nathan bentley's personal playground...

Usually, when I hear about a new transfer from the Marvel comic world to the genre of film, I stop myself from getting excited and sit and think about the chronic mistakes they’ve made in the past. “Spiderman” was barely good enough to merit a visit to the cinema screen, let alone II and III (which thankfully were viewed on DVD). Let’s not even go into the 3 hours of my life which I’ll never get back from watching “The Hulk”.

It’s not that they don’t have great special effects, or stunning casts, it’s just that they tend to be utter drivel from start to end. You’ve got a great canvas to explore (after all, this is the comic book land we’re talking about here) - so why waste millions on special effects at the expense of a decent plotline?

Thankfully, there are exceptions to the rule. The fantastic X-Men series not only delivers the first time round, but follows up with 2 excellently crafted sequels. Batman got it’s act together with Christian Bale doing Batman Begins justice. (more…)

After mulling over my slightly painful wisdom teeth, I decided to book myself in for some loving at my local dentist. Cue the usual prodding and poking, occasional whelps of pain (I mean, manly grunts…). I was told that it was about time I became a little less wise, and had them removed.

Now I’ve got a pretty good tolerance when it comes to pain… It’s something that’s evolved over the past eight years of breaking bones, spraining ankles, having appendixes removed and riding in ambulances (some may say I’m a little unlucky - I say I’m getting my NI payments back by force). Still, having seen the look of horror on peoples faces when telling them I was about to have three wisdom teeth removed under local anaesthetic, I decided to play it safe and take a couple of days off work. (more…)