Preparing for Prometheus pt. I – Alien (1979)
Let me tell you a little bit about my experience with the “Alien” franchise before we really delve into the meat and bones of this entry. I was maybe ten years old when I first got to experience one of the films. I caught a showing of Aliens on the local Fox affiliate when they were showing it late one night based off the recommendation of one of my friends who had a far greater knowledge of R-rated cinema than myself. I was something of a sheltered child and though I had seen plenty of violent movies the idea of the Alien monster scared the shit out of me. The nature of a creature that violates you so totally as a part of its own life cycle was enough to give me nightmares based off of hearing about the concept second hand. A monster that implants its embryo inside of you and tears itself out of you violently is a frightening idea to a young boy. The lore and legend of the Alien franchise had been related to me in a manner that had me believe it was the scariest goddamn sci-fi monster series ever put on film. I recorded the late-night showing on a VHS tape and later found that it cut off just around the part where the marines are getting their asses handed to them for the first time. I was hooked. This was the greatest movie ever. I begged my friend to let me borrow his copies of the movies, which he did. We watched the first film later that night at my house and I could not believe how amazing it was. The tension was enough to make me aware of my own breathing. I can honestly attribute the original Alien with giving me an appreciation for well-crafted, tension based horror and sci-fi. It was that film that drove me to seek out John Carpenter’s The Thing as well as Halloween and other truly amazing horror.
Why did that movie have such an effect on me? What made it so damn special? This movie has been written about so many times that singing its praises is hideously worthless. Everybody knows that it is a singular classic. Everybody knows that it was a game changer. The reasons why are so well documented and dissected that my input is mostly worthless. I’m still going to point out my little observations anyway because with Prometheus about to descend into theaters I’m sure many people will be asking why we would need a prequel (and let’s not pretend that’s not what it is). The film is perfect as it is. I’m not even going to try to say the film is anything other than perfect. The pacing, the design, the acting. All of it is so top notch that you wonder why so many films that have come afterward can’t manage to pull it off half as well. The film works with well established tropes and yet broke a lot of new ground. Things that came after wouldn’t be breaking that same new ground but Ridley Scott showed how to build tension effectively and utilize the talents of an amazing cast in a way that should be studied over and over again. There was a realism to the interactions of the crew and the manner that they reacted to their situation that isn’t present in most of the films that were spawned because of Alien’s success. While Ripley embodied the idea of the “Final victim” that has always been a staple of the horror genre, the fact that she was utilized as a personification as well as a deconstruction of that idea gave the film a distinct sort of tone.
And let’s just talk about the design of the creature for a minute. How iconic is it, really? It sticks in the public consciousness in the way so few monsters can. It is the very definition of inhuman nightmare. Gothic and dark and totally foreign. It has the sort of instant fear factor of a snake or a scorpion. There is something truly iconic about it and it sticks in the brain. I’m sure much has been made of the overly sexualized nature of the creature that is also disturbing. I mentioned how the life cycle of the creature is inherently a violation on every level. There is not a single element of the creature that is not time tested to scare the shit out of a person on every level.
In short, the film still holds up. For all the reasons I have just mentioned. It doesn’t lose any of its spark over time and you can watch it now and understand exactly why it burrowed so deep into pop culture and now all these years later Ridley Scott is still wanting to revisit the world he created back in 1979. I’m personally excited as all hell.
Revisiting The Avengers pt. III
I’ve been reading The Avengers on a monthly basis since a little before Bendis pulled the whole Disassembled thing. Looking back on it, that’s a lot of time to invest into a title. Couple that with the fact that I stuck with Bendis’ handling of the team through both the New and Mighty Avengers titles and then the “Heroic Age” relaunch and that’s a lot of time spent reading his take on the franchise. I’ll admit that for me, Bendis is the name I will probably always associate with Avengers. I’ve gone back and read most of the pivotal runs and I think only Kurt Busiek’s run matches it in density and enjoyability. Though there are some classic Silver Age moments that I quite enjoy.
I had to drop both of the Avengers titles shortly after the relaunch because of monetary issues. A lot of really good books got chopped, actually. But with the movie recently in theaters I thought it would be a good idea to re-examine some prominent Avengers stories once again and so here we are.
AVENGERS v. III
I officially dropped this book at the end of volume two. I just needed to trim the fat and what followed the end of the last volume was a smattering of crossover issues with Marvel’s Fear Itself event. I still have yet to read those issues, as both the Avengers and New Avengers storylines were condensed into a single hardcover and it didn’t look interesting enough at a glance to pick up for the purpose of this retrospective. Instead I moved on to the recently released third hardcover collecting the storyline immediately afterFear Itself and would attempt to go from there.
The story picks up with Thor and Bucky dead and Steve Rogers once again in the uniform of Captain America. In the aftermath of what has been dubbed “Blitzkrieg USA,” Steve had decided to restructure the Avengers and the age-old trope of the team selection and press conference gets trotted out. I have to admit that I have nothing against the team selection and presentation idea. It works remarkably well when done right. See Busiek’s run for a good example. Here however I have to say that it feels like nothing at all has truly happened since the team formed. I know that technically a major crossover event happened, but its times like these that the complaints of decompression really come back to bite Bendis on the butt. Having read the series from the start, it feels as if there is no real weight or passage of time to necessitate this restructuring. The weight of losing Bucky and Thor isn’t properly conveyed on page in a way that makes the severity of the situation apparent.
As soon as the team is cemented, we get the return of Norman Osborn and what amounts to the spiritual sequel to Siege, which launched this title in the first place. Perhaps that is why the restructuring bothered me so much. This arc seems like events have come full circle and yet in between there has been only what seems like two days worth of adventure. It doesn’t help that after the quest for the Infinity Gems, this story seems somewhat small and misguided by comparison. Osborn’s plan is well developed, but it seems hard to swallow that the Avengers would have such trouble dealing with him following their bouts with gems that can alter the face of reality and an invasion by literal Gods of fear.
Had this story taken place two arcs later, it may not have felt so misplaced but that’s not how Bendis wanted to play it and that is my issue with this particular title. Unlike something like the first volume of New Avengers or his work on Powers, Bendis seems unwilling to play the long game here. He’s rushing from place to place trying to do everything that he feels he needs to do when writing an Avengers title and as a result it feels hollow. Compared to his original New Avengers run or something like Busiek and Perez’ years on Avengers, it just doesn’t have much in the way of true substance and that’s disheartening to say the least.
Trailer for new Green Arrow TV show arrives
We’re getting “Arrow” on the CW network whether we want it or not. I’ll be honest, this looks pretty damn good. At least it looks a lot better than Smallville and while I wish they would have just called it “Green Arrow” and gone from there, I’ll definitely give it a watch when it hits the airwaves.
Revisiting The Avengers pt. II
I’ve been reading The Avengers on a monthly basis since a little before Bendis pulled the whole Disassembled thing. Looking back on it, that’s a lot of time to invest into a title. Couple that with the fact that I stuck with Bendis’ handling of the team through both the New and Mighty Avengers titles and then the “Heroic Age” relaunch and that’s a lot of time spent reading his take on the franchise. I’ll admit that for me, Bendis is the name I will probably always associate with Avengers. I’ve gone back and read most of the pivotal runs and I think only Kurt Busiek’s run matches it in density and enjoyability. Though there are some classic Silver Age moments that I quite enjoy.
