Play Review: Frankenstein

Last Thursday I went to a local movie theatre and checked out the latest National Live Theatre presentation, Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. The premise of National Live Theatre is that a live stage show in the UK is broadcast to movie theatres throughout the world. The ticket was a little more expensive (about $20), and the theatre was pretty empty – approximately 25 people in total.

The production has a bit of a gimmick, the two leads actually switch parts every show, so depending on which day you go one will be playing the monster and the other will be playing the doctor. Thursdays show featured Cumberbatch as the creature and Miller as the Doctor. The show began on time, without trailers and was introduced by a pleasant on-screen woman introduced the play as well as a short, behind-the-scenes film about the making of the play (it ran roughly ten minutes).

The play began by focusing entirely on the creature – if you’re not familiar with the novel, most adaptations begin with the creator going through his young life on the road to creation (technically it began at the end of the story and he describes his story to the captain of a ship, but ignoring the framing device, the story follows the doctor and we perceive the creature through his eyes). The doctor makes a very brief appearance at the beginning and then the play basically becomes focused on the creatures story. A quick side note – I was totally thrilled to see the blind man who befriends the creature was played by Karl Johnson, who I’ve loved in both HBO’s Rome and Lark Rise to Candleford.

The second half of the play focuses largely on the doctor, and it is exactly that format – the creature in the beginning and the doctor in the end that really got me looking at the story in a new light. The two leads were fantastic, having only seen Cumberbatch in Sherlock and Atonement, I was blown away by his portrayal of the creature. As the Doctorm, Miller was pretty much exactly the dark intense character you expect Victor to be – which is funny because I’m most familiar with his work in Eli Stone, where he played a lawyer/prophet and Hackers where he played a young criminal – both far cries from the creator of this plays terrible creature.

In the end the play was fantastic, I am definitely hoping to see it with the roles reversed and if you’re interested, you should definitely check out the encore performance on Thursday, March 31st, at wherever is closest for you.

RIP Michael Gough

Tonight I’m off to see the Nation Live Theatre Production of Frankenstein, starring Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, and as I probably wouldn’t have a lot of time to come up with a post I decided to check my usual newsfeeds for anything I could comment on.

Then I read that Michael Gough had passed away at the age of 94. Wow.

Like most kids my age (I was 13 in 1989) I was introduced to Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth in Tim Burton’s Batman. Even though I spent a lot of the film fixated on Batman and the Joker, I had to admit that Alfred was a pretty cool dude.

Over the last twenty-two years I’ve come across his work in everything from comedies like Top Secret! to appearances in the Hammer Horror films and even The Avengers (the ‘60s series I watched a few months back) – also a quick note for my BFF Mike – he was married to a Doctor Who companion for a while as well.

To be honest it was my interest in seeing a younger Alfred that led me to Horror of Dracula, which led me to checking out Curse of Frankenstein, which led me to the show I’m checking out tonight, I guess that just shows the effect a really good actor can have on you.

He’ll be missed.

Genre Character of the Week: Thor

Okay Okay, I’ll admit it, I was just talking about Thor last week and as that was the case what on Earth can I say about the guy less than a week later? Well let me tell you.

First of all – having now read the second Thor Visionaries collection, I’m beginning to feel that Thor is more a romance than an action story. Thor #357 ends with the Asgardian God being bewitched by a love potion used on him by an enchantress, and then one of my favourite teasers for the next issue I’ve come across in comics:

Is THOR becoming a ROMANCE COMIC? Has Marvel’s fabulous rock-em, sock-em book denigrated into nothing more than puerile SOAP OPERA? Will kissing become the rule rather than the exception? Is nothing sacred? Don’t hold your breath!! And don’t miss our next issue! => When Dalliance Was in Flower

Here’s the thing about Thor – the guy is a romantic at heart, he loves humans (and not as playthings) and he is as close to an innocent as I’ve come across in super-hero comics. The guy seems pretty willing to understand virtually anyone’s story, and although this makes him gullible more than a few times, his faith in humanity is kind of heart warming. Plus the guy has a pretty incredible code of ethics – more than once he lays his life on the line as a moral decision, rather than out of desperation because, you guessed it, it’s the right thing to do.

Seriously, as a hero, this guy is pretty old school, and that’s awesome.

Movie Review: Paul

Last Thursday my friends Mike and Ron managed to get a double guest pass to an advanced screening of the movie Paul, so my wife and I joined them to check it out.

