The Unwritten: Volume 01 (2010)

Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity (2010)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 144

"But the unpalatable fact is that you auditioned to play yourself and didn't get the part."

The Tommy Taylor™ books are a cultural phenomenon. Tommy is a boy wizard with a small group of friends, whose adventures have spanned thirteen books. The collective routinely save their world from the kind of villains that typically populate children's literature.

The author of the books is Wilson Taylor. It's a well-known fact that Wilson based the lead character on his own son, Tom Taylor. Consequently, Tom has grown up in the public eye. He's not a writer and had no direct input in the books, but people love him, regardless.

He attends conventions and answers questions from fans, some of whom can't separate reality from fiction.
If you're thinking along the lines of Harry Potter crossed with Christopher Robin, then you're on the right track.

But that's merely a stepping stone into a much larger ocean of unpredictability. (FTR, I've not read the Potter books; my only experience of the character is the first film and half of the second one, so I'm basing my comparison on that.)

Tales From The Crypt (1972) + Vault of Horror (1973)

Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Vault of Horror (1973)

Dirs. Dir. Freddie Francis (TFtC) / Roy Ward Baker (VoH)

A Double Feature put out by Scream Factory that contains both Tales From The Crypt and its sequel, Vault of Horror (also known as Tales From The Crypt II in some regions).

I have issues with Scream Factory's price-hiking and shameless lack of integrity, but they licence some damn fine feature films.

Both are typical of the Amicus anthology format, each collecting five short stories set within a larger narrative framework. The locales for each story are different but all are set in the modern era (i.e. the 1970s).

The Studio even managed to lure some big name stars to appear in the works, such as Peter Cushing, Tom Baker, Denholm Elliott, Joan Collins and Sir Ralph Richardson.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Dir. Kenneth Branagh

To date, more faithful to its esteemed source than most, if not all, other adaptions of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel, Kenneth Branagh's version of the story also had the potential to be something very special.

The first twenty minutes are where it's most evident; referencing the social side of 18th Century life, the limitations of medicine, the reasons for Victor's infatuation with creating and sustaining life, and introducing some striking symbolism, but the unevenness that follows undoes a lot of the good work.

Branagh paints the work with broad, grimy strokes when a more delicate touch would've served the story's layers of feverish obsession and hubris better. Furthermore, Patrick Doyle's score is often turgid, pushing bombastic heights instead of exploring quiet percipience.

Despite its failings it's still an enjoyable film, managing a successful repeated shift of viewer sympathies, inviting us to question morality in a similar manner to how Victor is forced to do.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is visually interesting. He mutates the German expressionists love of shadow into something pure Hollywood but still effectively dramatic. On top of that he heaps dozens of colourful and theatrical elements, but it's more than the film can comfortably support.

If it was a cup it'd be ornate and gilded but wouldn’t hold much water (or blood).

The Dracula character (Gary Oldman) is a tragic figure responsible for his own curse, thus ensuring that his grief lasts for centuries. Heartache can cause us to do odd things, but he really didn't think that through.

The acting by most of the cast is dodgy at best. Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, Winona Ryder as Mina Murray, and Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra are just plain awful. Gary Oldman is fantastic as an old man, but his younger self has a hopeless romantic shtick that quickly bores.

Mother, Brother, Lover: Selected Lyrics (2012)

Mother, Brother, Lover: Selected Lyrics (2012)

Author: Jarvis Cocker | Page Count: 192

"If nobody's listening you can say whatever you want."

A selection of lyrics (66 in all) penned by Meister Cocker over the span of three decades. They're mostly from his time in Pulp, but his solo work is well-represented, too.

Each one is accompanied by notes that act as illumination and commentary on the themes and allusions made in the songs themselves, which will be helpful to people outside the UK, or for those folks who were born too late.

Before you get to the main event, there's an introduction from Jarvis that's so beautifully constructed and insightful that it's worth the asking price alone.

He speaks of the profound things that occur in everyday life, the things that don't stand out until later, and he does so in common language for (ahem) common people.

It's from a point in time that enables experience to lay tender hands on and memory to whittle away anything superfluous. Without meaning to demean anything that comes after, the introduction is arguably the highlight of the work.

Species Design (1996)

Species Design (1996)

Author + Illustrator: H.R. Giger | Page Count: 86

"I cast worms in silicon […] Instead, in the film, reddish brown computer-generated sausages burst out (but very quickly, to hide the computerised embarrassment)."

A large format coffee table book (approximately the size of a vinyl LP) that doesn't fit on any of my shitty Argos flat-pack shelving. Grrrr.

Inside its pages are a number of the Swiss artist's illustrations. It's primarily early stage concept sketches that rarely get released to the public, most of which are black ink on paper.

Giger's sketches have an almost obsessively hurried appearance. Seeing what he'd envisioned for the creature, that didn't make it into the film, is perhaps the only notable reason to purchase.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Dir. Robert Wise

TOS's transition from TV to big screen certainly was spectacular, but not in a good way - it was a spectacular disaster. By making the established world more cinematic, the warmth and personality of the TV Series was severely compromised.

Often referred to as 'The Motionless Picture' affectionately by fans and from the opposite viewpoint by haters, writer Alan Dean Foster's final draft (screenplay by Harold Livingston) forgets that it's supposed to be Star Trek.

The final product is closer to the cold and clinical end of the science-fiction spectrum, the kind that puts its emphasis on science over characters.

That approach is fine in theory, but TOS has always worked best when its characters were put up front; I feel it's more relatable, and therefore more successful, that way. I'd even go so far as to argue that it's the human/emotional side of things that really defines Star Trek, at least for me.