End of August

So, August draws to a close, taking Summer (not to mention the transfer window) with it.  I have to say that, this year, I've barely noticed that it has been August.  Usually my favourite Summer month, mainly because it is traditionally when I take my main holiday, this year, of course, I haven't been working, so I haven't had to look forward to August as a break from the relentless grind of work.  Last year, I still got a buzz from the month as it marked the start of what was then a 'career break' from the job from Hell, but as I never bothered going back, it has been one long holiday since.  I don't regret walking away from the job and I've really enjoyed having a year off and free of major stress, but I really do need to start taking the search for some paid work seriously.  Not that I'm desperate for money, but it would be nice to have some structure back in my life, something to get me out of the house a few days a week.  We'll see.  Anyway, August has come and gone and thanks to the depressingly poor weather, I haven't been out and about as much as usual.  Which means that I've ended up watching even more movies and TV of varying quality.  Some I've already written about here, Japanese direct-to-video oddity Star Virgin, for instance, others will doubtless follow.  Some, however, only require a brief mention.

One of those being the 2019 version of Hellboy, which I finally caught up with over the recent Bank Holiday.  I watched it with some trepidation, as I'd enjoyed the first two Guillermo del Toro directed films and this reboot had debuted to some terrible reviews and a desultory box office return.  I have to say, though, that I enjoyed it more than I expected.  Technically, it was well made and directed (although it was, literally, too dark, in that the lighting was so low key in many sequences that I had difficulty seeing what was going on), as you'd expect from a Neil Marshall film and David Harbour made a pretty decent Hellboy.  The problem lay with a meandering script that tried to pack too much exposition, characters, plot and incident into a two hour film.  Moving most of the action to the UK made little sense, despite the presence of a British director, as most of it was shot in Bulgaria, (sure, I know the villainness was from Arthurian legend, but, in truth, she could just as easily been drawn from any national mythology).  They didn't even capitalise by employing a host of British actors, other than Ian McShane and Sophie Okenado, in main roles, instead opting for several US actors with dodgy British accents.  There was a smattering of vaguely familiar British TV faces, including Masood and Big Mo from EastEnders.  The film's strength lay in the fact that it didn't try to emulate the look or style of the previous films, attempting instead to forge its own, darker and grittier identity.  While this was largely successful, it lacked the comic book and mythic feel of the first two films.  Which approach is actually more faithful to the source material, I can't say, not being familiar with the original comic books.  But, despite all of its short comings, the most recent Hellboy was, as I say, surprisingly enjoyable in an undemanding sort of way.