One of the coolest cinema trends to take permanent hold in recent memory has been the re-embracing of the pre-show animated short. I personally get about as excited to see each new Pixar short as I do to see each new Pixar feature — actually, at this point I’m probably more excited about the shorts (2010’s Day & Night is one of the best things Pixar has ever produced, in my opinion). So consider me on board for Disney’s newest, Paperman, which will play before Wreck-It Ralph in November.

Quoth the press release:

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with “Paperman.” Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him.  Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, “Paperman” pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.

Next weekend I am going to the London Film and Comic con.  I haven’t been to one of these since before I got married so it will be interesting to step back so heavily into a culture I have become slightly removed from.  Now even back then I used to come away from a convention feeling positivly normal in comparison to some of the fanboys (and girls) so it will be interesting to see how I feel after this one.

Of course I promise a full report on my return, and if I caved and purchased any swag/autographes*

In the meantime I still need a topic for this blog, so this week I am going to talk about my own fictional heroes.

Now in the past I have talked about the media that has shaped me into a geek, and I have spoken about the lesser known heroes and villains that need championing, however I have never really spoken about my own personal greats.  So this week that is exactly what I am going to do.

SPIDER-MAN

We all love Super-Heroes, it’s in our makeup, and many a page has been written about which ones are best, and why.  Here I do not make a case for Spider-Man being the best but rather I make a case for why he is my number 1.

As much as he is about wise cracks and thwarting villians, Spider-Man for me is about two things. The first is that aside from his powers he is a normal guy, with very normal problems. I think it’s a testiment to his creators** that that very simple idea has lasted for so long and remains such a core part of the character.  Peter Parker is the ultimate underdog who keeps going no matter what, which leads me very nicely to point number two.  He never gives up.  Despite everything they throw at him (and they do throw a lot at him) Parker carries on fighting the good fight and hoping for a better tomorrow.  In a world full of cynicism and depression we can all take a leaf out that book.

DR PETER VENKMAN.

Ghostbusters is well documented as my favourite film and it’s main protagonist remains one of my all time favourite characters.  Bill Murray takes what on paper, could be a very unlike-able charter and gives him a charm and warmth under the surface of his sarcasm and cheap hustler nature.  As a teenager I really wanted to be like Venkman and tried to model my personality after him, (something I have thankfully grown out of) but I think what I like most about him is that even with all his flaws he is still more than willing to save the world.

So be good, for goodness sake.

INDIANA JONES

Many people love Star Wars and although I am one of them, for me it’s the adventures of Dr Jones that I love the most.  I credit these films and this charater with my love of history and my passion (as a child) to become an archaeologist*** and although that dream and career choice faded away I still hold a place in my heart for this character.  Interestingly I think he is the most “normal” of choices on my list. He is a typical square jawed hero built in the pulp model however what I love about him is that (a lot like Spider-Man) he always seems to be the underdog.  If you look at his films you will see Jones’ never really gets the upper hand and never really outright wins.  Sure he finds the Ark, or whatever he is hunting, but never gets to keep it and never gets the credit for finding it.  True, he always makes the right choice but it is never the right choice for him.

And lets face it, he is just so damn cool.

SKELETOR

Yes he is a hero of mine and always has been. I can’t help it, I always route for old skull face to win.  I won’t bore you again with why I love this guy so much suffice to say that it’s a combination of the way the cartoon portrayed the character and the very excellent voice work of Alan Oppenheimer that makes him my hero.  You can keep your Harry Potter, Gandalf, Merlin and all the other wizards of fiction, I’ll take my blue skinned, skull faced villain any day of the week.

THE DOCTOR 

I grew up with Dr Who, like every other British Kid so this entry was inevitable. Silvester McCoy was my first Doctor, which probably explains why I love Matt Smith Take on the Charater the most out of the recent ones. A clown’s persona hiding a huge amount of skill and knowledge (with just a hint of Machiavellian planning)  is how I like my Doctor, and it appears that Steven Moffat agrees. But in any incarnation of the character at it’s heart is a guy who want’s to do the right thing and is willing to help everyone.  It’s also kind of nice to have a hero who likes to think his way out of a situation rather than shoot at people. That’s not to say I don’t like my Captain Kirk types, I do, but The Doctor makes a welcome change to them.

So there you have it, a look at my own fictional heroes. There are more of course , but these are the ones that have stayed, and will always stay with me for as long as I live.

Until next time…

*SPOILER – I probably will.

** Yes both of them

***  Actually I wanted to be a marine archaeologist and find the Titanic but someone beat me to it.

Some bizarre time warp has resulted in another Spider-Man origin story. In today’s film market there’s no room for loyalty or alchemy. This is straight math. The iron was hot, the audience willing, and release slates to fill. As a result there’s a brand new relaunch of a character most audiences know like the back of their hand.

It’s impossible to view this thing entirely on its own simply due to the overwhelmingly high profile of the character and the previous three film incarnations. But this is not the Sam Raimi Spider-Man and despite snap judgements based on early footage, it’s also not Marvel and Sony attempting to inject a little of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight energy into the franchise. It’s also not (500) Days of Summer Redux.

It’s a Spider-Man movie. One with many of the staples we’ve seen before but with a few tricks up its sleeve.

