Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns
Justice League of America #26
No Hero #2
Superman #681
Trinity #22
Ultimate Captain America Annual #1
Ultimate Spider-man Annual #3
Showing posts with label nerdstuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nerdstuff. Show all posts
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Chinese Democracy
So,
have you heard Chinese Democracy yet, the new the new Guns and Roses single from the album of the same name? Perhaps you’ve listened it several times online but can’t even remember doing so. Well, you’re forgiven. Lamentably the new single is forgettable and middle of the road material, inducing instant amnesia and a palpable sense of nostalgia for GNR’s earlier work.
The single has a generic mid to late 80’s heavy rock feel, without any of the character and personality that have made a band like Gun and Roses so great the first time ‘round. It doesn’t grab you, hell, the song barely even checks you out before heading off to someplace else, leaving you feeling dirty and cheap.
It’s inevitable. Call it, Phantom Menace syndrome. After 17 years of waiting with baited breath for the coming GNR album, fans old enough to remember the LAST album can’t help but build the whole thing up a little more than it needs to be.
But it’s early days yet. It’d be far to premature to judge the entire album on the back of one mediocre single. I prefer to think of this album as Axl clearing his throat, getting rid of all the grotty phlegm and other crap in his system before inhaling a deep, clean breath and jumping back into the creative pool.
(An aside that robs me of a little hope. S and I went to a GNR concert a couple years ago. Axl was still rocking the Chinese Democracy stage decoration. It was a great concert but it was quite obvious that the weakest songs in his set were the ones from the 'new' album)
have you heard Chinese Democracy yet, the new the new Guns and Roses single from the album of the same name? Perhaps you’ve listened it several times online but can’t even remember doing so. Well, you’re forgiven. Lamentably the new single is forgettable and middle of the road material, inducing instant amnesia and a palpable sense of nostalgia for GNR’s earlier work.
The single has a generic mid to late 80’s heavy rock feel, without any of the character and personality that have made a band like Gun and Roses so great the first time ‘round. It doesn’t grab you, hell, the song barely even checks you out before heading off to someplace else, leaving you feeling dirty and cheap.
It’s inevitable. Call it, Phantom Menace syndrome. After 17 years of waiting with baited breath for the coming GNR album, fans old enough to remember the LAST album can’t help but build the whole thing up a little more than it needs to be.
But it’s early days yet. It’d be far to premature to judge the entire album on the back of one mediocre single. I prefer to think of this album as Axl clearing his throat, getting rid of all the grotty phlegm and other crap in his system before inhaling a deep, clean breath and jumping back into the creative pool.
(An aside that robs me of a little hope. S and I went to a GNR concert a couple years ago. Axl was still rocking the Chinese Democracy stage decoration. It was a great concert but it was quite obvious that the weakest songs in his set were the ones from the 'new' album)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Six sentence comic book reviews: The day evil won
Aetheric Mechanics
Final Crisis #4
Final Crisis: Submit
Hellblazer #248
Invincible #54
Trinity #21
Superman: New Krypton
Ultimate Spider-man #127
Final Crisis #4/Final Crisis: Submit
I’ve been watching Final Crisis: Submit appear and disappear off the publishing schedule for a couple weeks now. I don’t know the reason for its perpetual vanishing act, but if someone with any brains at all intentionally decided to release these two titles on the same day, I give them well deserved kudos. FC: Submit reads almost like an exceptionally long Prologue, yet the events that take place within it dovetail nicely into the more opaque goings-on of FC #4. Weighing in on the J.G. Jones controversy, I think it’s a shame that he won’t be finishing the penciling on the lead series. With so much riding on the success of this crossover event I don’t think DC comes off particularly well in their ability to adequately plan and co-ordinate the whole thing. When the series penciler is publicly questioning his own role with the project you can tell something has gone wrong behind the scenes.
Invincible #54
Still not feeling the new costume. It’s not just that I’m notoriously resistant to change (I am) but the new threads feel like a generic re-tread of so many of the superhero costumes currently out there. The original Invincible look was clearly punching above its weight, borderline iconic, representative of the wearer’s personality and it makes an instant impression on the reader. Black and blue and a darkening personality is an overused gimmick I’ve seen in too many other places to really care about it. Yes I know Kirkman and Ottley are making a point here, but I think they’re being self-referential about an era in comic history that’s better left in the pass. I hope this Dark-Mark bit will be finished sooner rather than later.
Final Crisis #4
Final Crisis: Submit
Hellblazer #248
Invincible #54
Trinity #21
Superman: New Krypton
Ultimate Spider-man #127
Final Crisis #4/Final Crisis: Submit
I’ve been watching Final Crisis: Submit appear and disappear off the publishing schedule for a couple weeks now. I don’t know the reason for its perpetual vanishing act, but if someone with any brains at all intentionally decided to release these two titles on the same day, I give them well deserved kudos. FC: Submit reads almost like an exceptionally long Prologue, yet the events that take place within it dovetail nicely into the more opaque goings-on of FC #4. Weighing in on the J.G. Jones controversy, I think it’s a shame that he won’t be finishing the penciling on the lead series. With so much riding on the success of this crossover event I don’t think DC comes off particularly well in their ability to adequately plan and co-ordinate the whole thing. When the series penciler is publicly questioning his own role with the project you can tell something has gone wrong behind the scenes.
Invincible #54
Still not feeling the new costume. It’s not just that I’m notoriously resistant to change (I am) but the new threads feel like a generic re-tread of so many of the superhero costumes currently out there. The original Invincible look was clearly punching above its weight, borderline iconic, representative of the wearer’s personality and it makes an instant impression on the reader. Black and blue and a darkening personality is an overused gimmick I’ve seen in too many other places to really care about it. Yes I know Kirkman and Ottley are making a point here, but I think they’re being self-referential about an era in comic history that’s better left in the pass. I hope this Dark-Mark bit will be finished sooner rather than later.
Friday, October 17, 2008
On reviewing
I spent about an hour and change writing my wholly uninspired review of Miracle at St. Anna. Mike Lane, who just saw that film last night, took that same hour and wrote out a review\rant that puts my feeble critique to shame.
I may have studied film. Mike Lane lives it.
I marvel at his ability to to see beyond the surface story and pick up on all the auteuristic underpinnings that lay underneath.
I am truly impressed.
I may have studied film. Mike Lane lives it.
I marvel at his ability to to see beyond the surface story and pick up on all the auteuristic underpinnings that lay underneath.
I am truly impressed.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pull List: 15 October 2008
Brave and the Bold #18
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds 2 of 5
Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge 3 of 3
Flash #245
Grant Morrison's Dr. Who #1
Justice Society of America #19
Trinity #20
Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen #1
Ultimate Origins #5
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds 2 of 5
Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge 3 of 3
Flash #245
Grant Morrison's Dr. Who #1
Justice Society of America #19
Trinity #20
Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen #1
Ultimate Origins #5
Monday, October 6, 2008
Video...and what it killed...
So.
