Tag Archives: 2012

General

Doctor Who: The Snowmen Review

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There is no one better to spend the holidays with then The Doctor!

HO HO Hello everyone! It’s your ghost of Christmas nerdiness, Richard, here! I hope each of you reading had the happiest of holidays this year, and got everything you asked Santa for. So, I’m a recent inductee into the society of Doctor Who fans know as: Whovians. Sounds so much cooler then trekkie or trekker or whatever the hell Star Trek fans are called. Anyway, my first episode was from season 5 when the current Doctor, Matt Smith, went back in time to see Vincent Van Gogh. It wasn’t the greatest episode I’d ever seen, but I could totally see why people were digging this show.

Eventually, via the power of Netflix, I was able to catch up on the current stories of The Doctor and his various companions. I found myself a brand new favorite show, and I’ve been watching ever since! Now, I’ve made it a Christmas tradition, as do most Whovians I’d imagine, to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special every year. Last years special, The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe, wasn’t exactly the mind blowing epic we’d all wanted it to be. Thankfully, 2012’s special simply titled The Snowmen was the exact opposite!

The Snowmen, set in 1892 Victorian London, shows us a Doctor who has grown apathetic of the world he used to save all the time. This new found apathy has come about through the lost of various loved ones. Specifically, the death of the Ponds from the last episode. However, a vibrant and energetic new character, sort of new, named Clara springs The Doctor from his slump so that he can help defeat this weird new snow themed villain. I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting to love this episode as much as I did. There were aspects I was thrilled to see, the new companion and the new look for Tardis and Doctor, but the commercials didn’t wow me. However, I was pleased with the outcome of this new episode!

First off, Steven Moffat is a master storyteller! Ever since he has taken over the show, I’ve been loving the stories told more then ever! Not every episode is amazing, obviously, but I’ve been loving them more then the previous stories. This latest tale, I feel, is total proof of Moffat’s story telling powers! Sure, It wasn’t the most Christmas-y Christmas special, but the script’s greatness made up for that. Also, I’m in complete pure love with Clara Oswin Oswald! I will always love Amy Pond, but there is something about Clara that drives me wild! Yea, she is freaking gorgeous and intelligent as hell, but there is something else about her. An element not yet discovered, you know?

This is something even The Doctor noticed. When I say this, I’m talking more about the gorgeous part. The Doctor seemed to be crushing on Clara as much as we all were! This is the first time, to my knowledge, where the companion isn’t the one with the crush! I can tell the dynamic between these two characters is going to be a fun one, indeed! Clara made this episode for me. Jenna-Louise Coleman, the actress behind Clara, knocked it out of the park! What an amazing performance! I can see her being everyone’s new favorite companion.

Now, not only has the companion changed, so has the look of two key elements to Doctor Who: The Doctor’s outfit and The Tardis interior. Admittedly, I’ll miss the old tweed jacket, but I am liking the new look. Mainly because The Doctor is still sporting his bow tie! If He didn’t have it, which he didn’t at first in this episode, I would have been upset. I did like the way they introduced the bow tie in The Snowmen. It showed The Doctor transforming from apathy to empathy.

Between the two new looks, I love the new Tardis more then the new outfit. The new interior is beautiful! I love the blue color, the alien vibe, everything! I Don’t know if I’m alone in this feeling, but I love it regardless! All in all, This latest Christmas adventure was the best one yet! I think even the cruddiest of Christmases could be fixed with a viewing of this new episode! I can’t wait to see what is to come in the second half of series 7!

I give Doctor Who: The Snowmen 5 evil snowflakes outta 5!

Comics! With Richard and Carter, General

Django Unchained #1 Review (COMICS!)

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“What’s yer name?” “…Django. D-J-A-N-G-O….The D is silent.”

Howdy, folks! This is your bounty hunter from another mother, Richard, here! Today, I present to you a comic book review! However, this is not just some regular comic review where I chit chat about Batman’s latest adventure in Gotham City. No…This is a review of a comic book adaptation of a Quentin Tarantino film script! Specifically, his original script for his latest film: Django Unchained! OH MY GOD! That is freaking awesome, peeps! This is not something you usually see in comics. Also, what’s really exciting about this is the comic series will be a straight adaptation of the ENTIRE script.

This means that if there is something in the script that didn’t make it to film, it’s probably in the comic! The first issue was released today, and I’m loving it, in case you can’t tell. I will say this, if you don’t want to be spoiled in anyway…AVOID THIS COMIC! Once again, It’s a direct adaptation of the script. So, avoid it, or wait until the film comes out to pick up issue one.

Anyways, Issue one starts off with a group of slaves being escorted to possibly another location to continue their unfortunate slavery. During their journey, The slaves and slavers meet a dentist named Dr. King Schultz. They also meet his horse, Fritz. Schultz is looking for a particular slave that he believes is among the group. As expected, that very slave is among the group, and his name is…Django. Schultz attempts to acquire the slave by politely purchasing him, but the slavers won’t budge. Instead, Schultz is forced to aggressively purchase Django. Schultz and Django then ride to the nearest town to chat about why this has all happened. Apparently, Schultz is actually a bounty hunter looking for some people Django might know. So, he enlists Django to help find these people, and kill them.