One of those tricks is most certainly not plot. The story is all meatballs down the middle, and the idea of involving Peter Parker’s father (Campbell Scott, an actor we see far too little of these days) being a genius and the key to both Spider-Man and the Lizard’s origin is both clunky and a distraction. Though it aids in speeding up certain areas of the hero’s acceptance and drive it keeps the movie from finding an early rhythm. On its best day the origin of Spider-Man is a necessary evil. A contrivance that is convenient to get the party started. Any extra time devoted to the concept is wasted and though there are a few nice moments in the first fifteen minutes of the movie it adds bloat to the whole. Additionally, the choice of the Lizard as the villain of the piece softens the impact and scope of the film; even in the most compelling story arcs of the comic the Lizard was a second or third tier villain. Hinging a film around a villain that uninspired is shaky and even though the magic of Spider-Man is his internal struggle and family dynamic, this is a huge summer movie. It needs to be more. It doesn’t help when Rhys Ifans is given pitifully little to do. He’s game for nearly anything as an actor but there’s not enough to sell the pathos and best intentions of the one-armed scientist turned scaly Jeckyll and Hyde. The tacked on motivation of the tragic villain trying to create a world full of lizard people does the film absolutely no favors.

There’s a very feeble approach to tease the next film’s villain both in allusions throughout the film and an awful post-credits scene but the end result is a film with sadly little to say.

Luckily there are a few virtues that justify a viewing outside the rickety armature of the story. Primarily some wise casting and a few truly effective moments of Spider-Man being realized with cutting-edge tech and fresh perspectives.

First things first: Andrew Garfield is at times an excellent Peter Parker. He’s not as much a wallflower as the original comics suggested but rather a young man with good intentions but nary the firepower to back it up. Garfield has a swagger and confidence about him that often works well, especially once the character gets his powers and is able to use them. Inexplicably there are times when he feels absolutely wrong for the part, primarily when given wordless moments to convey meaning. He’s either too internal in his method or too complex for a role like this. When at his absolute best, and it’s sadly not in plentiful supply, is when he’s delivering the trademark smart-ass banter with two-bit thugs. Garfield really works in those instances. His lean and limber frame also does wonders towards giving the character the comic book frame look vital in taking the character and granting him an almost alien range of motion. Despite early fears he does good work here. Since a percentage of the role is a voice acting role, he’s fine for the part. Controversy be damned, he’s not the problem. Nor is Emma Stone, a radiant choice for Gwen Stacy. Here she brings a nice mix of wit and intelligence and in the signature blonde locks of the character, she looks the part. She and Garfield work well together and though it’s a leap of faith to buy into the love story angle of the film two good performers help to sell it.

Denis Leary is solid as Gwen Stacy’s police chief dad though the character is given a pitifully short shrift here. Martin Sheen and Sally Field try and sell Peter Parker’s adopted “parents” but are ultimately a disappointment. In truth the most important relationship to nail in the movies is the Peter Parker/Aunt May dynamic and sadly none of that’s present here. Nor is there even an allusion to more interesting times. There’s no excitement in the casting to help push the audience through contrived or slow parts, though a better written Curt Connors would have allowed for the versatile Ifans to strut his stuff. The most jarring inclusion to the cast is Irrfan Khan as Norman Osborn’s [who is better known to readers as The Green Goblin] right hand man, a character who appears and is meant to be menacing and who is then discarded as a plot device. Why does this man matter? No one knows or ultimately cares. 80’s star C. Thomas Howell is nice to see although his character is involved in the film’s dumbest moment; an attempt at an emotional high point in the film involving crane operators. Stan Lee finally appears onscreen in a way that doesn’t ring hollow and it’s funny to see stuntman extraordinaire Michael Papajohn (who killed Uncle Ben in the first Raimi film) tying the two Spider-Man franchises together.

But it’s a messy collection of ideas.

There’s nothing epic enough to warrant the film special attention and there are a lot of very familiar genre staples. Where the film does strike a chord is in the exhilarating web-slinging sequences. Marc Webb and his 2nd Unit team do a very nice job of taking their audience into the body of Spider-Man. The first-person approach could have been an awful gimmick but instead it energizes the film to a level of coolness it could never attain otherwise. There are some very inspired bits of action here, whether it be how Spider-Man uses his webs and abilities to get the job done or just the joy of being a superhero. Very inspired. It’s good, because the film would have been a leaden nightmare otherwise.

Is it the beginning of a new vital Spider-Man franchise? It’s bound to simply based on math and thousands upon thousands of young folks. It’s not a kiddie film, surprisingly.

There’s death here. There’s some blood. There’s a gross rat monster. This very well could have been an attempt by Sony to both protect their rights to the character and take a shotgun approach the widest possible market. They didn’t. There’s integrity in many of the decisions here even though the end result is a film with some serious flaws. Even James Horner’s score attempts to be classy and though nothing really registers there’s no denying that a lot of work went into this. Technically it’s quite successful and though the 3-D doesn’t add much it doesn’t reek of opportunism. It’s a Spider-Man movie. If the quality of a film like this is based on how true the film is to Spider-Man’s web shooters then no review is going to matter. If you have a few spare dollars and have interest in more Spider-Man adventures you could do worse. It’s still a redundant film but in a world where we have seven Batman movies, three different Hulks, and X-Men bouncing back and forth over thirty year periods, does it really matter?

 Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Special thanks to felix from The B-Action Thread for bringing this to my attention.

At this point, I’m only looking forward to 2 more movies this summer. The Dark Knight Rises, and The Expendables 2. Unless something comes in out of left field and surprises me. Like Magic Mike (Don’t lie to yourself, you want to watch it too, especially if you read my colleague Tim’s review.) and Savages (the trailer has me sold on it.)

Now we’ve got a clip from The Expendables 2 that showcases footage we’ve already seen in the trailers, but finally now all together as it will be shown in the film. Sly’s “Yeah!” at the end of the clip is awesome. Now let’s get another clip with Van Damme as JEAN VILAIN up!