I had to drop both of the Avengers titles shortly after the relaunch because of monetary issues. A lot of really good books got chopped, actually. But with the movie recently in theaters I thought it would be a good idea to re-examine some prominent Avengers stories once again and so here we are.
AVENGERS v. II
Written by Brian Michael Bendis with artwork by John Romita Jr.
This volume collects issues 6-12 of Brian Bendis’ 2010 Avengers relaunch. This time around the team is already assembled and they get thrust headfirst into the adventure. This arc, like the first six issues, has a lot of what some people would call “classic” Avengers fare. The crux of the story revolves around a villain attempting to collect all of the Infinity Gems. This time around however, the story contains a lot of the hallmarks of Bendis’ favorite tropes and schemes. For example, the villain of this piece isn’t an old schooler like Kang but a more recent invention in Parker Robbins, aka the Hood.
While our antagonist is most definitely from the new blood of Marvel, the threat of the Infinity Gems recall Avengers tales of the past. Bendis does revert to his usual shenanigans of playing around with Marvel history, drawing heavily from his Illuminati storyline. This reads almost as a mini-sequel to that event and as a result it doesn’t feel quite as new-reader friendly as the first volume. That’s not to say that the things this arc references aren’t adequately explained because they are and readers willing to go with the flow will be able to easily keep up.
The big shakeup this time around is the addition of the Red Hulk to the team. Parts of the arc seem to work as a redemption of the character who in the early days of his own title was written as so omnipowerful that he became unimaginably boring. With this story, Bendis manages to use the fact that Rulk was written as unimaginably powerful to elevate the threat level of the Hood and his quest for the Infinity Gems. It’s quite effective.
Honestly, I enjoyed this arc much more than the first. Even the artwork seemed better developed this time around. It may be a bit of personal preference, but the title seems to have found its balance with this story and the addition of the Red Hulk to the team. I can’t say everyone will have the same reaction, but this volume seems to have the right mix of the classic style with the fresh perspective of Bendis’ writing.
Film Review – Dark Shadows (2012)
I have never watched a single episode of the original series on which Dark Shadows was based. That’s not to say I have no familiarity with the franchise, as I own a dvd copy of the 1990′s revival series that came packaged with a DVD set of another television show that I bought at a discount at Wal-Mart some time ago. That particular series did not seem horrible, but nor was it in any way good enough to make any sort of impression. I am informed by my sources on the internets that the original series is far more beloved, because of its groundbreaking introduction of genre elements into the mainstream soap opera trappings of television as well as the spectacularly bad effects that made early Doctor Who episodes look like Michael Bay set pieces.
Why then did I bother to see this film adaptation when Burton’s last outing, Alice in Wonderland was so generic and blah that I felt the director had lost all of his creative spark? Because I sure as hell did not want to sit through Battleship. This film was at its very core the lesser of two evils. Tim Burton should thank his lucky stars for that. Because while the trailer for this was abysmal, it still looked like it would drain less of my soul than Peter Berg’s overly bloated and poorly conceived board game movie. That may set the bar incredibly low, but I’m not looking to be overly compassionate here. This is as middle of the road a movie as you can get.
The first ten minutes of the film, where we are introduced to a young Barnabas Collins transplanted from England to the Atlantic northeast of America, works well as a gothic tragedy that feels well within classic Burton’s wheelhouse. It is overblown and melodramatic in a way that seems consistent with everything I’ve come to associate with Dark Shadows in its previous incarnations. In fact, this tone is somewhat well maintained until the instant that Barnabas is unearthed in 1972, where the tone shifts and the film goes off the rails. The shift from tragic melodrama to quirky comedy is so abrupt that it is almost physically shaking. I can say with absolute certainty that this film would have been far more effective if it had played the bombast straight faced and not tried so hard to constantly be winking at the audience and demanding that they acknowledge how clever the writing is. If Seth Grahame-Smith’s screenplay were anywhere near as witty as the film thinks it is it would be one amazing ride. As it stands, it’s the very definition of a shiny well-produced mess. The costume work, the visual direction and the cinematography are all top notch. I will give it that much credit, as I seem to do with everything Burton does. But there is no cohesion to the story and it seems to bounce everywhere with regard to what it wants to be. Once it goes all gonzo-quirky, the moments where we are expected to accept moments of horror with a straight face fall flat and the film goes down with them.
Johnny Depp never fully melds into the role and its hard not to see him as we’ve come to know him. He overshadows the character almost entirely. On the other hand, newcomer Bella Heathcote does well as the doe-eyed love interest and Eva Green masterfully chews the scenery, as she seems to get what sort of movie she is in. Helena Bonham-Carter is just as distracting as Depp and the rest of the cast seems to simply exist. Johnny Lee Miller is especially passive and exits the film in a manner that seems like he suddenly remembered he had something more important to do elsewhere and considering that he’s starring in that ill-advised American take on Sherlock with Lucy Liu, that should give you some perspective on how badly he must have wanted the hell out of this picture.
So it’s a mess. It has some moments that work, but more of them don’t and the final product is just sort of a waste of time. I think the script needed to be more consistent in every department and I think the film could have worked better had the cast been people who Burton hasn’t essentially claimed as his own little puppets. I want the Burton who made Ed Wood and Beetlejuice back. I want something impressive. I know he can do it and that’s why films like these are so damn depressing.
Anyhow, here’s some hot pictures of Eva Green to cheer you up.
Revisiting The Avengers pt. I
I’ve been reading The Avengers on a monthly basis since a little before Bendis pulled the whole Disassembled thing. Looking back on it, that’s a lot of time to invest into a title. Couple that with the fact that I stuck with Bendis’ handling of the team through both the New and Mighty Avengers titles and then the “Heroic Age” relaunch and that’s a lot of time spent reading his take on the franchise. I’ll admit that for me, Bendis is the name I will probably always associate with Avengers. I’ve gone back and read most of the pivotal runs and I think only Kurt Busiek’s run matches it in density and enjoyability. Though there are some classic Silver Age moments that I quite enjoy.
I had to drop both of the Avengers titles shortly after the relaunch because of monetary issues. A lot of really good books got chopped, actually. But with the movie recently in theaters I thought it would be a good idea to re-examine some prominent Avengers stories once again and so here we are.
AVENGERS v. I
Written by Brian Michael Bendis with artwork by John Romita Jr.
The 2010 volume of Avengers begins in the wake of Marvel’s “Siege” storyline where Norman Osborn’s reign as the leader of SHIELD/HAMMER comes to a close and the status quo reverts to something more akin to what longtime readers were familiar with, this time with Steve Rogers in the role previously filled by Nick Fury and assembling two separate Avengers teams. This volume deals with the more “traditional” Avengers featuring Iron Man, Hawkeye, Thor, etc. with holdovers from the previous volume of New Avengers in Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Wolverine.
