Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
I am fed up of moaning about WWE. Â The amount of wrestling I watch on a weekly basis fluctuates wildly and yet the amount of complaining I do about the WWE is consistently high. Â I’ve had enough. Â So from now on I’m not going to bother. Â With ICW and NXT, the two other shows I watch regularly, I have more than enough good things to critique. Â However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop talking about WWE. Â I love it too much to do that. Â So instead, it is time to focus on the positives.
The Hunger Games franchise has been a revelation for young-adult cinema.  Dark and intelligent, it has taken issues like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and propaganda and put them on-screen for millions of teenagers around the world.  It’s also proven for any idiots out there that still believe otherwise, that a female character can lead an action series and still make shitloads of money.  With The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, that all comes to an end, as we find out whether Francis Lawrence can overcome the weakest book in the series to give us a satisfying conclusion.
Continue reading “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)”
Putting two people in a cabin, dropping them into the woods and then turning it into a film worth seeing in 2015 is a hard job.  The cabin in the wood genre has been done to death and unless you are offering up a comic or intelligent alternative, the odds are any attempt to get it out there will end up dropping straight onto DVD.  The Hallow is far too good for such a fate.  Directed by first-time director and horror fanatic Corin Hardy, it is a creepy monster film that points towards one hell of  future.
As a general rule, I am all for being a bit controversial. Â I like art forms (be it music, wrestling, literature or film) that push the boat out and shock. Â However, I do think there is a line and I think WWE may have crossed it in the final segment on RAW this week.
The Lady in the Van is an unusual film.  On one hand, it’s a warm, funny and very British film that will make you laugh and leave you with a smile on your face.  On the other, it’s a slightly darker affair.  Stuffed with self-reflection and an annoying central character.  Sadly, director Nicholas Hytner struggles to have the two co-exist.
The build to ICW’s show at the SECC has been a long one.  The biggest British wrestling event since the 80’s, it all seemed a bit improbable and fans and performers alike seemed to share the feeling that it was a bit of a dream.  This couldn’t actually be happening, could it?  Well, it did and on Sunday the 15th of November ICW took the SECC by storm and showed the world that this is where they deserve to be.
My musical education took off when I discovered the Metal Hammer Podcast. Â It was the show that kindled my love of hardcore and introduced me to a whole host of bands that I still love today. Â When it ended, I was genuinely gutted. Â It was a weekly insight into heavy music provided by a group of guys who knew what they were talking about. Â Therefore, I was rather chuffed when Terry Bezer and Stephen Hill, who were both on the aforementioned podcast, started That’s Not Metal. Â A new podcast which is looking to fill the gap the death of that show left in my life.
Brooklyn’s trailer would have you believe it was a po-faced drama.  The kind of weepy period piece that we see come in and out of cinemas several times a year and are perfectly acceptable to people that are into that kind of thing, but to most are something that can be safely ignored.  Sadly, that depiction has probably robbed a lot of people from seeing a wonderful piece of cinema.
Seth Rollins’ injury is the worst thing that could have happened to WWE.  In the last six months, Rollins has upgraded from the workhorse of the SHIELD to the workhorse of the whole company.  Whether it’s dragging decent matches out of guys whose best days were twenty years ago or putting on entertaining feuds with his former stablemates.  Rollins has consistently strode above the bad booking  With him now likely to miss Wrestlemania, months of preparation have fallen down around him and the company is left in a bit of a mess.
Continue reading “How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Seth Rollins’ Injury?”
In ten day’s ICW will put on Fear and Loathing VIII at the SECC. Â It’s the biggest gate for a British wrestling show since Giant Haystacks fought Big Daddy at Wembley Arena and that alone is one hell of an achievement. Â When you consider that there will be no one under the age of eighteen at the show, it is even more impressive. Â ICW have set out to prove that if you offer a genuine alternative to the crap we’ve all been being fed for the last few years, the people will come.