Here’s the clip.

source: AICN

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009 (Top Shelf, $9.95)
By Adam Prosser

Whether you’re a defender or a critic of him, there’s no question: Alan Moore is a cranky old man. And I say, Glycon bless him for it. A lot of creative people churn out their best work when they enter into cranky-old-man-hood (regardless of their physical age); Moore’s been there since V For Vendetta at least. When The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen stopped being a simple adventure romp packed with literary references and became a sweeping metacommentary on pop culture, with the news that it would be taking things up to the present day (more or less), it was inevitable that the result would be a screed against The State of Modern Culture and These Kids Today and Get Off My Lawn. Of course, by his own admission, Moore is not that plugged into what’s going on with modern culture, with a few odd exceptions (like his much-touted love for The Wire), which opens him up to the inevitable charges of criticising what he doesn’t understand. You’re going to be reading an awful lot of reviews (maybe you already have) criticising Moore for this very thing in the wake of LoEG: Century 2009. But personally…I think that if 2009 is intended primarily of a critique of modern pop culture, it’s a surprisingly tame one, even if there are some fist-waving moments.

Orlando, recovering from a particularly traumatic tour of duty in the middle East, switches genders again and arrives in London. Here zhe’s accosted by a particularly cranky Prospero, reaching out from the blazing world (again, bear in mind that Prospero seems to be Moore’s own avatar in the series, so I assume we’re supposed to read into his bad mood) and accosted with reassembling the League one final (?) time, despite the lateness of the hour. The Moonchild, the Antichrist who evil occultist Oliver Haddo has been attempting to create since the beginning of the 20th century, has been born and ascended to power. Meanwhile, Alan’s a homeless addict and Mina’s been locked in a mental institution for decades. Things look bleak…but in this dystopian year of 2009, it’s possible even the antichrist could be a disappointment.

The thing about LoEG is that, like a couple of Moore’s other projects (most notably Promethea), it began as a fun, smart-but-breezy adventure romp but evolved into something far more ambitious and esoteric. As a result, Moore’s priorities have shifted. On the one hand, the comic has arguably found a lot more to say…but on the other, it’s no longer about “fun”, and even what would seem to be the central premises of the story have fallen increasingly by the wayside. Moore’s greatest strength has always been his ability to juggle moments of “awesome” and the basic demands of an exciting narrative with much more complex ideas; to this day, there are still plenty of people who don’t “get” Watchmen (arguably, an awful lot of them work for DC comics) but enjoy it for its superficial virtues, of which there are many. Moore’s comics tend to be tremendously entertaining, so that when he makes that a lower priority and focuses more on challenging the reader, the results can sometimes be disappointing at first blush.

What I’m saying is that what started as, in a sense, the ultimate team-up comic is no longer about that. If you’d told me, after the first couple of volumes, that there was going to be a LoEG comic set in 2009, I’d have visions of Harry Potter teaming up with Edward Cullen, Robert Langdon, and Buzz Lightyear to defeat the smoke monster from Lost, or something (and admittedly such a team-up, by its very existence, probably would have made a lot of the same satirical points about the decline of culture Moore attempts here). But Moore’s telling a different kind of story now, one that, among other things, has fixated on his protagonists of Mina, Allan and Orlando and their struggles with immortality, and that’s pushed the pop culture references into the background. Harry Potter does indeed show up, though like a lot of characters who make an appearance in LoEG he’s mutated beyond all recognition, partly to avoid rights issues and partly so he can embody Moore’s crankiest arguments about nasty ol’ modern culture. (Harry is, as you may have already guessed, the antichrist in question, an avatar of ignorant youth and a lack of imagination—it’s pretty obvious Moore’s not a fan.)

Of course, this does lead to a final showdown with another pop culture character, one that’s legitimately clever and works on multiple levels. There are enough of these lingering “OK, that’s awesome” moments in 2009 to satisfy the thrill-seeking comics fanboy in me, yet I can’t help but feel that this series has lost its way a little. It honestly seems like there’s a lot more Moore and Kevin O’Neill could be ranting against, particularly in regards to how more and more of our “creative real estate” is being locked up by big corporations, and how this process is forcing pop culture into an endless spiral of franchises, reboots, prequels, and so on. I’d never come down on a comic for trying to evolve into something grander, even if I loved it the way it was before, but for the first time I feel like Moore and O’Neill’s larger points are surprisingly banal and simplistic. Though, given their attitudes towards pop culture, maybe that’s the point.

Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Get Jiro! (Hardcover, $24.99, Vertigo)
by Graig Kent

In the near-ish future sports, cinema, and entertainment as we know it has all died (except, naturally, porn).  Food has become the dominant pop culture.  Chefs are the new superstars, and, in the city of Los Angeles (or someplace like it), the new crime lords, controlling the distribution of raw ingredients, choking out the small restaurants on the city perimeter, keeping the glory and prestige clearly focus on The Center.  In this case, there’s two particular crime lords/master chefs dominating the scene: Rose, a violently vigilant locally sourced vegan and Bob, as much a businessman as a creator of the finest meals at any expense, and at any cost.

When an Outer Ring sushi chef chops off the head of the foremost produce distributor (you just can’t mix your wasabi with your soy sauce, man), he draws immediate attention to himself, but the discourse is less of his murderous deed and more of his exquisite preparation and presentation.  Jiro (I suspect named after famed sushi master Jiro Ono, the subject of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi) becomes the most wanted man in L.A., with both Rose and Bob willing to go to any lengths to bring him into their fold.  Jiro is of his own mind and merely wants to practice his craft in peace.  Hints of a darker past in Japan waft to the fore, and it’s quickly understood that Jiro will fight for his peace if he has to and is not afraid to square off against the two largest crime syndicates in town (and acts very much in a manner like he’s done this before).

It’s all too easy to forget what makes comics special when film and television (and even the internet) can create product that can replicate the spectacle and/or intimacy that was once the sole domain of the comic book artist.  But it’s something like Get Jiro! that reminds you why comics are still not only relevant, but necessary… the ability to produce something that you won’t get anywhere else.