The book still maintains much of what made Bendis’ run on the first volume of New Avenger such a success, ie. his dialog. He’s especially gifted at writing witty banter and makes good use of characters like Hawkeye, Spider-man, and the more garrulous members of the team. This time around however, there is less focus on grounded street level action and the plot is driven by BIG ideas that the Avengers series seem to thrive on. In this particular volume, we get a broken timestream and alternate realities. We get classic Avengers villains like Ultron and Kang. It’s everything longtime fans of the book should love.
The principle complaint against the book is that Bendis cannot write with his trademark style and manage that sort of plotting. I would argue that this isn’t true. Working with John Romita Jr, the layouts and flow seem to work as well as they ever have with a story of this type. While the artwork does seem more sketchy and rough around the edges than I would really like out of Romita, he does a serviceable job making sure that Bendis’ story comes to life on the page.
My major issue with these six issues is that the book does seem to have too much going on for its own good. The chaos in one timestream seems to suck the energy from the parallel plot and as such the story reads somewhat uneven. It’s not a bad story, it just isn’t very even. In regards to assembling a new team, the book sets up the new status quo quite well. We get a very good idea of what the book is going to do very quickly. You just have to decide for yourself whether it is up your alley.
Review – The Art of Amanda Conner
I ordered this hardcover collection of Amanda Conner’s work around this time last year and I will be honest, until Jimmy Palmiotti tweeted about it a couple weeks ago I had forgotten about it. It was well worth the wait though, as the oversized hardcover is a beautiful compendium of Amanda’s work peppered with notes from some of her high profile colleagues and peers. The presentation is wonderful and there is a great amount of insight into the progression of Amanda’s career and the perception of her artwork from the point of view of her fans, editors, peers, and herself. It’s not just a collection of pretty images.
I will be the first to admit that if you are not already a fan of Amanda Conner, this book may not be for you. It won’t change your mind if you don’t already see what makes her an amazing artist. Art is subjective and everyone has different tastes. There are folks who think Rob Liefeld is the pinnacle of comic book art. That’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to critique art on their own individual criteria. That having been said, this is a fine collection of amazing artwork and if you are a comic book fan it is something that you should proudly display on your shelf.
I am a huge fan of Amanda’s work and I love this collection. It’s occupying a place of honor next to the cover art collection of Adam Hughes’ work and I like to think that as an artbook is is definitely one of the better examples of the format because of the insight that those who have worked with Amanda can offer into what makes her such a powerhouse of creative energy. Seriously, it is a gorgeous book and I was so happy to see it arrive in the mail.
Amanda Conner : Flawless Talent
Film Review – The Avengers
I know I probably should have gotten this out there on, oh, Friday before everybody went and saw it. I know that. But at the same time, I think this is a film I needed to digest a little bit before I put my thoughts down on it. And by “digest” I mean, see it again. As of this writing I’ve experienced the film in both standard format and 3D. Each of these showings was packed to the brim. The first was on Friday at the first showing of the day at 10 in the morning. The next was a Saturday show at 1 PM. I need to point this out because the biggest surprise about The Avengers is that it even exists in the first place. The amount of planning and preparation that went into developing a crossover of this magnitude is mind boggling. There have been crossover films before this. Godzilla and King Kong fought it out, Freddy and Jason slashed at each other, the list goes on. It’s not that big a deal for cinematic properties to come together. What is unique is the idea of using individual characters and their films as a roadmap to an eventual crossover. In the world of cinema, it’s a miracle that it ever got made. Even more impressive is that Marvel was able to bring the viewing audience around as well. They sold the idea of this being on of the biggest movies ever and the audiences turned up. They invested their time in it. This is a movie that has been on everyone’s minds for close to five years. Ever since the end of Iron Man when Samuel L. Jackson walked in the room and told the world that the Marvel universe was going to be a shared experiment. This film is important.
That having been said, is it any good? I’m happy to say that everything you want out of this movie you will receive. Joss Whedon handles it as well as you would expect and we may finally have the shining definition of what it means to bring a comic book to life on screen. The final act is like watching a collection of “hell yeah” splash pages from a Marvel crossover brought to life. The film does not skirt the fact that comic books are writ large and with joyous bombast. The action sequences are everything that Michael Bay wishes he could accomplish. They are loud, they are big and at the same time they have a sense of direction that is managed and easy to follow. You never get confused watching the carnage and for that we should be thankful.
But what I really want to talk about is the character moments. The time between Norse gods fighting men in iron suits. Joss Whedon gives us a movie where the time spent with these character simply talking to each other are as gripping as the action sequences and set pieces. The interplay between these actors is something that holds the film together in a way that without it, the whole experiment would fail. Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo’s respectful banter is a highlight. Hell, anything Mark Ruffalo does is a highlight. I know folks liked Edward Norton but Ruffalo brings something that has always been missing from the big screen portrayal of Banner in the previous incarnations. He manages to portray Banner as a person who is angry at his own anger and yet somehow accepting of it all at the same time and he may very well be the MVP of the film. Downey does his usual great work with Stark, but here he really sells the trans-formative arcs that propel his character forward, and seeing him bounce of Chris Evans’ Captain America is a joy to watch. I will admit that I feel as if Evans didn’t get much to do until the final act when he really gets to shine as a team leader, but in a movie with this many characters to juggle it is a small conceit. Also, Tom Hiddleston needs some awards. All of them, really. Loki was a great villain in Thor, mainly because of Hiddleston’s ability to play the wounded creature. He was a tormented soul and that made him fun to watch. Here we get to see what happens when the soul is tormented for so long that it snaps. He plays the broken soul just as well and he sells it like nobody’s business.
The film is everything it needs to be and then some. There will be those who complain about the run-time or the way characters are handled but in the end this is a big win for Marvel and a bigger win for people who still enjoy the spectacle of seeing a true summer blockbuster on the big screen. I do not doubt that I’ll see it at least one more time in the theater because this is definitely a film that benefits from a big screen. I might even shell out the cash to see it in IMAX. It’s that good.
Film Review – The Five Year Engagement
I am not a huge fan of romantic comedies. Mainly because they are so trite and unrealistic that I get angry while viewing them. This is why Shaun of the Dead is my favorite romantic comedy. Because it’s more realistic than anything that has ever been released starring Kate Hudson and it has zombies in it. Zombies people. The ability to capture real human emotion and the complexities of being in a relationship while at the same time making the audience laugh is a skill beyond the means of most writers. You usually get it one way or the other. You want to capture that sense of deep emotion, you had better be writing a drama. You want to make the audience laugh, don’t skew to close to reality. This is the way things are and very rarely can you do both and not come off as a tone-deaf misfire. The Five Year Engagementis able to tread that line quite well. I won’t say it’s perfect, because it does hit notes that push it closer into dramatic territory than your typical romantic comedy should endeavor to go but at the same time this isn’t a typical rom-com.
