The Unholy (1988)

The Unholy (1988)

Dir. Camilo Vila

A blind-buy for me that turned out to be a lot of supernatural fun. It stars Ben Cross as a Priest named Michael who gets appointed to a New Orleans parish that has been closed for a few years, for reasons that are shown in the movie's opening scene but which I won't spoil.

Inside the church is an evil presence that strives to influence the newcomer, but Father Michael is determined to resist. Yes, it's another tale of Good vs Evil, Heaven vs Hell, etc, happening on Earth, naturally, because that's where that kind of shit nearly always goes down. 

There's often a trade-off in 1980s supernatural movies — such as good FX but bad acting, or good direction ruined by bad editing — but The Unholy does well right across the board.

Uncharted: Comicbook TPB (2012)

Uncharted: Comicbook TPB (2012)

Author: Joshua Williamson | Illustrator: Sergio Sandoval | Page Court: 144

"Hey, Sully! Things are going from bad to worse out here... it's time to roll."

A six-issue miniseries based on developer Naughty Dog's video game franchise of the same name.

I enjoy the parkour, puzzle solving, and exploration aspects of the games very much and am in awe of ND's attention to detail in their world-building, but it's not a franchise that I get overly enthused about beyond that.

For people that love it more than I do, besides a few grammar slip-ups the writing, artwork, and pacing are all good, with characterisation and dialogue that's tonally about as faithful to its video game inspiration as it's possible to get in a comicbook format. All in all, it's an excellent tie-in that feels very much like a proper Uncharted adventure - minus the interactivity, of course.

Under the Dome: Season One (2013)

Under the Dome: Season One (2013)

Dir. Various | 13 episodes, approx 43 minutes each.

I'm so bored of 'edgy' US dramas, but I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and a sucker for a Stephen King adaptation despite their tendency to have a great buildup and then fall flat on their ass in the latter half. Under the Dome bucks that trend by falling flat on its ass even earlier. It kills off the most interesting character in Ep 01 and leaves the chaff to pick up the slack, meaning that from Ep 02 it drags its shitty heels through the corn.

It's the story of a town trapped under a mysterious dome. What that means for the people within differs depending on their ability to cope with disaster, the unknown, and the depravity of the secrets they want to keep hidden. Their focus is on getting out, naturally, but Season One's overall focus is on exploring the inner aspects of each individual and the community as a whole.

Upstart Crow (2016–)

Upstart Crow (2016–)

18 episodes, approx 29 mins each + 3 Christmas Specials, approx 49 mins each.

In the simplest terms, if you like Shakespeare and enjoyed the format of the Blackadder TV series, then Upstart Crow is probably for you.

Written by comedian Ben Elton, it portrays the bard as a playwright struggling for inspiration and unappreciated by his family and friends.

David Mitchell is wonderful in the title role, as is Liza Tarbuck as his wife Anne Hathaway, the only one of his group that truly understands him.

To get the most from the series you'll need some pretty sizeable knowledge of Shakespeare's written works and of events in his personal life, including that of his contemporaries (e.g. Kit Marlowe and Robert Greene) and be aware of the various theories regarding authorship.

That's an unusually high level of prerequisite for a sitcom to ask of its audience, but if you have it, then you're going to have a lot more fun.

Ulver: Themes from William Blake's... (1998)

Ulver: Themes from William Blake's
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998)

Themes from… presents the entire text of William Blake's masterpiece set to music. It took me many listens to fully appreciate what Ulver were attempting to do. The experimental fusion of Avant-garde, Metal, Industrial, Progressive Ambience and Spoken Word mirrors the infusion of conflicting and progressive thinking that Blake offered in his writing.

I don't feel that it's the masterpiece that the band were probably hoping it would be, but it's a worthy attempt.

And if it inspires any music fans to seek out more of Blake's work, then it's a success in more ways than one.

Ulver: Teachings in Silence (2002)

Teachings in Silence (2002)

Collects Silence Teaches You How to Sing (2001) and Silencing the Singing (2001)

Ulver continued to erode their musical barriers with two minimalist/ambient EPs that were collected together the following year due to their exploring similar themes. The new release was renamed Teachings In Silence.

It's a dark and strangely compelling work that teases a listener with some beautiful haunting melodies beneath the pops, crackles and ambient glitch. The sounds have a very definite sense of timing and purpose; there's nothing random about their occurrences.

If you're a fan of ambient, you'll know that sifting through the sheer volume of crap that's available can sometimes unearth a gem. Teachings sparkles.

The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship That Sank Twice (2013)

Tommy Taylor and the Ship That Sank Twice (2013)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 160

"You mustn't touch the box."

A standalone comic book prequel to The Unwritten that functions as a dual origin story for scheming fantasy author Wilson Taylor's two special projects: the Tommy Taylor™ novels and Wilson's actual son Tom Taylor.

The Tommy side of things makes up the bulk of the work and is like reading a standard fantasy comic book. The Tom side of things is slotted in-between the other. One of them is passable, but both have their problems.