Get Jiro! isn’t a unique story, per se.  There have been dozens of films where one protagonist faces off against one or two criminal empires and single handedly brings them down (Lucky Number Slevin, for but one weak example that came to mind.  Quick, Chewers, gimme 20 more), but none have ever been so, well, food-porny about it.  This, absolutely, is a niche product. It takes its queues from samurai films, crime dramas, speculative fiction and, yes, the Food Network.  The story so frequently gets lost in the details of food, food preparation, dining etiquette, cutting utensils and other such kitchen culture that there’s really no way any other medium would back an untested genre like this, and they’d be right to have reservations, because of the foodies who watch Food TV like it’s religion, how many are there that are keen for beheading and dismemberment to be thrust in the mix.  Yet in comics, this kind of genre mixing is a perfect fit.  The audience may be small but the platform allows for limitless imagination.

On top of that, the marquee name on the book happens to be one of the biggest names responsible for helping food culture emerge from its shell.  Anthony Bourdain is a superstar of the foodie community, author of Kitchen Confidential, a memoir that exposed the rather unseemly underbelly found in even the most upscale of restaurants.  He’s the star of two highly successful television programs that combine both food and travel, and has a passion for crime stories, having authored a few crime novels.  Given his professional pedigree, there’s really no one else out there I could think of who could authentically pen a book like this.  Bourdain’s obvious knowledge and experience in kitchen culture is essential to the establishment of this story’s otherwise ludicrous conceit.  It’s his world experience and his own obsession with food and food preparation that fuel the best moments of the book, those quieter asides that get to the heart of what makes food more that just sustenance, but an experience.  No doubt it’s also Bourdain’s longstanding affection for crime stories and genre films that provides the trappings for all this to happen.

It is the crime element that is the weakest link in Bourdain’s repertoire, as he, with co-writer Joel Rose, are so narrowly focused on Los Angeles that we don’t get a sense of the larger corrupting influence of this food culture-obsessed society.  As well the two criminal empires of Bob and Rose don’t flex their muscles enough to really get of sense of how powerful or influential they can be (their running crews seem kind of small).  Yet, it is this crime framework that allows for the remaining splendor to happen, such as the scene where a thug marvels over Jiro’s technique after severing his compatriot’s arm like a baseball fan would obsess over a batting stance, and the wonderfully cinematic climax where Jiro battles a bevvy of bad guys in a wheat field… on the top floor of a vertical farm (straight outta Popular Science!).

The book, as rich as it is in dialogue flourishes, would die a brutal death if the wrong artist were involved.  But Langdon Foss, paired with colorist Jose Villarrubia, have produced some of, if not the most exquisite looking food in comics, ever.  The level of attention, care and detail with which Foss and Villarrubia put into the not just the visual presentation of the food, but also the preparation sequences is beyond amazing.  It’s captivating, stunning and mouth-watering at the same time.  Foss produces highly detailed art with crisp, clean lines, taking obvious influence from Moebius but applying it to as realistic a setting as possible, while still retaining a cartoonist’s detachment to minimize the impact of the violence.  Villarrubia’s colors cannot be oversold.  This is a story that just couldn’t work in black and white and would falter if the colors weren’t true.

It’s not a perfect product, and its target audience is a narrow band of foodies and genre nerds, but for those that are, it is a, pardon my French, fucking delight.  It’s an absolute pleasure to read, and a reminder of what comics are here for.

Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Fatima: The Blood Spinners ($3.99)
by D.S. Randlett (@dsrandlett)

It’s hard to know what to make of this first issue of Fatima. Gilbert Hernandez has long been known as a “serious” creator, trucking largely in nuanced characters and deeply felt stories. When I saw the cover to this new series, which features the title’s busty heroine blowing away some zombies in a particularly bloody fashion, I was somewhat taken aback. Reading the contents, it is hard to tell if Hernandez is parodying action comic books, or is fully embracing his inner Kirby.

Hernandez’s linework has always called to mind the work of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, even if his content always hasn’t. Here, he seems to be embracing that side of himself, relishing in some kinetic and cynical Verhoeven-esque action. Fatima herself, who looks very much like Big Barda, has a comically narrow waist and large bust, but her face seems to belong to a completely different person and story than what a first glance at this book would convey. In fact, there seem to be two Fatimas. One who strips down to her skin-tight zombie fighting togs, and another who walks through her city clad in a large trench coat. This second Fatima is drawn and written with quite a bit of care. She’s a character with regrets, and they come through plainly in the artwork.

The book is also violent and fun as hell, if a bit thin. The thinness of the plot is assuaged by a rather unique spin on the zombie genre (but as I write this, it seems somewhat reminiscent of something like the movie Street Trash). In this world, there is a drug called spin. Apparently, it gives the user the high of their life, and then turns them into mindless flesh eaters. Spin use is rampant, and Fatima is a sort of cop whose job it is to both bring in Spin dealers and to (of course) blow away zombies in spectacularly gory fashion.

The main thrust of the story still feels hidden. Upon putting down this issue, one has no idea where the story is going, or what Hernandez really has to say. Instead of building suspense and interest, this feeling leeches the story of any momentum. Fatima is obviously the work of an important creator, but it suffers from an acute sense of first issue-itis. It’s worth checking out, but it will most likely read better when it’s collected.

Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Hit-Girl #1 (Marvel Icon, $2.99)
By Jeb D.

