British Heroes: Civil War

Many years ago, when superhero franchises were young, I assembled a team of British heroes as a counterpart to Marvel's The Avengers. Now that those guys are back and fighting amongst themselves in Captain America: Civil War, I thought it would be fun to update this idea and ask: 'which British team of heroes could win in a fight?'

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Team Doctor and Team Sherlock!

Review: James Bond - Casino Royale

Now that Spectre has wrapped up the Daniel Craig era of James Bond (even if he does come back, I don't know how the next film could be more of a finale), it seemed like the perfect time to go back to the beginning and review Craig's first - and still best - film as... oh come on, you know his name.

Review: James Bond - Spectre

James Bond is back with this long-awaited follow up to Skyfall. But are we in 007th heaven with Spectre...?

Monthly Scribbles: The BBC, Bond and Robin Hood

Now that July has been and gone (yes, I know, we're now over halfway through the year but hold off on the realisation that your life is dwindling away, all right, this is a light-hearted post) it's time for another sporadic round-up of the month's Scribble Creatures-y news in Monthly Scribbles.

Capaldi's Credentials

July was a busy month for the Big Two - Sherlock and Doctor Who - as tantalising trailers for both were released. But as I've already blabbed about those here and here, I'll look at a less covered item now. Namely, this fun interview that appeared online recently which shows Peter Capaldi at his Who-loving best. Everyone knows Capaldi is a life-long fan of the show but this interview - in which he seemingly can't stop himself from talking about his favourite Who episodes - is a great demonstration of his fan credentials. It's always nice when the Doctor loves Doctor Who just as much as the fans. 

The Game is over...

I'm sad to report that Toby Whithouse spy drama The Game has been cancelled. It's a great shame as, despite a couple of criticisms I had, it had a lot of promise. What with the loss of the brilliant In The Flesh earlier this year as well, it seems the Beeb have either gone off their rocker or simply can't afford to take a chance on such shows as they used to (thank you very much, government). Either way, the BBC may make mistakes but we would miss it terribly if it wasn't there. Hint hint: please sign this petition to protect the BBC. It's very worthwhile.

Anyway, now to get off my soapbox...


'Their name is... Spectre.' 

Not to be outdone by his fellow British heroes, there was also a trailer for the latest James Bond film Spectre released this month - and it was a whopper. As well as being an effective teaser for the film it is also littered with lovely kisses to the past - Bond and the new M seem to be at odds, suggesting the relationship between 007 and the original Ms, Christoph Waltz is wearing a very Blofeldian nehru jacket and Q is giving Bond a car with gadgets. Not to mention the rousing theme music from On Her Majesty's Secret Service playing throughout. The last film Skyfall somewhat converted me from Bond liker to fledgling fan so I'm eagerly awaiting this instalment, which seems to be a series finale to Craig's Bond films. 


Mini-Review of the Month

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Until this month, I had never read nor seen anything to do with Robin Hood (well, except such non-canonical takes as last year's Doctor Who episode and that Disney film with the foxes). After twenty-odd years I finally put that right when I came across a copy of Robert Lancelyn Green's children's novel, which tells the story of the Prince of Thieves' life, drawn from the classical ballads and folk stories. It's written in a charming fairy tale style which brings Sherwood Forest and its inhabitants to storybook life in a way that sends you back to being ten years old, even if like me you weren't familiar with the world at that age. Highlights include the bizarrely supernatural 'The Witch of Paplewick', a Maid Marion who is pleasingly pro-active rather than a damsel-in-distress and - spoiler warning for a 700 year old legend - the surprisingly moving final chapters.

Monthly Scribbles: The Spectre of Sherlock and Doctor Who

This month we have the ultimate crossover as the Doctor, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes team up ... in this retrospective on March.

Doctor Who at 10

If you're a Doctor Who fan you'll no doubt know that the revived series turned ten last month, causing much celebration internet-wide.
One of the most fun was this series of birthday wishes, seen on the Radio Times website, from most of the major - and many minor - members of the cast and cr-Who. Here's a selection (click to enlarge). 

Personally, as I (whisper it) missed the first couple of episodes on original transmission my tenth anniversary of being a Doctor Who fan comes on 9th April (when 'The Unquiet Dead', the first episode I saw, was shown). I talk about the beginnings of my Doctor Who viewing here (please excuse my younger self his love of exclamation marks!).