The ABC movement is heating up. I’m starting to see a lot of anti-Conservative YouTube footage making the rounds on the net.
Here’s one, and another, one more and finally this.
The first two vids are clearly Liberal party sponsored. I think its worth noting that while the Conservatives and the NDP are all over television delivering their election party platforms, the Liberals have largely retreated, reduced to delivering their message online. If I was being generous I would say it’s because they’re attempting to reach younger, more technologically developed voters. However I doubt that’s the case.
It’s more likely that budgetary constraints have restricted the party’s ability to compete at the same level as some of their other political counterparts. And while I’m not discounting traditional media, I think the side effect of the Liberal funding crunch has accelerated the shift towards moving the whole political communications process online. Which is a good thing.
I don’t recall seeing nearly this kind of online exposure in the last election. Maybe people are more dissatisfied with the current government, or perhaps in the two years since the last federal election the net has permeated our lives that much more. That’s a question for bigger brains than mine.
But just look at the number of protest videos out there. Anyone with some basic editing software and access to the internet has just as much of an opportunity to make their political POV known as the biggest media outlets. (More if you consider that media advertising buys are usually done on a regional basis and not all areas are covered equally.)
Joe or Jane blow who’ve got a beef to pick with, say, the Green Party, can slap together a video in Montreal and the next day they’re talking about it in Kamloops. It’s exciting stuff and opens the doors of the electoral process that much wider. And while the concept of viral video, or protest videos, is nothing new, I’ve never seen it used to this extent in a Canadian election before.
The ABC movement is heating up. I’m starting to see a lot of anti-Conservative YouTube footage making the rounds on the net.
Here’s one, and another, one more and finally this.
The first two vids are clearly Liberal party sponsored. I think its worth noting that while the Conservatives and the NDP are all over television delivering their election party platforms, the Liberals have largely retreated, reduced to delivering their message online. If I was being generous I would say it’s because they’re attempting to reach younger, more technologically developed voters. However I doubt that’s the case.
It’s more likely that budgetary constraints have restricted the party’s ability to compete at the same level as some of their other political counterparts. And while I’m not discounting traditional media, I think the side effect of the Liberal funding crunch has accelerated the shift towards moving the whole political communications process online. Which is a good thing.
I don’t recall seeing nearly this kind of online exposure in the last election. Maybe people are more dissatisfied with the current government, or perhaps in the two years since the last federal election the net has permeated our lives that much more. That’s a question for bigger brains than mine.
But just look at the number of protest videos out there. Anyone with some basic editing software and access to the internet has just as much of an opportunity to make their political POV known as the biggest media outlets. (More if you consider that media advertising buys are usually done on a regional basis and not all areas are covered equally.)
Joe or Jane blow who’ve got a beef to pick with, say, the Green Party, can slap together a video in Montreal and the next day they’re talking about it in Kamloops. It’s exciting stuff and opens the doors of the electoral process that much wider. And while the concept of viral video, or protest videos, is nothing new, I’ve never seen it used to this extent in a Canadian election before.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Pull List: 1 October 2008
Batman #680
Doktor Sleepless #9
No Hero #1
Invincible #25
Justice League of America #25
Trinity #18
Doktor Sleepless #9
No Hero #1
Invincible #25
Justice League of America #25
Trinity #18
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Chris does TIFF: Miracle at St. Anna edition
Miracle at St. Anna
Saturday, Saturday, September 13th, 8:30pm
Ryerson Theatre
A week late, and hardly insightful and indepth. But the following review encapsulates about all I have to say regarding this film.
Spike Lee’s greatest strength as a director is his uncompromising vision. Artistically I’ve always found him to be fairly hit or miss, but sometimes, through sheer strength of will alone, he’s able to elevate the quality of his films to a level they would otherwise not be able to achieve. Sadly, that vision is lacking in his latest outing, Miracle at St. Anna.
The film follows the lives of four black soldiers, of the 92nd infantry division, colloquially known as the Buffalo soldiers, after they get trapped in a small Italian village during the second World War. The film is based on a book by James McBride and for some strange reason Spike allows multiple subplots, backstorys and flashbacks to clutter up the main narrative of the film. Instead of dealing with the situation at hand, (how the fuck do we get out of Dodge), we find ourselves sitting through convoluted love triangles, the discovery of a long lost cultural treasure, the subterfuge and deception of the Italian Resistance and a handful of other plotlines that work against the film’s natural rhythm. Perhaps that’s why the film feels so bloated at just over three hours long.
Seeing as how the film’s screenwriter, McBride, also wrote the book it shouldn’t come as a surprise that all these unnecessary subplots were carried over when he adapted his own source material. I’m guessing, as a writer, he was loath to edit his babies. If McBride didn’t have the strength to cut down the length of his screenplay then Spike should have made the tough calls when he was in the editing room and chucked some of the dead weight overboard, turning this lumbering frigate of a film into a streamlined powerboat.
It’s not a bad film, or even a dull film. It’s a long, rambling, unnecessarily meandering film that you can’t help but want to be over just so you can step out to the washroom and relieve the pressure on your kidneys.
This film is destined to fall into Spike’s ‘nearly ran’ file folder, denied the honour of standing alongside his greater masterpieces. It’s a clear example of being slavishly held to the whims of the original source material and not making the proper allowances to the conventions of its newly adopted medium.
Saturday, Saturday, September 13th, 8:30pm
Ryerson Theatre
A week late, and hardly insightful and indepth. But the following review encapsulates about all I have to say regarding this film.
Spike Lee’s greatest strength as a director is his uncompromising vision. Artistically I’ve always found him to be fairly hit or miss, but sometimes, through sheer strength of will alone, he’s able to elevate the quality of his films to a level they would otherwise not be able to achieve. Sadly, that vision is lacking in his latest outing, Miracle at St. Anna.
The film follows the lives of four black soldiers, of the 92nd infantry division, colloquially known as the Buffalo soldiers, after they get trapped in a small Italian village during the second World War. The film is based on a book by James McBride and for some strange reason Spike allows multiple subplots, backstorys and flashbacks to clutter up the main narrative of the film. Instead of dealing with the situation at hand, (how the fuck do we get out of Dodge), we find ourselves sitting through convoluted love triangles, the discovery of a long lost cultural treasure, the subterfuge and deception of the Italian Resistance and a handful of other plotlines that work against the film’s natural rhythm. Perhaps that’s why the film feels so bloated at just over three hours long.
Seeing as how the film’s screenwriter, McBride, also wrote the book it shouldn’t come as a surprise that all these unnecessary subplots were carried over when he adapted his own source material. I’m guessing, as a writer, he was loath to edit his babies. If McBride didn’t have the strength to cut down the length of his screenplay then Spike should have made the tough calls when he was in the editing room and chucked some of the dead weight overboard, turning this lumbering frigate of a film into a streamlined powerboat.
It’s not a bad film, or even a dull film. It’s a long, rambling, unnecessarily meandering film that you can’t help but want to be over just so you can step out to the washroom and relieve the pressure on your kidneys.
