I finally watched ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’

November 25, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

Having heard that this sequel took a sharp turn away from the brilliant 2019 film, I decided to stay away from the cinema and wait until it was available to stream before watching it.

Now that I have seen ‘Joker II’, to say that it deviates from the winning formula of the first film is an understatement. It wasn’t the disaster that some are claiming it to be; the mood and style were still there, the song and dance routines gave the audience a clever insight into the mental state of the main characters, and it was well designed and directed.

However, this is not what the average fan wanted to see.

Without spoiling anything for those who still want to see this movie, all I will say is that for the first twenty minutes it looked like we were in for a film similar to the first one – but then the musical numbers kicked in. Quite simply, there were way too many!

There were good moments in the film that were more in line with the original ‘Joker’, but these were few and far between – with the standout for me being the courtroom scene between Arthur and Gary Puddles – and needless to say, all the performances in the movie were solid.

But the flaws easily outweighed the positives, and I was very disappointed in this movie.

I loved the first film and must have watched it four or five times – in fact, I could put it on right now and be glued to the screen from start to end. Watching the sequel had the opposite effect on me, and I could not digest it all in one sitting – it took me four sessions to complete over a couple of days. This is important to note, as one of the reasons why the first film did so well at the box office was through people returning to the cinema to watch it a second time.

For the record, I gave this film two stars (out of five) on Rotten Tomatoes.

All screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros

Artwork from the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ book series.

November 13, 2024November 14, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

‘Fighting Fantasy’ is a series of books that was first released in the early 1980’s and were written (mostly) by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. I loved reading these (or playing them) back when I was in school, and can recall just how awesome the opening ten to twelve books were – so much so that I can still remember the plots and characters.

The illustrations scattered throughout the pages would bring to life many scenes within the adventures, and were drawn in a style that created a both a sense of dread and wonder. Although the artwork for every book in this series was first class, I always felt that the pictures in the first two publications – ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ and ‘Citadel of Chaos’ – created by Russ Nicholson had a little something extra about them.

I will post a follow-up article about the other artists involved in the series at a later date and showcase their excellent work, but for now the focus shall be on Nicholson’s illustrations.

These are from ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’.

And the pictures below are from ‘The Citadel of Chaos’.

Fighting Fantasy books can be purchased online, with sellers such as Amazon offering a brand-new boxed set of the first dozen books. Of course, there are many second-hand titles available through eBay, but the books are now forty years old and probably played through many times – and are therefore a little worse for wear.

Russ Nicholson sadly passed away in 2023, and will be remembered for his legendary fantasy art that can be appreciated across many projects including ‘White Dwarf’ and ‘Warhammer’.

All images courtesy of Fighting Fantasy, Puffin Books and Russ Nicholson.

Van Diemen’s Land artwork by John Glover

October 30, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

John Glover was born in England in 1767 and migrated to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1831. Glover was already an established painter before moving to Tasmania, and would go on to create some of his most famous works during his later years there.

Glover’s paintings can be found in a number of museums and art galleries across Australia. There is an annual art competition named in his honour that takes place in the Tasmanian town of Evandale, near to where he lived, as well as a statue of the artist in one of the local parks.

I have highlighted four of his most famous works; a couple of which should be familiar to anyone from the Apple Isle.

*‘Hobart Town taken from the garden where I used to live*.’ (1832) – State Library of NSW.

This is the modern day view of Glover’s home – known as Stanwell Hall – situated on Melville Street, West Hobart. It is the building with the flag flying and you can still see the sandstone walls, although it has undergone some renovations over the years.

*‘A view of the artist’s house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen’s Land.’* (1835) – Art Gallery of South Australia.

Here is a recent photo of Glover’s homestead at Deddington, Tasmania.

*‘Natives on the Ouse River, Van Diemen’s Land.’* (1838) – Art Gallery of NSW.

*‘Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point.*‘ (1831-33) – National Gallery of Australia.

This location at Bellerive is near to where Glover would have found his inspiration. Any local would tell you that his interpretation of Mount Wellington (kunanyi) is slightly exaggerated and it seems he has taken some liberty with elevation as well – but these factors make this painting all the more impressive.

There is a lot more information about John Glover available online, including a decent Wikipedia biography and a website for ‘Glover Country’ in Deddington, Tasmania.

See links below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glover_(artist)

https://www.glovercountry.com.au/

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia, Google Maps and other online sources.

Perth Kangaroos – Australia’s footballing trailblazers.

October 26, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

In 1994, an unusual chapter in Australian sporting history was written when football (soccer) teams from both Perth and Darwin entered the Singapore National League – known as the FAS Premier League.

