Disney - Treasure Planet

In 2002 the Disney corporation relea'sed a re-imagining of the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, the difference being that they set the story through space with steam-punk technology. When this came out Disney was is a bit of a downwards spiral, they had direct to video sequels coming out frequently and 3D animation of Pixar was on the rise, which is why I am so surpised that an original concept came out of Disney at this time. Steampunk is on the rise in popularity these days so even if it's a concept you haven't heard of you probably will have seen an example of it somewhere. Panic at the Disco's 'Mona Lisa Smile' video clip for instance features sets, costumes and props from some of the biggest names in steampunk, or you may have seen *shudder* Justin Beibers 'Santa Claus is coming to town'. Alternatively slight steampunk visuals were used in movies such as Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus or Robert DeNiro's skyship in Stardust.

I never saw Treasure Planet when it came out in cinemas, and didn't see it on video till very reccently, and I was genuenly surprised at not only the risk the movie would have been for the comany but how well they did it. Certain aspect aren't as strong as other Disney movies, while the background music is good it's not to the level of other disney Movies; however since this is not a musical it dosen't hurt. The main problem is the mixing of the 2D and 3D animation. Often the computer generated back drops, while designed beautifully just dosen't fit properly, this can be difficult for immersion. You're pulled out of it by this, although I doubt this is a problem for a younger audience the movie is targeted towards however. Finally a point that I had never considered was raised by Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) in his brief review of the Treasure Planet, http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/specials/33848-disneycember-part-14. That being, that he simply wasn't able to get into the setting. I've been a fan of steampunk for the last 5 years or so and it's something I took to very easily so I hadn't really considered that other people would have difficulty in understanding this mix of victorian and futuristic. For those who are confused a quick definition of steampunk as I understand it.


The word means the mixing of steam engine victorian setting and punk rock of the 80's, it's developed a bit from that but essentially its a genre of alternate history. It takes the idea that steam engines became the main source of power rather than electricity so everything still has a very grundgy look to it, with copper and brass being the main construction tools and cogs and wheels being used so often it's pretty much to the point of decoration. The clothing is all reminiscent of the Victorian era, through corsets, top hats, blouses and bonnets.
While the genre is growing in popularity from conventions and costuming into movies, books and as mentioned video clips it still isn't common place and it a bit of a geek sub-culture.

So those are my problems with the film, what is it I like. First off the designs are pretty spectacular, I really would have liked to see more of them but they give a real sense of wonder to the movie. The 2D animation is top notch as always for Disney cinema releases. The real strength in this movie comes from something that Disney is not known for, and thats character and relationships. This movie feels like your watching real people and not fairy tales and thats incredibly rare for Disney. When Disney changes the original source material it's to make it more child friendly, to make it safer. In Treasure Planet they have the father of the hero Jim Hawkins leave when he is a child. Not die nobly, not pass away off screen but leave. This integral change made the story more focused on the relationships which are done perfectly. Jim is played off as an intelligent but rebellious misunderstood boy, and if I read that I would have rolled my eyes. There are few character descriptions more overused than that apart from wise, mystical mentor figure doomed to die. However they handle it well, you can see the Jim's acting out does come from an actual place of pain and he does allow people to change. He's not a rebel just to try and appear cool. Giving the character father issues does also play into the relationship he has with Captain Silver, you see how much they go to care for each other. You believe their interactions and the ending is more satisfying because of this and reminds me of the same kind bitter-sweet closure you get at the end of Aladdin and the King of Thieves. 

Fighting against nostalgia, as this is one of the few Disney movies I didn't see as a child, I find it sitting in my top Disney movies of all time. Not a hundred percent sure where it exactly fits in a list but perhaps that's something I could look at for future posts. But regardless of that this is a movie that is really worth a watch. 8.5/10

A blog management update

Hey guys, thanks to everyone who's been visiting my site. I'm really sorry I haven't updated in an unforgivably long time but due to full time work and commitment to student groups I simply haven't been able to work on my writing. From now on I am introducing a new timetable schedule, a new post should be up fortnightly on the Monday. If I fail to follow this feel free to harass me in the comments to get my act together.

Another reason I have been unable to post my reviews is a few other projects in the work such as my own website being developed. The start of a web comic and working on some art for my portfolio. Please feel free to check out my website www.clarebelshaw.com, to see what I've been working on. It is still under development but will eventually allow for people to see my art and writing and hire me freelance.