This film is destined to fall into Spike’s ‘nearly ran’ file folder, denied the honour of standing alongside his greater masterpieces. It’s a clear example of being slavishly held to the whims of the original source material and not making the proper allowances to the conventions of its newly adopted medium.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Chris does TIFF: RocknRolla edition
RocknRolla
Saturday, September 13, 2:30pm
Ryerson Theatre
Guy Ritchie is back doing gangster films and, sadly, that’s not a good thing. You couldn’t have a more wildly misleading opening to a movie review then that last sentence.
Ritchie’s last film, Revolver, was sadly denied a movie screen experience for North American audiences and we are all the poorer for it. An inspiring analysis of the human mind the film only recently showed up in bargain bins where it quietly went unnoticed except by the most dedicated film buffs. So perhaps that’s why Ritchie has chosen to retreat to more familiar subject matter, as an attempt to regain the buzz and counter-culture sensibilities of his earlier efforts.
Enter RocknRolla.
The film stars a veritable hodge podge of quirky personalities, played by everyone from A-list types on their way up the celebrity ladder (Gerard Butler), to venerable character actors (Tom Wilkinson) and attractive femme fatales (Thandie Newton). Trying to summarize the plot of this labyrinthine story in a few short sentences is a masochistic job meant for those with bigger brains then I posses. To call it a gangster film about the changing nature of organized crime is like saying War and Peace is a book about some ‘stuff that went down in Russia.’
RocknRolla deals with the fallout of London’s skyrocketing property values. Europe’s nouveau riche has descended on the city and the only way they can get permission to erect their new building is by linking arm’s with the local wheeler dealer types, led by big fish Wilkinson, to help grease the wheels of an intransigent bureaucracy. Butler leads a group of little fish, affectionately named the Wild Bunch, that get caught up in Wilkinson’s shady deals and unknowingly complicate matters by pinching some money that doesn’t belong to them. In the end, almost everyone involved is trying to track down an oft referenced, but never seen, ‘lucky’ painting, in a homage cribbed directly from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction playbook.
RocknRolla lacks the punch of Ritchie’s previous gangster films, the modern classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells and Snatch, not because RR is a bad film or even a weaker film. Rather, it’s been eight years since a Ritchie gangster film last graced the big screen and since that time a genre of filmmaking he’d help reinvigorate has become so popular that his work seems less original and groundbreaking as a result. Nothing succeeds like success.
Ritchie continues to push the genre as far as he can, with his top drawer writing, editing and direction. And even though you’ll leave the theatre impressed with the results, you can’t help but think that you’ve seen it all before.
Apparently he’s written a sequel to this film, The Real RocknRolla or some such nonsense, which he alludes to in the end credits with a James Bondian-like flourish. I think the biggest vote of confidence that I can offer RocknRolla, is that I’d be very interested in checking out what comes after.
Saturday, September 13, 2:30pm
Ryerson Theatre
Guy Ritchie is back doing gangster films and, sadly, that’s not a good thing. You couldn’t have a more wildly misleading opening to a movie review then that last sentence.
Ritchie’s last film, Revolver, was sadly denied a movie screen experience for North American audiences and we are all the poorer for it. An inspiring analysis of the human mind the film only recently showed up in bargain bins where it quietly went unnoticed except by the most dedicated film buffs. So perhaps that’s why Ritchie has chosen to retreat to more familiar subject matter, as an attempt to regain the buzz and counter-culture sensibilities of his earlier efforts.
Enter RocknRolla.
The film stars a veritable hodge podge of quirky personalities, played by everyone from A-list types on their way up the celebrity ladder (Gerard Butler), to venerable character actors (Tom Wilkinson) and attractive femme fatales (Thandie Newton). Trying to summarize the plot of this labyrinthine story in a few short sentences is a masochistic job meant for those with bigger brains then I posses. To call it a gangster film about the changing nature of organized crime is like saying War and Peace is a book about some ‘stuff that went down in Russia.’
RocknRolla deals with the fallout of London’s skyrocketing property values. Europe’s nouveau riche has descended on the city and the only way they can get permission to erect their new building is by linking arm’s with the local wheeler dealer types, led by big fish Wilkinson, to help grease the wheels of an intransigent bureaucracy. Butler leads a group of little fish, affectionately named the Wild Bunch, that get caught up in Wilkinson’s shady deals and unknowingly complicate matters by pinching some money that doesn’t belong to them. In the end, almost everyone involved is trying to track down an oft referenced, but never seen, ‘lucky’ painting, in a homage cribbed directly from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction playbook.
RocknRolla lacks the punch of Ritchie’s previous gangster films, the modern classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells and Snatch, not because RR is a bad film or even a weaker film. Rather, it’s been eight years since a Ritchie gangster film last graced the big screen and since that time a genre of filmmaking he’d help reinvigorate has become so popular that his work seems less original and groundbreaking as a result. Nothing succeeds like success.
Ritchie continues to push the genre as far as he can, with his top drawer writing, editing and direction. And even though you’ll leave the theatre impressed with the results, you can’t help but think that you’ve seen it all before.
Apparently he’s written a sequel to this film, The Real RocknRolla or some such nonsense, which he alludes to in the end credits with a James Bondian-like flourish. I think the biggest vote of confidence that I can offer RocknRolla, is that I’d be very interested in checking out what comes after.
Chris does TIFF: The Wrestler edition
The Wrestler
9am, Saturday, September 13
Ryerson Theatre
Darren Aronofsky blows my mind. If you have enough brain power to process that last sentence, you clearly haven’t seen any of his films.
Pi? Power drill to the forehead at the film’s climax.
Requiem for a Dream? The entire movie is like a power drill to the forehead.
The Fountain? Yah, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one.
The point is, every time this man picks up a piece of celluloid some part of my cognitive capacity dies a horrible death.
But The Wrestler isn’t like that. This is Aronofsky working in a different gear. The film follows Mickey Rourke, as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, finishing up his pro wrestling career as little more than a shadow of the man he used to be. Randy is living a life on the fringes of pro wrestling, using his fading name and reputation to help him make a couple of extra dollars. His best days behind him, Randy is forced to participate in some of wrestling’s more dangerous matches in order to pull together enough money to make a living.
However tragedy strikes and Randy’s career is stopped dead in its tracks after a near fatal heart attack. Forcibly retired Randy tries to reconnect with the people in his life that are important to him, including his estranged daughter Stephanie, Evan Rachel Wood, and Cassidy, Maria Tomei, an aging peeler at the local strip club.
Randy’s attempts to leave wrestling behind and make a life for himself in the real world prove harder than he expected and soon if he finds himself contemplating a return to the ring.
Mickey Rourke is fantastic in this film. What is this, his fifth career comeback? If his performance here doesn’t have Oscar buzz all over it, it’s because the Academy is too busy trying to unwrap the milk chocolate from all those gold statues. I’m not saying he deserves to win, but I think, at the very least, his performance deserves to be considered. Wood and Tomei also turn in respectable performances with their time onscreen.