The story deals with Ted, a master chef played by lovable human teddy bear Jason Segal and his relationship with Violet, played by British actress and John Krasinski penis recipient Emily Blunt. Violet is accepted in a graduate program at a university halfway across the country and the two postpone their impending nuptials while she explores her new found opportunities. In order to do this, Ted sacrifices his chance to be the lead chef at a high-profile restaurant and is reduced to working in a sandwich shop with Brian Posehn. While the plot summary would seem to indicate that the audience is pushed into believing that this is a “girl makes man give up his dreams” sort of situation, the film is far more complex than that. Ted is a likable character, and you do feel bad that things don’t go his way in some regards, but at the same time you realize that the movie is trying to say that you can make your own happiness. I don’t want to give away any major plot points but this is a very even-handed take on a situation that could have been played favorable to either side and the characters here feel very human and vulnerable. It’s what makes the film so strong.
The writing is excellent, on par with Segel and Stoller’s other work in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I thought was a pretty great movie in and of itself. As in that film, The Five Year Engagement soars because of the dedication put into the characters by the cast. Jason Segal plays within his comfort zone yet again, and while some people may be turned off by that, given the material it works. He doesn’t go so far into the middle-aged man-child shtick that he tends to sometimes, and he comes off as entirely genuine as a result. Emily Blunt is wonderful and is quite funny in her own right. She plays the role straight and wins major points because of it. Let’s not forget she is quite an amazing dramatic actress and so her line readings here are so spot on that she absolutely kills. Chris Pratt, possibly the best thing about Parks and Recreation every week, proves that he can be funny no matter what you ask him to do and the adorable Alison Brie absolutely kills with her fake British accent. The scene where Brie and Blunt argue about the importance of making romantic decisions while impersonating Elmo and the Cookie Monster respectively (Trust me, it makes sense in context) is a highlight of the film.
I will say that like most Apatow produced comedy films it does run a little on the lengthy side, but the film is so well made that you almost don’t notice it. They don’t try to rush things and the pace is comfortable. In the end the payoff works because you’ve spent more time with these characters than you would in a traditional romantic comedy and for that reason I think the film stands a cut above other films that have tried and attempted the same thing. All in all, I suggest checking it out. It’s funny and genuine and you could do a whole lot worse.
*Crossposted from The J. Goodson Blog
New Dark Knight Rises Trailer…Rises
This trailer is expected to hit in front ofThe Avengers on Friday but it hit the net unexpectedly this morning. I will say that it gives us some more snippets of what to expect but all in all I’m still pretty blind as to what sort of turn this film is going to take when it finally hits theaters. It hints that Bane really does break the Bat the way he did in Knightfall and that we may be getting a sort of absolute finale for the Batman character when the credits roll. I know Christopher Nolan is an unconventional filmmaker to say the least so I don’t expect a simple resolution. Not by a long shot.
Addendum:
Christian Bale’s creepy beard thing here is destroying my psyche.
Review – Queen Crab
I try to support Jimmy Palmiotti when I can. The guy is a class act all around and I very rarely dislike his output. This particular endeavor was a Kickstarter funded project that I went into completely blind based off of the faith I have in Jimmy’s creative potential. The guy has a sharp mind and a narrative style that I can really get behind. This particular book feels like something unlike what you normally get with a standalone graphic novel in that while it tells a complete story it leaves you with more questions than you may be willing to tolerate.
It’s a brisk read, not at all what you would call dense but featuring a lot of Palmiotti’s trademarks. The dialogue is raw and rugged, the characters are all flawed human beings that don’t fit into any easily identifiable category, and the crux of the narrative is centered around something far outside the realm of normalcy. The twisted sci-fi element of the book comes out of nowhere and is played completely straight, with little effort made to construct it as a mystery that needs to be unraveled. Instead it seems like a setup for that mystery to be handled later after the business at hand is taken care of. This doesn’t have the finality of something like Palmiotti’s “Random Acts of Violence” for example. It seems like an extended first issue of a comic book series that will run for a few issues before reaching a point of closure. I don’t know if there is any plan for further installments with the character because, as I said earlier, I went in completely blind. It’s not a book that everyone will love. It’s a book that will challenge even folks who are big fans of Palmiotti’s regular work.
But, the price tag is extremely reasonable and it’s a nice enough change of pace from the norm that I feel comfortable recommending it. Just know that your expectations are probably going to be subverted in some way because the book simply isn’t conventional in most respects and for that I have to give it a thumbs up.
The 2012 Queso Awards
Last night the Academy Awards happened. Like they do every year. And just like every other year the affair was a mostly tepid mediocre affair with a bland host telling bland jokes and films undeserving of praise walking home with what most would say is the pinnacle of acclaim. The relevance of the Oscars is debatable and while nobody will say that the opinion of a blog that gets perhaps a thousand hits per day at best is worth more than the collective wisdom of the academy, we are going to give a rundown of our picks for the top examples of cinema in 2011.
BEST PICTURE :
- Drive, d. Nicholas Winding-Refn
- Hanna, d. Joe Wright
- The Tree of Life, d. Terrence Malick
- Attack the Block, d. Joe Cornish
- Warrior, d. Gavin O’Connor
- Moneyball, d. Bennett Miller
- Martha Marcy May Marlene, d. Sean Durkin
- Shame, d. Steve McQueen
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, d. Tomas Alfredson
The Winner – DRIVE
Let’s be honest, it’s a ballsy movie and helped cement Ryan Gosling as a figure who will go on to be one of the next big leading men. Between his turn in this and Ides of March, he’s had a bang-up year and this was probably his finest hour.Drive is a haunting, melodious and violent magnum opus that works counter to expectation and delivers gut punches from start to finish. It’s a true rarity and I cannot gush over it enough.
BEST DIRECTOR
- Joe Wright, Hanna
- Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
- David Yates, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows pt. II
- Nicholas Wynding-Refn, Drive
- Martin Scorsese, Hugo
The Winner - Nicholas Winding-Refn
The direction in this film is top notch, along with just about everything else. But anyone who has seen any of Refn’s previous films knows the sort of tone and style he likes to set and withDrive he finally hit his apex with regard to his material matching his sensibilities. This is a masterwork and he deserves the recognition for it.
BEST ACTOR
- Rainn Wilson, Super
- Joel Edgarton, Warrior
- Ryan Gosling, Drive
- Michael Fassbender, Shame
- Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Winner - Michael Fassbender
Probably the most powerhouse performance you could expect from any actor and somehow he was snubbed by the academy. Fassbender is on a roll and is on his way to being one of the most revered leading men in the industry and it is only a matter of time before he reaches the top of the a-list. Roles like this one are the reason why.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Alan Rickman, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows pt. II
- Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
- Andy Serkis – Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Albert Brooks, Drive
- Tom Hardy, Warrior
- Benedict Cumberbatch, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Winner - Tom Hardy, Warrior
Another actor who has been kicking all sorts of ass on his upward trajectory. He’s had two powerhouse roles this year in Warrior and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, both playing subtle and damaged characters who would have seemed overwrought in the hands of a lesser actor. By the time he shows up on screen as Bane in TDKR he’ll have a solid legion of new fans.
