David A. Riley's Blog, page 86
August 14, 2014
Cargo - A brilliant short Australian zombie movie
I have often thought that the best medium for the zombie tale is in the short story form. I am now beginning to wonder whether it is also ideal for the short film format too, as shown in this brief but excellent Australian movie Cargo, which is both poignant and clever in its use of a mere seven minutes and no dialogue. Directed by Ben Howling & Yolanda Ramke, it was a Tropfest Australia 2013 finalist. It's so short that a review is superfluous except to say that it is well worth watching.
August 13, 2014
Need for Speed - review
Need for Speed - awful, idiotic nonsenseAfter thoroughly enjoying all five seasons of Breaking Bad, I was looking forward to seeing Aaron Paul in whatever movies he made as a result. Recently I saw and mildly enjoyed A Long Way Down, which was a light comedy about suicide (!). In this, though, starring parts were divided between Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Roots and Aaron Paul.
Need for Speed saw Paul starring in his own right.
The pity is that this is a terrible movie. Morally, it's downright awful. The idea that a group of people who may be superb drivers can drive high powered cars, not only at incredibly dangerous speeds on public highways in illegal races, but endanger other road users by driving the wrong way down roads, cross pavements, etc., is so morally reprehensible that I can't imagine how anyone should think producing a film that makes heroes out of people like this is right, especially when the only audience this film is likely to appeal to are impressionable wannabe boy racers. Worse still are the sheer stupidities in it, such as the idea that a car can hurtle through the air at high speed, land and still be in a fit condition to drive or that a car can be refueled while racing at high speed on a public highway. It's not only morally reprehensible but downright stupid, with a plot that is an insult in its cliche-ridden naivety to every intelligent (or semi-intelligent) viewer.
Please, Aaron Paul, think twice before taking on something as bad as this again - or whatever kudos you amassed in making Breaking Bad will be thrown away.
August 3, 2014
Stop the Train: The Musical
Please see below the poster for
Stop the Train: The Musical
, in which my daughter Cassandra will be appearing this coming weekend.
July 31, 2014
The Little Mermaid
I am proud to announce that my daughter, Cassandra's next production at the Civic Theatre in Oswaldtwistle will be The Little Mermaid on the 29th-31st January next year.
July 30, 2014
Royalties on His Own Mad Demons
I was nicely surprised to receive my latest royalty payment for
His Own Mad Demons: Dark Tales from David A. Riley
, which was published by Hazardous Press in 2012. It sold even better in its second year than its first. His Own Mad Demons includes:
The Worst of All Possible Places
Lock In
Their Own Mad Demons
The Fragile Mask on his Face
The True Spirit
These were previously published in Houses on the Borderland edited by David A. Sutton for the BFS, The Black Book of Horror and the Fifth Black Book of Horror edited by Charles Black, Dark Discoveries #15 edited by James Beach, and Back from the Dead edited by Johnny Mains.
The 170-page paperback can be ordered via Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. In the US it's $8.09 (with free shipping available) and £5.49 in the UK (again with free shipping available).
The kindle ebook versions are also available: Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
July 28, 2014
The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies Trailer
Having enjoyed the previous two films of the trilogy, I am looking forward to watching its conclusion with The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies later this year.
Here's a trailer for it.
Here's a trailer for it.
Superman Series 1 starring George Reeves
Though I've owned the dvds for the entire run of the George Reeves Superman TV series from the 1950s for a while now, I've only just finished the first, climaxing with a double parter: Superman and the Mole Men, which was the first of the stories to be filmed, originally as a B-feature and as a pilot for the TV series. Although the series at this point was filmed only in black and white, it was quite incredibly good and I can well understand why it was such a hit back then. I have another 4 series to enjoy watching yet, the later ones in full colour.
Mad Max - Fury Road
After the disappointment of the last Mad Max movie many years ago, this looks like a return to the form of Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior, which was the best of the original three. I just hope the film lives up to the trailer!
July 24, 2014
Daft Amazon Review of Aickman's Dark Entries
Yesterday I bought the kindle edition of Robert Aickman's collection Dark Entries from Amazon.co.uk. I was surprised to see the following review of it on the Amazon site. And the reviewer has the temerity to call Amazon stupid! What reader gives a book a one star review like this? Unbelievable!See below. To follow this and the comments that others posted click on this link.
(Update: the link will no longer work as the one-star review has now been removed. I complained to Amazon about it.)
This was the review: "Don't be so damn stupid, Amazon - I only bought it yesterday and haven't finished reading the previous book yet."