Aronofsky does a fantastic job setting up parallel story lines between Randy and Cassidy. Both make a living by selling a fantasy to the willing masses and both have trouble adjusting to the expectations of the real world when the sun comes up. But while Randy has squandered his time in the spotlight and has nothing to show for it, Cassidy has made the most of her circumstances and plans to retire on her own terms.
Unlike Aronofsky’s other films The Wrestler is more bio pic than mind fuck. Instead of trying to broaden our horizons about what it means to be human he chooses to tell a simpler tale of a man coming to terms with his own obsolescence and how he struggles to main his identity and dignity throughout. You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy this film, although it may help a little. In the end, if you like a good story, told well, this film is for you.
9am, Saturday, September 13
Ryerson Theatre
Darren Aronofsky blows my mind. If you have enough brain power to process that last sentence, you clearly haven’t seen any of his films.
Pi? Power drill to the forehead at the film’s climax.
Requiem for a Dream? The entire movie is like a power drill to the forehead.
The Fountain? Yah, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one.
The point is, every time this man picks up a piece of celluloid some part of my cognitive capacity dies a horrible death.
But The Wrestler isn’t like that. This is Aronofsky working in a different gear. The film follows Mickey Rourke, as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, finishing up his pro wrestling career as little more than a shadow of the man he used to be. Randy is living a life on the fringes of pro wrestling, using his fading name and reputation to help him make a couple of extra dollars. His best days behind him, Randy is forced to participate in some of wrestling’s more dangerous matches in order to pull together enough money to make a living.
However tragedy strikes and Randy’s career is stopped dead in its tracks after a near fatal heart attack. Forcibly retired Randy tries to reconnect with the people in his life that are important to him, including his estranged daughter Stephanie, Evan Rachel Wood, and Cassidy, Maria Tomei, an aging peeler at the local strip club.
Randy’s attempts to leave wrestling behind and make a life for himself in the real world prove harder than he expected and soon if he finds himself contemplating a return to the ring.
Mickey Rourke is fantastic in this film. What is this, his fifth career comeback? If his performance here doesn’t have Oscar buzz all over it, it’s because the Academy is too busy trying to unwrap the milk chocolate from all those gold statues. I’m not saying he deserves to win, but I think, at the very least, his performance deserves to be considered. Wood and Tomei also turn in respectable performances with their time onscreen.
Aronofsky does a fantastic job setting up parallel story lines between Randy and Cassidy. Both make a living by selling a fantasy to the willing masses and both have trouble adjusting to the expectations of the real world when the sun comes up. But while Randy has squandered his time in the spotlight and has nothing to show for it, Cassidy has made the most of her circumstances and plans to retire on her own terms.
Unlike Aronofsky’s other films The Wrestler is more bio pic than mind fuck. Instead of trying to broaden our horizons about what it means to be human he chooses to tell a simpler tale of a man coming to terms with his own obsolescence and how he struggles to main his identity and dignity throughout. You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy this film, although it may help a little. In the end, if you like a good story, told well, this film is for you.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Chris does Tiff: Achilles and the Tortoise edition
Achilles and the Tortoise
Friday, September 12, 8:30
Ryerson Theatre
My first Takeshi Kitano TIFF experience was watching Brother at the Varsity cineplex at about 9 on a Sunday morning. I was a fledgling film student and Kitano's final arty ultra-violent gangster flick was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Since then I've made it a point to catch every Kitano film that TIFF manages to get its hands on.
Sometimes you get Zatoichi, Kitano's tale of a blind swordsman bringing justice to medieval Japan, or Dolls, his tragic story of love and lonliness....and sometimes you get Takeshis! and Glory to the Filmmaker, expermental bio pics that can challenge even the most devoted fan. S came with me to see Glory to the Filmmaker at the last fest and when Kitano trotted out the penis guitar on screen I turned to see her giving me a look of pity and disgust.
Achilles and the Tortoise is closer to Kitano's experimental bio pic phase then it is to his gangster films, although thankfully the film avoids the outlandish excesses of his previous endeavours. The story deals with young Machisu as he attempts to follow his dream of becoming a painter, despite the great tragedies in his life that threaten to block him.
The film begins with Machisu's clumsy first attempts at painting as a boy, to his efforts at finding his painterly 'voice' as a young man, before jumping forward to the modern day where Kitano takes over the role. The first two stages of Machisu's life are mostly played straight, although with any Kitano film there is always a hint of dark anarchistic comedy. It's the tale of the earnest artist, painstakingly trying to perfect his craft, no matter what the cost.
The film's third act is played for laughs all the way. Here Kitano is sending up the more pretentious elements of the art world, heaping scorn and satirizing the incomprehensible and sometimes outlandish personalities that create 'art'.
This is Kitano's third film that tries to explain how he's done with movie making and how there isn't anything original left for him to say. Throughout his entire life Machisu the painter attempts to create a great work of art but all he ever manages is to copy the works of other great painters. Kitano's career has taken a similar arc, tired of making violent gangster films, that helped craft his public persona, he has eschewed his most familar genre in an attempt at striking out and finding his own voice, with unfortunately mixed results.
This is a modest message film that never pretends it has all the answers to the questions it posits. Kitano is just as unsure as his audience about the true nature and worth of art. He offers moviegoers a little personal insight, a little tragedy and then tries to break the tension by throwing some levity on top of it all. He wants us to think and feel, but not too hard and not too long.
Relax. He says. It's just a movie. It doesn't really matter.
Friday, September 12, 8:30
Ryerson Theatre
My first Takeshi Kitano TIFF experience was watching Brother at the Varsity cineplex at about 9 on a Sunday morning. I was a fledgling film student and Kitano's final arty ultra-violent gangster flick was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Since then I've made it a point to catch every Kitano film that TIFF manages to get its hands on.
Sometimes you get Zatoichi, Kitano's tale of a blind swordsman bringing justice to medieval Japan, or Dolls, his tragic story of love and lonliness....and sometimes you get Takeshis! and Glory to the Filmmaker, expermental bio pics that can challenge even the most devoted fan. S came with me to see Glory to the Filmmaker at the last fest and when Kitano trotted out the penis guitar on screen I turned to see her giving me a look of pity and disgust.
Achilles and the Tortoise is closer to Kitano's experimental bio pic phase then it is to his gangster films, although thankfully the film avoids the outlandish excesses of his previous endeavours. The story deals with young Machisu as he attempts to follow his dream of becoming a painter, despite the great tragedies in his life that threaten to block him.
The film begins with Machisu's clumsy first attempts at painting as a boy, to his efforts at finding his painterly 'voice' as a young man, before jumping forward to the modern day where Kitano takes over the role. The first two stages of Machisu's life are mostly played straight, although with any Kitano film there is always a hint of dark anarchistic comedy. It's the tale of the earnest artist, painstakingly trying to perfect his craft, no matter what the cost.
The film's third act is played for laughs all the way. Here Kitano is sending up the more pretentious elements of the art world, heaping scorn and satirizing the incomprehensible and sometimes outlandish personalities that create 'art'.