First off, I’m so glad this is a direct adaptation of Tarantino’s script. I don’t think there is a single writer out there who could have done a Tarantino script justice. Especially in the dialog. Tarantino dialog is always rough, witty, and fun all at the same time. That’s probably why I hate most film adapted comics. The writers can never really capture the voice of the story or the screenwriter. I will say, the dialog does get a bit wordy at times. Even more so when Schultz is speaking, which is most of the time. That being said, if it were bad dialog, then it would be an issue. Thankfully, the dialog is amazing, and totally fun to read.

But! This is something I expect from Tarantino! I know he is going to wow me when it comes to writing. The real thing to look at is the artwork. The artist on this comic is R.M. Guera. The art in the comic is very rugged, tough, dark and stylized. It’s a style that nicely fits the story. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, though. Some of the faces are a bit weird at times. Other then that, I really dig the artwork. It very much looks like a western comic. Overall, I’m very happy with the way this first issue turned out. Also, it was nice to get kind of an early peek at the first few moments in the film!

I give Django Unchained #1 4.5 gun shots outta 5! I realize half a gun shot is odd, but that’s my rating!

If you would like me to review the rest of the series as it comes out, tell me in the comments! Also, please subscribe to Channel23hahaha on Youtube! I’d really appreciate it!

Comics! With Richard and Carter

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer Reactions!

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Hey-o! Carter Friend here. I’m new here, and I’m super excited to be a part of Director’s Cut! Since this is my first article for the site, I thought I’d talk about something pretty big at the moment: the new Amazing Spider-Man trailer! If you watch COMICS!, you probably know my general feelings about the movie, but this trailer actually changed my mind about a few things. Just as an aside, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are two of my favorite comic book movies ever, so I can’t help but having a little bit of resentment towards this whole movie knowing that it could have been Spider-Man 4 (with John Malkovich as the Vulture no less!). But alas, it’s something I’ll just have to get over. Kind of like I had to do about the whole Norton recasting fiasco of 2011. Except I’m still not over that…at all. Anyway, let’s get back on topic. Here are some random thoughts I had while watching the new Spidey trailer. Be sure to let me know if you agree/disagree!

– The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone seems to be pretty perfect. Apparently it’s real too, as they’re dating in real life.

– I am definitely coming around to the new suit. Did not like what I saw in all of those leaked set pictures, but the final on-screen version looks much more polished and slick.

– Andrew certainly looks more like Peter Parker than Tobey did. However, Tobey was the definitive live-action Spider-Man for me, so it’ll be hard to make the adjustment.

– Spidey seems to be more of a prankster in this one than he did in the original trilogy. Love all of the wisecracks, too. Much more like the comic book Spidey.

– What the heck is all of this stuff with Peter’s parents? I do not approve. This is not Batman’s origin story, it’s Spider-Man’s! Ah well, it’s just a trailer – not very fair of me to judge this storyline just yet. Let’s just say I’m skeptical.

– Aunt May needs to be OLDER!

– Yay for Oscorp!

– Love Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors. Do not love the design of the Lizard as much. I much prefer the more cartoony-looking comic version. Granted, that might have been hard to translate well on film, but they cold have at least given him more of a snout and not just made him out to be a human being with scales.

– Definitely like how smart they appear to be making Peter out to be. In the comics, he is actually a former science teacher and inventor of all his own gadgets!

– That beings said about the gadgets…boo web-shooters!

– “I gotta stop him…I created him.” Ugh. Let’s hope the whole movie isn’t filled with cheesy superhero lines like this one.

– Dennis Leary looks like a good guy-you-love-to-hate type of character. He seems to be to Spider-Man what General Ross is to the Hulk.

– Jeez, Peter seems to really not care for this whole secret identity thing. I feel like we seem him doing more tricks without the mask than with it.

– Closing action shot is really cool. Looks like more of a big-budget spectacle than the other Spidey movies.

Overall, the second Amazing Spider-Man trailer was far better than the first and generally got be more excited about the movie than I was before. Still not too happy about no J.K. Simmons as JJJ (and apparently no JJJ at all) and having Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane Watson (Emma Stone looked more like Mary Jane in the first place) but I have high hopes for this movie. July can’t get here soon enough!

Podcast

The Director’s Cut vs. The Men Who Stares at Goats vs. The Box

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The Men Who Stare at Goats with George Clooney
The Men Who Stare at Goats with George Clooney

This week on The Director’s Cut, Dan‘s out with some mysterious illness, but Sean and Ollie KEEP showing up. They just won’t go away. They each saw a different movie, so the show has a double review of The Men Who Stare At Goats and The Box. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Davenport couldn’t do the pick because of an “incident” that could have ended his career. Plus, Ollie tries to put Sean on the spot with the 64 thousand dollar question: what would you do? Last, the guys count down the top ten movies with barnyard animals (Dan would have loved it).

Next week we review the movie 2012, so we’re asking for your top ten favorite movies with a date in the title. Make sure to tune in to hear how Dan‘s doing, listen to the review of 2012, and find out what happened to Davenport. It’s the Director’s Cut, that two hour guy’s show all about the movies.

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