Awesome August

Barely blinked and August is upon us like a Weeping Angel, only less menacing, promising filmic delights of the usual slew of blockbusters and the annual horror pilgrimage that is FrightFest, now ensconced in its new venue.

Watch this space for more goodies as this rusty blogger gets back into the scribbling swing.

1st Supernova Film Festival

This weekend sees the birth of Grimmfest's sci-fi sibling in Manchester.

There's something for everyone  (okay, those of a sci-fi geekery persuasion). From pondering Kubrick - be it the beautiful, baffling, balletic "2001: A Space Odyssey" to the what if Stan the Man helped fake the 1969 Moon landing? ("Moonwalkers").

And of course there is fare aplenty where mankind is on the brink of extermination; be it via killer robots  ("Kill Command"), acid-spewing rapey aliens ("Aliens", "Alien 3: The Assembly Cut") or humanity's arrogance and stupidity ("Interstellar"). And just WHAT are we going to do about it? ("Project M").

But kicking off this glut of sci-fantastic goodness, is an amuse bouche of short films - fantastical vignette to whet any armchair astronaut's appetite.

The Hound Has Risen From The Grave

I haven't posted on here in an eternity. This has been due both internal and external constraints: including familial, financial, technical and the mother of black dogs in residence, making some days peeking above the duvet A Great Achievement indeed.

Oh that insidious, pernicious hell hound growling into your ear that whatever you write is guano... But I digress.

It's been a long road, but like a certain beefy Austrian, I'm back. And who cares if I write a great steaming pile or that anyone reads it? The cobwebs have been cleared from the kennel. Best paw forward. Let's see where this leads.

11th Fsntastic Films Weekend

Once again it's all aboard the horror express for a weekend of classic horror and sci-fi at the Natioinconal Museum's 11th Fanastic Films Weekend.

There's someing for all tastes: from Troma , styllish splatterfest of Italan gialo and of course any classic horror film festival would be like the ubiquitous Count sans cape, seriously incomplete without an infusion of Hammer.

So be prepared for a weekend of spills, chills and mayhem and that's just in the bar!

www.nationalmediamuseum.org/fantastic

#MTOS 18 March 2012: Sports Films

Although I'm not a sports fan like my dad and grandads were, I learnt at an early age that it is not just the winning which is the ultimate goal in sport, but to participate, try your hardest, doing this perhaps as a team and doing so with honesty and no anabolic steroids (Ivan Drago should've had Rocky's coach in "Rocky IV"), an outstretched foot or swan dive that Odette would be proud of.

And such is the case with sport in film, we cheer for the underdog because they llike us are on a journey to learn An Important Life Lesson, often that professional success may come at high price (DeNiro's blistering "Raging Bull" performance.

In short, sport is often allegory for how you deal with life, love, war death and everything in between, including that you must often learn how you deal with losing is far more important than winning with even time for some fantasy, mayte a quick quidditch match, a round of golf with Bagger Vance or my personal ultimate fantasy baseball team of the Cullens, Ray Kinsella, Moonlight Graham and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

But once this has been learned, anything is possible, from winning the match, the girl and overthrowing an evil, totaliteration empire, and all before teatime.

See you at the starting line Sunday and cool runnings!

Questions

1  Best sports film?
2  Worst sports film?
3  Favourite sports film?
4  Most outlandish sport depicted on screen?
5  Favourite sporting animal?
6  Dystopian sports film?
7  Sport and war?
8  Fantasy in sports films?
9  Favourite final showdown?
10  Favourite sports film soundtrack?