This is Kitano's third film that tries to explain how he's done with movie making and how there isn't anything original left for him to say. Throughout his entire life Machisu the painter attempts to create a great work of art but all he ever manages is to copy the works of other great painters. Kitano's career has taken a similar arc, tired of making violent gangster films, that helped craft his public persona, he has eschewed his most familar genre in an attempt at striking out and finding his own voice, with unfortunately mixed results.
This is a modest message film that never pretends it has all the answers to the questions it posits. Kitano is just as unsure as his audience about the true nature and worth of art. He offers moviegoers a little personal insight, a little tragedy and then tries to break the tension by throwing some levity on top of it all. He wants us to think and feel, but not too hard and not too long.
Relax. He says. It's just a movie. It doesn't really matter.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Chris does Tiff: Me and Orson Welles edition
Me and Orson Welles
September 11, 9pm
Ryerson Theatre
Orson Welles is one of those rare film personalities that fascinates me outside of his body of work.
An accomplished thespian and radio artist before he ever turned to more celluloid based endeavours, his genius and larger than life personality were eclipsed only by his hubris and arrogance. His film career was cut tragically short because he refused to play the studio game, but not before he forever changed the way that movies were made in Hollywood. As a result actions, he spent the rest of his life hopping around the globe trying to secure financing on a variety of projects, never again truly getting the opportunity to truly exercise his creative abilities.
However, in the Richard Linklater production, Me and Orson Welles, the focus of the film is on Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), an aspiring actor who lucks into a supporting role in Welles’ modern dress stage version of Julius Caesar. The film covers approximately the two weeks before the opening of the play. Samuels is chafing at the bit as approaches the end of his high school education and so he goes out into the world to see what it has to offer him. Almost by accident he becomes a member of the famed Mercury Theatre where he experiences first hand the passion, creativity and near chaos that was any project Orson Welles’ put his mind too.
Welles, played to absolute perfection by little known actor Christian McKay, is almost reduced to being part of the background scenery, albeit a part of the scenery that’s not afraid to insert itself forcibly into the action of the film. His almost tangible personality reinforces the character and feel of the late 1930’s, where radio was the mainstream commercial juggernaut of the day, film little more than a snot-nosed upstart and where theatre was where all the really prestigious actors worked.
McKay’s Welles moves like a storm throughout this film, scattering actors, and their ambitions, left and right. People don’t act with Welles, they react to him. He is as far above his stage counterparts of the day as he would be above his film peers less than four years later. It’s unfortunate that in the film that bears his name in the marquee, it is not this man that we are supposed to be watching
Zac Efron, Clare Danes and Ben Chaplin all do credibly jobs with the time they are given on screen. But make no mistake, you’re hear to watch Christian McKay. The man manages to bring Welles’s epic personality to the screen, but dial it back just enough that he doesn’t overshadow his fellow performers. This film is nothing more than a brief slice of Welles’ frenzied career, but it is a filling meal nonetheless.
***A note on my festival experience thus far. TIFF 07 was notable for the sheer amount of death and nudity that I ingested. I saw some great movies but the subject matter was overwhelmingly bleak and depressing and by the end of the fest I was craving some lighter fare. This year, the theme of my TIFF experience seems to be intense character driven pieces. Gone are the blood and guts, and questionable graphic nudity scenes of last year, and I would argue that my festival experience has
September 11, 9pm
Ryerson Theatre
Orson Welles is one of those rare film personalities that fascinates me outside of his body of work.
An accomplished thespian and radio artist before he ever turned to more celluloid based endeavours, his genius and larger than life personality were eclipsed only by his hubris and arrogance. His film career was cut tragically short because he refused to play the studio game, but not before he forever changed the way that movies were made in Hollywood. As a result actions, he spent the rest of his life hopping around the globe trying to secure financing on a variety of projects, never again truly getting the opportunity to truly exercise his creative abilities.
However, in the Richard Linklater production, Me and Orson Welles, the focus of the film is on Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), an aspiring actor who lucks into a supporting role in Welles’ modern dress stage version of Julius Caesar. The film covers approximately the two weeks before the opening of the play. Samuels is chafing at the bit as approaches the end of his high school education and so he goes out into the world to see what it has to offer him. Almost by accident he becomes a member of the famed Mercury Theatre where he experiences first hand the passion, creativity and near chaos that was any project Orson Welles’ put his mind too.
Welles, played to absolute perfection by little known actor Christian McKay, is almost reduced to being part of the background scenery, albeit a part of the scenery that’s not afraid to insert itself forcibly into the action of the film. His almost tangible personality reinforces the character and feel of the late 1930’s, where radio was the mainstream commercial juggernaut of the day, film little more than a snot-nosed upstart and where theatre was where all the really prestigious actors worked.
McKay’s Welles moves like a storm throughout this film, scattering actors, and their ambitions, left and right. People don’t act with Welles, they react to him. He is as far above his stage counterparts of the day as he would be above his film peers less than four years later. It’s unfortunate that in the film that bears his name in the marquee, it is not this man that we are supposed to be watching
Zac Efron, Clare Danes and Ben Chaplin all do credibly jobs with the time they are given on screen. But make no mistake, you’re hear to watch Christian McKay. The man manages to bring Welles’s epic personality to the screen, but dial it back just enough that he doesn’t overshadow his fellow performers. This film is nothing more than a brief slice of Welles’ frenzied career, but it is a filling meal nonetheless.
***A note on my festival experience thus far. TIFF 07 was notable for the sheer amount of death and nudity that I ingested. I saw some great movies but the subject matter was overwhelmingly bleak and depressing and by the end of the fest I was craving some lighter fare. This year, the theme of my TIFF experience seems to be intense character driven pieces. Gone are the blood and guts, and questionable graphic nudity scenes of last year, and I would argue that my festival experience has
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Shock and Awe
Oh yah,
ASBAR #10.
The one that has apparently been recalled due to a printing error. (Must fight the urge to add air quotes.) The one which must be instantly destroyed if you see it out in the open sunlight.
Well apparently my local comic shoppe decided to ignore that edict, received the title as planned, and stuck it on the shelf anyway.
Yes, there are some very bad words in here.
Yes, you can see said bad words without trying very hard.
No, I’m not shocked.
Let’s face it. If you’re reading ASBAR you’re doing it because a) You want to see just how far Miller will go before his overlords at DC pull him back. b) You like a good laugh, (and the dialogue in this title is nothing if not hilarious.) c) You want to be a part of the tidal wave of public criticism and (sometimes) mockery. d) You like Jim Lee’s art.
Honestly, it doesn’t bother me that much. It feels like shock for shock’s sake, like a writer trying to push the envelope, trying to stir up some controversy and hey, its working.
Very few people I know admit to liking ASBAR, but they all read it, because they’re fascinated by how far this thing will go. I don’t know how well this title is selling, mostly because I’m too lazy to use the internet, but it’s still being published so obviously someone is reading.