Finally there is a v-log project in development which I'm tossing around names for. It's essentially building on my reviews here but is a far more detective approach to why stories fail and more importantly how to fix them. Not the actually quality of writing so to say but going over plot holes, character flaws or just often rather dull plots and saying how I as a writer would approach them.

Again, thanks for your patience guys. I'll try and be more reliable in the future.

- Clare

Cult Classic - The Army of Darkness

I was first shown the 3rd in the Evil Dead series during a drama class, and I would be lying if I didn't say that I hated it, however my opinion was deeply shaded by the fact that I wasn't enjoying drama at the time and that the HSC was in the process of putting my brain though a blender. A couple of years later I caught Army of Darkness on television and was laughing my head off within a few minutes, seeing the first two movies isn't at all vital to enjoying the third.

The star of this series, Bruce Campbell enjoys a status in a similar fashion to Chuck Norris. Granted he doesn't have a third fist under his beard or have Jesus following him on twitter but he is recognised as the coolest hero of B-movies. The main character Ash, who chopped off his hand with a chain saw after it became infected with evil and since replaced it with the chain saw, has been sent back in time... Don't ask why... it's not important. Mistaken as a solider of Henry the Red he is taken to the castle in chains. He is sentenced to be executed by being thrown into a pit with unspeakable Eldritch horrors... just roll with it. After defeating the evils with his chain saw and double barrel Remington shot gun he frees Henry the Red's men and forces the people of the castle to find a way to send him home. This is also the scene where we get some of the best quotes from this movie, including 'all right you primitive screw heads, this. is. my. BOOM STICK'.

Embeth Davidtz plays the love interest Shelia, yes, that's really her name. I know this because I looked it up... thank you IMDB, and found out she is in fact cast as Mary Parker in the upcoming Spiderman reboot as well as having serious roles in movies such as Schindler's List. Where as Bruce Campbell appears to be able to survive simply off making cameos. The wise man tells Ash that he can return him home if he journeys to fetch the Necronomicon, a book the people also need to vanquish the evil in the land. After a brief montage of getting ready, in which we see an almost fetishistic love from director Sam  Raimi of sudden zooms in, Ash leaves on his quest. Chased by a unseen evil he hides in a windmill and we enter one of the tripiest scenes... I don't really want to spoil what happens here as I don't think I could do it justice but the end result is an evil Ash appears. Ask buries his evil counterpart and continues on to the cemetery, he grabs the Necronomicon but fails to say the correct magic words and raises the army of darkness. Shelia is captured and thus Ash must rally the castle to fight against the forces of evil led by the again risen evil Ash.

This movie is great fun... it's pure retro silliness with a few really good lines. The special effects are bad even for the time but that adds to the enjoyment of it all. This is a fun movie to see but again one of those that is even better in a group, it has a decent re-watch value as well. Especially considering the first time you see it you'll spend a lot of time hitting your head and going 'WHAT?'.

Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus

I debated where I should follow up on the bad movie trend after The Room and in my quest to find the worst of the worst movies one name keeps popping back up, one company that made a name for itself trying to cash in with cheap rip-offs of Blockbusters. The Asylum.

Whilst they normally limit their activity to confusing fans by releasing movies such as Transmorphers, Alien VS Hunter or classics like Bram Stokers Dracula's Curse. The Asylum has since moved into making original productions, whether this is for better or worse is really up for debate. Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus has reached a large amount of popularity based on it's simple silliness, following a very set monster movie plot line the silliness is unfortunately seriously hampered. This movie is not as enjoyable as the Room, the acting is not by any measure good but for the most part tolerable and I can't really criticize the writing too much, the dialogue is cliched but never to an amusing level and even competent at times. That said it is difficult to imagine that the screenwriter had to sit down and write 'then the mega shark leapt thirty thousand feet into the air and ate a 747 jet'.

This movie really doesn't have a great re-watch value, The Room I was able to watch many times over, this however I struggled to get through once. Not because it was too bad such as Birdemic or anything but rather because it was just bad. It is worth a watch and certainly would be better seeing along in a group... preferably with alcohol.

Morning Glories

The first thing I ever heard of Morning Glories was that it was the comic equivalent of the TV series Lost. A comparison that it richly deserves, plot threads are introduced every episode often very surreal plot points. However while I've criticized Lost in the past for doing this, it was mostly because they were never connected and were never properly resolved. Morning Glories however has been acting in a far more cohesive way, it's released monthly and only up to issue 11 but so far feels as though everything is leading up to one final unified conclusion.