At the time, it was near impossible for a team from Perth to gain entry into the National Soccer League, with high costs and logistics surrounding travel being the main reasons. With this being the case, a business consortium called Global Football Australia created the Perth Kangaroos and entered them into the Singapore competition – with a long-term aim of joining the Australian NSL.

On the field, the team was a tremendous success and easily won the league while remaining undefeated, with the Darwin Cubs finishing in second place. However, despite giving free tickets away to home games, the crowds did not come in the numbers the club owners would have hoped, and the venture ended up being a financial disaster.

The Perth Kangaroos were disbanded after one season and control of the club was handed over to the state’s governing body. However, all was not lost as the Kangaroos had laid the ground work for a Perth team to be admitted into the National Soccer League in 1996. From the ashes of this groundbreaking club rose the Perth Glory, who would find great success in the twilight years of the NSL before becoming a foundation club of the A-League.

There are some great articles about the Perth Kangaroos that go into a lot more detail about the history of this unique sporting team and its legacy.

Links are below…

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/mar/27/the-forgotten-story-of-perth-kangaroos

https://www.footballwa.net/perthkan.html

Photos are courtesy of The Guardian, alchetron.com and Football Australia.

‘The Final Programme’ – Mind-bending 1970’s Sci-Fi.

October 23, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

‘The Final Programme’ is a 1973 British science fiction film based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Michael Moorcock. It follows the story of scientist/playboy Jerry Cornelius at a time when the world is about to end, and the race is on to prevent the apocalypse by creating a new Messiah in a laboratory using a super computer.

While the movie is crazy and nonsensical at times, the cinematography – location shoots and studio sets – is of a very high quality and the imagery throughout the film is quite unique.

The movie stars Jon Finch as the main character Jerry Cornelius and was directed by Robert Fuest. You may recognise a few other actors in the film such as Sterling Hayden, Sarah Douglas (who would later star as Ursa in ‘Superman II’), Patrick Magee (who portrayed the writer in ‘A Clockwork Orange’) and Derrick O’Connor (who played the South African henchman Pieter Vorstedt in ‘Lethal Weapon II’).

Without spoiling the film, I will simply show a few screenshots highlighting the weird yet impressive locations and camera work. Note the incredible sets for both the bizarre pinball parlour and the snazzy interior of the Cornelius mansion.

The third act of the film takes place in Turkey and then in a secret lab in Lapland. Again, the visuals are outstanding, even if the plot is a little wacky!

This movie is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you appreciate quirky early seventies British fantasy/science fiction then you will take a lot of enjoyment from this film.

Screenshots courtesy of Goodtimes Enterprises.

More remastered Tomb Raider is coming!

October 20, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

Following on from the release of the first Tomb Raider trilogy earlier this year – all remastered and updated for the modern PlayStation – it has been announced that the next three games in the series are to get the same treatment early in 2025.

These games are interesting and differ from the earlier titles, and most critics did not take too kindly to them, especially ‘Chronicles’ and ‘The Angel of Darkness’.

‘Tomb Raider – The Last Revelation’ was a real grind, and I recall having a hard time completing it. This game was unique as well, for it was set entirely in one country – Egypt.

(Note – there is a short flashback level at Angkor Wat.)

This was the first Tomb Raider game that beat me up so badly that I had to purchase a walk-through guide in order to complete it. The puzzles were cryptic and difficult to say the least, with some areas of the game being impossible to progress through without receiving some form of assistance.

There were a couple of levels that stood out; namely The Coastal Ruins and The City of the Dead, and even after twenty years I remember them well – and for all the wrong reasons. Boy, these levels were rough – especially the weird abandoned town rigged with automatic machine gun turrets!

‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ was an interesting game, and was perhaps best remembered for a bug that prevented further progress during the very last level. For this reason alone, this is the only Tomb Raider game (of the first six) that I did not complete.

The levels were pretty good though, with one story line being a flashback to a young Lara Croft battling ghosts and demons on an island off the coast of Ireland. Other stages include stowing away onboard a Russian submarine and infiltrating a modern skyscraper in New York City.

‘Tomb Raider – The Angel of Darkness’ was Lara Croft’s debut adventure on the PS2.

I remember the controls being a little different (not as good) compared to the PS1 games, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, and unlike ‘Chronicles’ was able to play through to the end.

The Paris Ghetto and Louvre levels were the stand-outs for me, with the nightclub scene featuring insane techno beats also rating a mention.

‘Tomb Raider IV, V and VI Remastered’ is coming out on PlayStation in February 2025.

The price will be A$44.95

Screenshots courtesy of the PlayStation store.

‘Mr McMahon’ on Netflix – an entertaining documentary.

October 15, 2024October 15, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

I don’t usually watch shows on Netflix – only when I see something that piques my interest – and I always take things slowly, consuming it one episode at a time. Very rarely would I binge-watch an entire series over a couple of days, but this is what happened with ‘Mr McMahon’.

