A Strange Halloween - Netflix Retrospective - Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 9-10

Within the sea cave, behind the black door

Lays an evil one cannot simply ignore

A lady of the well, both Lucas and Dodge

Have plans laid that are hard to dislodge

The family killer, a tragic regret

And a night that Matheson will not forget

Dodge has more keys, to use in her game

Including the one that sets things aflame

Knowing the consequence, seeing the dread

He put the Omega key inside his head

But ashes to ashes his secret’s revealed

At least the Lockes know to keep it concealed

The keys have their keepers, until they drop dead

Descendants now follow, in footsteps they tread

But another secret is yet to be seen

It will all be revealed on A Strange Halloween.

It’s our final look at Locke and Key, as both sides converge on the Black Door, who will prevail? Let’s find out.

Comic Book Lucky Dip - X-Factor Annual #9

Coming off getting a DC Universe subscription a few months back, I now have a Marvel unlimited subscription, so what does the Marvel Universe have to offer. Well, let’s take a look at this annual issue. Full disclosure, my knowledge of the X-men is limited. I’ve seen Wolverine and the X-men, and the movies. Yes, I haven’t actually seen the 90s show, sacrilege I know, but I was always more of a DC fan. I’m going into this more blind than I ever have before, lets see if this comic really does follow Stan Lee’s mantra ‘every comic is someone’s first’

A Strange Halloween - Netflix Retrospective - Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 6-8

The family of Locke are in a new town

As long-buried secrets rise from the ground

Their father is dead, his killer roams free

But to fight this advancement, they may have the key

A magical home they’ve come to possess,

Filled with keys with powers they choose to assess,

One allows you to enter your head

Though fear is a monster you may come to dread

Kinsey has buried her fear in the ground,

Now her mind lacks restraint, not logically sound,

The keys keep calling, one gives you control,

But in drawing attention, there will come a toll

The ghost and the mirror, two powerful keys

Now in the hands of the youngest, Bode

As Dodge from her prison, the wellhouse, is free

She can go anywhere with the anywhere key.

Nina enquires to her husband’s old friends

But at every enquiry, she’s finding dead ends.

Like the death of a friend she cannot explain,

She looks at the bottle to relieve her of pain.

Memories haunting are found in some jars

Now Duncan may hold the key to the past.

More keys and answers may yet still be seen

But danger is lurking on A Strange Halloween.

We continue with Locke and Key as the mysteries have been heating up, and some of those lines from the poem are actually from the future? Let’s take a look and find out which

Rage4Media #86 - Artemis Fowl

Disney has definitely shown determination to continue to support its streaming service, whilst they don’t have the power of Netflix, which may well be a good thing given Netflix’s shaky financials, they certainly have a bunch of original films and tv shows to show off, many of them with a larger than average budget. We’ll be looking at the Marvel side of that soon, but today we’re going to look at the adaptation of Artemis Fowl, and why, despite having many of its core plot points, it's not a good adaptation.

Artemis Fowl was written by Eoin Coffer and released in 2011, it has spawned a successful series of 8 books, and a spin-off trilogy. Disney had helped publish some of the later novels, which appear to have had a bunch of different publishers over the years, so they were in a good position to vie for an adaptation. Originally intended for a theatrical release in 2020, covid changed their plans and it ended up being released on Disney+ instead. The film had a budget of $125m, that’s very expensive for a streaming film.

But the reception to the film with critics was pretty cold, with a mere 8% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. What happened here then? Let’s take a look.

A Strange Halloween Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 3-5

The Lockes’ world is in disarray;

With Rendell’s death, there is dismay

Two face guilt, and drift apart

But the action is about to start

The well is open, Dodge is free

And in her hands, the anywhere key

Through any door, she can now pass

A power not easy to surpass

Into the mirror, a key opens the way

Another takes you inside your brain

For adults, the magic will be unseen

But the doors will open on A Strange Halloween

We’re taking another look at Locke and Key, what does the head key mean for the Locke siblings and their mother, well, let’s take a look.

