy’s ‘War Carol’, Kage Baker and Christmas, an egg nog recipe, a Solstice story, an offbeat Christmas film, Steeleye Span & Pratchett, Christmas Revels, music by Loreena McKennitt and much more!

Aquaplus, Tomoki Kobayashi: Utawarerumono, The Complete Series

Utawarerumono is the title of an anime series from Japanese TV that has made its way to North America on DVD, and it’s — well, it’s somewhere in the realm of historical romance cum science fiction future history. If you … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Comments Off on Aquaplus, Tomoki Kobayashi: Utawarerumono, The Complete Series

James Goldman’s The Lion In Winter

Don’t go looking to The Lion in Winter for history. Nothing actually happens during the course of the play — no wars are started or ended, no murders take place and no crowns tumble. Yet all these things almost happen, time and … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Film | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on James Goldman’s The Lion In Winter

Rise of The Guardians

I don’t do movie theatres for various reasons including audiences that chatter too much and the smell of that weird stuff that’s not really butter. And it is that I’m watching an animated film released several Christmas seasons past called … Continue reading

Posted in Film | Comments Off on Rise of The Guardians