#mandamwright

Recently we found this neat older movie from 2012, I didn’t watch the trailer and just jumped in knowing nothing about the show, I didn’t know what type of horror movie it was until part way though and that may have helped how I experienced the movie.

So quickly, before I ruin it, feel free to check it out cause I did deeply enjoy this movie!

Now - Bad Kids Go to Hell is a dark comedy thriller, and it does not take itself too seriously at all. It’s based on a graphic novel of the same name that I really want to try and track down next time I am at a shop or con.

The storytelling is non-linear starting at one of the last scenes, and then showing each characters backstories through flash back. It takes place at high school with a group of students that are spending their weekend in the school library for detention and as you can assume everything eventually goes to shit!

Native American curses, teenage angst, hilariously over the top gore and questions left unanswered to leave you wanting more.

This movie is by no means a blockbuster horror, or something that will stick with you when you walk home at night, but it knows what it is and it plays to its strengths. I would highly suggest this movie for a small group of friends to watch while snacking and laughing at these students terrible luck!

I give Bad Kids Go to Hell 4 cockroaches out of 5 for a good time and rewatchability!

SPOILERS:

For the last few months I’ve been reading this new comic Superzero by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti.

This is the comic duo that has also been writing the Harley Quinn series that I’m obsessed with so I knew it was going to be good - what I didn’t know was how much I was going to love it.

I won’t give away too much, even though the comic has been out for a while now - but the premise is that the main character Dru Dragowski believes she has found the secret to becoming a superhero and needs to become one to save the world from an unknown threat!

Through different exploits you get to follow Dru try to become a superhero over and over again using the famous tropes you might recognize from your favourite comic book stories.

The humour in this comic is not far from that which you can find in the Harley comics, slightly dark, violent and light hearted… all at the same time? Magic!

Dru’s friend finds herself in terrible situation that Dru decides to take into her own hands… but not until after she befriends a homeless man… and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

If you haven’t picked up this series yet you should! I haven’t finished the entire run yet, but I’m loving what I’ve ready so far and will write a follow up once I’ve finished the series.

But so far…

Superzero get 5 out of 5 radioactive spiders!

Before I got too far into this, I know another New 52 - didn’t that just happen? Well New 52 did come out in 2011 so it has been out for a few years and it isn’t like Marvel isn’t also guilty of large world changing events either!

I for one was originally very skeptical with another universe change until I realized how much I had fallen out of collecting many DC titles outside of Harley Quinn, Bombshells and Starfire. The more I think about it none of those are deeply tied into the New 52 storylines and I’m not even sure if the Harley title is being affected by this new event. I’ve decided that this is a great place for me to start collecting again and finding out which series I should be starting.

These events that bring titles back to issue #0 or #1 can be very frustrating for long time readers that don’t take collecting vacations, and are loyal to their titles, (I understand, I am so invested in the current Amanda Conner Harley I would flip if they rebooted it) but for me life was getting crazy and I just didn’t know what I should be reading anymore so I stuck with collecting anything by Amanda Conner which brought me to Harley Quinn, Starfire and to Superzero(outside of DC). I even started looking for her old comics of Tera but this doesn’t help DC as a company. They want me to collect more than two DC titles, and everything from the cross title events which I haven’t done in years now.

I think it’s smart to have these events sometimes, it helps new readers and the occasional readers jump in and not feel overwhelmed by the hundreds of issues under one title. I know when I first wanted to get into collecting Batman it was daunting to find out where to start and then to realize that the older comics could potentially be so much more expensive as well - so I stuck with just collecting the best reviewed graphic novels and started reading Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales and other newer titles because it was something I could start from the beginning and not feel like I was so far behind.

At least until the New 52 hit and I jumped on multiple titles, at the beginning of New 52 I was collecting Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Suicide Squad, Catwoman, Batman and Robin, Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Detective Comics and a few others. Sadly even though I was excited for New 52 as a great starting point for me, and an opportunity to jump into the world and collect the first issues so I could be on the same page as the other comic book nerds - I found most of the stories were not for me. I quickly dropped all but Batman and Batgirl until after the Death in the Family storyline where I then only collected Batgirl until her creative shift - when I picked up the Amanda Conner’s Harley Quinn and never touched anything deeply in the New 52 again.

My hope is that this new Rebirth event will be the opportunity I saw in New 52, which a storyline to keep me buying! I love having stacks of comics in my house, I love reading them on the way to work, or before bed and I would love to have more than just Harley Quinn comics in my stash.

