'The Awakening' directed by Nick Murphy

Director: Nick Murphy

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton

Synopsis:

1921 England is overwhelmed by the loss and grief of World War I and following the Spanish flu, the opening titles tell us “This is a time for ghosts.”

Skeptic and hoax exposer Florence Cathcart is enlisted by Teacher Robert Mallory to investigate a boarding school and explain sightings of a child ghost. Upon arriving however things go awry when everything Florence knows begins to unravels as the dead begin to show themselves and her own past comes back to haunt her.

Review:

There is a tendency to forget that delving's into supernatural haven't always been at the hands of a petrified protagonist out of the lens of a shaky camera. Modern horror's while retaining the mystery have become much more first person affairs or vitriolic shock value bastardisations of their cinematically older cousins.

A resurgence in the supernatural chiller has happened in recent years that has re-acquired the lost gothica through films like The Sixth Sense, The Others, The Devils Backbone, The Orphanage and the sort of low key cinema that isn't afraid to tread in period waters with rounded characters and an affecting story in favour of gratuity and gore.

The Awakening adds to this tradition bringing the period ghost story back with an elegant tale of murder, mystery, terror and revelation. While it's often entertaining enough to have a simple ghost story set in a different era, this tale is something more. Beautifully shot through the gloomy lens of Eduard Grau, Nick Murphy transports us to the purgatory of England in mourning duirng the 1920's.

Stricken by the guilt and the personal isolation of the post war years, the fear encapsulated in the dark halls and unforgiving teachers cum survivors of the haunted boys school seems palpable, crushing almost. Rebecca Hall's Florence Cathcart is an inspiring rendition of a strong willed cynic, really a haunted woman trying to outrun the misery of her blighted past.

Her 20's style ghost hunting gadgetry is more engrossing than any hackneyed modern devices, though I initially struggled with Catcart as a character, trying to imagine such a strong willed protagonist pre-feminism. But Hall's performance wins you over persuading you that her cold and clinical method comes from a darker place, her cynical requirement a self protective barrier that she has erected by necessity.

The pace of the film is played staccato, long silences are interrupted by bursts of mayhem. The moment you feel secure the beautifully gothic score from Daniel Pemberton begins to wail and assures you you are not. The feeling of guilt and sadness weigh heavily amongst the cast and indeed the boys of the school are wrapped in similar isolated and fearful conditions. Add to this the ghost of a boy and the death of another and you have a melting pot of emotional turmoil.

The boys are painted a combination of both cliquish and terrified as subjects not just to a haunting, but to the backlash of a generation of men who were forced to toughen up before their time, resulting in displays of behaviour that today would rank as odious, but then was par for the course. It's this eye for detail that allows you to forget Murphy's questionable 'Ghost Science' and become immersed in the bleakness of the circumstances. Rising discomfort floods through the screen and the suffocating sense of dread is enough to buckle the most hardened supernatural aficionado.

The excellent Dominic West wears survivors guilt behind a stolid exterior, while secretly he's cramped with the post trauma's of war and death. Imelda Staunton similarly hides her emotions behind the poker face of duty, her real motivations a harder nut to crack. The mystery is infused with the raw emotions of the cast and melts perfectly into a study of sadness and of a yearning to be healed. These are the things that will in turn yield the answers to the haunting and the dead, rather than the science that Hall's Cathcart finds is falling short.

The Awakening is a twisty turny film, with a plot that will mislead you and intrigue you as far as the credits. Despite it's short falls in what seemed a slightly rushed final act, it is a truly superb piece of eerie. A tale as much driven by excellent character as it is by a rich plot thick with scares and misdirection.

4.5/5

By: Mark McCann

For film reviews and much more check out Mark's site: Bad Haven

INCREDIBLE HULK #1 Review

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist/Cover: Marc Silvestri

Synopsis:

Hulk and Banner have seperated once more and Hulk in an effort to find peace has found some form of solace in the caverns of the Subhuman population inhabited by the Mole Man's people. Hulk just wants to be left alone, but as usual he never is.

REVIEW:

Jason Aaron has big shoes to fill taking over from Greg Pak, arguably the best Hulk writer since Peter David penned the Green Goliath nearly a decade ago. Pak's Planet Hulk and World War Hulk rejuvenated the character and made him a palpable menace again as well as a solid part of the Marvel universe, with a character evolution that had not properly been explored since David's heyday at the titles peak in the early 90's. And right from the beginning I was dubious of Aaron's coming on board. Early interviews revealed his decision to split Banner from the Hulk once more (albeit this time at the behest of the Hulk) was a dance that had been done before, in fact repeatedly over the years and it was seriously old. So what else new did the writer have to bring to the title?

