365 Film Challenge Part 4: Here We Go Again

The next batch of movies I've watched are all linked by one thing. They're all sequels! Film #12: National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I really enjoyed National Treasure, an enjoyably daft and OTT Nic Cage action flick that saw him run around the US avoiding goons, stealing the Declaration of Independence and solving puzzles in …

Book Review: The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft is one of those names I've been aware of for a long time and yet I've never actually read any of his stuff until now. This book is wonderfully creepy, told by a narrator who visits a town to survey for a new reservoir and discovers an eerie atmosphere around a piece of land …

Film Review: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

WARNING! Here be spoilers! When I wrote about the last instalment of the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi, I said it was a tough review to write about because I neither loved or hated the movie. The same is true here, with JJ Abrams' return to the series not being terrible but being pretty …

Book Review: Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

I've never read any James Patterson before, which is unusual as the guy is a writing phenomenon, cranking out 147 novels in the last 43 years, which works out at about three and a half books a year. That's unbelievably prolific. I've seen a couple of the Alex Cross movies, based on his most famous …

My Favourite Films #50: Flash Gordon

Camp isn't really something you get as a kid. For example, I used to settle in every afternoon and watch the Adam West Batman series, and I was gripped by it. Sure, I thought the villains' schemes and gizmos were ridiculous, but I'd still tune in to see if Batman would escape. Similarly, when I …

Book Review: 14 by Peter Clines

I've really enjoyed Peter Clines' "Ex" books, which pit a group of superheroes against the hordes of the undead in a hugely entertaining and inventive series. I knew he'd written a few other books, and after some recommendations on Twitter, I decided to check this one out. I may have found my favourite fiction book …

Film Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Warning! There are a few spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen the film you might not want to read on. If you do, well, it's on your own head. This is one of the trickiest reviews I've ever written. Normally when I come out of a movie I have strong feelings one way or …

My Favourite Films #49: The Running Man

It's always interesting watching old sci-fi movies and seeing how quickly they imagined we'd balls everything up. George Orwell thought that by 1984 we'd be living under a totalitarian regime, constantly observed. John Carpenter went for 1997 as the year by which New York had become a prison colony. Of course, some of the joy …

My Favourite Films #46: The Return of the Jedi

In Clerks, Dante Hicks dismisses the third film in the Star Wars trilogy saying "All Jedi had was a bunch of muppets". It's a harsh assessment of the movie, but highlights a problem that some viewers have with the movie. The Ewoks. This alien race, who look like teddy bears, are the kind of thing …

My Favourite Films #45: The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars was a game changer in many ways, in terms of blockbusters and memorabilia but it's the second movie in the original trilogy that's impact is still felt. Countless film series made since has attempted to follow the Empire model with the second movie having a darker, more downbeat ending that leaves the heroes in poor …