Here’s my impressions of the film.

1) It was pretty darn funny

2) It is the closest thing I’ll ever see to an Alf movie (and I liked it better than Alf)

3) It has the makings for an excellent movie-lovers drinking game

4) It continues to show me that you can’t go wrong if you’re teaming up Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

5) Kristen Wiig wears the funniest shirt I’ve seen in months

If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, check it out, but basically the film follows two guys who pick up an alien hitch-hiker and spend the rest of the film on the run from shady government agents. The movie nods at tonnes of classic genre films (seriously I tried to keep count by after hitting reference #27 I just gave up and enjoyed the film) in very clever ways.

The alien (a CG creation voiced by Canadian actor Seth Rogen) is pretty incredible, making him both foul-mouthed and loveable. I think it’s fair to say that if you’re a regular reader at my blog, there will be a lot you’ll like about the film (no it doesn’t spend a month looking at Twilight, that was just me). In the end, a very fun flick.

Thing's Ive Notived: Thor circa 1983 is pretty awesome

So the movie Thor is coming out in a couple months and as I'm a guy who likes to do a little background research I decided to read some Thor comics. Rather than starting with the Stan Lee stuff from the '60s however, I decided to start with Walter Simonson's run which began in 1983 (Also it was one of the only Thor comics my library had).

Here's what I knew about Thor before cracking the cover 1) The guy is a god, 2) He has a magic hammer, 3) That little girl in Adventures in Babysitting loved him.

Three pages in and here's what I knew. 1) Thor has (had) an alter-ego named Donald Blake, 2) When Blake struck his cane against the ground he became Thor, 3) Nick Fury didn't always look like Samuel L. Jackson, 4) Nick Fury has a flying car 4) Nick Fury has a giant Floating Aircraft Carrier 5) ALIENS ARE ATTACKING!!! Here's the thing about these first 11 issues of Thor - stuff is happening all over the place, from Alien ivaders to demon invasions and even a fight with Faeries.

Thor seems to cross over into every genre possible and kicks butt wherever he goes. Simonson follows multiple characters (Thor, Odin, Loki, Beta Ray Bill, Baldur, Lorelai, etc.) to create a very dense storyline and by switching back and forth between these characters plotlines you get non-stop character development and cliffhangers. I've still got a couple Simonson collections to go, and my library does have the J. Michael Straczynski run as well, but I've got to say if the film has anything like the Simonson stuff I'm reading, it will be pretty awesome.

Genre Character of the Week: Bill Compton

As I've filled this section of my posts with girls for a while now, I think its time to get back to the boys, and one of my personal favourites in current vampire fiction, Bill Compton (pictured left), from the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

For those who haven't read the books or seen the series, Bill is a vampire, having been changed during the American War Between the States (or Civil War, depending on your point of view), he works to help ensure the safety of the vampires in his area, with a computer.

Here's what I like best about Bill - he's a gentleman. Bill comes across as a mainstay in supernatural romance novels - a very dangerous, but at the same time, proper gentleman. Throughout the books, Bill comes across as a guy in a very tough place who is simply trying to do the best he can for the girl he loves.

Now I've only seen season one of True Blood, but I do have to say that I'm very fond of Stephen Moyers' portrayal of the character and am definitely looking forward to season two as well as the next book in the series, Dead Reckoning.

Book Review: The City and The City

Almost a month ago I read the novel The City & The City by China Miéville but because it was a book club selection I felt I should wait until now (we finished our monthly meeting about an hour ago) to talk about the book.

First off, I'll admit bias - I really liked this book - it might be because I'm a fan of The Night Watch Series of books, or recently read a couple Kafka novels, and had read the author's first novel and loved it, but I came to this book hoping for something pretty cool and I got exactly what I was expecting.

Next, I'll admit that my BFF hated this book... he HATED it, and as usually we have pretty similar tastes in genre fiction, it surprised me how much he hated something that I liked a lot, but I do respect his opinion so I'm putting it out there.

In my mind this book works better the less you know about it. So I can't say a lot - it's a murder mystery, an intriguing look at the power of ideology and it has some of the coolest chase scenes I've ever come across.

In the end I suggest you give the book a try - if you're not a fan afterwards, okay. From my point of view however, it is a pretty awesome murder mystery set in one of the most interesting locations I've ever come across in fiction.