Character-wise the Hulk has stayed similar to Pak's interpretation. He's brooding and dangerous; less the man child that he's often been portrayed as over the years, this Hulk is self aware and dangerously so. The opening monolgue gives Aaron the chance to shine in his dialogue but it's the plot where he falls down and this book nose dives. The same old tropes begin to appear and we're suddenly faced with a title relaunch that's giving us absolutely nothing new.

I was initially excited by the addition of 90's superstar artist Marc Silvestri, an Image Founder and the head honcho at Top Cow, but for all his detailed line work his action seems to lack the raw power it's aiming for and seems instead drowned out and overlaid by the colours. While Silvestri captures the characters well, he falls down badly when it comes to the 'SMASH' element that is integral to any Hulk title, and the foreboding cover never seems to deliver the expectations it sets on the insides.

And speaking of the 'SMASH' element: Hulk fights giant monsters, Giant Robots and just generally giant things that prove he's still the strongest one there is. This again highlights the books lack of originality, for while you could forgive these things as elemental to Hulk, whats harder to forgive is the pale characterisation and the slimly defined motivations (although these are hopefully going to be highlighted in later issues) that leave the cast almost palying stereotypes of themselves. This Hulk is just nothing new. Similar to Pak but not as daring, aiming for the psyhoanalysis of David of Bruce Jones but with nothing new to offer this feels more like John Byrnes tired and incredibly lacklustre relaunch in the late 90's than it does a suitable follow up to Pak.

Part of me thinks that Aaron, one of the most promising new writers of the last few years is spreading himself too thin, and is stuck writing new directions for characters that don't necessarily suit them. The writers take on Hulk seems to come from a darker era, a more classic run juxtaposed against the new and what we get is something that just doesn't seem to add up based on all his recent history. Similarly Silvestri has all the artistic chops in the world to draw the character but what we get instead in some very flat looking panels and an almost lack of momentum in what looks more like a canvass panel than a piece of storytelling.

In a nutshell I am not hopeful for this new Hulk. It's writer hasn't quite got a handle on the character yet and nothing about it smacks of a newer bolder direction, while paying attention to the continuity of the old. A lacklustre first issue with serious room for improvement.

2/5

Mark McCann

For more reviews check out Bad Haven.

X-MEN: REGENESIS Review

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Art: Billy Tan

Cover: Chris Bachalo

SYNOPSIS:

The X-Men have been tore in two post Schism and now there will be two separate factions: One led by Wolverine that will move two Westchester, One by Cyclops that will stay on UTOPIA. But who will go and who will stay?

REVIEW:

If I were to describe this issue in a nut shell I would say it is perfunctory. It's a segue issue and nothing else, as it is simply a means of letting the reader know the new status quo for the coming series: Uncanny X-Men (the relaunch) and Wolverine and the X-Men (a really questionable idea). So the point of the issue is to establish who's going where and why, and sadly a lot of this is bereft on any real dramatic conflict or real strong feelings on the issue of Cyclops Militant X-Men realism Vs Wolverines idealistic stance; where kids get to be kids, as they're somehow no longer living in a world where being mutants is likely to get them killed.

I read each panel waiting for something dramatic to light it up, but sadly the members of the various X-Teams reasons for jumping ship or staying often failed to gage the reality of the split, instead it often came down to a convenience move or a change of scenery. Which made it clear that the conflict between their appointed mutant leaders was very much a confined one. For everyone else, it was business as usual with the option of a new place to crash.

Add to this some incredibly bad exposition: Gillen writes a primal battle scene between the cave men versions of Wolverine and Cyclops as an undercurrent to the mainstory, representing the victories scored by each man as they acquire a new recruit. This was absolutely terrible, and seems to be there for the dual reasons of injecting action into an issue where it frankly has no place, and getting the female X-Men lined up in tiny fur g-strings and little else.

