[EXPRESSO] Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026) | 50 Years Of Eddie

To celebrate their 50^th anniversary, Iron Maiden released this new film biopic thingie, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, in theathers, i mean, why the fuck not?

This being an anniversary milestone film, it does do what you’d expect from most music biopics or docs, as in, we get a chronological recollection of the band history over it’s 50 years history, from the humble beginnings, the rise to fame, them being on top of the world, the falls from graces, etc.

Burning Ambition i will admit does give the formula a little neat twist by letting the fans chime in themselves and not just as disembodied audio, with the band members instead providing voiceover commentary and narration over archive footage without appearing themselves, and we get fans from all kinds of backgrounds, be other rock-metal celebrities like Lars Ulrich, actor Javier Bardem (no kidding), or – more interestingly – Polish fans that in the 80s got to see the band despite the Soviet regime rule, or survivors of the conflicts in Lebanon connect with their music.

While the “fan focus” is a nice thing, it makes the whole thing come off as less sincere, basically using them to validate opinions they already wanted/expected to hear, plus there isn’t much we haven’t seen before, the pacing is kinda weird, with the narration skimping over some of the less “glorious” periods like the 90s or most of the less flattering details, and while obviously fans already know the songs by heart, i feel the music itself could have been given a bit more space.

Overall, Burning Ambition it’s a bit too “domesticated” all things considered, more interested in being a nostalgic trip down memory lane to promote their new upcoming tour, yet it’s perfectly watchable and entertaining, a decent time for Iron Maiden fans.

[EXPRESSO] Ghost: Rite Here, Rite Now (2024) | Meliora Grande

I will admit i’m not a die hard Ghost fan, i like them (enough to go to a concert film of theirs playing subtitled only for a couple of days in theathers) a lot but never dwelved into the lore, as apparently this follows up the band meta-storyline from their webisodes, but as an educated guess would have correctly assumed, you really don’t need to be updated on what here amounts as a slightly meta (and kinda Metalocaypse-eque) narrative about the relationship between the singer, his mother and the ghost of his father appearing to him and giving advice about stage performance, etc.

Again, i lack the extra contest most fans would have, but this narrative playing in little bits between some of the songs is mostly soap opera style drama played for laughs, it’s goofy and because of that demonstrates the band’s willingness to be silly and fun, which actually fits the odd yet mesmerizing pastiche of metal aesthetics and 80s energetic hard rock inspired music of Ghost as a whole.

Bonus points for them having a 60s Hanna Barbera style animated segment at one point, even if it feels oddly handled and kinda random, let’s put it like that.

Even if you don’t care for it, even at worst the narrative it’s cute and delivers some laughs, it does not requires you to even know the band beforehand, and it’s actually a more than decent entry point if you were ever curious about Ghost, as the main bulk of the film it’s the live concert they did in 2023 at the Kia Forum in Erwille, California, delivering one hell of a concert with a pretty much perfect track list, amazing theathrics, just an amazing performance graced by excellent editing for the big screen, on top of everything else.

The Spooktacular Eight #6: Dominator: The Movie (2003)

Are you ready to rock and roll with the most unknown Spawn-rip off you never heard?

Are you ever heard of “brit-manga”? Me neither, but apparently Dominator was the “new wave of brit manga animation”, according to what the front cover of the UK DVD release claims.

Yeah, this is some rare shit indeed, an animated movie that involves familiar names in the horror sphere like Doug Bradley, Ingrid Pitt, and metal bands like Cradle Of Filth providing not only the music but the voice acting, based on a series of british comics by Tony Luke, one that was still ongoing in 2006, but has since then been in hiatus.

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