I’ve seen this new Hit-Girl series referred to as the Empire Strikes Back of the Kick-Ass comics, and I guess I can see that: based on one issue, it’s a bit more character-focused than its predecessor, and trades some of the original’s “gee-whiz!” for a more measured approach. The major difference (well, apart from the original Star Wars films being a kind of magic, while the Kick-Ass comics are a kind of sensationalization of violence and nerd self-loathing) is that we went into Empire not knowing what would come next—and, indeed, we left it the same way, but with even more heightened anticipation. We (well, those of us with high enough tolerance for pain to have read Kick-Ass 2) come to Hit-Girl knowing pretty much everything: we know that, when the series ends, Mindy and Dave are still kicking, punching and slicing; we know that Red Mist has shaped himself into a true super-villain; we know that the superhero “movement” has burgeoned; we know that the Mob still exists. I don’t know quite what we call this-a “midquel”?-but lacking both the sense of discovery of an origin story, and the open-endedness of an ongoing, we’re kind of hanging around watching Millar and Romita fill in gaps that we barely noticed till they brought them up.

Mindy’s having trouble adjusting in school? She’s not popular with the “in” girl clique? Um… OK… and Dave/Kick-Ass is where she’s taking “cool” lessons? Well, you can see that right off the bat that Millar and Romita have taken this installment of the Kick-Ass saga into the realm of outright fantasy. I know that the genesis of the first series was a little wonky, with Millar still writing the ending while Vaughn and Goldman were taking the film script in different directions, but on the comics page, this is still the same Dave Lizewski who didn’t get the girl in the first series. Maybe it’s supposed to signify Mindy’s developmental retardation, but her agreeing to swap training regimens with Dave (she’ll teach him to really kick ass, he’ll teach her to be cool and accepted), feels wildly at odds with the perceptive intelligence that Millar, Vaughn, and Goldman brought to the character.

Because the aspect of the bleed from comic to film and back again that is this series’ greatest asset has been the influence of Chloe Grace Moretz’ deft, empathetic performance as the film’s Hit-Girl; it not only informs Millar’s treatment of the character today, but enhances the re-reading of her original comics appearance. Mindy comes to value Dave for the core goodness she sees in him, not as a source of updated pop-culture references (to say nothing of the fact that no high-school boy–even a “cool” one–is going to be an ideal source for parsing the behavior of teenage girls). I get what Millar is trying to do here– this “I’ll help you with your problem, you help me with mine” is the kind of convention you might employ in a rom-com–but the Mindy Macready we’ve met up to this point, in both comic and movie, has a creepily preternatural ability to read men, and she knows Dave better than this.

Apart from that main storyline, we see the convergence of the film and comic versions of Mindy’s family, and a glimpse of how Red Mist begins assembling the villainous team we’ll meet in Kick-Ass 2. Again, it’s of academic interest for the detail-oriented, if not exactly compelling.

There’s not much to say about the art, as Romita could do this strip in his sleep by now: unlike his work on books like Avengers, there’s not a ton of color or variety in the characters or settings of the Kick-Ass “universe”, but he does what he can, and this issue is executed efficiently and effectively, with inks and finishes again by Tom Palmer, and colors from Dean White and Michael Kelleher.

Those who are deeply invested in the world of Kick-Ass won’t want to miss this… but since I’ve never actually met anyone like that, I will simply say that most readers can give this one a pass.

Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Aquaman #10 ($2.99, DC)
 by D.S. Randlett (@dsrandlett)

I’ve never known what to make of Aquaman. I came of age during a time when the guy had a beard and a hook hand, and even when he returned to his original look he was still kind of a hard ass. All of this was a far cry from the character from Superfriends that everyone made fun of: the goofy blond guy who talked to fish. I have no idea how faithful Geoff Johns’ take on the character is to past iterations, or how he stacks up against them, but there’s been a feeling of pleasant easiness to his run on Aquaman thus far.

This Aquaman seems to be cut from and older pulp hero model than other superheroes, and it feels right. I suspect that this feels so natural because much of Aquaman’s iconography draws upon so much that predates superheroes, and thus Aquaman barely feels like a superhero comic. It feels more like Doc Savage or The Phantom. That alone separates the series from much of Geoff Johns’ output, but then there’s the surprising naturalness that he brings to the relationship between Aquaman and his wife, Mera. The scenes between these two have so far belied a sensitivity to character that I hadn’t suspected Johns to be heretofore capable of, and it’s been one of the central pleasures of this series to date. It also helps that Mera is a strong character in her own right and is not dependent on Aquaman to generate interest in her. Hell, she’s probably a badder ass than he is.

The series has also featured some career-best work from Ivan Reis. He’s gotten much better at drawing faces, allowing some beneficial cartooniness to mingle with his realism in favor of a heightened sense of expression in his characters. Reis has also found a way to make his style feel briny and aquatic. Even though the book is often focused on land dwelling primates, there’s a sense of detail in his lines that calls forth studies of fish anatomy and the smell of salt.

It’s almost a pity that Aquaman has been picking up its pace recently. I quite liked that ambling gait of the first couple of stories in this series. In the midst of this latest arc, we’ve managed to meet The Others, the team that Aquaman was a member of before he met the Justice League (or so it would appear). A standout among these characters is Prisoner of War, a veteran of either Iraq or Afghanistan who is aided by the ghosts of the men in his detail who were all killed in some sort. He’s a surprising and well designed character in a series that’s had its fair share of surprises.

The Others all possess some sort of Atlantean technology. Why Aquaman gave these people these artifacts remain to be seen, but it seems to be tied to the vendetta between him and Black Manta, an element that came to the forefront of this series with a revelation from last issue’s end. The new central element of the Aquaman/Black Manta conflict is actually a rather deft touch, but it just barely escapes the realm of merely good idea.

I’ve been speaking of this series in rather glowing terms, but we’ve reached a point where the things that are good about this title seem to be working against where Johns wants to take this story. It’s not that his ideas are bad, but they lack the groundwork to really register and feel urgent. Take the revelation at the end of issue 9, which sets the table for the conflict depicted in
issue 10. At its center is a good idea, and a story worth telling, but it lands with a thud because there are no expectations to really weigh against it. It reframes Aquaman’s relationship to Black Manta, but the way that it’s set up doesn’t bring us closer to any of the characters, or make us second guess them. It just sort of… is.