Spies in Disguise

Being a spy is a dangerous game, never being sure who to trust, danger around every corner and having commit acts of malice in a crowd of enemies. But sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture, sometimes you need a… bird’s eye view

OK, it was a cheap joke but seriously, we’re looking at the last major effort of Blue-Sky Studios before it was absorbed into the House of Mouse. Blue Sky Studios is a mid-tier animation studio, most famously behind the Ice Age Films. The animation doesn’t carry the high bar of Pixar films, but bears a slightly higher prestige than say Illumination.

Anyway, Spies in disguise, based on the short film Pigeon: Impossible, though loosely from what I can tell, the film has a full-on celebrity voice cast featuring Will Smith, Tom Holland, Karen Gillen, Ben Mendelsohn and… DJ Khaled?

Anyway, the film released in December 2019 to a fairly positive reception but that didn’t translate well to money at the box office, the film received only $150m on its $100m budget. I don’t think Disney really cared whether this made money or not. Let’s dive in and see whether or not that’s a justified position.

A Strange Halloween - Netflix Retrospective - Locke and Key Season 1 Episodes 1-2

A father’s death leaves a family lost;

And grieving is not the only cost;

To start anew in a house their own;

They must face off with forces unknown 

Power lurks within this place;

Locked away without a trace;

But the keys and locks will soon be seen;

In Locke and Key on a Strange Halloween.

I'm gonna be delaying a Stranger Things retrospective until next year owing to it only being released a few weeks back [time of writing], I have something in mind for it, given the ungodly episode lengths. But instead, this Halloween, we’re looking at Locke and Key. Based on the comics written by Joe Hill with art by Gabriel Rodriguez, the series had a pilot developed for Fox, it didn’t make it past a pilot, but after a successful comic-con screening, they announced a feature film trilogy, which also didn’t make it. A pilot was made for Hulu but continuing the string of failures, Hulu also didn’t pick it up for a series. It’s at this point, Netflix came in, and gave the series a season order of 10 episodes. It dropped on February 2^nd 2020. [The Aug 10 date on the poster is for the most recent season] 

Pixar Playlist #24 - Luca

Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist

We’re almost caught up with Pixar’s films, only 2 remain at time of writing, Turning Red and Lightyear, the latter of which I have yet to watch. But before we get to them, we’ve got an adventure on the Italian riviera, with sea monsters. It’s Luca.

Luca is largely the brainchild of Enrico Casarosa, who loosely based the story on some of his own experiences growing up in Italy. Writing the story is Mike Jones, who was also one of the writers behind Soul and Jesse Andrews. Casarosa would direct, it’s his first directors’ credit in film, but he’d been working as at artist at Pixar since Cars, joining their senior creative team from Coco. He had also directed a short called La Luna back in 2011.

There were some roadblocks when it came to animation as COVID-19 lead to the shut-down of the Pixar Campus, so all the animators were working from home. Though not before some of the artists got some reference photos from the Italian Riviera to use as a guide for the film’s locations.

Luca was released on Disney+ in early 2021, some of the Pixar Animators were annoyed that it was released for free whilst Raya and the Last Dragon, a Disney Animation Studios Film had a premium price for 3 months. It did have a release in a few locations, but made back a mere $49m on it’s… Wikipedia doesn’t state the budget but $200m is the standard for Pixar, whilst having to adapt to working from home may have caused additional expenditure.

Disney+ Retrospective: Love, Victor Season 2 Episodes 7-10

OK, time for our final look at Love Victor season 2, starting with episode 7 and in this exciting episode:

• Adrian wonders what a lap dance is
• Felix and Lake go to an aquarium
• And Pilar watches Who Wants to be a Millionaire

Comic Book Lucky Dip - Fantastic 4 Life Story #1

We’ve got another lucky dip and oh look, it’s the Fantastic 4 Life Story #1. The Spider-man Life story mini-series was fantastic and brought me round on Chip Zdarsky after being less than impressed with his Jughead run. But this story isn’t by Chip Zdarsky, not is it a spider-man run, instead this story is written by Mark Russel, responsible for the 1970s reboot of DC’s Prez, and the Wonder Twins series as part of Brian Michael Bendis’ short-lived Wonder Comics imprint. The art is by Sean Izaakse with Nolan Woodard on colours. But enough preamble (going into the details of the aims of the Life Story series would be counterproductive to the nature of this format), let’s take a look at this.