Yes the language goes way beyond strong, but honestly this comic wasn’t intended for younger readers. The argument that, just because it contains Batman, we should be extra vigilant in ensuring that it remains all ages friendly is disingenuous. We make Batman comics (Super Friends) for younger readers, why can’t we have ones for older ones as well? Like anything else that may be bad for children, booze, drugs, cigarettes, guns, etc, accountability for making sure this comic doesn’t end up in the wrong hands lies in the hands of responsible adults.
Of course kids are going to want to see Batman swear. They’re also going to want to Daddy’s Playboys as well. Specifically because they’re not supposed to see it. We know to keep pornography from children, so why not questionable reading material as well? If your childhood hero using offensive language disturbs you on a personal level, then vote with your wallet or write to someone who can do something about it.
In an industry where almost every safe plotline has been done, it’s inevitable that someone is going to try to push the boundaries in order to find something new. If that offends you, push back.
ASBAR #10.
The one that has apparently been recalled due to a printing error. (Must fight the urge to add air quotes.) The one which must be instantly destroyed if you see it out in the open sunlight.
Well apparently my local comic shoppe decided to ignore that edict, received the title as planned, and stuck it on the shelf anyway.
Yes, there are some very bad words in here.
Yes, you can see said bad words without trying very hard.
No, I’m not shocked.
Let’s face it. If you’re reading ASBAR you’re doing it because a) You want to see just how far Miller will go before his overlords at DC pull him back. b) You like a good laugh, (and the dialogue in this title is nothing if not hilarious.) c) You want to be a part of the tidal wave of public criticism and (sometimes) mockery. d) You like Jim Lee’s art.
Honestly, it doesn’t bother me that much. It feels like shock for shock’s sake, like a writer trying to push the envelope, trying to stir up some controversy and hey, its working.
Very few people I know admit to liking ASBAR, but they all read it, because they’re fascinated by how far this thing will go. I don’t know how well this title is selling, mostly because I’m too lazy to use the internet, but it’s still being published so obviously someone is reading.
Yes the language goes way beyond strong, but honestly this comic wasn’t intended for younger readers. The argument that, just because it contains Batman, we should be extra vigilant in ensuring that it remains all ages friendly is disingenuous. We make Batman comics (Super Friends) for younger readers, why can’t we have ones for older ones as well? Like anything else that may be bad for children, booze, drugs, cigarettes, guns, etc, accountability for making sure this comic doesn’t end up in the wrong hands lies in the hands of responsible adults.
Of course kids are going to want to see Batman swear. They’re also going to want to Daddy’s Playboys as well. Specifically because they’re not supposed to see it. We know to keep pornography from children, so why not questionable reading material as well? If your childhood hero using offensive language disturbs you on a personal level, then vote with your wallet or write to someone who can do something about it.
In an industry where almost every safe plotline has been done, it’s inevitable that someone is going to try to push the boundaries in order to find something new. If that offends you, push back.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Chris does TIFF: Is There Anybody There? edition
Is There Anybody There?
September 7th, 3pm
Ryerson Theatre
10 year old Edward, Bill Milner from Son of Rambow, lives with his parents in a family run nursing home. Life hasn't been very easy for him as of late. His old bedroom is now the property of aging geriatrics, his classmates don't think very much of him and his parents' relationship is slowly breaking apart under the financial and emotional toil of caring after the elderly. To escape the death that surrounds him everyday Edward becomes obsessed with the afterlife and contacting those from beyond the grave in order to figure out what dying is really like.
Into his life lurches Clarence, (Michael Caine from lots of interesting movies you should probably watch), an aged former magician who is tragically unable to put the death of his wife behind him. When Edward saves Clarence during a failed suicide the young boy attempts to befriend the octogenarian in the hopes of finding out what its really like when people die.
What follows next is a fairly predictable, but no less touching and heartwarming, story of two outcasts who seem to have no one in life but each other. Caine, a wonderfully gifted character actor, is remarkably restrained in his performance in this film, but his pain and guilt at the loss of his wife manages to burst through his reserved exterior nonetheless. Even late in his career this talented actor shows that he can do more with a few subtle eyes gestures than some performers can achieve over their entire life. This is award winning stuff we're watching here.
Sadly, the friendship of Clarence and Edward cannot last. Clarence begins to suffer from the onset of senility and drifts further and further away from Edward as his mind starts to fail him.
Director John Crowley is remarkably adept at manipulating emotions throughout this movie. He is able to find the warmth and humour in this tragic tale, without ever turning the film into a comical farce or falling prey to the over-the-top melodramatics that a less gifted director might lean on. By resisting the urge to hold the audience's hand and lead us directly to the film's message, Crowley allows the audience to discover it on their own by respecting their abilty to read between the lines.
The power of this film stems directly from the strength of its characters. Their struggle to come to terms with their lot in life is so simple and honest that the audience cannot help but to emphasize with their pain. And even though they may not all be able to find happiness for themselves, there always seems to be a helping hand to pick them up after they've fallen.
September 7th, 3pm
Ryerson Theatre
10 year old Edward, Bill Milner from Son of Rambow, lives with his parents in a family run nursing home. Life hasn't been very easy for him as of late. His old bedroom is now the property of aging geriatrics, his classmates don't think very much of him and his parents' relationship is slowly breaking apart under the financial and emotional toil of caring after the elderly. To escape the death that surrounds him everyday Edward becomes obsessed with the afterlife and contacting those from beyond the grave in order to figure out what dying is really like.
Into his life lurches Clarence, (Michael Caine from lots of interesting movies you should probably watch), an aged former magician who is tragically unable to put the death of his wife behind him. When Edward saves Clarence during a failed suicide the young boy attempts to befriend the octogenarian in the hopes of finding out what its really like when people die.
What follows next is a fairly predictable, but no less touching and heartwarming, story of two outcasts who seem to have no one in life but each other. Caine, a wonderfully gifted character actor, is remarkably restrained in his performance in this film, but his pain and guilt at the loss of his wife manages to burst through his reserved exterior nonetheless. Even late in his career this talented actor shows that he can do more with a few subtle eyes gestures than some performers can achieve over their entire life. This is award winning stuff we're watching here.
Sadly, the friendship of Clarence and Edward cannot last. Clarence begins to suffer from the onset of senility and drifts further and further away from Edward as his mind starts to fail him.
Director John Crowley is remarkably adept at manipulating emotions throughout this movie. He is able to find the warmth and humour in this tragic tale, without ever turning the film into a comical farce or falling prey to the over-the-top melodramatics that a less gifted director might lean on. By resisting the urge to hold the audience's hand and lead us directly to the film's message, Crowley allows the audience to discover it on their own by respecting their abilty to read between the lines.
The power of this film stems directly from the strength of its characters. Their struggle to come to terms with their lot in life is so simple and honest that the audience cannot help but to emphasize with their pain. And even though they may not all be able to find happiness for themselves, there always seems to be a helping hand to pick them up after they've fallen.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Chris does TIFF: Sky Crawlers edtion
Sky Crawlers
9am
Ryerson Theatre
Sky Crawlers, directed by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), tells the story of a not-so-distant future where genetically modified children fight never-ending World War II type air battles at the bidding of faceless multinational corporations.
