Matt’s Ten Favorite Action Movies (at this moment)

    While talking about Die Hard on the ITMODcast, Brad challenged me to come up with my top five action movie list.  I thought I’d expand that, and list ten of my favorite action movies.   I’d certainly say that Die Hard is awesome, and totally deserves a spot on the list.  But as I realized while watching it last week at the Alamo Drafthouse, I have very little experience with it; it’s not a film I’ve ‘lived’ with like some of these.  Of course, like any of these lists I make, the order (and even the inclusion) of films is subject to change depending on the day and my mood.

10.  The Matrix:  Its massive popularity and the disappointment with the sequels have probably combined to create a backlash against the movie.  But I still love it.  To say the very least, it was a game changer.  Though if that change was good or bad may still be up for debate.  I love the culmination of so many cyberpunk concepts into a kung-fu filled, effects laden action adventure.

9.  Desperado:  Here’s a movie that I had NO interest in ever seeing.  The trailers made it look like some pseudo-Brad Pitt romance with a bit of action thrown in.  No thank you.  But then a friend told me to put my preconceptions aside and give it a try.  The movie started up, Steve Buscemi starts telling his story of the ‘biggest Mexican’ he’d ever seen, and I was hooked.  Way over the top violence, lots of bent humor, and a sense of wild excitement.  It’s so danged much fun.

8.  Conan the Barbarian:  Not surprisingly, I have a couple Arnold movies on this list.  This is probably my favorite fantasy genre film, featuring some of my favorite scenes.  The final battle, in spite of only featuring a relative handful of horsemen, is one of the most epic things I’ve ever seen.  And the music.  Oh, the music.

7.  Fist of Legend:  No wire work, no crazy effects.  Just fists flying at mind blowing speed.  The movie that taught me Kung Fu flicks could be more than just bad dubbing and unintentional fun.  Jet Li was a revelation, the movie had surprising heart and soul, and the action is top notch.

6.  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:  A sweeping, martial arts period piece with some of the of the most pulse-pounding kung-fu I’ve ever seen.  Gorgeously shot, marvelously staged, and lushly crafted.  It’s not only an amazing action movie, it’s an amazing movie.

5.  Aliens:  Alien is one of the all time great horror films.  Aliens is one of the all time great action films.  Gone is the haunted house stalking, replaced by hoards of bugs eating a colorful team of wisecracking Colonial Marines.  This is, to my thinking, the peak of James Cameron.  He never even came close again.  But what a peak.  For all his bloated, soulless, time-sucks that came later, this movie remains a masterwork; untarnished.

4.  Escape from New York:  In the 80s, there was one thing people were pretty darned sure about, and that’s that the world was going to go right down the tubes.  This look forward into the corrupt police state of America circa 1997 is darned cool.  Snake is the Clint Eastwood channeling hero who goes into the prison world of New York City, where he has to save the President from the clutches of The Duke.  Lots of great supporting roles and a cool atmosphere make this one a classic.

3.  Commando:  Yup.  My fourth favorite movie of all time.  Yeah.  That’s right.  Obviously, the script is the strength of the film, but Arnold pounds the living crap out of a bunch of people, then cuts and shoots apart the entire army of an evil dictator all by himself, and all for the love of his daughter.  Let off some steam, don’t disturb my friend, and if you’re lucky, I’ll kill you last.

2.  Raiders of the Lost Ark:  Thrilling heroics and retro-fueled adventure are the name of the game in this, one of my all time favorite films (# 10, in fact) and one of my great cinematic influences (# 1 on that list).  Fistfights, foot chases, and that awesome truck fight.  It’s all the cliffhanger excitement of classic film crammed into one beautiful package.  Cool characters, cool story, and beautifully shot.  One of the greats.

1.  The Road Warrior: I’m a fan of the whole series, to be honest.  Yeah, I even like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.  Actually, I love it.  But The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) is a straight-up amazing film.  It’s gut punchingly savage, dark, depressing, and exciting as all heck.  The iconic final chase is a thing of beauty (so much so that they felt the need to directly lift it in Beyond Thunderdome), but the movie features several cool action scenes, not to mention a beautifully presented apocalyptic world, populated by interesting characters.  Like the best movies, I felt like it took pace within a much larger world.  While we’re watching the story of Max, I have no doubt that over the next hill, equally dramatic lives are being lived and snuffed out.