This past weekend I picked up the 60 page Rebirth teaser and was pleasantly surprised with how they are setting it up. I’m not sure if it’s because I stopped reading the New 52 way before this or if it is completely new story but I was happy with the plot device they are using to explain the event. It brought back some Young Justice emotions even if the relationships are different. It intrigued me and posed a difficult choice for me to decide which titles I need to start picking up right away!

I highly suggest if nothing else you do pick up this 60 page teaser and make a decision from there on not only if you want to continue reading but which titles you want to pick up, I feel they did a good job of teasing the different titles (most not all) and setting the stage for a cross universe event I want to be apart of.

Now which titles to pick up? I think I will definitely be grabbing the new Batman title, Titans, Teen Titans, Batgirl, Red Hood and the Outlaws, continue to collect Harley Quinn and for the first time since I started reading comics I think I might try The Flash, Green Lantern and a couple other titles well teased in the Rebirth teaser - so if I had to give my opinion now I would say I am happy with Rebirth because I think it will reinvigorate my love of comics and up my collection an awful lot!

I am not prepared to rate this yet, I want to grab a few more titles before I put a stake in the sand, but I will say I am optimistic about the new titles!

SPOILER TIME

If you have NOT read the 60 page teaser and you are a crazy spoiler person who freaks out at everything ever cause life is hard or something please stop reading now and go pick up the teaser!

Okay thanks!

I think one of my absolute favourite comic book storylines is the Flashpoint storyline, I sadly was not collecting comics when it came out, but I picked up the trades after, I’ve seen the movie and I’ve done my research and though I don’t collect Flash comics he and Green Lantern were probably some of my favourite characters from The Justice League and have always had a strong place in my heart. I loved how dark Flashpoint was, and the work they did with changing time and the different universes! And come on Martha Wayne as The Joker was nightmarishly hot! (Or do I just have problems… haha)

So when I found out that rebirth was happening due to the Watchmen affecting time after Barry tried to change time through The Flashpoint storyline, and that it was a story of Wally trying to warn everyone - omg I almost cried on the street car while reading it! I am in love with this idea, I loved Flashpoint and now I get to be part of a new version and take of how it will affect time afterwards! I don’t know if this is a great idea, I’ve grown up and am less angry with the world than when New 52 came out or I just WANT it to be good but I am super excited for the new Rebirth title!

And I’m going to be collecting comics I haven’t ever or haven’t in a long time and finally bring home some of my favourite super heroes!

Now if only they can get Aya and Razor in the Green Lantern corps. new title, and give me some Artemis/Kid Flash love now that his woman doesn’t remember him, then the cartoon watcher in me will be set!

After recently picking up Skeleton Crew by Stephen King and re-reading The Mist (which was the first Stephen King story I had ever read) I decided to watch the Frank Darabont adaptation to see how it measured up.

I do have to say that the novella was a wonderful read, and a dismaying story about a man that just can’t seem to catch a break during what could be described as the end of the world. The ending to the novella is quite different from the movie and as I sit here, drinking some wine and pondering over both I can’t decide which I liked better. But before we get to the end we should go over the general idea of the movie.

The movie follows Frank Castle… I mean Thomas Jane’s character David Drayton trying to deal with a natural disaster that has left his small township powerless and littered with the storms destruction. Though the movie lacks the build-up and character development between Jane’s character and his wife you still feel their deep love and immediate define them as the adorable couple! The movie also fails at truly explaining the relationship dynamic between David and his neighbour Brent Norton. In the book Stephen King goes into great detail about their property dispute and how none of that matters when he sees the recently widowed neighbour trying to start his chainsaw to free his crushed car, his pride and joy that even leaves David saddened by the event. This scene does a good job to show David’s true self, he may not like his neighbour, they may have fought tooth and nail before but in this disaster he is able to put it behind him and help his fellow man… even after he catches his neighbour eyeing up his wife, the love of his life. This build up helps set the scene for when David takes his neighbour Brent and son Billy into town and sets up the last time that David would ever see his wife again (well at least in the book). This is set up a little different in the movie and I find it’s a little too rushed and doesn’t give me the emotional connection I want coming so fresh from the written story. From there though, the movie picks up and sets the stage for the disaster that is about to unfold on the patrons of the local super mart. As the movie progresses it has many differences from the book, the most likely translate better one screen, and every scene with one of the ‘creatures’ are perfect or more dreadful than I had hoped for, they even kept in one of the most memorable scenes in the book with the giant creature that walks over David’s Scout. It was so perfectly lovecraftian that it made me yearn for a good Mountains of Madness movie.