SPECTRE trailer released!

As a fan of Casino Royale and Skyfall (let's not mention Quantum of Solace) I'm eagerly awaiting Daniel Craig's fourth outing as the not-so secret agent, Spectre. The trailer's a well-done teaser (love the tinkly, slightly sinister version of the Bond theme) and demonstrates just why I like Craig's films. Rather than just mindless action flicks, they have character and mood which makes them, in my opinion, even more exciting. Have a look for yourself below.

Absolutely squee-inducing, eh? The trailer has whet my appetite so much I have many questions - but there's one thing in particular I want to find out about this film. Not the mystery of Bond's childhood or if Blofeld really is back but rather how are you meant to write that title? SPECTRE? Spectre?

SpEcTrE comes out this October.


Sherlock Series Four will be 'tougher', says Steven Moffat 

March was definitely the month for news on Britain's greatest heroes. On the Sherlock front, Steven Moffat revealed that, after the positively cuddly Series Three (for three quarters of it, at least), the next series will be 'tougher' and there will be 'consequences' to Sherlock's actions. It's all very intriguing and reminds me very much of how Moffat described Series 8 of Doctor Who. It seems that Moffat's in the mood for writing 'dark' at the moment. Work on Series Four is in the early stages but a Christmas special, set in Victorian times, is upcoming.


Highlight of the month

The film, TV show or book I've decided to highlight this month coincidentally fits into the impromptu 'British heroes' theme of this post as we look at one of the forgotten heroes of World War Two...

The Imitation Game

I've heard mixed reactions to The Imitation Game, the story of the man who cracked the Enigma Code Alan Turing, but I'm glad to say I fell on the positive side. Cumberbatch is tremendous as Turing, employing an entirely different physicality from his other socially-awkward genius so you don't simply see him as, as he put it, 'Sherlock in tweed.' Away from its lead, the film as a whole is intelligently done, with many an affecting moment. It's always difficult for biopics to straddle the line between historic fact and good drama but I think Imitation largely manages it. The emotional elements may cause the film to overlook the fine points of how Turing built his machine and solved Enigma but this isn't a documentary. What it succeeds in is presenting a truly inimitable individual who deserved to have his story remembered.

The Next James Bond Film is... SPECTRE

The title of the latest James Bond film (the twenty fourth since the film series began fifty two years ago) has been revealed. And it is called...

DAH-DUM (or however else you represent the opening sting of the Bond theme). 

For those not in the know of James Bond history, Spectre is not only an oddly supernatural sounding title for a spy thriller it is also the name of Bond's greatest adversary. SPECTRE is a vast criminal organisation which Sean Connery's Bond (and briefly George Lazenby's version) tried to bring down throughout his tenure, It stands for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion (with an acronym that forced they had to be evil). The organisation has been absent from the film series since Roger Moore took over as Bond in the 1970s but fans have predicted the return of SPECTRE in some form ever since Daniel Craig's rebooted iteration of the character discovered a new criminal organisation in town; Quantum, who were behind the exploits of his first two films. With the reveal of this film's title, it seems they might not be two distinct entities. Perhaps Quantum was a cover name for SPECTRE all along... 

The other big news today is the reveal of the cast. Of particular interest is Andrew Scott, known to Sherlock fans as everyone's favourite good old-fashioned villain Moriarty. It's thought that he will play another villain here, a mole inside MI5, but his casting might just be a clever move by the filmmakers to play off his status as a 'villain actor' to derail suspicion from the real mole. Who knows? 

Also in the cast is Christoph Waltz (who can be soon seen in Tim Burton's new film, Big Eyes). It is thought that he will be playing the traditional head of SPECTRE, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the original bald man with a white cat on his lap who became the clichéd image of a supervillain. Whether this is true or not the film does look set to follow Skyfall in taking classic Bond stylings and giving them a 21st century twist. 

Truth be told, the title strikes me as a bit odd - it's a bit like the next Batman film being called Joker or calling the next Sherlock episode, in which Andrew Scott will also appear, 'Moriarty.' Still, whatever the thoughts about the title let's hope the film can recreate the quality of previous Daniel Craig Bonds, Casino Royale and Skyfall (we don't mention Quantum of Solace), two films whose spectre will surely be hanging over this one. 

