Masters of the Universe - Film Review

 

Hey 80's Nerds!

Went to see the Masters of the Universe movie the other day.  As a big fan of the original cartoon growing up in the 80s I wanted to see it and hoped it was better than the 80s film with Dolph Lundgren - spoilers - he cameos in this film.

The film starts with Man at Arms (Idris Elba) training a young Prince Adam and his daughter Teela.  When Skeletor (Jared Leto) attacks the city with his army they go to Castle Greyskull where the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) takes them in and gives Young Adam the Sword of Power to protect and sends him to Earth where his Mother is from.

In the portal to Earth Young Adam loses grip of the Sword and lands in a lake.

Fast forward to present day where Adam (Nicolas Galitzine) is working in an office and looking for the Sword via the internet.

Eventually someone shows him the Sword in a comic shop held by a statue of what the original He-Man toy was meant to look like and he takes the Sword.  Upon touching it it sends a signal to Eternia and Teela arrives to take him home.  His home has been devastated by Skeletor and he has to learn how to use the Sword to become He-Man and defeat Skeletor.

Overall - It's a fun film and a good adaptation of the cartoon.  Although I did have a few niggles about it.  Like why wasn't it mentioned that Adams Mother came from Earth.  

It hardly had the Sorceress in and never mentioned she was Teelas Mother.

Castle Greyskull was next to the city over a bridge whilst in the cartoon it is miles away in the desert.  Although for story telling purposes this made sense.

Orko wasn't in the film until the end when he said the moral message like the cartoon had.

They killed off Skeletor which was the best part of the film and Jared Leto did a fine job.  I didn't even mind that his voice was different to the original cartoon although some times it was hard to understand what he said.  Although I laughed when he called He-Man a boob like he used to call people in the cartoon.  As it's fantasy there could be a chance of bringing him back.  He was goofy like the cartoon too.

Adam was fine and the actor did an ok job having him goofy and useless as Adam too.  Another annoying thing was that Cringer didn't get transformed into Battlecat.  They just put armour on him at the end.

I hope there's a sequel and - Spoilers - it showed us She-Ra at the end of the post credits.

The acting was fine and the special effects were fine although a bit ropey in places.

I went to Birstall and they gave free Masters of the Universe badges out too.

Score  -   7/10

Lucy Brighton Author Events - Shipley Library

 

Lucy Brighton in action.

Greetings Writers and Readers!

On Saturday I joined Karen who runs Cleckheaton Writing Group for a day at Shipley to see thriller writer Lucy Brighton.

Lucy had two workshops for the library. In the morning there was Structuring a Killer Thriller. Then in the afternoon there was the Writing as a Business workshop.

 The first workshop Lucy spoke to us about what makes a thriller, giving us advice on how she writes and describing the three acts of a novel.  

These include:

• Set Up - introducing protagonist.
• Complications - obstacles to overcome.
• Resolution - climax and how the protagonist has acted.

Lucy also spoke about characters and had us writing introductions to our own.  Lucy also went over scene planning.

Sadly we had ran out of time but Lucy had provided handy workbooks for us.

It was then time for lunch where a few of the writers, including Lucy and her husband (also called Neil), myself and Karen went to a nice coffee shop called The Bothy where they specialised in breakfast and brunch.

The food was lovely.

In the afternoon Lucy held the Writing as a Business workshop.

This was more about the self marketing side of writing and putting yourself on social media sites, primarily TikTok and the subgenre of Booktok.

Lucy also mentioned YouTube and Instagram.

Lucy gave advice like linking all your media with Linktree and gave a run through of Canva and the importance of mailing lists.

Sadly this also went too fast. Both workshops could have each gone on for a full day each, but they were both informative and Lucy gave great advice.

Overall a fun informative day, especially as I'm getting back into writing.

Check out Lucy's website.

https://www.lucybrighton.com/

Neil x

Madness in Concert at Piece Hall

 Greetings!

Something a bit different for the blog.  Went to the Piece Hall in Halifax with my mate Andy.  Had a great time despite the weather and it was heaving!

So here's a few photos from last night!

June 2026 Update!

 

Hey Fellow Nerds!

Another month down for 2026 as we move into June.  May seemed to go on for ages for me.  Although I did manage a visit to Bradford Waterstones and have been productive writing wise.

May Review - Yesterday was the last day of the Facebook group Write Magic's annual Bootcamp. I've taken part in the past but usually stopped after a couple of days.

This time with a goal of 10,000 words I actually carried on and hit the target.  I actually enjoyed it and will definitely carry on writing but not as much. 

I managed to finish The Cubbyhole and the prologue to Urban X-Gore.

Reading wise I read some Salem's Lot by Stephen King, but put the reading on the back burner for my writing.

In June - As I mentioned above I'm still going to write but not as much.  I'm aiming for 5,000 to 8,000 words per month.  I also need to make more notes on the story before I write much more.

I'm definitely going to prioritise my reading in June and finish Salem's Lot in the next couple of days.  Then I can read some Gemmell.

I also plan to walk more and start some exercise as I didn't get chance in May with the writing challenge!

What are your plans for June?

Neil x