BEST ACTRESS
- Mia Wasikowska, Jane Eyre
- Ellen Page, Super
- Saoirse Ronan, Hanna
- Hayley Atwell, Capt. America – The First Avenger
- Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
- Carey Mulligan, Shame
The Winner - Ellen Page, Super
Ellen Page plays a certain type 95% of the time. Here she plays so far against type that you suddenly find yourself uncomfortable. She was absolutely shocking in her role as the obsessed fangirl-turned-vigilante who partnered up with Rainn Wilson’s Crimson Bolt. The movie was a disturbing deconstruction of the realistic superhero genre of films and Ellen Page was one of the myriad of reasons it worked so well.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Kat Dennings, THOR
I’ll be honest, I can’t think of that many supporting actresses that wowed me this year and Kat Dennings was one of my favorite things about Thor so she wins this one by default. She shouldn’t get too cocky because 2 Broke Girls makes my head hurt.
BEST SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL OR OTHERWISE
- Super, James Gunn
- Super 8, JJ Abrams
- Warrior, Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis, Cliff Dorfman
- Drive, Nicholas Winding-Refn, Hossein Amini
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
The Winner - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Adapting John Le’Carre’s sprawling novel into a comprehensible film is a herculean task. Considering that the previous adaptation of the material was a mini-series that ran several hours in length, that this film was so well put together is a damn marvel. It’s still somewhat dense and some would argue that it’s hard to follow, but like the best of all screenplays it challenges the viewer to keep up and the writing is sharp as a tack.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
- Drive, Newton Thomas Sigel
- Contagion, Steven Soderbergh
- Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Robert Elswit
The Winner – Drive
This was very close, as all the films I’ve listed were absolutely stunning. But the way L.A. was framed in Drive made it seem as if I’d never seen the city on screen before and the use of lighting was absolutely stunning. A masterclass in how to shoot a film.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That’s it for this year. Feel free to let me know what your own picks for the best of the year were in the comments section. I’m sure there are some compelling arguments for many films and all of them make more sense than the picks of the academy.
Trailer Debut : The Bourne Legacy
Matt Damon walking away from the franchise didn’t seem to stop the producers from moving forward with another installment. Here’s the trailer for the new film The Bourne Legacy starring Jeremy Renner as the new protagonist. I have to say based off of what little the trailer offers that it could be a step up for the franchise because I could actually follow the action. The lack of “shaky-cam” alone is enough to get me in the theater but the addition of Edward Norton and Stacy Keach also pique my interest.
I can’t speak definitively but I could see this being just as good if not better than the previous three entries. I would actually be interested in seeing the series continue with new leads every couple of movies. Eventually they will have to drop the “Bourne” name but I’m sure they’ll find a way to keep the threads connected. I honestly would rather they continue the franchise with a new lead every so often than have to deal with an inevitable reboot/remake situation. We’ll see how things play out when the film hits later this summer. If it does as well as the Damon installments I expect to hear sequel talk pop up pretty quickly.
Trailer Dump and Subsequent Commentary
The Superbowl brought us a bevy of new trailers for some pretty important nerd properties. I probably should have commented on this sooner but my personal life has been taking a dramatic upswing in quality and I honestly didn’t even get to watch them until last night and, in the case of the new Amazing Spider-Man trailer, this morning.
All that you need to see are posted below and some of them impressed me more than I was expecting, especially that one for Spider-Man, because the initial teaser left me wondering if I should even bother seeing it in theaters. But that’s not the point. The point is that there are a bunch of new promos for some big nerd properties and you may now commence drooling.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
AVENGERS
BATTLESHIP
G.I. JOE RETALIATION
JOHN CARTER
Observations: The Avengers sold me with the “We Have A Hulk” line. G.I. Joe looks like it’ll be cheesy fun that makes up for the first installment. Battleship looks like ass. John Carter looks like it will be a good film that gets passed over because it doesn’t really grab the attention of the viewer. They really should have kept the “Of Mars” in the title there.
Novel Review – Star Wars : Darth Plagueis
“Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.” —Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
That line didn’t really mean much when I saw Revenge of the Sith back when it was released in theaters. I always took it for a throwaway line meant to illustrate Palpatine’s ability to manipulate Anakin Skywalker by probing what he most wanted to hear. I didn’t really expect it to ever be explored in depth. I guess I should have known otherwise as every other aspect of the Star Wars timeline has been mined by the expanded universe over the years. What is particularly intriguing about this particular novel is how widely it deviates from what I expected in my mind. The above quote that inspired the novel seems to imply that Plagueis was an ancient figure, a “legend” as Palpatine says. However, we will come to find out over the course of the book that Plagueis was the sith lord who annointed Palpatine as Sideous and the events of his lifetime intersect with Anakin Skywalker’s youth. I don’t know about you, but the term “legend” doesn’t seem to apply much to guys whose major exploits only happened ten years ago. But I suppose I’m just projecting my own feelings on how they chose to retcon Plagueis into the events leading up to and during The Phantom Menace.
Viewed for what it is, the book is one of the better expanded universe entries I’ve read in a while. The timeline seems carefully constructed so that all the pieces fit together without conflicting all too terribly and the parts that get explained, such as Palpatine’s introduction to the world of the sith as well as the details of the rise of the Trade Federation all make for a better understanding of the Star Wars universe during the prequel era. I think that I would have enjoyed the book far more if they would have given it a different title. Plagueis at times feels like an afterthought to the story. This book is really about Palpatine, and because he is such an interesting character that can’t be viewed as a bad thing. The only negative is that while you get so invested in his narrative it is easy to be disappointed when the story breaks in other directions and seems to lose focus. But make no mistake, fans of the Star Wars universe will be able to overlook the small flaws and find an enjoyable read.
It takes a while to find its footing and every once in a while it will lose narrative focus, but overall it is something worth looking into. I will say that author James Lucerno does have a tendency to utilize some groan inducing references but his writing style is suited to the voices of these characters and this universe, so those minor grievances can also be overlooked.
Rating: 3.5/5
Ready or Not, Here it Comes : The Watchmen Prequels
Well folks, the hammer finally dropped. It looks as if DC comics has finally decided to unleash the prequels for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal classic Watchmen under the uninspired banner-title of “Before Watchmen.” We’ve been hearing rumors about this for quite some time and while initially it seemed like a bad joke, last year BleedingCool started running supposed concept art for the project that started getting yanked down at the request of DC, adding legitimacy to the ruView postmor and fanning the fires of speculation. The speculation has finally ended and the truth has come out.
Neither Alan Moore nor Dave Gibbons will be involved creatively in the project, with several mini-series being handled by a cadre of talent that ranges from exciting to unsettling. Alan Moore could probably care less about the development, as his feelings on the matter are pretty well established even if he did speak them in a magical language that only Alan Moore himself understands. Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons however gave a comment to DC’s The Source which broke the news today saying:
“The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire[.]”