Disney+ Retrospective - Love, Victor Season 2 Episodes 4-6

We’re back and for another round for Love Victor, and in our next exciting episode:

• Victor and Benji get cockblocked at the coffee house
• Victor and Benji get cockblocked at Benji’s house
• And Victor and Benji get cockblocked in the Janitor’s closet

Ratchetrospective: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

It’s been a while since the last of the Ratchetrospective reviews, but then it’s been a while since the last Ratchet and Clank game too, The movie tie-in game came out in 2016 and this game in 2021, a full 5 years and a full console generation later. It’s not as if Insomniac Games was idle during that period, in 2018 they released fantastic Spider-man game: Marvel’s Spider-man, and in 2020, as the PS5 launched they launched a Spider-man Spinoff title featuring Miles Morales as the titular character. But the PS5 and its solid-state drive and the some of the features of its new controller opened opportunities for Ratchet and Clank to shine. Also, they set the seeds the multiverse years before Spider-man made it cool, This is Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

Disney+ Retrospective - Love, Victor Season 2 Episodes 1-3

The second season of Love, Victor was released not long after the first in the UK, it had been about a year in the US. The cliff-hanger of season 1 is about to be resolved, so in the series’ first exciting episode

• Isabel and Adrian play monopoly;
• Mia opens a box;
• And Armando buys a Turtle

Black Widow

Well, Endgame came and went, we got a Spider-man sequel and then COVID happened and everything got pushed back, Black Widow did eventually come out but about a year after it was intended to, its release continually delayed thanks to movie theatres being shuttered over the pandemic. Even then, the release was a partial release as a premium film on Disney+, which Scarlett Johansen, whose contract gave her a portion of box office receipts, was not happy about.

But that’s a matter for a different discussion. Black Widow is the first true film in the phase 4 slate, made up of both films and TV shows in the Disney+ Sphere. The timing though is a bit weird; Black Widow had died following Endgame and she’s been a presence in the Marvel-sphere since Iron Man 2, she was long overdue a headline role, but now it couldn’t be in a movie taking place in the present.

It's hard to attribute exactly the amount of money Black Widow made following its release, it made just shy of $400m in theatres, and $66m in its opening weekend on Disney+, though how that translates into revenue I’m not sure. But let's take a look at it and see if it holds up.

Heartstopper - Adaptation review

So, over the last few weeks, I’ve gone over Heartstopper as a show, but I’ve hinted a few times I intended to talk about it as an adaptation, so here we are

Before we begin

TRIGGER WARNING: This review will involve discussing a non-consensual kiss, discuss themes of depression, eating disorders, self-harm and other related mental illnesses. If you are uncomfortable with any of these topics, do not read any further.

SPOILER WARNING: I am going to be discussing both the Heartstopper show and the comic, I would highly recommend you read the comic, it’s available for you to read for free on Webtoons, Chapters 1-3 will be the direct comparison, but elements of chapter 4 will also be mentioned. The show is on Netflix if you wish to watch that also. I will also be discussing relevant events from the novels, so spoiler alert in particular for Radio Silence, but also bits of Solitaire, This Winter and Nick and Charlie. Those books are available for purchase, if not in book stores then on Amazon both digitally and physically.

Heartstopper is in a rather unique position as an adaptation. Alice Oseman, who wrote the comics is also the writer for the show. So, she’s adapting her own work to screen, what that means is that the show is, for the most part, a pretty accurate adaptation of the comic. That being said, there are definitely some changes and omissions, some of which I’ll talk about here.

The show adapts 3 chapters from the comic. The first episode is based on the first chapter of the comic, episodes 2 and 3 are based on Chapter 2, and the rest of the show based on chapter 3. This may seem like an odd balance but in terms of page count (counting each post as 5 pages) Chapter 1 is 60 pages long, chapter 2 100 pages and Chapter 3 160 pages. But let’s look at the changes

Netflix Retrospective - Heartstopper Season 1 Episodes 7-8

Right, we’re back for the final episodes of Heartstopper, coming up:

•  Charlie messes with his hair;
• Older sister magic;
• And Nick talks about Popcorn

Netflix Retrospective - Heartstopper Season 1 Episodes 5-6

We’re back for a third look at Heartstopper and in this exciting episode:

• Elle wins a game of bowling
• Nick goes to buy a snack
• And Charlie wears a badge

Disney+ Retrospective - High School Musical The Musical The Series Season 1

So, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, let’s take a quick look at the first season. Why am I doing a retrospective and not a breakdown, partly because I only have so much room in the schedule, and partly because season 2 felt too much like a straight comedy and doing a breakdown of the plot would be akin to telling all the jokes. But because my time has some value to me, I’ll be doing only the 10 episodes of the first season. 