Aquaman is a really well executed series that’s been getting harder to recommend. Not because of any complex continuity issues or lack of quality, but a lack of impact. We’ve had plenty of payoff recently, but it’s payoff without setup, like a punchline without a joke.

Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Hypernaturals #1 (BOOM! Studios, $3.99)
by Graig Kent

For half a decade, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (collectively and colloquially known as “DnA”) were the chief, and frequently sole, architects of Marvel’s Cosmic heroes.  While writing two ongoing monthly titles, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, DnA would orchestrate an annual epic, from Annihilation: Conquest, to War of Kings, and their endgame, The Thanos Imperative.  It was an intricate and impressive run, some of the best space opera comics has ever seen.  After the The Thanos Imperative ended, DnA went on to create the Annihilators series of mini-series, but their control of the Marvel Cosmic had been pulled away from them, and the Annihilators suffered for it.  With the epic scale removed so too was the excitement.  But one also had to wonder if DnA weren’t, perhaps, burned out on the whole Cosmic-scale storytelling.

Well, their creator-owned series Hypernaturals is the response to that question, and the answer is “No, not by a long shot.”

Hypernaturals is DnA at their finest, crafting a grand-scale cosmic superhero story with a heavy sci-fi influence.  In short order and with relative ease, DnA establish the world in which the Hypernaturals exist.  It’s a future civilization where a segment of the population is gifted with “hyper” abilities.  For every generation there is a recruitment of these hypers for the galactic defense team, the Hypernaturals.  When the latest team of Hypernaturals disappear, presumed dead, it’s up to a small collective of retirees, administrative staff and rejected recruits to protect civilization.

DnA introduce the characters, build the conflict, and plant the seeds for plenty of ongoing drama and stories all with relative ease.  As well, DnA seem to have an innate way of establishing unique alien and/or futuristic societies.  For Hypernaturals they have crafted an abundance of terminology and phrases, as well as foreign reference points and technology that further serve in defining the book’s environment.

It wasn’t necessarily a good sign to see two different artist credits on the first issue of this comic;  DnA worked with Brad Walker on various Marvel Cosmic project, and it was tantalizing their reteaming for a new cosmic series.  Alas, Walker lasts only six pages before handing over duties to Andres Guinaldo (and a team of finishers) but the transition, while not seamless, is also not as jarring as it could have been.  Guinaldo, charged with the brunt of establishing the visual presentation of the Hypernaturals world, does a phenomenal job bringing the foreign environments, alien cultures and technology to life.  If there’s any major failing to Hypernaturals, it’s the costumes… they are, bluntly, god-awful, but it’s solely restricted to the heroes costumes, as Guinaldo actually brings a unique flair to the “everyday” wear of this society.

After so much goodness in their Marvel Cosmic work, I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am by how successful DnA are at bringing a new, original cosmic series to life. But Hypernaturals works, and works incredibly well.  Fans of Legion of Superheroes, Guardians of the Galaxy and superheroic space opera take note.

Rating:

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Not that long ago the video store was a mundane and sometimes obnoxious part of life; driving over to some lonesome strip mall with your friends or family to comb through the all-too-often disorganized shelves of your local shop, argue over a selection, and then be stuck with it, for good or ill. Yet, it was also sublime. And for those who lived during the true video boom, video stores also equate to another bygone commodity: VHS. When JVC’s Video Home System won the early-80’s format war, the motion picture market changed forever. The genre and B-movies that had previously filled drive-ins across the country now often went straight to VHS. Then DVD took the world by storm in the late-90’s. It was a brave new world, and sadly, many films never made the leap, trapped now on a dead format. These often aren’t “good” films, but goddammit, they were what made video stores great. For we here at CHUD are the kind of people who tended to skip over the main stream titles, our eyes settling on some bizarre, tantalizing cover for a film we’d never even heard of, entranced. These films are what VHS was all about. Some people are still keeping the VHS flame burning. People like me, whose Facebook page Collecting VHS is a showcase for the lost charms of VHS box artwork. With this column it is my intention to highlight these “lost” films and the only rule I have for myself is that they cannot be available on DVD. 

Title: The Peanut Butter Solution
Year: 1985
Genre: Fucked up kid’s movie 
Tagline: A hair raising adventure!
Released by: New World Video
Director: Michael Rubbo

click to embiggen

Plot: Eleven-year-old Michael loses all his hair when he receives a fright from two ghosts in an abandoned old house. They provide ingredients to a concoction to get his hair back, but too much peanut butter causes it to grow at an alarming rate of speed!

Thoughts: I have a friend named Kelly. One day we were talking about fucked up kid’s movies from the eighties. Labyrinth and Return to Oz came up and then I asked her casually, “Have you ever seen a movie called The Peanut Butter Solution before?” The expression on Kelly’s face shifted abruptly and her eyes bugged out of her head as if I had just mentioned some deep secret from her childhood that only she could have known about. She grabbed my forearm and dug her nails into my flesh, locking me dead in the eyes as she exclaimed, “You know about The Peanut Butter Solution!”

I had actually seen it for the first time a few years back at The Cinefamily here in L.A. They were doing a fucked up kid’s movie series and the head programmer, Hadrian Belove, told me I shouldn’t miss The Peanut Butter Solution if I had never seen it before. I hadn’t and I trust the man’s judgment, so I checked it out. I watched this film as an adult for the first time with an audience of fairly hip cinefiles and my reaction was really enthusiastic, but in that post-modern, ironic way. The movie’s very weird and totally a product of its time.