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: Storm Dogs

    I’m always hungry for new science fiction, and flipping through a few pages of this, I thought it looked interesting.  And it is.  A cast of characters with some potential end up in a dangerous situation and need to do some investigating.  I like the setting, and the feel of the larger universe outside of the limited environment the story takes place in.  While the Western vibe is obvious, the sci-fi elements are strong and I’d like to see how they might be used.

    The general story is about some mysterious deaths and tense relations with native creatures on a backwater world.  There are tech restrictions, scofflaws, hoodlums, and corrupt officials.  A lot is introduced, and some of it is explored.  However, the volume ends on a cliffhanger.  Yes, you kind of know who is doing what, and you mostly know why.  But there are still lots of questions, and one very big one right at the end.  OK.  I get cliffhangers.  The problem is, I can’t find any evidence that this series is continuing.

    The art is good, though I did run into a bit of confusion at one point because character design on two people was similar enough.  Still, once I realized my mistake, I didn’t make it again.  The writing is fine and the story solid.  The setting/universe is really the thing that sold me on the book as I was reading.  I like the main cast of characters, and I’d like to see how they might develop.  But a lot of my feelings are overshadowed by not knowing if there’s any more coming.

Storm Dogs: Season One
Author: David Hine
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-825-9

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: Fear Agent Volume 1

    Buck Rogers meets Mack Bolan in Rick Remender’s Fear Agent.  Drawn by Walking Dead alum Tony Moore, Fear Agent has the look of classic 50s sci-fi paperback book covers, with the sass and goofiness of a bawdy Playboy comic.  It feels like Remender is trying to capture some of Bruce Campbell’s swagger in lead Heath Huston.  And what could easily become tiresome, he manages to make work.

    There’s no deep philosophical discussions, no soul searching, no moral allegory.  There’s a guy with a blaster, shooting tentacled aliens and robots, and flying a rocket ship.  It’s goofy and light, and often a bit naughty.  A nice cure to all the mopy, depressing comics I’ve been reading lately.

    The art is pretty good, with enough retro-flare to get the message across.  Robots and aliens are drawn with tongue firmly in cheek, but the environments are actually quite cool.  It’s obvious that while the story is ‘having a go’ at a certain type of sci-fi, it comes from a place of love.

    If you, like me, need a break from all the Debbie Downer comics on the market right now, check this out.  Or if you just like schlocky science fiction adventure stories.  No wheel reinvention going on.  No great leaps in the medium.  Just old-time action stories with ray-guns and rocket-ships.

Fear Agent: Re-Ignition
Author: Rick Remender
Artist: Tony Moore
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
ISBN: 978-1-59307-764-8

-Matt

Dork Art: The Mignolaverse (+ AVP) in 2014!

The other day, Dark Horse Comics editor Scott Allie spoke with Bloody Disgusting about their horrific plans for 2014.  In the article you'll read about the new Prometheus, Grindhouse, and Strain comics.  Not to mention the ever expanding Alien vs Predator saga.  Frankly, the coolest aspect about that Battle Royal is the above cover by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.  I don't think I've ever seen him tackle those icons before (at least not together), but these beasts are absolutely perfect for Mignola's newly  refined style.  The man is just getting better with age.  Also, he talks a little about the next Hellboy in Hell arc titled "The Death Card," as well as the epic "Reign of the Black Flame" about to devastate the BPRD ongoing.  Things are not going well for the last humans of Earth.  Again, if you are not reading this series then you are missing out on the single greatest Apocalypse story ever fashioned in any medium.  The below covers for next year's BPRD issues 115-119 showcase the history of the franchise from folks like Mignola, Richard Corbin, and Kevin Nowlan.

--Brad

Book Review: Icerigger

    When I was a lad, my father pointed me in the direction of some Alan Dean Foster novels.  I think he told me specifically about the Flinx and Pip books, which oddly I wouldn’t go on to read for two decades or more.  But none the less, I was fascinated by Foster’s Humanx Commonwealth, and I picked up a handful of books and read them over the years.  Among the first I bought were the Icerigger trilogy…which I again, didn’t read.  Until now.  I found the trilogy as ebooks on the cheap, and figured now was a good time.