If you like James Bond and want to stay on this site (don't be shy - grab a chair, feed a fish) then you can read my review of Skyfall here. 

Spectre will premiere in cinemas in November 2015

Review: Skyfall - A Doctor Who fan on James Bond

If you sit down and think about it, there’s a fair bit of similarity between Doctor Who and James Bond. Both are big popular franchises (I dislike calling Who a franchise but I'll let it pass here) that have been around for circa fifty years. Both involve an invincible hero who has changed his face several times. Both are usually accompanied on their adventures by young women etcetera etcetera. Perhaps because of this - though I wouldn’t class myself as an out-an-out Bond fan - I view the other iconic British adventure series alongside Who with respect and have enjoyed many of the films, for instance Roger Moore’s fun thriller Live and Let Die (helped no doubt by Paul McCartney’s fabulous theme song) and Pierce Brosnan’s rollicking GoldenEye.  

However, my favourite Bond must be Daniel Craig.  His first film, Casino Royale, was the first Bond film I saw and I was immediately impressed with his utterly convincing rendition of the character as a rougher around the edges but still likeable rogue. The film itself won me over by its inclusion of a deeper relationship between Craig’s Bond and the brilliant Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, which I felt added much needed emotional side to the character, who in my little knowledge of him, didn’t often let it out. On the other hand, the follow-up, Quantum of Solace, left me cold, having struck me as not much more than a blurry action-fest. I felt it lacked the fun and humour which I knew Bond could offer. And I’m always more inclined to like something if it’s fun and humorous; thank you, Doctor Who.  
However, I have now seen the latest, you’ve-probably-heard-of-it-everywhere film in the series, Skyfall, and found it hugely entertaining. Warning for anyone who hasn’t yet seen the film and doesn’t want to know anything at all, I may mention minor spoilers. Everyone else (which I hope is most of you out there on the other side of the screen), do continue.

Firstly, it’s just so much fun. Whereas Craig’s previous outings as Bond have stripped down the humour and traditional Bond quips, Skyfall reinstates them in all their punning glory. A lot big blockbusters shy away from employing humour (although this may have been rectified by Avenger’s Assemble earlier in the year) but Skyfall understands that it’s an important slice of the enjoyment pie. For instance, in the cinema in which I saw the film, the audience were regularly chuckling out loud at some of the great lines delivered. A few times it slips into generic ‘film’ dialogue but largely it’s a fine script, at best in the snappy conversations between Bond and Judi Dench’s Q.

Also, there’s some strong storytelling on show. The pre-credits scene ends on an entirely shocking note which even if the film doesn’t subsequently mine as well as it possibly should have done its still a great moment nonetheless that leads to a brilliantly psychedelic title sequence involving skulls made of blood. This is just one example of many times in which the film surprised me by doing things I didn’t expect the usually-formulaic Bond films to include. There’s an excellent scene set in the London Underground which of course sees the usual Bond tropes of chases and explosions but is more interesting because it puts the superspy and his extravagant world into a more mundane, relatable place than the usual exotic locations. Also, it starts to feel really quite different when the action swaps to even more unlikely setting for a Bond film where we encounter some unexpected revelations…And if that sentence didn't whet your appetite I don't know what will. 

Furthermore, I think what really lifts the film is its cast full of entertaining characters all capably played. Ralph Fiennes and Naomi Harris are both enjoyable in their respective roles (you’re getting nothing from me here) while Ben Whishaw, an ever-reliable actor, is great as the new Q, Bond’s gadget man, who he plays as a sardonic computer genius. However, the best performances of the film are definitely awarded to Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and, the villain of the piece, Javier Bardem. Craig is at his best, and most Bond-y, as a more experienced agent than in his previous films while Dench, effectively one of the film’s leads, gets to sink her acting teeth into a bit more than usual. Bardem, on the other hand, is terrifically creepy yet camp as Silva, a villain with a much more personal aim than most megalomaniacs in Bond’s world.

Overall, Skyfall includes all the things than Bond films should; spectacular action sequences, yes, but what most impressed me was its emphasis on humour and warmth. With strong performances all round and a good story going for it with many a moment I wasn’t expecting, Skyfall is a fun cinematic rollercoaster which one the admiration of this Doctor Who fan.

I'll leave you, in proper Bond-y (is there a proper term? Bondian?) mood, with Adele's theme for Skyfall called, well, 'Skyfall'. Good day.