It's so terrible as to detract what little enjoyment I could siphon from this incredibly mediocre cash in issue, that was in the grand scheme of things entirely unnecessary (you could have told the same story in the opening panels of throughout the #1 issues of the X relaunches). Billy Tan's artwork adds nothing to the story either, as hit or miss, he spends this issue mostly missing. His scratchy thin and lifeless artwork can really come alive given the right environment, but long panels worth of dullconversation does nothing for his style and left his work flat and uninteresting where a more dynamic artist might at least have made this issue more interesting to look at.#

I can't condemn Regenesis entirely though, as there were some knowing scenes, such as Beast giving Cyclops an honest appraisal of his methods and Magneto's interplay with Rogue that brought a wry smile to my face. They let the steady reader in on the joke and brought a degree of levity to the doldrums, but overall this title was just filler material, and unnecessary filler at that. Add some bad cave man antics crowbarred in as a parallel analogy and you have a boring comic that at times is quite bad.

Again, I am dubious of the direction the X-Books are going, and can't shake the feeling that some characters are suffering some terrible out of character direction in order to facilitate sales and bring in new fans. Time will be the teller as usual, but if Regenesis, off the back of the better written if not similarly dubious Schism event is what we have to look forward to in the X Camp, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be pitching my metaphorical tent.

In short: Lazy, uninteresting and perfunctory with some truly awful split screen parallels.

1.5/5

By: Mark McCann

For more comic reviews check out Bad Haven.

Movie Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy

This review is from our friends over at Bad Haven. They have revamped their site and it looks great. Go give them a look if you get the chance.

Plot – In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6′s echelons.

Director – Thomas Alfredson

Starring – Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Kathy Burke, David Decik

The cold war has been over for more than twenty years, so when I headed into the screening of Thomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, I was wondering exactly what a cold war espionage thriller would have to offer.

As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. The movie surpassed all my expectations and delivered a gripping and hugely entertaining thriller without compromising it’s characters or story.

The plot follows a semi-retired spy by the name of George Smiley (Oldman) who is asked out of retirement by a government minister to investigate claims that there is a Russian double agent working in the upper echelons of MI6.

With the help of a junior member of the service (Cumberbatch), Smiley sets about exposing the mole who is likely to be one of the four most powerful spys in the country (Dencik, Firth, Jones, Hinds).

While it is true that a cold war espionage thrillers aren’t really relevant anymore, except as a period pieces, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is much more than just a thriller or period piece. It elevates itself above the average with wonderful performances from a fantastic cast, a gripping plot and subtle but classy direction.

Oldman is magnificent as the subdued yet calculating Smiley. His role was first brought to moving images by Alec Guinness in the seventies and even without seeing that adaptation it is obvious that Oldman has absorbed some of Guinness here. But he certainly makes the part his very own, the way only Gary Oldman can. He inhabits the character of Smiley completely and plays him as a shrewd but tired spy who has had to do things he wishes he hadn’t in the name of Queen and Country.

Oldman’s performance would have been all for nought if the supporting cast had been second rate, but the movie has one of the best casts I have seen in recent years. Firth, Jones, Hinds and Dencik are all excellent as the senior spies under suspicion, Cumberbatch is great as Oldman’s anxious sidekick and John Hurt is perfect as Control, the paranoid head of the intellegence service who is forced out after a bungled operation.

Although solid, Tom Hardy is probably the least effective cast member as ‘Scalphunter’ Ricki Tarr. Michael Fassbender was originally supposed to play the role and I think he might have brought a little more emotion to the rogue agent who falls in love with a Russian counterpart.

Alfredson’s direction is notable in that it is hardly noticeable. I was never aware of the camera unless I looked for it which is a testament to the subtlety and nous that the swede uses and the cinematography and art direction work perfectly together to create a a bleak and grimy 1970s London that reflects the shadiness of the characters’ business. Even the score is subtley effective and never intrudes on the narrative.

All things considered, I was quite surprised that I was so engrossed in a film whose subject matter was outdated in a genre that has been done to death. The real reason why Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy works is that it is only an espionage thriller in a narrative sense.

At it’s heart, the movie is actually about the characters’ relationships and personal betrayal. We are presented with a secret and closeted world filled with paranoid men who have little else in their lives except their work. When that world starts to unravel, it becomes evident that the double-crosses and lies affect these men personally because their colleagues are really the only friends that they ever had.

A cracking story that stands up despite being politically irrelevant, casting that was made to facilitate that story, impressive performances and technical subtlety all combine to make Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy one of the most entertaining spy dramas I have ever seen.

review by Karol Murray

8/10