The show essentially follows the life and career of Vince McMahon Jr, who took over the World Wrestling Federation from his father Vince Senior, and turned it into a multi-billion dollar industry. Besides McMahon, there are a lot of famous wrestlers interviewed in this candid tell-all including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H and Dwayne Johnson.

This documentary does not shy away from the many scandals that have engulfed the world of wrestling over the years, including very recent allegations against McMahon himself. The death of Owen Hart, steroid abuse and countless accusations of sexual misconduct have a bright spotlight shined upon them throughout this show.

But love him or hate him, one cannot deny that McMahon – who is quite a showman himself – will go down as one of the greatest promoters of all time.

One does not need to be an expert in pro wrestling to get a lot out of this series, however I suspect that if you watched the WWF as a kid then this will be a real eye-opener.

I would give this documentary top marks, as it is a rarity for me to start watching something and not be able to stop. Overall, this show was very well put together, was highly informative and incredibly entertaining. A must watch!

‘Mr McMahon’ is currently streaming on Netflix.

All screenshots courtesy of Netflix and WWE.

‘Sci-Fi Now’ – A childhood classic returns!

October 12, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

I would have been six or seven years old when I was given this science fiction book in the late 1970’s, and it became one of my most prized possessions, until I sadly misplaced the item during the early 90’s.

Now after a thirty year gap, it only recently occurred to me that I should try eBay to see if anyone was selling this masterpiece, and sure enough there were many copies available – for a fraction of the price I was expecting.

What blew me away as a kid were the photos within, with many screenshots representing a number of weird and quirky movies and television shows that came out between 1968 and 1978. Some of these images remained burned into my memory over forty years later; a selection of which are featured below – straight out of the book.

It was through this publication that I learned about ‘A Clockwork Orange’ as there were a handful of pictures scattered across the pages, such as the one shown here. I was instantly curious about this film, and would eventually get to watch it in 1994 – sixteen years later.

This weird character is from the short-lived TV series ‘Logan’s Run’. I’m certain this scene is part of a dream sequence, and the evil-looking villain is a ‘carousel guard’.

This photo is from the 1977 film ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau’.

This is not an actual scene from the movie it is supposed to represent, but it looks great anyway. The film is ‘Warlords of Atlantis‘ from 1978.

I remember this image used to scare the life out of me, and it is from the 1972 film ‘Horror Express’ starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas.

This capture is from ‘The Green Slime’ (1968) and I remember it being a pretty cool B-grade science fiction movie.

Last but not least, the book contained a few images from the 1973 British film ‘The Final Programme’. The sets were truly bizarre, as seen in the photo above, which made it appear even more intriguing to me.

‘Sci-Fi Now’ was released in 1978 and was written by Alan Frank. The book is definitely worth adding to your collection if you are a 1970’s science fiction aficionado, even if it is a little ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ heavy at times.

I managed to pick up a near-mint copy of the book for AU$15 from eBay, but the average price should be around the $20-$25 mark.

The new version of ‘Salem’s Lot’ is not so bad.

October 8, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

I’ve heard a lot of negative things about the new ‘re-imagining’ of Stephen King’s famous vampire tale, and while the movie cannot be considered a masterpiece, it certainly did not disgrace itself either.

Nothing can come close to topping Tobe Hooper’s 1979 miniseries, that much is very clear. However, when you compare this recent film to most of the slop that is being released these days, it comes across as quite watchable and entertaining.

There are some issues, such as the fast-pacing and need to move the plot on quickly, which does not help a horror story build suspense and terror. Also, we see the main antagonist a lot earlier than we needed to, which is a risky ploy for this type of movie. The film does include some hard-to-believe scenes involving one of the younger characters, and the dynamic between Barlow and Straker felt a little flat, but I let it all go and just went with the flow.

But there’s a lot to like about this show. It is well-directed and acted, and some of the concepts were smartly executed and a lot of the transitional shots were well done.

I gave ‘Salem’s Lot’ a score of three and a half on Rotten Tomatoes – rating it as being worth a watch, but not necessarily something to get excited over. That being said, I must say that this film certainly exceeded my expectations.

‘Salem’s Lot’ is currently streaming on MAX.

All screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros/New Line Cinema.

Australia’s Misinformation Bill – What a shocker!

September 30, 2024seancarslake Leave a comment

I don’t like to get political on this page, but the proposed Misinformation/Disinformation Bill here in Australia will certainly spell the end of free speech online.

This would have to be the most offensive piece of legislation ever entered into parliament – one that gives the government power to decide what is true or false, while they and the mainstream media remain exempt from any censorship whatsoever.

Can you see where this is going?

A rally against the bill was held in Sydney on the weekend and there was a decent turnout, despite some confusion with two stages being set up by separate groups.