Category Archives: Movie Review

Art. Attitude. Anarchy. Future Shock – The story of 2000AD

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future-shock-graphicjpg-60a2aaAlmost everything I’m obsessed with, inspired by or simply think is ‘rad’ can be traced back to my exposure to an unholy trinity of influences at key developmental stages of my childhood. Star Wars at five years old, Fighting Fantasy at seven years old and 2000AD at eight years old.

Whilst I’ve discussed the influence of Fighting Fantasy and Star Wars at length elsewhere on this blog, the acid damage 2000AD wrought upon my delinquent brain has yet to be fully explored. Trust me though it’s coming. Once again the blame can be placed squarely at the feet of my sainted Grandmother who every Friday would turn up at our house with the TV & Radio Times for my parents, The Storyteller tape/magazine for my little sister and Transformers and Whizzer & Chips for me. Things were going swimmingly until one Friday she arrived later than usual. For whatever reason she had been delayed. ‘I am sorry Nathan, but the man at the newsagent didn’t have any Transformers left…’ She delivered this dreadful news whilst rummaging in her bag and upon seeing my forlorn mug peering back at her she added cheerily ‘Don’t worry though love, I got you something else….it’s got big robots in it’. She stuffed a magazine called 2000AD into my eager grasp and lo the  stars aligned, doom bells tolled and the sun went black as sackcloth. The robots in question were of course the ABC Warriors. Occult obsessed, chaos worshipping, human murdering, cross-dressing war droids who kicked about with a cloven hoofed alien warlock. So that was me pretty much fucked. Continue reading →

Binary Sunrise – Star Wars & Me

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My memories of my early childhood are hazy. Things half remembered or best forgotten, ‘splinters of the minds eye’ if you will. I recall one thing with crystal clarity though.The first time I saw Star Wars. I was only a year old when A New Hope was originally released in 1977. It wasn’t until ITV premiered it on national television on October 24th 1982 that a six year old Nathan Bean was first transported to the galaxy far far away…. Continue reading →

Marked For Justice: CYBORG retroview

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cyborg_poster_01_van_damme_looking_for_high_desktop_1896x2950_hd-wallpaper-751245As part of an ongoing but irregular series of retro reviews that we have dubbed Marked For Justice, a group of us decided it might be fun to get together virtually and watch a movie simultaneously. Our selections have to be drawn from the genre’s of Fantasy, Sci-Fi (or Horror containing either of those two elements) ultimately something relatable to the direction of this here blog. I prepared a shortlist of the first films that popped into my head which happened to be Johnny Mnemonic, At The Mouth Of Madness, Lord Of Illusions and Cyborg which turned out to be the peoples choice. I  was surprised to learn that despite the demographic of the group (men in their 30’s) most of them had not seen Cyborg before.  Anyway thanks to Duggan, Pete, Clarke, Sketch, Dieter and Kev for agreeing to join me as I revisited this maligned genre treat and a shout out to Brinton for being the only other guy to pipe up in defence of Cyborg . What has all this got to do with Corehammer’s mission I hear you cry? Well, everything really…
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Culture. Alienation. Boredom & Despair. Show Pieces by Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins

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ShowPieces1webEach year Leeds International Film Festival puts together a truly eclectic selection of movies, shorts, animations and documentaries. Its a wonderful event, the largest of its kind in the UK outside of London and I am blessed to have it on my doorstep. This years personal must-see was an exclusive viewing of Alan Moore and award winning photographer Mitch Jenkins ‘Showpieces’.

Moore has never been shy about sharing his vitriol when it comes to movie adaptations of his existing work and really, who can blame him? Abominations like Constantine are an exercise in EXACTLY why Hollywood should leave things the fuck alone and Watchmen, whilst obviously intended as a reverential panel for panel homage of the book, failed miserably simply because the original material was already presented in the medium for which it was intended. A serialized finite comic book series. Something to be digested and appreciated at a particular beat and rhythm, not  consumed in an hour and a half whilst slinging junk food down your pig throat and playing with your fucking phone. So with that in mind I was excited to discover that Showpieces was Alan’s first work written intentionally for the screen. Not an interpretation of existing work, not a ham fisted adaptation designed to squeeze porcine posteriors into overpriced seats. Just the original vision presented as it was meant to be experienced. Far out.
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