With 75 issues to condense, adapting Neil Gaiman’s revered dark fantasy series was never going to be easy. Numerous attempts to bring the author’s lavish dreamscapes to life in film have been aborted, including a Warner Bros project with Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached. As Gaiman (who, thankfully, was directly involved in the show’s development) has noted, the silver screen doesn’t provide viewers with the necessary breadth to stage his material, which follows the trials of the anthropomorphic Dream/Morpheus as he is accidentally captured by occultist Roderick Burgess, played with sardonic brilliance by Charles Dance (it’s pretty difficult to imagine Dance playing a wholesome character after Game of Thrones, and he certainly doesn’t break the mould here). Escaping after 100 years, Dream wreaks revenge on his captors then seeks out the stolen items (a ruby, helm and a pouch of sand) that provide him with his full powers.
Continue reading “Review: The Sandman”Obituary: Carlo Bonomi
Carlo Bonomi, who has died aged 85, was best known for his voice work on the late nineties Claymation hit series Pingu, which was originally made for Swiss television. With its lack of spoken language, however (the showrunners created a fictional language titled ‘Penguinese’, derived from earlier language Bonomi created in Italian animated series La Linea), the show’s universal appeal quickly attracted foreign audiences, no doubt in part due to Bonomi’s loud ‘noot noot’ noise. Akin to a horn, this sound was emphasised by the animal’s beak morphing into the instrument’s shape, and became the penguin’s de facto catchphrase. With his eclectic voice range, Bonomi voiced all the characters for the show’s first four series.
Continue reading “Obituary: Carlo Bonomi”Minimalist Moments: Oppenheimer Announcement Trailer
‘The man who moved the earth’
The Syncopy and Universal logo flash on the screen, disappearing as quickly as they arrive. No clear image is seen as a voice announces a changing world, urging an unseen figure to seize his chance. Sparks of light can be seen against a pitch-black background, but nothing else. A different, doom-laden voice chimes in alongside an ominous soundtrack as we see an assortment of objects arranged on a table, among them a hat and pipe. Descending, ticking clock figures appear one by one before we return to the sparks, which evolve into a fiery hellscape. We see the back of a figure as he faces a window, adjusting the hat we saw earlier on his head as the time figures decrease further. The fiery image appears again, dominating the screen, even more tumultuous than before. Finally, we see the figure of Cillian Murphy walking at the front of a crowd. The time figures are no longer there, replaced with the unsettling, laconic tagline ‘The World Forever Changes’, before finally cutting to the title screen alongside a voice announcing the significance of Cillian Murphy’s unspeaking figure.
Continue reading “Minimalist Moments: Oppenheimer Announcement Trailer”Review: Bullet Train
The humble train has played a significant role throughout its cinematic career, whether it’s serving as an allegory for class conflict (Snowpiercer), a vehicle to commit covert genocide (Murder on the Orient Express) or a means of scaring the bejesus out of an audience not accustomed to the moving image during an early Lumiere brothers screening (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat), where a train is shown making its way across the screen (the authenticity of that anecdote has been questioned, but it’s interesting, so I’m going to mention it anyway).
Continue reading “Review: Bullet Train”Minimalist Moments: Trigger Happy TV
It’s a hot summer in London. You can see the sights, get some grub, walk around. Perhaps even pick up and smell some flowers. Not if you’re dressed in a dalmatian costume though. Definitely not if you’re dressed in a dalmatian costume. If you do that, there’s a high chance you’ll be accosted by another individual dressed in a brown dog costume. And woe betide you if you continue to sniff said flower obliviously as he approaches in slow motion. At that point, it’ll be too late. He’ll have picked up the vase with the flowers already and smashed it on your bonce before making a quick getaway.
Continue reading “Minimalist Moments: Trigger Happy TV”