Firstly, the 'boy-wizard at wizard school' story is as dull as it sounds. In the original The Unwritten series the Tommy character was as bland as Hollywood - it was solely the juxtaposition with Tom that gave him anything of value. That juxtaposition is in its infancy herein, which means Tommy has almost nothing interesting to say.

The Unwritten: Volume 11 (2015)

Apocalypse (2016)

Authors: Mike Carey / Bill Willingham | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 174

"You walk the path, and at the end the blessing comes."

After 71 issues The Unwritten came to an end; the numbering of the individual monthlies doesn't reflect that figure, but that's how many were published in total. Vol 11: Apocalypse collects the last of them.*

Even though I’ve been posting about the series for eleven months now, I read the volumes themselves in quick succession. It's been a while since I actually finished it all, so I may have forgotten a few things. For example, I don't know if everyone who mattered and/or had a direct influence on events got a worthy resolution, but I know the ones that I personally cared about did.

The ending isn't as monumental as I was hoping for, but it's extremely satisfying and in-keeping with the overall concept, exiting with a thoughtful and lingering aspect.

Acting on information provided by Madame Rausch in Vol 10, Tom and his friends search for what they believe will permanently end Pullman's plans.

The Unwritten: Volume 10 (2014)

War Stories (2014)

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

"Every dream is true, and every truth is broken. I tell the story, and I will not cease from telling it."

A relaunch of the series that underhandedly claimed to be a 'perfect jumping-on point' for new readers. But it's categorically not - it's a direct continuation of what came before (see Vol 09). To reinforce the chicanery the series got a slight name change (The Unwritten: Apocalypse) and had its numbering reset to 01. The collected editions continue the proper numbering, though, thankfully.

It's business as usual, which is to say that the journey towards repairing the damage done to the physical world after the fight with Leviathan continues down paths of strangeness and around corners of consequence. The Christ-like parallel in the 'fourteenth' Tommy Taylor™ novel (Vol 03) springs to mind, with fictional Tommy's real-world reflection, Tom Taylor, reborn and renewed.

The Unwritten: Volume 09 (2014)

The Unwritten FABLES (2014)

Authors: Mike Carey / Bill Willingham | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 144

"Thank you, dear. We're all done with the exposition now. It's time to make a leap of faith."

The Unwritten celebrated its 50th issue by having a crossover with Fables, another Vertigo title. The story is credited to both Carey and Bill Willingham, the latter being the chief writer on Fables. It's a series that I've not read; I wanted to for a long time, but some of its many TPBs are expensive to buy, so rather than have half I prefer to have none. And if the full series is anything like what features herein, I feel I can live happily without it.

The basic premise of Fables is a standard 'what if...' scenario: what if the characters and creatures from folklore and fairy-tales, such as Rose Red, Pinocchio, Ozma, etc, were real and living together in a community. But the deeper concerns of the individuals and of the group is something that I've no prior knowledge of.

The Unwritten: Volume 08 (2014)

Orpheus in the Underworld  (2014)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 176

"He writes the words that he was written by."

The idiom 'nature abhors a vacuum' is attributed to Aristotle (as 'horror vacui'). I can understand the feeling, to a degree, because when confronted with a blank wall in someone's house, I feel that it needs a canvas. But, unfortunately for the world of The Unwritten, nature is less choosy about what it fills its vacuum with, including the space left after Tom's encounter with Leviathan.

Aristotle also taught — in his Poetics (c. 335 BC), a philosophical work looking at dramatic theory and its applications — that acts of creation, in its many guises, including storytelling, are fundamentally acts of mimesis, with each act varying by its medium and its manner.

It may seem like I've gone off on a tangent, but I see every part of what's written above as having relevance to the multi-faceted approach that Carey took with the series. Poetics is a short work, but an understanding of the basic principles that Aristotle was postulating will enrich a reading of Orpheus in the Underworld; and, if it's not already apparent, familiarity with the Orpheus myth will help also.

The Unwritten: Volume 07 (2013)

The Wound (2013)

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

'There were no winds. It came on them in complete silence. The perfect whiteness of an unwritten page.'

The opening chapter / issue of Volume 07 is another of those secondary character asides that Mike Carey is damn good at. It doesn't even have Tom Taylor in it, but it's great and was my favourite part of the book.

It's followed by a four-part story, the one for which the collection is named. Tom features in it, but he's in the background often, allowing a few more of the supporting cast to have time in the spotlight, including an Australian police officer who's investigating The Church of Tommy.

The Church is a religious cult whose doctrine is based upon the Tommy Taylor™ books. The boy-wizard's most recent novel had some Christ-like parallels, which is the kind of happening that can cause such fanatics to crawl into the light, believing they have something to prove.

The Unwritten: Volume 06 (2012)

Tommy Taylor and the War of Words (2012)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrators: Peter Gross / Michael William Kaluta / Rick Geary / Bryan Talbot / Gary Erskine / Gabriel Hernandez Walta | Page Count: 240

'The snows came. Closing the roads, and deadening all sounds. Pushing us back on each other's company. And that was when the horrors began.'

Tired of running and hiding, Tom uses what he's learned thus far to take the fight to the enemy on his terms.