The series beings straight away with an escape attempt and graphic death, setting the oppressive tone that is kept through the entire series. There is a very brief lead up where we see the main characters at home with their families; the back story of the characters is something that I think is mostly meant to be released in the actual episodes as flash backs, for instance issue 10 has a lot of history on the character of Jun done very well. The problem with most of the back story being released in later issues is that this is a monthly release and as such we often have a lack of care about these characters and as such a lot of the oppressive atmosphere is lost.

The characters so far are the strongest thing about the writing in this series, you want to know more about them from the small hints that are given and most of them seem to be more then a little unhinged. Unstable characters are often the most interesting and finding out their motivation is enough to keep you coming back. So far I would give Morning Glories a tentative recommendation, teasing plot threads only work so long as you continue the feeling that it will all come together and that as new ideas are introduced the old ones are either tied in or explained. If you enjoy mysteries and the tension created by an oppressive environment then the characters are solid and the art work is impressive.

6/10

Best Non A-list Comic Characters: Part 1

I was musing on some of my favorite comic characters and I realised how few of them had been made mainstream. Yes they may be well known among comic fans but blank stares from people who only know the characters through movies, television, and through word of mouth. The clear stand out A-listers of the main characters use to be only, in my experience at least, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, X-Men, Hulk, and Spiderman. These days that has increased to include far more Marvel characters as their movie franchise has exploded over the last ten years now including The Fantastic Four, Thor, Iron Man, and of course the latest Captain America. Whilst there are many characters in that list that I love and a few who I read with regular continuity such as Batman the majority that I get excited about really are less known. And many of them really could have movies or television shows made about them, explaining the reasons for each.

Booster Gold - The D.C. Universe

This character has made an appearance on television as a one-shot character in season ten of Smallville. But I don't like that series so I'm going to ignore it. Booster Gold tells the story of a man from the 25th Century, who at the height of his success as a College Footballer throws a game in order to get some money for his family. Due to this being discovered no team will sign him and he is forced from the limelight to get whichever job he can, and thus become a night janitor at a Museum. There he steals a super suit and a time travel belt and uses his robot Skeet's knowledge of the past to become a popular hero. Originally seen with advertisements covering his costume he is an ambitious and often superficial hero who craves attention. Throughout a number of story arcs  he turns into a true hero who only wants what is best for the world but is hampered by his reputation as being a false hero. He has played major roles in DC cross over events such as 52 - which if you haven't read... you should. As well as playing the other major role in Flashpoint alongside The Flash.



The Birds of Prey - The D.C. Universe

Now this did in fact have it's own T.V. show... and despite good ratings was cancelled and only produced 13 episodes so I can't really call it well known. I hadn't even heard of it 'til I was researching this post. Seeming like a direct response to claims that comics can be overly male-centric The Birds of Prey features an all female main cast. I'd already mentioned a little about the 'brains' of the operation The Oracle in my first blog post about the DC Reboot. To recap quickly, originally Batgirl (Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Constable Jim Gordon) was paralysed after being shot by the Joker and took up the mantle of the Oracle - the information source for the Justice League. She then contacts Black Canary, a hero who has herself been going through an unfortunate period involving losing her powers due to a miscarriage as well as financial difficulties. Other strong, and often recognisable, female characters are introduced such as Hunteress, Lady Shiva, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Lady Blackhawk. Originally written by Chuck Dixon the series reached its prominence under the penmanship of Gail Simon a popular writer, especially with myself, who will be writing Batgirl after the reboot in September.




Deadpool - The Marvel Universe

Deadpool first came to my attention in the X-Men Wolverine Origins, played by Ryan Reynolds, and I found him to be a very enjoyable character. Since then I have been slowly working through the comic history of Deadpool and I realised how watered-down and disappointing the movie's representation of Deadpool was. Originally a rip-off of Deathstroke 'Slade Wilson' from D.C., to the point where Deadpool was given the name Wade Wilson. However while Deathstroke is played completely serious, Deadpool turned into a parody of the hardened mercenary and it was the humor that really set this series apart form others. Deadpool frequently breaks the fourth wall and has two separate internal monologue boxes that frequently converse with each other. I am thrilled to write, and yet at the same time incredibly worried, about the news that there is to be a Deadpool Movie. At time of writing it is still only in scripting stage and thus wouldn't be coming out 'til 2014. I do like that they have the boys from Zombieland writing it although they have given its direction to Tim Miller, who so far only has two shorts and a documentary to his name. Considering how different a Deadpool movie would need to be from a normal movie set up, the lack of experience for Tim Miller may in fact be a good thing. Although that could just be hoping in vain that they don't completely mess up one of my favorite characters anymore than Wolverine did.

