Screamingly good fun!… Buffy Revamped @BuffyRevamped

Spike has been awoken from his eternal rest, meaning the apocalypse must be close at hand! It all began to turn south in 2016, apparently, when all the best celebrities died (and dark forces began to arise in the US, presumably heralding the return of ‘The Master’), and now time is running out! Thankfully, Spike (aka Brendan Murphy) is here to save the day, resurrecting all that was good and innocent about us in the times before…

Buffy Revamped is a brilliant stand-up show in which we get a reprise of all seven series of Buffy in just 70 madcap minutes, complete with comedy impressions, a superior retro sound track, odes to all your fave characters (and a few you’d forgotten about!), mini video-lectures (thanks, Giles!), and even Angel trying to steal the show. And. Spike. Is. Not. Jealous. How. Dare. You!

Every member of the audience is issued with chopsticks doubling up as ‘Emergency Stakes’…

… which proves to be very handy! You’re also issued with a damn good time, including laughs aplenty, nostalgia galore, and something for everyone. It was amazing to see the different generations of fans (clearly, the pandemic saw a whole new generation binge-watching our fave vampire-epic), and a timely reminder that there are things that can still unite us all in celebration.

If you weren’t the biggest fan of some of the cornier episodes back in the day, you’ll enjoy this gentle spoofing of it. And if you were the biggest fan, you’ll adore the homage that is Buffy Revamped and you’ll want to rewatch the whole seven series again, just in time for the modern reboot that is rumoured to be in production! It was all fangtastic! Sorry.

You can catch the hit show in London at the mo… and there’s bound to be demand for other venues…

Is it a xmas cracker or xmas turkey?: The Matrix Resurrections

Well, to answer the question… you know when – with your xmas lunch – you’ve had three large roast potatoes (the first three movies) and you know you reeeally shouldn’t have a fourth? You want it cos it tastes so good, but your stomach already hurts. And so you have it anyway. Then you’ve reeeally had enough! Well, The Matrix Resurrections is just like that extra spud. The tension between desire and fear is actually a theme of this latest movie, too.

Should they have made that fourth one? And should I have consumed it so eagerly? Hard to say. Someone get me an Alka-Seltzer.

Keanu still can’t act. But that was never the point, and it was never really that big a deal, so quit whining already. And, yes, there is an abundance of plot-holes (rabbit-holes would be a more appropriate term, given the White Rabbit theme of this latest offering). And we know that Keanu’s comedic timing is always off, and that he can’t deliver well written dialogue even if Carrie-Anne Moss is managing to get the wooden stage-set emoting more than him. BUT IT’S THE MATRIX! The visuals and high(ish) concepts are what it’s all about.

This new movie does offer some new scenarios, and the machines have had the sort of upgrade even Denis Villeneuve might nod at approvingly. The first 40mins, set in our fake real-world, actually resonate quite well (with the sense of social distancing, isolation and modern working-ennui), even if we do then keep jumping between worlds too frequently for it to be anything but annoying. It’s just a bit pell-mell really, with too many characters squeezed in, and one too many fight scenes. Yet the larger themes and meditations just about see us through.

Neo starts as Thomas Anderson, the famous creator of a game called The Matrix. Sadly, he had a mental breakdown and started to think of the fiction of The Matrix as real! Fortunately, he has an analyst who helps him realise The Matrix is just a delusional fiction. Phew. The end.

It scores 6.5 out of 10 from me!

Reviewing Evil #horror #TheBookofDemons

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Just finished watching the first spooky season of Evil. It stars Mike Colter (of Marvel’s Luke Cage fame) as a priest-in-training tasked by the Catholic Church with examining possible cases of demonic possession. He is ably assisted by a sceptical psychologist played by the feisty Katja Herbers. Think in terms of Mulder and Scully from the legendary X-Files and you won’t go far wrong. Certainly, there’s plenty of chemistry between the leads in the style of Duchovny and Anderson. Things get decidedly hot under the (priestly) collar, that’s for sure, especially when a dastardly demon (played quite deliciously by Michael Emerson) decides that our two investigators either need to be morally corrupted or removed from the game-board entirely. It’s just the fate of all humanity at stake, after all. I’m happy to say the series is far from formulaic, however: some episodes really are quite disturbing. It scores a nearly divine 8.5 out of 10 from me. And if it sounds like your sort of thing, you might also want to check out my new title, The Book of Demons, which provides you with a history of demonology and considers why the number of exorcisms being conducted today is on the increase: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Demons-J-Dalton/dp/1913562247/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AIITVR4LEM4R&dchild=1&keywords=book+of+demons+dalton+kristell+ink&qid=1628844655&sprefix=book+of+demons+dalton%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-1.

I think I’m gonna become a witch! And proud! #witch #witches #witchcraft @EvanovaLev

Like witches and want to read the latest research and stories about them? Check out my new title, The Book of Witches, on Amazon?

