| Author | Message | ||
     Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
I've done a guest blog for Gestalt Mash. It's about Mike Mignola and Hellboy. It's also about the haunted dunes near Porthcawl, Twisthorn Bellow and a villain with a walnut whip for a head. I wrote it for love and money. Here it is: http://gestaltmash.com/2010/07/mignola-daydream/ It features lots of photos I took myself of models I made myself. Is that a recommendation? I doubt it! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
a villain with a walnut whip for a head Now that's a brilliant image. Bravo! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.122.107.152 |
That's a Harry Potter figure! How come you have that? | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
Well spotted Tony! I rammed the walnut whip down on his head -- hard! I enjoyed doing that! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.122.107.152 |
 Er, you still haven't explained why you had it... I have those figures, too. The Hermione one has a cloth skirt, you know. | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 80.4.12.3 |
The reason I bought it, Tony, was so that I could ram a walnut whip down on its head. No other reason. It cost 99p from 99pWorld. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 64.180.64.74 |
Order a copy of Twisthorn Bellow and you'll realise that the book has NOTHING in common with any of the Harry Potter books. ...except one or two words, like "and" and "or". | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.129.71 |
'a villain with a walnut whip for a head.' Agreed...that is the best image I've had in my head all week. And an edible one at that. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.208.112.244 |
Nice blog, Rhys. Very interesting. And funny. I enjoyed that. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.192.96 |
I watched Hellboy again this week with my son Bill. He usually loves monster films and used to like Hellboy - as did I. But now... I don't know; we both nearly fell asleep. There was no tension or atmosphere, no sense of dread or even excitement. It looked really nice and had some great effects, but that was about it. It got me reflecting on the fact that I only really like Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. The others have failed to lodge in my mind, haunt me. Over on Facebook I was comparing the film with Company of Wolves, which had no real 'story shape' or any suspense 'situation', and quite poor effects, but stayed in my mind (for me). Quite different films, I know - maybe Indiana Jones might have been the one to compare Hellboy with. I realised 'geek' or 'fanboy' made films never quite convince me. Watching the comedy Blades of Glory last night I realised it had more a ring of truth about it, everything felt 'real' and to exist, even though it was all as fantastical as Hellboy, in its way. What makes a good film, I wonder, what elements really stop us thinking 'this is a film'? I think it's a sense of 'truth'. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.192.96 |
I have loads more Harry Potter figures since this thread was started btw. LOADS. And a little room of requirement. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.148 |
Tony, didn't you compare HELLBOY to Powell and Pressburger before? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
'Blades Of Glory' is a great laugh isn't it, Tony. I've slowly but surely turned into a big Will Ferrell fan over the years. 'Anchorman' & 'Talladega Nights' are his best. But I also love the 'Hellboy' films. I'd put them up there with Sam Raimi's first two 'Spiderman' adaptations and Nolan's 'Batman' (flawed as 'The Dark Knight' is) as the finest superhero movies of the modern era. Del Toro has yet to put a foot wrong as a director, imo. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.192.96 |
Oh, I loved it when I first saw it. But I've realised it doesn't have any wonder, just a kind of colourful rubbery texture... Me and my son have been discussing the Batmans and have decided we veer more towards the camp in our tastes of those films. The new ones sit heavy on us, the old ones keeping us light and still able to prance about, especially Batman Forever. If this makes any sense let me know. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
Batman Forever was better than Batman and Robin. Sadly that's the best thing I can think of to say about it. When you consider that Batman and Robin is the only film I ever walked out of in the cinema after paying for a ticket (yes I think it's that bad) I'm not saying much. The studios actually had plans for a whole sequence of Batman movies but BAR killed them dead - and almost destroyed the superhero genre for a good 10 years - till Spiderman and Batman Begins kick-started it again. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 31.53.148.29 |
I'm going to do a Stevie Here Best Del Toro Films 1 - Devil's backbone 2 - Pan's labyrinth 3 - Cronos 4 - Mimic (This would be number 3 except for the guy surviving the explosion at the end when he starts it by lighting a match - and a tube train running eeven though there's no electric... The rest of the film is fantastic) 5 - Blade 2 or Hellboy - I can't decide. I've not seen Hellboy 2 so I can't say anything about that. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
The best superhero movies are still the original 'Superman' & 'Superman II', imo, and I'm with Tony in slightly preferring the more fantastical Tim Burton Batman movies to Nolan's straight versions. I actually think the 'Hellboy' movies ('Hellboy II' is fantastic, Weber) are the best of the last 10 years. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
How I'd rank them: 1. Cronos (1993) 2. The Devil's Backbone (2001) 3. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) 4. Mimic (1997) 5. Hellboy (2004) 6. Hellboy II : The Golden Army (2008) 7. Blade II (2002) Next project, 'Pacific Rim', isn't due out until 2013 and is his tribute to those cheesy old Japanese giant monster flicks by all accounts!!!!  We've been waiting far too long for another of his serious genre projects, imo. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.132.139.94 |
I thought HELLBOY II was better than the first one (with the possible exception on the troubling way Selma Blair appeared diminished between films). The creature design, in particular, is astonishing. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
There's very little to choose between the three horror superhero flicks Del Toro has made and I agree 'Hellboy II' was sensationally good. It was also nice to see Norn Iron featuring, with the gateway to hell situated on the North Antrim coast - something I've long suspected. I just think the first one shades it in terms of narrative structure and characterisation, as origin movies tend to do (see 'Batman Begins' as compared to 'The Dark Knight'). |