Did I Blink?

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller.

This is going to be a new weekly roundup of what has been happening this week, both on the site and in my life. It also gives me a chance to cover a few things that would not usually make it onto the site.

Happy Friday the 13th, I hope you are having a good one and have watched a horror movie or two. I can recommend The Exorcist TV show, which is currently on Amazon Prime here in the UK. I started watching it last night and have been very impressed. It has also creeped me out!

I also need to get hold of the Friday the 13th video game as I keep hearing great things about it, but as with everything else there are so many other games I need to finish playing and others I want to get. There is never enough time!

As I write this, Beck’s new album Colors is playing on the turntable. It is a stunning album and gets better with every listen. It is very much pop based and has less of the introspection that was a major part of 2014’s Morning Phase. I think Dear Life is my favourite track at the moment, but that may well change as there are so many cool songs to choose from. Well worth checking out and the vinyl version I got is a lovely red colour.

The New Mutants trailer that dropped this morning also brought the horror and I am intrigued to see what they do with that. On first viewing, you would not really know it had anything to do with the X-Men.

If you are a regular visitor to the site you will no doubt have been following my time at New York Comic Con. Upon my return, I have found it hard going to deal with the jet-lag. However, I did get to see my lovely daughter on Tuesday morning when I took her to school. It was big hugs which made everything better. We walked to Costa Coffee and got a drink. A different pair of shoes meant my blistered heels had stopped their shrieking! She loved the official NYCC moleskin notebook along with the other bits and pieces I got her. Then she wanted to see some photos.

Check out more trailersShe recognised some of the celebs I had interviewed but it was the photos of all the various toys and action figures that drew her attention. The morning flew by and it was soon time to take her to school and more hugs followed before she went in.

I have got a few other cool things ready for her birthday.

While my body and mind were cursing me for the early start, it also meant I could get the new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi posted. It didn’t give me that tingle that the first trailer did, but I do love the darkness that seems to be seeping into it. Is Luke good or bad? Will Kylo head to the light while Rey goes to the dark side? Will the Porgs be cute and cool or just irritating?

However, my time in New York meeting other like-minded journalists has left me feeling creatively invigorated. I need to stay focused and who knows were this crazy ride will take me next?

Getting myself sorted I was delighted to find that I had a few things sent over to review. A couple of good screeners to watch – Baby Driver and The Princess Bride 30th Anniversary both on Blu-ray. I also had a BenQ W1050 projector to try out. Reviews for all of them will be coming soon. There was one other thing..what was it?

Oh yes, Beyond Skyline. I watched the online screener for that and it was surprisingly good. Again, the full review will be posted nearer the release date.

Speaking of reviews, some of the Live for Films team have been covering the London Film Festival – Sarah, Amanda, Francesco and Ian have been watching some great films and met Guillermo del Toro and Charlie Brooker amongst many others! You can read them all here.

I would love to be there as I have yet to go to the London Film Festival. One year I will make it, but there is always so many things to do and see. Alan is getting ready to head over to California where he will be taking in some of the Universal Horror Mazes. Very jealous of that.

Oh, some lovely news just came in. I had an email from The Writer Awards to say Live For Films as one of the top entertainment and film blogs of 2017! They were sent over 500 blogs and out of the 50 blogs they reviewed, we were #12!

It is always nice to know that people dig what we do at Live for Films. It truly is a labour of love.

I am also in the process of prepping for this evenings recording of After the Ending. That is the podcast I do with Mike Spring. As we met up at New York Comic Con, tonight we will be talking about what we did there, who we met and other things. Recording the podcast is always so much fun. It was something I had always wanted to try, but never thought I would do. When I started I was so nervous, but now I feel comfortable doing it. As we have recorded 64 full episodes and 21 mini-episodes I have definitely had lots of practice.

As I am still in the process of catching up after last weekend, I realise I still have to see Blade Runner 2049! I’ve renewed my Odeon Limitless card so will try and get to see it over the weekend. My friend John Hood let me share a review he did of it (be sure to also read Adam’s review) and we also talked about Star Trek: Discovery. I am quite enjoying the new show, and we both feel there is a definite connection with the Mirror Universe. We are either watching events take place there or Jason Isaac’s character could have come from that alternate dimension of evil goatee wearing people. We shall have to wait and see.

On Wednesday evening I was DM once more for our Dungeons and Dragons group (check out my review of the Fifth Edition Starter Set on my brother’s gaming site). It is always so much fun and the team are fighting through events in Out of the Abyss, which I have mashed up with Storm King’s Thunder. They have been in the Underdark for a while, but they were victorious at the Battle of Blingdenstone and have been promised a guide to return them to the surface of Faerûn. None of them died….well my brother’s Half-Elf Ranger did, but he was brought back to life by the Cleric. I need to find a one-shot adventure to run nearer to Halloween.

Damn, that reminds me. I need to get some more miniatures painted!

What else? Mr. Robot started again. Season 3 is right back into the intrigue and confusion. I do love the show and while I am not always sure what is going on I love the ride. I also finally started a drawing of Rami Malek from the show. There is still a long way to go with it, but I think the basic sketch is heading in the right direction.

I have also been enjoying The Good Place. Kristen Bell, Ted Danson and the rest are doing an amazing job. What started off as an apparent one-note sit-com has done a fine job subverting the genre and I never know which way it is going to go next. Give it a watch and don’t read anything more about it, just stick with it.

Comic book wise I have been reading Side-Kicked from Darby Pop Publishing. A great comic written by Russell Brettholtz. Basically, a load of sidekicks are fed up of being ignored or taken for granted by the superheroes they help so they go on strike. A cool concept that is done very well.

Another great concept is Stephan Franck’s Silver. A con-man puts together a team to pull of the heist of the century. The target? Well, that would be Dracula! How cool is that? It is currently being adapted for the big screen and it has to potential to be an amazing film.

How has your week been? What films, TV shows, books, comics have you been checking out? What films will you be watching over the weekend?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Next PostPrevious Post