Give me some sugar baby...

Only last night I watched a possessed old lady spew maggots into a young girl's open mouth!!! That's right I am of course talking about the latest offering from Sam Raimi: Drag Me To Hell. There are good points and bad points but if I'm honest there's not many of the latter. This is horror almost at it's purest form. It makes you laugh, it makes you jump and it makes you deeply uneasy. The story is simple but effective, thanks to Sam and his brother Ivan and pretty much hits the ground running. From the off you know that this will not be an easy ride.

Without giving too much away we follow a young loans officer, Christina Brown, as she works her 9-5 with sights set firmly on a promotion. Her life gets a little more complicated after she denies an old Gypsie lady an extension on her mortgage. The elderly woman places a curse on her which sees our young heroine being stalked by a malevolent Demon that torments it's victims for three days before, you guessed it, dragging them to hell.

So far so simple. But it's not the story alone that sets this film apart, it's the innovative devices that Raimi uses, and uses so well. From possessed hankies to shifting shadows and flash imagery it soon becomes apparent that there will be a jump at every turn. This is back to grass roots Raimi that we haven't seen since a certain heroic chinned Ash waved his boomstick about. Sure we sure a glimpse of Raimi being let off of his leash somewhat in the hospital scene in Spiderman 2 but not until now has he been given the freedom to really let rip. And boy does he let rip. If I can urge you to see one film this year It would be this amazingly fun and pulpy offering from a master of his genre.

Right, the bad points. Or should that be point? Basically there are only a few moments where CG is favored over more organic effects, effects that Raimi has proved that he can do in his sleep. So why opt for the almost cartoonist use of, if I'm honest, poorly executed CG? This is the director after all, who convinced us that a man could swing with ease around the skyscrapers of New York. It seems a shame then that whilst watching DMTH there seemed to be areas of "special" effects wizardry that were anything but. However, this I feel is largely me being overly picky about a truly great film which is already destined to become a cult classic...

You won't like me when I'm hungry...

Right then, here we are again. Five years after Ang Lee's Hulk and I find myself sitting in my local flee pit watching The Incredible Hulk, again. I'm not gonna review it, leave that up to the professionals. What I was interested in was the Marvel crossover thing that appears to be occurring. Comics crossover and share universe's all the time, and it looks like it might be on the cards for comic derived summer blockbusters.
There has always been the odd nod to or mention of other characters in superhero films. In Superman Returns there is a news report that mentions Gotham City and there is usually a dig at the opposition. In Sam Raimi's Spider-man (Marvel), Parker says "Up, up and away, Web!" referring to the 1978 Superman the Movie (DC). There are loads more crossovers I'm sure, more than an unseasoned comic fan like me would ever notice.
But what looks to be happening is too big to miss. At the end of the knock about fun of Iron Man, post credits, Samuel L. Jackson turns up to chat to Robert Downey Jr. about some team stuff. Turns out this is Nick Fury inviting Tony Stark/Iron Man to join S.H.I.E.L.D. I never really followed Iron Man so knew little about what this meant, except of course a bigger better sequel.

Then I saw Ed Norton's Hulk, again with lots of nice crossover, mentioning Stark Industries and stuff. There was also a similar post credit tit bit, alough it was screened before the credits, probably something to do with Norton's heavy re-editing, it shows.

This teaser of things to come, not only features Tony Stark as played by the brilliant Downey Jr. but it possibly hints at an even bigger and better crossover to come. A crossover that even I had heard of; the Avengers. Not the abysmal '98 TV series remake, but the Marvel Avengers, "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", consisting of Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk.

From what little digging I've done it appears that the line up changed over the years and ended up including Echo, Ronin, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Fist with Luke Cage and included Spider-woman at one point.

Point is; if the new Marvel Studio is heading where it looks like they are heading, this could be a pretty special time for the tired comic-to-film industry. A film that includes all these characters would be great and there is loads of material to distill a decent script from, but more exciting is building it up and incorporating the different cast to make a powerhouse of a film.

Hulk wasn't so hot, I was having trouble understanding why it was out so soon and it wasn't until the end with Downey Jr. that the penny dropped. Edgar Wright is set to make Ant-Man for 2010, Matthew Vaughn with Thor and in 2011 Nick Cassavetes is supposed to be bringing out The First Avenger: Captain America, another character who later joined the Avengers comics.

Looking on IMDb I also found a very sparse entry for the Avengers:

When Captain America is awakened from an icey prison, and some of the greatest evils earth has seen are born, the Avengers go into action. Captain America, Iron-Man, Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man and Thor. Will they be able to stop the likes of Loki and the Masters of Evil?

Looks as if they are moving the original lineup around a tad but what's new? (I'm being a little tight, Captain America originally joined the Avengers after the first four issues - almost like he was late turning up.)

Roll on the next few summers is all I say. This should be a doozey.



Bark...

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY...

Hello fellow doghousers!!!!!

Does the world really need another studio? Marvel seem to think so! Having already put Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk through their shiny new baby, and with a long line of others in the pipeline (Captain America and Thor to name...well two) they could be contenders to the big boys. What this will mean for the Spider-man franchise is anyones guess but anything is better than the last dire outing for the friendly neighbourhood webslinger.

If the Hulk does as well as ol' shellheads underdog outing then expect all your Marvel favourites to come swimming, flying and swinging out of the woodwork. I only hope they know what they are doing...