The New Witch, a new book! #witchcraft #WITCH #witches @EvanovaLev @Tree_and_Troll

• Learn how the tradition of witchcraft is still alive and well in the UK’s south-west, find out the truth behind the Pendle Witch Trials, discover just why Henry VIII was the first to outlaw witchcraft, and shake your head as you come to understand what drove the maniacal Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins!
• “Dedicated to every woman or person who has suffered persecution or demonization for who they are.”
• A group of researchers from Middlesex University, working with prize-winning creative writers from the north-west, have produced this exciting new book that explores the history of witches in the UK, and what it is to be part of marginalised groups in today’s world.
• ‘The Witch of Endor in the Bible is very far from being a negative figure, so why then have women and others been persecuted for witchcraft in the UK for centuries?’ Dr Adam Dalton-West provides us with answers in a gripping introduction.
• With contributions from authors Adam Lively (Granta Best Young Novelist), A J Dalton (www.ajdalton.eu), and others, this collection remembers the innocent women and individuals who were cruelly sacrificed, examines how particular groups in society are still persecuted, and shows how society and relationships might still be magically transformed!
• Available from Amazon and other book outlets from 7 August 2020. Order your copy today. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Witches-J-Dalton-ebook/dp/B08F5K8FM8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=book+of+witches+dalton&qid=1598516130&sr=8-1

Great scares and chills in Bird Box #SandraBullock #BirdBox #Netflix

No wonder Bird Box has been one of the most viewed movies in the world during lockdown! This scif-fi/horror film sees humankind struggling to survive when sight of the ‘monster’ outside causes insanity and a suicide pandemic. You can only get about with your eyes covered, and you must never open the front door when someone or something knocks! Don’t let it in! It’ll infect you! A pregnant Sandra Bullock(!) works with a groups of desperate strangers (including John Malkovich), and she gets to raise two young children in ‘the new normal’. But her group dies one by one, until she has to go outside with her kids to try and get them to some sort of safety. They have to deal with all manner of hazard and marauder!

Honestly, it’s a great great movie that plays with your mind. It’s utterly relatable. And the ending is a triumph. I flaming loved it. 9.5 out of 10. My missis doesn’t tend to like horror, but even she enjoyed it.

Charlize Theron, immortal warrior, in The Old Guard #TheOldGuardNetflix #TheOldGuard #fantasy

Six undying soldiers-of-fortune fight in one conflict after another, always trying to be on the side of right, so as to make the world a better place. After thousands of years of dying and resurrecting, it seems that all their effort has been for naught. Sucks, right? Pretty much. Their leader (Charlize Theron) wonders if they should call it a day. Worse, an ex-CIA operative has begun to track them down on behalf of an obsessed geneticist who wants to cage them and ‘harvest’ their DNA/immortality (not for the good of humanity, obviously, but to make plenty of money instead). The Old Guard are now on the run from dozens of baddies. The days of fighting for what’s right are ending.

The Old Guard is a good movie. Yes, there are the sorts of grisly battle scenes you might expect, but the plot is definitely not throw-away. There are strong contemplative character-development scenes. There’s philosophical rumination. It is not a mono-tempo movie by any means. It has dimensions. There are complex and moving relationships. There’s even a very poetic speech about the nature of love. Not what you might expect from your regular Netflix action movie? Well, that’ll be because the movie’s based on the Image comic book series, so there’s plenty of content. Well played, Netflix! It scores an admiring 8 out of 10 from me.

Shlocking awful guilty pleasure: Warrior Nun #Netflix #WarriorNun

Started watching the new metaphysical fantasy series on Netflix: Warrior Nun. I want to hate it, but I can’t… cos the plotting is pretty tight (based on a Canadian combic book, init), the tempo is high, it understands its genre ‘beats’, there are moral dilemmas and problems to solve, and there’s just enough character development for us to care. Plus: it’s got some freshly original ideas in it. Oh and it’s easy on the eye! That’s a pretty good set of ingredients, all told.

Basically, there’s a Catholic order of female templar knights whose job it is to retrieve holy artefacts so that they don’t fall into the hands of demons and unleash hell. But the lead knight dies in an ambush and her power (her ‘halo’) has to be hidden, in a desperate moment, in the body of an incidental dead girl. Unexpectedly, the halo resurrects the girl and she goes out to enjoy her newfound life… with the forces of both good and evil out to claim her as their own. Neat, eh? It works philosophically and politically.

Watch the first episode and think ‘hmm, alright’. Watch the second and think ‘heh, this is getting quite good’. It scores a respectable 8 out of 10 from me.

The bromance and the rise of human-A.I. relationships in science fiction TV and film #sciencefiction #artificialintelligence

So, I’ve written a chapter in the newly published collection from Luna Press: Love in Fantasy and Science Fiction. It’s a cool piece about the ‘bromance’, Kirk and Spock, Frodo and Sam, Han Solo and Luke, etc. Check it out maybe!

 

In my dreams, I fly! #CatsOfTwitter #Caturday