JumanjiGate: the controversy that isn’t.

I think it’s a very bad idea to comment on a film before it’s released, even if  I’m just as guilty of it as everyone else: remember the whole ‘White Nile’ thing with Gods of Egypt? Turns out the naysayers were right on the money though; that film did have some ‘unfavourable optics’. But still, let’s wait a movie hits the screens before tearing it to pieces.

… But we won’t, will we?

In a brave attempt to get ahead of  the superhero onslaught that the Jumanji sequel is going to be up against next year, one of the stars, Kevin Hart, tweeted a quick publicity shot showing some of the cast in costume.

And here it is:

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Not the greatest photo ever taken, but enough to  get the Twittersphere’s underwear in a bunch.

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Film review: The Killing Joke

Okay, it’s not really a movie, but it’s based on a classic piece of comicdom, so in my book that means it’s worth a look.

If you’re even just an occasional reader of Batman comics, then the chances are you’ve heard of the Killing Joke. When it was released in 1988, comics stopped being comics; they became graphic novels. Up until then, Batman was a fairly nice guy; a bit like the fella in the sixties series staring Adam West. Hell, he even smiled. But the Killing Joke introduced a different caped crusader: obsessed, brutal and brooding, and this was a different kind of comi—sorry—graphic novel: gothic, violent and raw. It turns out that Batman is as much of a whack-job as the Joker, but I think we all kind of suspected that.

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Fans loved it, and the new Batman stuck.

So of course, the Killing Joke needs to be a movie, or at the very least, a cartoon. The only thing I don’t get is why it took so long. It’s not as if Mark Hamill is that busy.

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