Category Archives: Adaptations

The Swinging Pendulum: Hannibal, Fannibals, and Bryan Fuller


Hannibal_2_13_13Hannibal Lecter is one of the most well-known fictional characters of all time. Thomas Harris will go down in history for changing crime novels, crime stories, and for creating the popular culture’s need for serial killers. Bryan Fuller will go down in history for creating some of the most beloved television series about death, the after life, and food. All of which were tragically cut short. Hannibal, however, has been renewed for a second season on NBC, something which Bryan Fuller was actually pretty sure about (x).

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On my planet, it means “hope”: A Double Review of Man Of Steel


Man of Steel seems to be the most polarizing film of 2013. You either absolutely love the film, or you absolutely hate it. There doesn’t seem to be an in-between. With that in mind, we would like to take a look at DC’s latest film and third incarnation of Superman on the big screen. This review will be different from most. It will be from the opinions of both a fan of Superman, and someone who isn’t too fond of the big blue boyscout.

 

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God doesn’t want you to be happy; He wants you to be strong–Hemlock Grove review


So Netflix has been doing this really cool thing this year. They’ve started picking up on fans’ habits of watching a season of a television show in a day, and they’ve started creating their own shows. It all started with House of Cards, and it moved on to the Eli Roth-produced horror show Hemlock Grove.

Goodness, there was too much pretty in this show.

Goodness, there was too much pretty in this show.

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Undertaking the Second Half of Arrow Season 1


arrow-CW-bannerI was worried about this show during the first half because the episodes seemed to be hit or miss. There were some fantastic ones, then there were some that made me want to pull my hair out. That,  however, was not the case for the second half of the season. Continue reading

Wrath of Darkness: A Review of Star Trek XII


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Star Trek into Darkness, which I swear we’re all typing correctly, is good. It’s a good film. It’s fun, packed full of great action sequences, and Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack is beautiful as always. So, if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’re in luck and you will absolutely love this movie. If you’re a Trekkie outside of J.J. Abrams’s reboot film series, then your reaction might be somewhat mixed. So, let’s talk about why – but first you have to beware spoilers. Nothing is off limits, and Abrams proved that.

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Thoroughly Animated: A DC Animated Movies Retrospective-Part 2


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Alright, we are pretty much up to the years where I started legitimately watching and buying these films regularly. Boy, were these fun films, I loved most of them and even the ones I didn’t totally love, I still really liked. It was also around this time that DC started attaching animated short films to their DVD and Blu Ray releases. These were called DC Showcase, they ranged from really small relatively unknown characters like The Spectre to very well known characters like Catwoman. These shorts normally last for ten minutes and it is a really cool way to see an animated version of characters who otherwise would not have a shot at their own animated feature.  DC Showcase also came out with a short film called Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam.  This was significantly longer than the previous showcase shorts, with a running time of 25 minutes. The other things that appeared on this Blu Ray were the previous short films from the other movies, making at least the length of a normal release. The Superman/Shazam short is one of the best, it is essentially the origin story for the character Shazam and I think they pulled it off wonderfully. I did not know much about the character until I had seen this, and it made me a fan of the character. On some DVDs and Blu Rays they also put out two to four episodes of Batman the Animated Series, Superman the Animated Series or Justice League. The episode will normally parallel what is in the movie, or at least have a similar character in there. Continue reading

From the Pages (but NOT) to the Screen: The Top Ten Comics to Never See a Film or TV Adaptation-Guest article by StiffMag’s Dave Harlequin!


Ever since I’ve been able to read, I’ve always loved comic books.  They say you never forget your first time, and while I don’t know how true that is overall (I can’t remember my first slice of pizza, my first cup of coffee, or even the name of my first grade teacher,) I know I will never forget the first time I picked up a copy of Marvel’s “Uncanny X-Men.”  It was the winter of 1989, and I was just reading through the small rack of comics at my local grocery store while my mother was shopping.  I ended up sitting in the aisle finding myself mesmerized by the awesome tales of adventure from everyone’s favorite mutant heroes, and couldn’t wait to buy as many books as my meager allowance at the time could provide me. I was 8 years old, and I was officially hooked.  Not long after that, I saw my first ever comic-book-movie, Tim Burton’s “Batman” on a VHS tape that my dad rented at our local video store. I was given a big box of Dad’s old comics upon discovering my love for superheroes, which included plenty of offerings from The Dark Knight, so I was already familiar with the source material… but this was a movie about comics!  Once again, I was hooked.

Ever since that day, I’ve went out of my way to watch every comic book movie and TV show I could, all-the-while building what I’d like to consider a very respectable (and perhaps a bit obsessive) comic collection.  Now, over 20 years later, I’ve seen pretty much every comic or comic-related film and TV show you could imagine, from live-action, to animated, to even motion-comics and documentaries about comic books.  Some were great, some were not so great, but all of them were based on comic books, so I had to see them!  Hollywood found a real market with superhero films and comic-adaptations, and it seems over the past decade or so, they’ve been grabbing up every comic property they could get their hands on… much to the delight (and times disgust) of comic lovers everywhere.  With all of that said, though, what puzzles me the most is just how many truly great comics out there were never adapted for the screen… be that the silver screen or the small screen.

So without further ado, here is my Top Ten list of the best comic books/graphic novels to never see any sort of film or TV adaptation. Enjoy!

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Tasty Television: Hannibal Ceuf Webisodes


Ok, so lets just address the elephant in the room right off shall we? You see, this week’s episode was supposed to air, but unfortunately, due to sensitive subject matter in the episode, it was pulled. The episode was about a character played by Molly Shannon who was brain washing children into killing other children. Due to the recent school shootings here in America, it would probably be in bad taste to air the episode. Whether I believe this was a good move or not is irrelevant; the most important thing to remember is that this happened and we may need a little time to get past it. Continue reading

Tasty Television: Hannibal 1×03 Potage *Spoilers*


I think we are looking at a really great series here. This week’s episode of Hannibal was amazing. It opens with a flashback of the Minnesota Shrike and his daughter, Abigail Hobbs, hunting in the woods. He tells her they must use every part of the deer they kill in order to honor it. Then we get flashes of a dead human girl and she finally wakes up from her coma.  And with that, everyone wants to talk to her. This includes the ever nosy Freddie Lounds. Continue reading

Tasty Television: Hannibal 1×02 Amuse-Bouche


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“Killing must feel good to God, too. And are we not created in his image?” A chilling quote from Hannibal Lecter in episode two of the series Hannibal.  The episode picks up where the last one left off. Will is still experiencing nightmares from his murder of the serial killer Garrett Jacob Hobbs. Jack Crawford sends him to get evaluated by Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Meanwhile a new case has popped up in Minnesota. A man has been burying victims alive in order to grow his own mushroom farm, as well as perform a disturbing thought experiment. Continue reading