If you think that sounds exciting and full of adventure and drama, you’d be absolutely wrong. There is some dog fighting at the very beginning and a larger invasion a little later on, but this film is primarily an introspective character piece. The action scenes take back seat to the film’s character development.
The story deals with the arrival of a new ace fighter pilot, Cairn, as he attempts to fit in at his newly assigned airfield.
The plot is carefully structured, with precise measured beats. Information is released in dribs and drabs, for example much is intimated about the bases’ sordid history but never explicitly stated, even at the very end. Every time you think a key piece of information is going to be delivered the director chooses to dance around the subject matter rather than approach it directly. In the end, you’re reduced to piecing together a story entirely from an absence of information.
It’s like being given a jigsaw puzzle, but with no final picture to assemble from. You know the pieces are supposed to fit each other, you’re just not quite sure how.
The film attempts to delve into some interesting interlocking philosophical concepts about the nature of youth, war and the modern corporation. But ultimately this deep introspection means the film appeals to an audience primarily on an intellectual level and never really connects with the viewer emotionally.
I enjoyed the film, slow pacing and all, but I’d hesitate before recommending it to a larger audience. If you need your anime to be ultra-violent and shoot’em up, this is not the film for you. But if you can appreciate a slow, methodical story that asks you to think a little bit about the way the world around you is developing, then I can think of worse ways to spend your time on a Saturday morning.
9am
Ryerson Theatre
Sky Crawlers, directed by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), tells the story of a not-so-distant future where genetically modified children fight never-ending World War II type air battles at the bidding of faceless multinational corporations.
If you think that sounds exciting and full of adventure and drama, you’d be absolutely wrong. There is some dog fighting at the very beginning and a larger invasion a little later on, but this film is primarily an introspective character piece. The action scenes take back seat to the film’s character development.
The story deals with the arrival of a new ace fighter pilot, Cairn, as he attempts to fit in at his newly assigned airfield.
The plot is carefully structured, with precise measured beats. Information is released in dribs and drabs, for example much is intimated about the bases’ sordid history but never explicitly stated, even at the very end. Every time you think a key piece of information is going to be delivered the director chooses to dance around the subject matter rather than approach it directly. In the end, you’re reduced to piecing together a story entirely from an absence of information.
It’s like being given a jigsaw puzzle, but with no final picture to assemble from. You know the pieces are supposed to fit each other, you’re just not quite sure how.
The film attempts to delve into some interesting interlocking philosophical concepts about the nature of youth, war and the modern corporation. But ultimately this deep introspection means the film appeals to an audience primarily on an intellectual level and never really connects with the viewer emotionally.
I enjoyed the film, slow pacing and all, but I’d hesitate before recommending it to a larger audience. If you need your anime to be ultra-violent and shoot’em up, this is not the film for you. But if you can appreciate a slow, methodical story that asks you to think a little bit about the way the world around you is developing, then I can think of worse ways to spend your time on a Saturday morning.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Last comic standing
Poor Sean Cullen.
Kicked off Last comic standing. Admittedly, I didn't find his material to be the funniest of all the contestants.
But I do think he's funny nonetheless and you gotta root for the hometown boy.
So congrats on getting as far as you did Sean and I'm sorry you couldn't make it further.
Kicked off Last comic standing. Admittedly, I didn't find his material to be the funniest of all the contestants.
But I do think he's funny nonetheless and you gotta root for the hometown boy.
So congrats on getting as far as you did Sean and I'm sorry you couldn't make it further.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Six sentence comic book reviews
Offered without comment.
Trinity #8
The Brave and the Bold #15
Green Lantern Corps #26
Justice League of America #23
Superman #678
Ultimate X-Men #96
Invincible #51
Gravel #3
Black Summer #7
Green Lantern Corps #26
Mongul II, dead and dismembered? Don’t bet your life on it. In this issue Mongul goes head to head with almost the entire cast of the GL Corps. In a predictable battle, but beautifully drawn by Patrick Gleason, Mongul gets his ass handed to him after one of the Lanterns, Bzzd, sacrifices himself to bring down the new Sinestro Corps leader. A rock’em, sock’em, widescreen space opera that absolutely could not be any more enjoyable, highlighting just how much writer Peter Tomasi is on top of his game. Consistently one of the best comics being published right now, by any company.
Black Summer #7
Warren Ellis’ two year old blockbuster comic event comes to an end, and boy does this thing get talky. The surviving female contingent of the Seven Guns decide that helping keep their city safe is more important than taking revenge on the military for killing Tom Noir in cold blood. Horus, Blacksmith and a not-quite-as-dead-as-we-thought Noir then proceed to jaw at the reader for half a dozen pages in an attempt to justify their actions over the course of this series. A good, but somewhat anti-climatic, end to a better than average story. The incessant moralizing by three of the leads, in order to make their character motivations explicit, really pulled me out the tale. I would have preferred to let their actions speak for themselves and avoid spoon feeding me the unnecessary details.
Invincible #51
The Venom years, only without the sentient costume. For a Jim Lee cover I can’t help but feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth. Invincible’s right hand seems to be twisted into some kind of claw shape and there’s no background to speak of. It’s not a bad cover, just not what I’m used to from JL. Anyway, in this ish Invincible gets a new, darker toned costume, a kid sidekick and a girlfriend to boot. A series that continues to live up to the high standard of comic bookery that it has set for itself, if you’re an Invincible fan you’ll find nothing to hate here.
Superman #678
The latest attempt to repatriate a long lost Jack Kirby creation into the DCU proper continues. Atlas, a former hero type turned planetary dictator, shows up in Metropolis in order to challenge Superman for control of the city. The fists then proceed to fly. There’s a pair of obligatory shadowy figure types pulling various strings in the background and Atlas’ backstory is given an appropriate Kirby style visual treatment. There’s an unfamiliar cadence to some of the dialogue in this issue that’s neither good or bad, but pulls me out of the story nonetheless. An admirable attempt at varying the Superman formula a little bit that will keep me onboard with this title, for no other reason that to see how this story plays out.
Trinity #8
The Brave and the Bold #15
Green Lantern Corps #26
Justice League of America #23
Superman #678
Ultimate X-Men #96
Invincible #51
Gravel #3
Black Summer #7
Green Lantern Corps #26
Mongul II, dead and dismembered? Don’t bet your life on it. In this issue Mongul goes head to head with almost the entire cast of the GL Corps. In a predictable battle, but beautifully drawn by Patrick Gleason, Mongul gets his ass handed to him after one of the Lanterns, Bzzd, sacrifices himself to bring down the new Sinestro Corps leader. A rock’em, sock’em, widescreen space opera that absolutely could not be any more enjoyable, highlighting just how much writer Peter Tomasi is on top of his game. Consistently one of the best comics being published right now, by any company.