Netflix Retrospective - Heartstopper Season 1 Episodes 3-4

We’re back with another 2 episodes of Heartstopper and in the next exciting episode

• Harry hires a hotel
• Tao and Elle watch a movie
• And Nick stands outside in the rain

Comic Book Lucky Dip - Batman Family #4

Welcome back to Comic Book lucky dip and boy do I have a treat for you this time. I have recently subscribed to the DC Universe app so now my collection of comics covers a lot of DC History. I told the search to select at comic at random, I don’t know if it actually did but it came up with Batman Family #4 from 1976, easily the oldest comic I’ve ever reviewed.

Netflix Retrospective - Heartstopper Season 1 Episodes 1-2

OK, I have a new obsession, and you might have heard of it (makes a change, right?) I present Heartstopper.

Alice Oseman wrote a series of comics featuring a love story between 2 male protagonists but chose not to make them having misunderstandings and arguments the central focus of their relationship, as other shows, even one I like, tend to do. But adapting a comic into movie form comes with its challenges, COVID in particular, in this case. To do this show justice and… honestly to minimise the amount of work I need to do, I’m gonna do 5 reviews for this show. 4 covering the series itself, and another taking a look at it as an adaptation, the comics, whilst a very good read and available online for free, are short and more was needed to make the show a reality.

Pixar Playlist #23 - Soul

 Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist

Netflix Retrospective - The Dragon Prince Season 3 Episodes 7-9

We’re back with the final episodes of the Dragon Prince. Though the show was renewed for 4 more seasons none of them have surfaced yet and it’s possible the recent slashing of animation budgets may have hindered matters further. But I digress, enough theorising, let’s get to the meat of the matter.

Comic Book Lucky Dip - Detective Comics #1051

Today’s randomly selected comic is Detective Comics #1051. This is the most recent of the comics I’ve reviewed for this but time is meaningless here, this was the 5^th part of the Shadows of the Bat Storyline going on at the time, written by Mariko Tomaki, with art by Max Raynor and with a backup story written by Matthew Rosenberg with Fernando Blanco on art.

Netflix Retrospective - The Dragon Prince Season 3 Episodes 4-6

We’re back with more episodes of the Dragon Prince as a grand conspiracy is set into motion and time is running out for Callum and Rayla

Oceans 13

 We’ve had Oceans 11, Oceans 12, and now we’re at Ocean’s 13…

Oceans 12 had its moments but it didn’t really work for me, it’s attempt at being more high stakes resulted in it being more confusing and less interesting, relying on a final twist at the end to make the narrative work.

So with new writers at the helm, Oceans 13 takes things back to basics, it did OK at the box office, continuing the diminishing returns of the franchise, but has a better critical rating at 70% and average 6.4/10. But here’s my take on it

Netflix Retrospective - The Dragon Prince Book 3 Episodes 1-3

Time to take another look at the Dragon Prince

It’s been a while, but it’s time to see where Callum and Rayla are heading as Ezran heads back to his Kingdom.

Disney+ Retrospective - WandaVision

I’m likely going to do episode by episode breakdowns for most of the Disney Plus Marvel line-up but I’m making an exception for WandaVision, which especially in its early episodes has a main plot happening very much in the background. Because of it happening so close to the end of Infinity War, Wanda being among those blipped and the 5-year time-jump, there really wasn’t time in those films to explore the impact the death of Vision, that’s where this show comes in. Let’s take a dive in and see how things go.

Alex Rider Retrospective - Season 1 Episodes 7-8

We’ve got 2 episodes left of Alex Rider to cover and thusfar it’s been a strong showing, though the pacing can be a bit hit or miss.