So what can we look forward to in this little prequel installment? Here’s the rundown of all the titles:
RORSCHACH, a 4-issue miniseries by writer Brian Azzarello with art by Lee Bermejo
MINUTEMEN, a 6-issue miniseries with writing and art handled by Darwyn Cooke
COMEDIAN, a 6-issue miniseries by writer Brian Azzarello with art by J.G. Jones
DR. MANHATTAN, a 4-issue miniseries by writer J. Michael Straczynski with art by Adam Hughes
NITE OWL, a 4- issue miniseries by writer J. Michael Straczynski with art by Joe and Andy Kubert
OZYMANDIAS, a 6 -issue miniseries by writer Len Wein with art by Jae Lee
SILK SPECTRE, a 4-issue miniseries by writer Darwyn Cook with art by Amanda Conner
So how do I feel about all this?
Let’s be honest. Watchmen is an amazing book. It’s a classic and its importance to the world of graphic literature cannot be understated. It represents a shift in the way comics were written and understood and that does not change just because we’re getting more books with those characters by other creators down the line. The characters were hobbled from the Charleston universe and twisted into their own place by Alan Moore in the eighties. So while there is a standalone universe to Watchmen it isn’t necessarily an original invention. Getting angry that someone else wants to play in that sandbox when the entire medium is predicated on people further developing the ideas of others (at least in the mainstream superhero industry) just doesn’t work.
Let’s look at the lineup for the talent on this project for a bit. Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, and Amanda Conner are all folks who pretty much guarantee that I’ll pick up their work sight unseen because their track record is pretty stellar. I can tell you that I am indeed interested in Rorschach, Minutemen, Comedian and Silk Spectre based off of their involvement alone. I think they’re all talented writers and artists who could do something really interesting with these particular characters. Now, the x-factor here is Stracynski. He can be a phenomenal writer when he’s on top of his game. I loved his run on Thor and while he may have made some decisions I didn’t agree with over the course of his career many of those can be attributed to editorial meddling and I won’t delve into that quagmire here. Given the characters that he’s handling, I think Dr. Manhattan is certainly something he could mine some good material out of. Especially if he hits the same notes he was while writing Thor. Nite Owl is a little trickier. If I’d had my way I would have had someone like Greg Rucka on that particular title. But I’m not in charge and at this point all I can do is speculate about how all of this is going to turn out.
As I’ve said, my main issue here isn’t with the fact that we’re getting prequels. It’s not inheritly a bad thing. What I am afraid of is that the stories they are going to tell won’t match up with what has been brewing in the fan culture’s subconscious for several decades and that the whole project will flounder as a result. I can’t help but draw parallels to the Star Wars prequels which saw a great deal of hype only to be cut down by fanboys who didn’t like the direction the franchise took. But at least in that instance the fans could point the finger at George Lucas and say he ruined his own creation. This time around we have the added buffer zone of it being separated from the original creators. If people don’t like it they will try to say that it’s not “canon” or that it “doesn’t matter.” Which is, in a way, a double edged sword. It lacks the legitimacy of having the original creators involved and that is either a great thing or a horrible thing depending on which way you look at it. I mean, Frank Miller himself handled the followup for The Dark Knight Returns and that was absolute garbage. I know we put Alan Moore on a pedestal sometimes but I think in this instance the talent involved is enough to warrant the community keeping an open mind.
Happy New Year!
Hey guys, its a whole new year and the beginning of my third year writing for this site. I started this blog back in January of 2009 if you can believe it and we’ve seen some AMAZING growth since then, despite the fact that I’ve seemingly had less and less time to dedicate to the site. I plan on trying to force myself into updating regularly, because I’m paying for the site to stay up so I might as well strive to provide new content, right?
That having been said, I’m going to be taking the next few weeks off to try to reconfigure the site into something more in line with what I’d like it to be. We’re going to be implementing new aspects to the site that just won’t work with how it’s being run now so it’s time to make a few upgrades. I’m sure you all will be happy with the changes that are coming.
Here’s to a great 2012!
Christmas Review – Batman: Noel
I picked this one up as a Christmas special. Figured it would be a nice little diversion as most DC graphic novels are. Azzarello and Bermejo’s Joker hardcover was fun and I still have the Teen Titans: Games hardcover sitting on my desk. I’ve often had debates over why DC and Marvel don’t invest more heavily in single-serving graphic novels considering how easy they are to promote and build buzz around. The general public is far more likely to pick up a graphic novel than get hooked on individual monthly issues. I remember when Earth One came out everyone seemingly lost their shit over it and it went to multiple printings. It seems to me if you want to entice new readers you should try to cater to them in a format they enjoy. I don’t think that DC and Marvel need to curb their monthlies altogether but I’ll be damned if they’re not shooting themselves in the foot by dragging their feet on graphic novel production. I know artists are somewhat hesitant to jump on-board graphic novels because they would rather get paid their monthly page-rate but I’m sure there’s a compromise there somewhere that could mean big business for the comic publishing world.
Batman : Noel is a pretty good little graphic novel. Lee Bermejo does double duty on writing and art, though Charles Dickens should get a writer credit seeing how this is a pretty direct adaptation of A Christmas Carol even if they didn’t use the title. The story centers around Bob, a lowly runner for the Joker who has a chance run-in with Batman who in the context of this story exemplifies the persona of Scrooge. They really play up the “Batman is a bastard” angle here. I have to say that it’s not the sort of Batman I normally enjoy reading. Too dour, too tied to Frank Miller’s insanity and grumpiness. It would have been a complete turnoff if not for the fact that it was done to serve the purpose of the narrative. I mean, we’re all familiar enough with Dickens’ work to know that he’ll have a change of heart in the end.
The fun of Noel is in Bermejo’s use of Batman’s cast of characters to fill slots in the Dickens lore and the beautiful artwork that he does it with. Say what you will about the book, it is hard to deny that the artwork is anything less than stunning. The layouts, the finishes, the colors…all of it comes together to create something that truly pops. If you were to show this to someone who doesn’t read comics regularly, you can bet your sweet ass they would be impressed. It is some of Bermejo’s best work. It’s vibrant and eye-catching in a way that his work in something like Joker wasn’t. While that artwork was still impressive, it was a muddy, dark blotch. It was too dark to truly impress. Here you get a real feel for how good Bermejo really is.
I admit that the pricetag is a bit hefty for the story content, but it’s a good read and something that I’ll probably pull out around this time each year just for a lark. I would say that’s enough to give it a hearty recommendation.
RATING: 7/10
Film Review – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
I am going to begin this review by saying that I started the novel on which this film is based and never finished it. I thought it was poorly written and more than a little dull. Don’t bombard me with hatred over it, it is only a matter of personal preference. I thought, structurally speaking, that it wasn’t very well constructed and it doesn’t deserve the praise that gets heaped upon it. It is a lot like The DaVinci Code in my eyes. A book that garners a lot of attention due to manufactured controversy with the actual content between the covers being average at best.
That having been said, I have seen the original film adaptation and felt that all of the problems with the book were still present on film and that it was highly unlikely that they could be fixed without a major overhaul. When talks of the remake started popping up I wasn’t interested simply because of my problems with the novel and the original adaptation. I figured that a remake wouldn’t help those problems and that the film wouldn’t be worth my time. Then I found out that David Fincher would be involved and that the cast included Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, and Stellan Skarsgard. I was starting to think that perhaps there could be something there of interest to me. I heard rumors that the script by Steve Zaillian deviated quite a bit from the source and that Fincher would be doing a true “adaptation” rather than a direct translation from book to screen. I began to put my trust in a film that I could be forgiven for dismissing.