What I didn’t realize then was that there was an entire generation of people like my friend Kelly that saw this head-trip of a children’s flick when they were little kids and it really did a number on their fragile eggshell minds. It wrapped itself tightly around their cerebral cortexes like a mutant parasite that injects nightmarish flashbacks into their brains, as they recall seeing the film like they are all witnesses to a UFO landing and abduction. I found that almost everyone who saw it as a child thought they were either crazy or they had fabricated it in a dream. Many were plagued by nightmares caused by the film’s bizarre imagery for several years after seeing it, but didn’t understand why.

This film has only ever been available on VHS and all these kids saw it because their parents rented it for them. Kelly even vividly remembers that her Mom picked up the tape at a video stand inside a grocery store, as if she’s recalling a crime committed upon her. Well, they’re not crazy and I can completely understand why this movie fucked them all up so bad. It’s a creepy viewing as a full grown adult, so I couldn’t even imagine seeing something this weird under the age of eleven. The Peanut Butter Solution is like what you would get if David Lynch directed a kid’s movie. It’s surreal and spooky.

The plot is about an eleven-year-old boy named Michael (Mathew Mackay) and his sister Suzie (Alison Podbrey) who live with their eccentric artist of a Dad. We are told in Michael’s opening narration that Mom’s gone away. Michael has an awesome Asian friend named Connie (Siluck Saysanasy) who drops by before school to tell him about a fire in an abandoned building the previous night that killed two winos. They walk over to the burnt out building and Michael goes inside, while Connie stays back. Something inside the house scares Michael horribly and he’s literally thrown from it. He wakes up the next morning with no memory of the incident, but worst of all, he has no hair! He’s bald as a cue ball and with no explanation. When it doesn’t seem to be growing back, Michael starts to panic. His crazy Dad thinks it’s really cool and glues a wig to his head, but during a soccer game a bully rips it from him, humiliating Michael in front of all his peers.

Then one night the two old homeless ghosts that scared his hair off his head visit and they provide him with ingredients to a concoction that will make it grow back. The ingredients include: five dead flies, a rotten egg, two spoon fulls of dirt and a little peanut butter, but you must be careful not to use too much PB or your hair will grow out of control. Well, guess what? Michael loads up on the peanut butter and his hair starts growing at a freakish rate of speed. I don’t know how they did it, but every time they cut back to Michael his hair is longer and it’s really bizarre! He goes to school, but by lunch period he looks like a hair-metal guitarist for the band Winger and by dinnertime he resembles Cousin It. Yet, crazy Dad thinks it’s all fine and completely normal for some reason. Before long, Michael is forced to sleep sitting up while his continuously growing hair is tied up with a rope and hanging above him. His sister and Connie are constantly cutting his hair so that it doesn’t completely consume him. The situation is… hairy. Sorry.

I almost forgot about The Signor (Michel Maillot)! Ah, The Signor. I think this character is the main reason for all those nightmares because he’s a truly terrifying villain. The Signor is an art teacher at Michael’s school who teaches his pupils not to use their imaginations while they paint endless portraits of his dog. He is fired from the school for receiving too many complaints about his rather abusive teaching style. So, The Signor kidnaps Michael along with pretty much every single child in town with the use of lies, hypnosis and drugged ice cream. Shit, I just got the chills. He enslaves them all in a factory where they are forced to make magic paintbrushes out of Michael’s ever-growing hair. I’m not fucking making this shit up. The Signor uses the brushes to paint drawings that you can literally walk into and sells them to a sleazy art dealer. Wow, what a scam! Also, The Signor wears a fur coat that could possibly be made of Michael’s hair. Boom!

Eventually, Connie and Suzie finally figure out what’s going on. Unfortunately, Dad’s gone ape-shit crazy since Michael’s been missing and resigns to throwing full blown Blue Velvet-esque tantrums, while standing in front of a blood-curdling scary drawing of his bald son, as a freakish-looking mannequin sits menacingly in the background.

Through the use of a sugar trail and Connie’s natural charm, the kids are able to trick The Signor into drawing a painting of the abandoned building that started this whole mess. The Signor then walks into the painting and is frightened by the two wino ghosts. Before you can say, “Harem scarem!” The Signor is bald… and pissed. He goes after the kids, but crazy Dad gets his shit together at the last second and arrives with the cops. The Signor is arrested and Michael gets the ghosts to remove the spell and return his hair to normal. All is well and in the final scene, Michael and Suzie’s wayward Mom returns with absolutely no explanation as to where she was. The End.

I hope this dissection of the plot will help the many victims of The Peanut Butter Solution cope with their trauma and perhaps provide some closure for you all. It was real and you’re not all nuts. I’m pretty much convinced that the writers and director were on acid when they wrote this script and purposefully decided to fuck with some kiddie brains. Regardless, this movie has burned a scorching hole through the mind’s eye of many young adults out there and I hope this has been therapeutic for you all. You may now sleep a little easier. Kelly, it’s going to be okay. I promise.

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Not really much to say at this point. Now that The Avengers is well into the past, everyone is primed and varying degrees of pumped for The Dark Knight Rises. This 30-second spot doesn’t shed any new light, but we do get a little more Batman-Catwoman duo action. Man, as ridiculous as Christian Bale’s ‘bat-voice’ is in the films, it sounds so much worse plucked out of context and put into a trailer — especially when he’s supposed to be jovially bantering with Catwoman. Kevin Conroy, where are you?

ThatGameCompany, headed by Jenova Chen has made a name for itself crafting beautiful standalone experiences for gamers without the need for excessive violence or gore. The company is the definition of indie, though they are associated with Sony (which kills me, since I’m not a Playstation guy), they have been able to retain complete artistic autonomy.

August 28th is the day you can pick up their latest title, Journey, along with Flower and flow on a single blu-ray disc. For those who skipped these titles, this is the perfect chance for you to nab all three titles for the low-low price of $29.99.