Containing ten issues, War of Words is the largest volume in the entire collected series. The numbering of each is a little odd, though. After each natural number (31-35) is a half number (31∙5-35∙5). The former continues the Tom Taylor story. Whereas the latter reveals the origins of some key members of the Cabal.

The half-numbered issues were my favourite part of the work; a few of them felt like they could've taken place in the Lucifer universe, which is a previous Vertigo title by the same creative duo. Personally, I much prefer Lucifer to The Unwritten, so that was a real treat for me.

The Unwritten: Volume 05 (2012)

On to Genesis (2012)

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

"There was a woman I loved, once. And she died. I have no idea when that happened. If it ever did."

Tom Taylor has uncovered a small part of his past and is beginning to understand the nature and power of 'the source'. But there's a second, more personal question still unanswered: who or what actually is Tom Taylor?

The concatenation of mysterious events that have led him to where he is now, in NY, hunted by the Cabal, stretches back further than he ever thought (or feared).

In order to progress further, Tom, with help from his two travelling companions, must learn more about his father, the author Wilson Taylor, a man for whom Tom has very mixed feelings. They say the best way to truly understand a man is to walk in his shoes, an action that for Wilson's son isn't an impossible thing to do literally.

The Unwritten: Volume 04 (2011)

Leviathan (2011)

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

‘He had wondered before, who had imagined his world. Now he had a new question. Who was narrating it?’

In some cases Tom's extensive 'literary geography' is just that, a geographical knowledge, he hasn't read the text to which the location pertains. But now, whether he's read it or not, he's living inside someone else's novel and he'll share the ultimate fate of its characters if he doesn't find a way out before the story reaches its end.

But what choice does he have? To discover his truth he must "walk the map" created by his elusive father, Wilson Taylor, a man who turned his son into a living weapon.

The confidence that author Mike Carey has in his work shines through in Volume 04, particularly in the quiet moments, of which there are many this time; too many, perhaps, for some folks, but they serve a purpose.

About halfway through things get kicked up a gear and our understanding of what and why happenings are the way they are for Tom is expanded.

The Unwritten: Volume 03 (2011)

Dead Man's Knock (2011)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 160

"When you wake up, you talk to me, or you hit the road. Either way, this all has to stop."

With storytelling's power to influence (and divide) the literate population well-established in Volumes 01 and 02, the time is now right to further explore the secretive cabal that wish to use that power for their own ends.

At the same time Tommy Taylor™ fans across the globe are eagerly anticipating the launch of the fourteenth novel in the fantasy book series. A rumour begins to circulate that the book's author, Wilson Taylor, will be in attendance, even though he hasn't been seen in years.

For Tom and his travelling companions, who are desperately trying to keep a low profile lest they draw the attentions of the authorities and/or the cabal, there are hard decisions to be made about their future.

The Unwritten: Volume 02 (2010)

Inside Man (2010)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 168

"Sometimes... even if it's a game... it's real, too. Sometimes, it's not up to you to choose."

Tom Taylor, son of the famous author Wilson Taylor, shares a name with his father's most famous creation, the boy wizard Tommy Taylor™. But, in light of recent events, some fans of the books are beginning to believe that Tom is in fact the living incarnation of his fictional counterpart, and not the other way around.

The social media websites, chat rooms and internet forums are alive with activity, discussing the possibility.

For Tom, life goes from bad to worse. There are people who want to kill him and people who want to keep him alive, but he doesn't know why that is. What does seem clear, however, is that the 'literary geography' that Wilson drummed into the boy's head is proving to be even more of a curse as the days go on.

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.)

Ulver: The Norwegian National Opera (2010)

Ulver: The Norwegian National Opera (2010)

Dir. Erlend Gjertsen

If you know Ulver then you'll know they play by their own rules, which is exactly what the live concert film presents a viewer with from the outset. Captured at The Norwegian National Opera on 31/07/10, it begins like some kind of bizarre performance art with the music as accompaniment.

The band members eventually appear in front of a projected screen that displays imagery with a power all of its own, being frequently religious, warring and sexually explicit in nature. It's also occasionally horrific and even somewhat questionable. I unwisely watched it before settling down to sleep.

As a live entity they're impressive, which is something you might not expect from a band that until the previous year had worked solely in the studio since their formation in 1993. And while the full oeuvre of the wolves may not get an airing, their experimental/ambient side certainly does.

Ultraman: The Next (2004)

Ultraman: The Next (2004)

Dir. Kazuya Konaka

I don’t know much about the Ultraman franchise, so I went to Wikipedia for information about where The Next fits into the overall scheme of things and how it relates to what came before and after.

The article states that the film is part of a three-phase reinvention called the Ultra N Project, an undertaking that was designed to reinvent the hero for an older audience. That seemed like an excellent jumping on point for someone like me.

Prior to it I was watching the awful Ultraman Ginga TV series. The difference is staggering.

The titular hero doesn't appear until approx 40+ minutes into the running time. Until then it focuses mostly on crafting a drama about an F-15 pilot named Shunichi (Tetsuya Bessho) who loves to fly almost as much as he loves his wife and young son.