Black Summer #7
Warren Ellis’ two year old blockbuster comic event comes to an end, and boy does this thing get talky. The surviving female contingent of the Seven Guns decide that helping keep their city safe is more important than taking revenge on the military for killing Tom Noir in cold blood. Horus, Blacksmith and a not-quite-as-dead-as-we-thought Noir then proceed to jaw at the reader for half a dozen pages in an attempt to justify their actions over the course of this series. A good, but somewhat anti-climatic, end to a better than average story. The incessant moralizing by three of the leads, in order to make their character motivations explicit, really pulled me out the tale. I would have preferred to let their actions speak for themselves and avoid spoon feeding me the unnecessary details.
Invincible #51
The Venom years, only without the sentient costume. For a Jim Lee cover I can’t help but feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth. Invincible’s right hand seems to be twisted into some kind of claw shape and there’s no background to speak of. It’s not a bad cover, just not what I’m used to from JL. Anyway, in this ish Invincible gets a new, darker toned costume, a kid sidekick and a girlfriend to boot. A series that continues to live up to the high standard of comic bookery that it has set for itself, if you’re an Invincible fan you’ll find nothing to hate here.
Superman #678
The latest attempt to repatriate a long lost Jack Kirby creation into the DCU proper continues. Atlas, a former hero type turned planetary dictator, shows up in Metropolis in order to challenge Superman for control of the city. The fists then proceed to fly. There’s a pair of obligatory shadowy figure types pulling various strings in the background and Atlas’ backstory is given an appropriate Kirby style visual treatment. There’s an unfamiliar cadence to some of the dialogue in this issue that’s neither good or bad, but pulls me out of the story nonetheless. An admirable attempt at varying the Superman formula a little bit that will keep me onboard with this title, for no other reason that to see how this story plays out.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Six sentence comic book reviews
All right you insufferable bastards.
Enjoy your pound of flesh.
Trinity #6
Action Comics #867
Green Arrow\Black Canary #10
Justice Society of America #17
Ultimate Origins #2
Wolfskin Annual #1
Final Crisis: Requiem
Booster Gold #1000000
Wolfskin Annual #1
This was a surprise purchase on my part, especially since I’m actively trying to prune my pull list. But two things combined to encourage me to pull this number off the shelf. First, it’s written by Warren Ellis. Second, Wolfskin kills a man by hitting nails into his face as if he were practicing hammering fly balls into the outfield at Sky Dome. What’s not to like? Aside from some intentionally opaque dialogue I thought this was an amusing done-in-one story that sets the stage for the title character’s next story arc.
Booster Gold #1000000
I hadn’t realized that Johns’ final issue of Booster Gold was coming out this week. Regrettably with his departure this title moves into my drop pile. After the death of Ted, Blue Beetle II, time repairs itself and Booster begins to question what’s been driving him to be a superhero in hiding over the last twelve issues. That is until Batman shows him the photographs from the Joker’s camera, that he's apparently been holding onto for years, of Booster trying to save Barbara from being shot. I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. Even keeping the vagaries of a fictional universe’s timelines in mind I have touble believing that Batman is dick enough to hold on to those photos for so long without saying or doing something about them.
Final Crisis: Requiem
Hey, lookit that, Aquaman’s back. Um, I was never the biggest Aquaman fan, but the Internet tells me that the incarnation showing up in this issue is no more. Is this a scheduling goof that has now spoiled upcoming events from Final Crisis? Or was DC determined that all of their Big 7 make an appearance at J’onn’s funeral, throwing logic and continuity to the wind? Anyway, Requiem chronicles the life and death of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Nothing about the way his death is presented smacks of permanence and I think it’s obvious that this is an editorial decision to remove him from the board for a while, for whatever reason.
Action Comics #867
Geoff Johns thrives in his role as DC’s chief continuity repairman for some of their more convoluted properties. This time out Brainiac is getting the Johns treatment. Rather than wait for Brainiac to discover his existence on Earth, Clark decides to turn the tables and bring the fight to him. So he heads out into space where he interrupts one of Brainy’s city smash-and-grab routines. Gary Frank’s art made this issue for me, I’ve never seen Brainiac, and Braniac related constructs, looks so evil and menacing. Now if only we could find some way to get rid of Steve Lombard again, another Crisis maybe?
Now get out of here. You can’t bother to leave me my dignity, so just leave me in peace.
Enjoy your pound of flesh.
Trinity #6
Action Comics #867
Green Arrow\Black Canary #10
Justice Society of America #17
Ultimate Origins #2
Wolfskin Annual #1
Final Crisis: Requiem
Booster Gold #1000000
Wolfskin Annual #1
This was a surprise purchase on my part, especially since I’m actively trying to prune my pull list. But two things combined to encourage me to pull this number off the shelf. First, it’s written by Warren Ellis. Second, Wolfskin kills a man by hitting nails into his face as if he were practicing hammering fly balls into the outfield at Sky Dome. What’s not to like? Aside from some intentionally opaque dialogue I thought this was an amusing done-in-one story that sets the stage for the title character’s next story arc.
Booster Gold #1000000
I hadn’t realized that Johns’ final issue of Booster Gold was coming out this week. Regrettably with his departure this title moves into my drop pile. After the death of Ted, Blue Beetle II, time repairs itself and Booster begins to question what’s been driving him to be a superhero in hiding over the last twelve issues. That is until Batman shows him the photographs from the Joker’s camera, that he's apparently been holding onto for years, of Booster trying to save Barbara from being shot. I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. Even keeping the vagaries of a fictional universe’s timelines in mind I have touble believing that Batman is dick enough to hold on to those photos for so long without saying or doing something about them.
Final Crisis: Requiem
Hey, lookit that, Aquaman’s back. Um, I was never the biggest Aquaman fan, but the Internet tells me that the incarnation showing up in this issue is no more. Is this a scheduling goof that has now spoiled upcoming events from Final Crisis? Or was DC determined that all of their Big 7 make an appearance at J’onn’s funeral, throwing logic and continuity to the wind? Anyway, Requiem chronicles the life and death of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Nothing about the way his death is presented smacks of permanence and I think it’s obvious that this is an editorial decision to remove him from the board for a while, for whatever reason.
Action Comics #867
Geoff Johns thrives in his role as DC’s chief continuity repairman for some of their more convoluted properties. This time out Brainiac is getting the Johns treatment. Rather than wait for Brainiac to discover his existence on Earth, Clark decides to turn the tables and bring the fight to him. So he heads out into space where he interrupts one of Brainy’s city smash-and-grab routines. Gary Frank’s art made this issue for me, I’ve never seen Brainiac, and Braniac related constructs, looks so evil and menacing. Now if only we could find some way to get rid of Steve Lombard again, another Crisis maybe?
Now get out of here. You can’t bother to leave me my dignity, so just leave me in peace.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Hell's Kitchen Bitchin'
Oh Petrozza.
You wuz robbed buddy.
I thought you had the better menu, ran your service well and handled all the ups and downs that the night threw at you.
I wuz rootin' for you.
You wuz robbed buddy.
I thought you had the better menu, ran your service well and handled all the ups and downs that the night threw at you.
I wuz rootin' for you.
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