My little Bronie

In the spirit of being just a little behind the times I've spent the last few days getting through series one of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I never watched the series as a child due to a life threatening allergy to anything remotely girly or pink and as such stayed away from this reboot of the franchise. But then something happened, a good friend of mine told me it was amazing. A male friend. A male 19 year old friend. This confused me enough to investigate the first couple of episodes. And my God, was I hooked.

A lot of criticism, deservedly so can be passed to the original. There was no conflict, any songs were terrible, there was no real characterisation. As mentioned I hated anything that was girly, and there wasn't much that was more girly then 'My Little Pony', so I never saw the original series. For a better idea of it, you may want to check out the nostalgia Chick's review. The Nostalgia Chick - My Little Pony

Friendship is Magic fixes a lot of these problems, not fully though. The conflict started off really promisingly in the first two episodes, there is a lot of build up to the release of Nightmare Moon, and our main character Twilight Sparkle is forced to find a way to defeat her. The ending is a little sweet but this is a kids show so I'm prepared to let that slide, but the villain is made good in the second episode and then no one else replaces her. There is an individual conflict in each episode that genuinely relates to some sort of Sunday school message about racism or being a good sport; but I really feel it's lacking for not having a real villain. The idea that girls don't dig conflict is one I don't get, I don't think that you will loose your audience of little princess just because there is a bit of magic flung at an enemy.

The songs... oh the songs. What can I say about the music. A friend of mine who refuses to let me show him the episodes can't get one of the songs I showed him out of his head to my immense amusement. A real effort has been made to make them enjoyable and catchy, a few fans have in fact remixed several of the songs into techno beats. Bellow is an example of one of the bests.

Aside from the theme song this is the first musical number we get, and my lord what a good way to link into the characterisation. This is where we see the main difference between the old and new. The characterisation is unmistakable and there is no possible way of confusing say Fluttershy for Rainbow dash or Pinky Pie. Pinky Pie is incidentally the character singing, and to quote my friend Adrian's favorite line from the show, 'Pinky Pie you so random'. I don't really know how to describe her, I think most of the images in the video clip speak for itself so I will not focus on the other characters.

Rainbow Dash is a fast tomboyish, and rather proud, but never seriously, sports fiend. Fluttershy is the opposite the animal lover and soft spoken shy one in the group... you may have noticed that the names reflect the personalities slightly, and by slightly I mean simply restating it in condensed form. From this we look at AppleJack, a country hard working girl with a strong accent. A friend of mine watched the episode on racism and made the point that the most racist pony seemed to be Applejack the 'redneck pony', whilst I did giggle at this I don't think it holds up too much weight. As for the plot to work they needed one of the ponies with a younger sibling, and the only one at that time with an established younger sibling was Applejack. Latter on however we would be introduced to the little sis of Rarity, a prim and proper designer. Finally we have our main character, the only one whose name doesn't seem to represent her character at all Twilight Sparkle. Our main character and a serious and studious book worm. There is even a large variety of side characters with personalities on which I won't go in to.

As the characterisation is so strong it should come as no surpise that I had viewed the writing as the real difference between this show and the original My Little Pony. There have been a number of writers who worked on the first season and all seem very talented, but the cohesion of the whole show had made me believe there was a single writer, so I instead checked out the wikepedia entry and found the driving force behind it appears to have been the animator Lauren Faust. Who had previously worked on Fosters Home for imaginary Friends and Powerpuff Girls. Both shows that have had popularity with demographics older than their intended audience as such it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that this has been more popular with 19-24 year old males than the 9-12 female demographic it was aimed at. With things such as references to Benny Hill. Yet, as with many things that develop unexpected success, it really lies in controversy. 

Originally coming under fire for negative undertones of racism... because in the first episode the bad pony is black and the white one good (I really don't think this person watched more then five minutes of it) fourchan's creator saw the controversy and started to investigate. This led to the flooding of meme's of the ponies on fourchan which then continued to spread through the adult audiences. Proving yet again that if you hate something and find it offensive, the best thing you can do is to ignore it rather than publicly crucify it. Now I need to go and work on my next Tarot Review.