But wait! There’s more! Bonus features include a 30-minute documentary on the making of Journey, creator commentary playthroughs of all three games (similar to what Valve does with the commentary tracks, for sure), concept art, soundtracks and much more!

You need these games in your life. I may buy a Playstation 3 just to play this bundle.

“I am not my lifestyle.”

Like the words out of the mouth of the titular Mike, director Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike is a film about conviction. More so, it’s about the dark paths one’s own conviction can lead down if unchecked. Is Mike his lifestyle? Magic Mike aims to answer.

The story of two men, each at a precipice in their lives, Magic continues Soderbergh’s hot streak in the mainstream – one that arguably started with Contagion. Like the best kind of slow burn 70s fare, it’s a film that unfolds slowly and steadily. Think Saturday Night Fever by way of The Conversation and you’re getting close to what Soderbergh and Tatum (whose own life experiences as a male stripper serve as a jumping off point) have accomplished here. Similar to how Brokeback Mountain was more than the “gay cowboy” movie, it’d be easy to categorize Magic Mike as the “male stripper” movie if it didn’t double as such a finely crafted thinkpiece.

And it’s that explicit male stripperness of Magic that will cause some to erroneously dismiss. Which also makes it all the more intriguing: a film tackling objectification that will no doubt be objectified. Truthfully, the trailers don’t do it a disservice. There are ample amounts of man candy on display here: gratuitous butt shots, glistening six packs, big dicks stuffed into bigger dick pumps that fill up the frame – it’s all there in spades. If that’s a turnoff, if that’s a turn-on, that’s entirely the point.

The opposite of nine to five.

Mike (Channing Tatum) is a man struggling against preconceived notions. He’s come to the end of the stripping game with little more than a paltry chunk of change and some contemporary furniture sketches to show for it.  By inviting college dropout Adam (The Kid, Alex Pettyfer) into his lifestyle, you get the sense that he’s passing the torch. Mike’s very good at what he does, and his new friendship is to both men’s benefit early on. But as Mike grows weary of the life, Adam only gets hungrier – driven into depravity by an endless supply of women and drugs.

The dichotomy of these dueling convictions is the crux of the film, each man seeking a very different endgame. Soderbergh and screenwriter Reid Carolin infuse Magic Mike with enough life to never make that conceit feel on–the-nose. Mike’s growth is partly inspired by Adam’s straight and narrow sister Paige (Cody Horn), as he sees in her a fresh start. There’s a mutual attraction that’s put off by how Mike makes his livelihood (by exposing his livelihood).

With few directors as good in the casting stage, it should come as no surprise that the performers fair their best. McConaughey turns in the showiest performance, one where his lack of shirt finally feels natural. His Dallas is a slimeball, and McConaughey’s slithery frame and surly Texas drawl suit the character perfectly. Tatum is essentially playing himself, but his physicality and legit movie star presence are once again evident. Horn’s work is altogether conservative, but her inherent skepticism serves the film.

Pettyfer, an actor I had all but dismissed in 2011, plays Adam as a prickish kid who gravitates toward stripping like a moth to the flame – like it’s the only thing that ever came easy. He begins as a selfish guy who eventually sinks into a world that will allow him to be nothing but himself. One can surmise that Adam is incapable of ever arriving at the conclusions reached by Mike. It’s a great turn, and one that should significantly raise the young actor’s profile.

McConaughey, in a role he was born to play.

Soderbergh’s minimalist cinematography works to the intended result, as the bright lights of the stage do all the work to sell the nightly atmosphere. It’s contrasted with the saturated, dusky daytime scenes. Like our main characters, Soderbergh’s camera has an aversion to daylight – bathing it in a way that puts us at a distance. There’s a day scene where the strippers party at boss Dallas’ (Matthew McConaughey) home, and it’s as if the windows are boarded up. The morning and noon hours become a distant, unnatural habitat for our characters.

Magic Mike injects a certain amount of subversiveness into its final scenes. While Adam’s payoff is telegraphed from the beginning of the film, Mike’s is hazier. Many will view Mike’s ending as a happy one. And if objectification is what he’s trying to escape, I’d argue that he fails. I’m guessing Soderbergh wants to leave room for debate, but it feels like a slight betrayal to what’s, up to that point, a film steeped in its own truths.

Similar to Traffic and The Girlfriend Experience, Steven Soderbergh has once again crafted a work that feels true to the subculture it dissects. It doesn’t matter what Mike believes he is, what matters is the perceptions of those around him – bringing us back to that ever-present matter of lifestyle. Magic Mike surmises that it’s all we are; if only because it’s all others will ever see.

Out of a Possible 5 Stars

Follow Tim on Twitter: @roboTimKelly

Special thanks to Fazer from The B-Action Thread for bringing this to my attention.

I’m no stranger to anime. First one I ever saw was Vampire Hunter D on TBS back around 1993 as a friday late night movie, and I was hooked. Next one I caught was The Fist Of The North Star vhs my cousin loaned me. Then eventually during my Senior year of High School, I saw Ninja Scroll. A crazy balls to the wall film with plenty of blood all over the place, monsters, and guys who can piece themselves back together.

Seeing the trailer for The Man With The Iron Fists reminds me of a live action take on Ninja Scroll by way of Mortal Kombat. I was hoping for Russell Crowe to be the villain, but what we’ve gotten is something even better. He’s a Spaghetti Western cowboy with bizarre guns and an outfit that is Clint inspired. Everyone looks to be having fun, and while there’s no monsters, there’s a guy who is a gold variant of Colossus. The gold reminding me also of Ninja Scroll. So yeah, this movie looks to be incredible fun. Even with all the CGI.

Here’s the trailer.

source: IGN