Then the trailers started to hit and I’ll be damned if it didn’t look like a real Oscar contender of a film. Fincher had seemingly crafted something stunning in terms of texture and mood that hooked me in and really made me want to sit down and watch with an open mind. I went in willing to give the material a fair shot and be proven wrong in regards to my feeling that the story was a dull, plodding mess that strove for intricacy but collapsed under its own sense of grandeur and intrigue.
I will say that this adaptation has mood and texture in spades. It is a well made film. It’s crafted and acted in a way that really is quite amazing. Rooney Mara gives a performance that really showcases her range and subtlety and Daniel Craig does a great job handling the part handed to him. The problem with the film, once again, is that the story is a muddled, dull, and honestly not-that-interesting mess. The narrative is extremely disjointed in the first hour and a half and by the time Craig and Mara finally pair up I had pretty much lost patience with the flow of the story. If someone like Fincher who did such an amazing job weaving the narrative of a film like Zodiac has trouble with something as pedestrian as this you know there’s a problem. The film really did not need to be as long as it ends up being and calling it a slog is being a bit generous. As an acting showcase it’s quite interesting but as an overall film it’s a disaster.
Fans of the novel will probably be pleased with this American adaptation but I can’t muster much excitement about it. I had hoped that Fincher could pull together the parts that did work in the novel and weave them effectively into a manageable film but what he released is a choppy, disjointed, over-long mess and I can’t really say that it was worth the money it took to make with the original Swedish version doing everything this one did. The only difference is a perceived upswing in production value and I do think that Craig did a better job in his part than his Swedish counterpart (who incidentally played the villain role in Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol and didn’t really bring much to the table there either).
Sad to say, this was a real disappointment, even looking through the lens of my initial low expectations. Hopefully Fincher will put out something with the same sort of zing that The Social Network had before getting locked into the sequels for this because I’m almost certain that my sentiments will not be echoed by the majority of people who will see this and consider it cinematic gold.
RATING: 4/10
Film Review – Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol
Before anyone asks, yes I did see it in the IMAX format and yes I did see the Dark Knight Rises prologue. I’ll have a little editorial about that up in a little while. But this entry is specifically about MI4.
Let me start out by saying that I enjoyed this entry far more than any of the other films in the series. I guess number three comes closest. I think that the direction Abrams took the franchise and the followup work done by Brad Bird here on the fourth film is closer in line with my sensibilities than the first or second installments. I liked the first Mission Impossible and still regard it as a solid action/thriller. The second one kinda flew off the rails. I don’t hate it the way some folks do but I don’t think that it really worked. Part three was a damn good movie, and though JJ Abrams directing was a little shaky it did an admirable job of getting the series back on the right track.
Ghost Protocol shifts a little bit in style but retains much of JJ Abrams sensibility. Not surprising considering he stayed on as a producer. The film still hinges on the team-based operations that were jettisoned in MI2 and brought back to the forefront in part three. This time around we get much more of scene stealing Simon Pegg, as well as the added bonus of Paula Patton who looks a lot like Rashida Jones and I think my feelings on her are pretty well documented, and Jeremy Renner coming in and doing a bang-up job all around. Based on the trailers and online speculation I was prepared not to like Renner’s inclusion and was fearing that his purpose would be utterly cliche but the film wisely avoids all of that and instead works on molding him into the dynamic in a way that doesn’t feel forced. He adds something different to the group much in the way that Cruise, Pegg, and Patton do. They all have distinct character traits and each serves a function. I rather enjoyed that.
I have to say that never once was I bothered by Tom Cruise. Every once in a while in a film he’ll do something that completely takes me out of the moment and ruins the effect. Here he does a good job of reminding people why he rose to prominence as a leading man in the film industry in the first place. Despite all of his faults, he can hold a film together quite well and this is definitely a return to form for him. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed one of his movies so this was a nice change of pace in that regard.
The real star of the film however is Brad Bird, who has an eye for shooting action scenes unlike any other working director. His sense of direction doesn’t have the limited scope of his peers due to his long-standing work in the animation field. This being his first time working in live action I would have been prepared to overlook any sense of awkwardness he may have had behind the camera but he really knocked it out of the park. The only sequence I will question his judgement on was the chase through Dubai set during a sandstorm. In theory it seems like a cool idea but on camera you can’t really see too much and the kinetic energy of the moment gets lost in the confusion. That minor gripe aside, the film is spectacularly framed and a beauty to behold on an IMAX screen.
I would say this is probably your best bet for a good time in the theaters this December. Tintin looks promising but could swing either way and I doubt people will be seeing Dragon Tattoo for a lark. Best to slap down some money for this and enjoy yourself with a big fat grin on your face.
RATING: 8/10
Film Review: Sherlock Holmes – A Game Of Shadows
I enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes film by Guy Ritchie. If you didn’t, you’re not going to like the sequel any better. Many complained that the film missed the point and tone of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories completely and while the BBC’s Sherlock series may indeed be an oddly more faithful adaptation despite the updated setting, Guy Ritchie’s sequel to his 2009 film does have elements in place to please the Holmes purists while drawing in the larger audience that hasn’t read the books and only have a passing familiarity with the character.
Firstly, I need to point out that they really went forward with the Holmes/Watson “bromance” this time around. They don’t really keep it in the subtext anymore. It’s just plain text. Holmes’ dismay at Watson’s getting married and their parting of ways leaves him jealous like a scorned lover and the interaction between the two is quite entertaining. Jude Law has never been one of my favorite actors, I can’t seem to recall anything he’s done that has really stayed with me but his turn as Watson is thoroughly enjoyable and his chemistry with Robert Downey Jr. is remarkable. Downey has taken some flack for his portrayal of Holmes but by now everyone should be able to accept that this version of the character will act in a particular way and Downey does it quite well. He pulls off the eccentricities (which have been dialed up quite a bit here) and handles the myriad of disguises perfectly. He’s given us a version of the Holmes character that may not be one hundred percent in line with Doyle’s canon, but something that was extrapolated and molded from that vein.
Next I feel the need to point out that the villain this time around is Professor Moriarity. I think a number of folks were disappointed he didn’t have more of a presence in the first film. Here Moriarity is played by Richard Harris’ spawn Jared with great gusto and an authentic sense of menace. Harris’ Moriarity is the sort of villain that could save a much lesser movie. His performance is absolutely stunning and I would not be surprised if this film wound up getting Harris any number of new roles. He has had some choice performances in the past, and is supposedly equally impressive in his role on TV’s Mad Men, but I do believe this is the largest scale he’s ever worked on and he nails the role dead on.