Noted that yes there are many differences from movie to novella, including characters, relationships, events, pace but all in all the storey is very similar and noticeably still has the same heart to it.

Some quick and neat facts before I start to dwell too much into the ending. Frank Darabont was both the screenwriter and director for The Mist, this was not the first Stephen King adaptation he has done, he also worked on Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile. Also – he is the Writer, Producer and Director for The Walking Dead – who have multiple actors in common with The Mist including; Laurie Holden (Andrea), Jeffery DeMunn (Dale) and Melissa McBride(Carol) and Sam Witwer (Doomsday) also has a small role on TWD. And my favourite piece of trivia is David’s paintings in the opening scenes; the main panting he is working on is from Stephen King’s Dark Tower character Roland the gunsinger, another is John Carpenter’s The Thing who also worked on the movie The Fog (similar themes to The Mist). Okays, fun is over… the ending. SPOILERS if you weren’t aware! As many know the movie and novella do not share the same ending, though the movie’s ending is pulled directly from David’s thoughts in the ending of the novella and was praised by Stephen King himself. If you don’t want to know the ending beforehand now is time to jump ship and watch the movie. I will say despite Thomas Jane’s ‘exquisite’ (for the babble fans out there) performance – it was a heart wrenching and dismal ending that was very fitting of a Stephen King story and though not the same as the novella it was an ending that I have now decided I loved. Now go – watch and enjoy because I’mma talk about it!!

For the novella the ending is more ambiguous, self-described as a Hitchcock ending. It leaves the reader open to come to their own conclusions on what happens to our main character and what has happened to the rest of the country… world. Now guns fire, no army comes to the rescue, David just leaves the story in a restaurant, returns to his Scout with hopes to fill up with gas and continue to move forward until they find anyone… anything. David *thinks* he hears something on the radio, something faint and only once, but it’s enough to give hope, hope to himself, and hope to the reader that maybe, just maybe he will be able to escape this horror that has befallen his home. Now – I took this ending to be that David was exhausted, stressed and at the end of his sanity, he needs this hope to move forward, so while scanning the empty radio stations, somewhere in the static he wants to hear something, but all the FM and AM channels are silent, nothing comes in, no one is out there. What ever they did at the Arrow Head Project… it’s taken them, and it isn’t letting them go. Now this is fully my interpretation of how I expected the story to continue from Stephen King’s last words, as was his intent for the reader to come to their own conclusion.

We no longer live in a time where as a comic book fan I am just happy Catwoman was made as a movie - we have enough great comic book movies I don’t need to love every one made.

Sorry to everyone shocked I didn’t watch Fantastic Four, won’t watch Batman v Superman or Suicide Squad in theatres.

I am the same chick that was enthralled with the original X-men movies just to be betrayed by the 3rd. I was the girl that was over joyed with the fact they were making a Green Lantern movie just to see Ryan Reynolds hidden by CGI and a broken plot. I had hope for Man of Steel just to come out wondering what the hell they thought they were doing with Lois Lane and Clark for the 3 hours stolen from my life. (And laughing at the giant spider monster…)

Marvel has made the movies that no longer disappoint and though this hurts as a DC fan girl - I won’t be excited for anymore of the DC cinematic universe. I will be over here, loving the shows I watch and being excited every time they get it right. I will be over here watching The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and the animated DCU to see the characters I grew up loving and want to see.

I’m sorry this isn’t what everyone wants to hear but this is my stance and I don’t care if you like the above mentioned movies and shows - but leave me alone when I don’t want to. I don’t have to like everything with a comic book character in it just because I’m a comic book fan. I am first and foremost a Timverse fan - the universe that got me into comics.

I also am not saying you can’t love the new movie. Everyone has their own Batman or DCU they love - Scott Snyder doesn’t want to make mine but others do so instead of watching something I won’t enjoy just because Batman is in it - I’m going to watch shows that I feel do hit the mark.

I could go on about everything I think Snyder and DC are doing wrong - but obviously most people don’t care cause it is breaking box office numbers. I’m just ensuring it doesn’t have my money and I put my money towards shows I believe I will like based on the advertisements I’ve seen.

That is it - that is all I got - so don’t tell me I have to watch it - I’ve made my decision and will continue to watch the shows I believe are good.

Happy Wednesday. Time to grab a coffee. ☕