There are some issues that stumble the film from time to time. Noomi Rapace, so well known for her vivid portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is pretty dull and lifeless for the majority of the film. I’m not sure if it was a language barrier issue or something else entirely but she was pretty much a dull void. An attractive dull void, but still a hiccup in the otherwise stellar casting department which also included Stephen Fry as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft who had a tendency to steal whatever scene he was in. Then again, this is Stephen Fry we’re talking about. That’s to be expected. There are also some minor pacing issues and sometimes the film feels a bit slow between action beats, which seems like a horrid complaint to levy against a Sherlock Holmes film because there shouldn’t be that many action beats to begin with. But framed within the context of the film itself, the gaps are pretty apparent.
On the whole, it’s equally as good as its predecessor and I personally enjoyed it a great deal more based solely off of the escalation in Holmes and Watson’s interplay as well as the back and forth between Holmes and Moriarity. It isn’t a perfect film or a great adaptation in any regard but it is one of the better crafted action/mystery films of the year and I doubt many people will find much not to like about it unless they walk in with a pre-established vendetta.
RATING: 7/10
Weekly Comic Reviews
I know these are becoming completely random and in no way weekly but I feel compelled to write them when I get a chance. Hopefully someone will make a choice based on my recommendation and validate the miniscule bit of effort I put into updating this site every so often. There were plenty of books to choose from this week, so let’s get to it.
AVENGERS X-SANCTION (MARVEL COMICS) # 1
Oh Jeph Loeb, we meet again. This time he managed not to make my eyeballs bleed with rage, so let’s chalk that up as a win. I was fully expecting Red Hulk to sodomize Cable or something equally batshit insane to happen. I know that he doesn’t have the same leeway with the 616 characters that he did when he wrote Ultimatum but I still can’t get that out of the back of my mind when I pick up one of his books.
This issue seemed a little light for the first issue of a major event comic, but that having been said it is the sort of style folks have come to associate with Loeb following his Hulk run, which had a similar sort of pacing and tone. The McGuiness art certainly doesn’t help to distance the two. I feel like this is going to ultimately be an utterly disposable piece of event overload but seeing how it’s only going to be four issues long I can’t complain too much. Fear Itself seemed to last forever so a quick little mini-event might be refreshing in the end. I can’t say. Maybe I’ve just been bludgeoned by Marvel’s books so effectively that my brain has turned to mush and I’ll just buy whatever they tell me to.
Me am Marvel Zombie. Take my money. *sigh*
DOCTOR WHO (IDW) # 12
There really isn’t much to say about this particular issue other than it features the art talents of Mr. Paul Grist of Jack Staff fame and the result is a charming almost entirely dialog free story featuring the eleventh Doctor making the Christmas rounds with Santa in the Tardis. It’s cute, it’s breezy and I enjoyed the heck out of it. If you’re a Who fan it’ll probably hit you right where it needs to. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something as a stocking stuffer for younger kids looking to get into comics or sci-fi. It’s just plain nice.
I really don’t know what else I can say about the book. It’s a little on the light side but that is just part of the charm. I hope you’ll give it a try.
THE RAY (DC COMICS) # 1
I was going to pass this one up. I won’t lie, it didn’t seem like anything that begged to be read. That seems to run counter to my usual feelings about the Palimiotti/Gray writing team but there was a feeling of generic blandness to it in the previews I had come across and so I had planned to let this one pass me by. But the thing is, I DO know that Palmiotti and Gray rarely turn in merely passable work and I owed it to myself to read the book because if nothing else it filled a niche that the new DC lineup seemed to have missed out on. I’m certainly glad I did for a myriad of reasons. First and foremost, the writing team has given us a hero who is aware of hero tropes in a way that makes for quite a refreshing read. The inner voice of this new character doesn’t seem like any other hero on the stands. There is a uniqueness to him that I have to applaud, especially considering that I was afraid the title would exemplify the polar opposite. Some of that has to be due to the fact that he’s not another anglo-saxon hero living in a major metropolis. Here we get a Korean-American dating a Hindu woman who works as a lifeguard while living with his hippie flower-power parents who has his powers thrust upon him and deals with it in a way that seems utterly realistic and runs organically with the rest of the narrative.
The art by Jamal Igle is quite good, as it usually is, and readers should find themselves pleasantly surprised by how good this book is. It really does come out of left field and shatter expectations. Please go give this one a shot. It will send a message to DC that these types of stories still have an audience. People on the ‘net beg for books like these and yet the numbers never seem to add up. Hopefully this time around we can mark one in the win column for b-list heroes with stellar writing.
SACRIFICE # 1
Sam Humphries is something of an indy darling right now. His previous one-shot “Our Love is Real” made a real splash earlier this year and he’s following it up with a self-published book that has been garnering the same level of buzz. The book tells the story of a young man with some psychological issues (for lack of a better term) finding himself in the ancient Aztec world and caught up in the middle of a power dispute over the proper religious teachings that the Aztec people should follow. He also doesn’t want them to wind up getting slaughtered by the incoming Spanish, so he’s got that going for him.
The book is a complex and interesting read. I admit that I had to read it twice to get the flow of information down, but seeing how the version I read was digital and I don’t have a whole lot of experience reading in that format there may have been a bit of a learning curve element to it.
I would advise giving it a shot. This may be your chance to see the breakthrough work of an artist poised to really break out in 2012. I get a similar vibe from what I got off of Fraction during Casanova here and if that’s any indication of things to come Humphries is going to wind up on top sooner rather than later.
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That’s it for this week. Hopefully you will find something to enjoy there. I should have a review of Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows for you as well this weekend. That should be exciting.
Novel Review – The Deputy by Victor Gischler
Last week you may have seen notable Marvel scribe Victor Gischler (X-Men) yelling from the top of the hills (ie: on Twitter) that his most recent novel The Deputy was available for a limited time for free (see: zero dollars) as a digital download for the Kindle. I didn’t download it. I actually bought it using money earlier this year and have been waiting for my school-related readings of such wonderful drollery like Melville’s Bartleby The Scrivener and various excerpts from the work of Cotton Mather for a time to sit down and read it. Truthfully, I could have done it a while ago because the damn thing is so good that I could have easily finished it in an afternoon and gone back to reading dusty old pre-twentieth century literature the next day.
As it stands I was able to finish it over the course of two sittings and was enthralled the whole way through. I make constant references to being a literature major in the university system but as a writer I don’t consider myself an author of “literature.” To me that has a tangible association with scholarly academia. I write fiction. More to the point, I write genre fiction. I began with urban fantasy, then went to sword and sorcery and my NaNoWriMo entry this year is a vampire action/noir. I’m not exactly Walt Whitman. But there is an art to writing genre fiction that some people possess and others don’t. Victor Gischler has that artform down. The Deputy is a dusty country-noir classic that feels like No Country For Old Men by way of Reservoir Dogs. There is a hard-boiled aggression to the prose that syncs up with the slow burn of the mystery behind what is going down in this dusty Oklahoma town and it makes for a fast-paced and compelling read.
I cannot recommend the book enough. It’s as strong an example of well written genre fiction as I’ve seen in a while. I even took it upon myself to grab a copy of one of Gischler’s earlier novel Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse which seems to be right up my alley.