    Icerigger introduces us to Ethan Fortune, a merchant looking to make a name for himself and get a cushy job back in the core worlds, caught up in a kidnapping attempt that quickly goes from botched to totally screwed.  Soon, he finds himself one of the survivors of a crash, marooned on a hostile ice world, with no expectation of rescue.  Here we meet, among others, the mad Viking of a man, Skua September.  In Edgar Rice Burroughs fashion, Fortune and September embark on a journey of discovery and adventure, involving inhuman natives, swashbuckling, politics, and romance.

    Foster’s Humanx novels are direct descendants of classic space opera, mixing the pulpy fun of Burroughs’s Mars books and C.L. Moore’s Northwest Smith stories, with the huge scale universe building of Asimov’s Foundation and E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen.  Similar to Larry Niven, A. Bertram Chandler, and others, he crafted a wide, wild universe to play in, creating galaxy spanning civilizations and local potentates.  Though the action of Icerigger is limited to one world (and briefly, it’s orbital space), you are constantly aware that events take place within a larger setting.  Fortune and September are certainly fun characters to follow.  Fortune is a relatable guy.  Smart, competent, and driven, he’s able to roll with a lot of punches, but still reacts in a way the reader can understand.  September is a wild beast of a man; a hard partier, lover, and fighter.  If I have a complaint about this novel, and I don't know that I do, it's that the story reaches a natural climax and conclusion, only to keep going.  It feels like the book is over, but there's a sort of novella tacked on to the end.  Odd, but not necessarily bad.

    Fans of space opera must check out Alan Dean Foster’s Humanx books.  If you’re only familiar with him from his incalculable number of movie novelizations, forget that and read some of his original work.  His universe is more consistent, and more consistently good than the Star Wars or Star Trek universes, while filling a similar niche.

Icerigger
Author: Alan Dean Foster
Publisher: Open Road Publishing
ISBN: (ebook) 9781453274088

-Matthew J. Constantine

Movie Review: Alien

    My first awareness of the Alien films came when I picked up a special Starlog magazine devoted to the then new film, Aliens.  I loved the creatures and the tech, and I would flip through the magazine time and again, without seeing the film, imagining what it all meant, building stories around the pictures.  Some years later, when we finally got a nice color TV and a VCR, I started to rent movies on occasion, and two of those early rentals (also among the first R rated films I saw) were Alien and Aliens, back to back.  That’s all it took.  I was hooked.  I loved both films.  I think for a long time, because it was faster paced and more actiony, I would have said that Aliens was my favorite between the two.  Eventually, I began to say that I loved them both, but for different reasons.  Alien was a great horror film, and Aliens was a great action movie.  I still think that’s the case.  But, I realized a couple years ago that in fact, I really, really like Aliens and I really, really LOVE Alien.  Not just a great horror film, Alien is a great film.

    In the aftermath of Star Wars, science fiction became more appealing for the folks with the money.  And, suddenly the idea of  a more ‘lived in’ future (as opposed to the ultra-clean Star Trek/2001 type futures) was acceptable.  People in space might not just be variations on our idealized astronaut heroes, but workaday schlubs just trying to get paid and get by…in space.

    After the opening titles set the creepy tone, our view slides through the halls of the ship, we see an environment where people might live or work, not too different from your office, your break room, your kitchen.  Some cryo-beds open to reveal a handful of everyday folks, a tugboat captain, his crew, and a couple surly mechanics.  Not only might I work along side any one of these people, I could very easily be one of them.  I hear echoes of myself in Yaphet Koto’s words, in Veronica Cartright, in Tom Skerrit.  And I like to think some of the best of me can be seen in John Hurt.  The point is, the film takes its time to introduce us to very relatable characters, and puts them in a very relatable environment, even if it is in space.  By this tactic, the tensions, the shocks, and the tragedy all become as relatable, thus far more effective than so many horror movies with disposable victims and vacuous ‘heroes.’

    It’s a slow burn.  About 45 minutes pass before the alien makes its first appearance.  But the tension builds and builds so effectively.  Sometimes there are jolts and jumps, mostly to give you a bit of relief.  Yet, after a brief release, it begins building once again.  Even when the trouble really gets going, there are long stretches of silence and fear.  The atmosphere is like a character unto itself, seeping into every scene, an invisible elephant in the room.  The stark terror and loneliness expressed beautifully by the cast becomes palpable.  Alien is a genuine and emotional masterpiece.

    Sexuality is both absent and ever present.  The alien itself is birth, death, and rebirth.  The tension of death and sex, penetration and embrace is lurking between the lines.  The creature is beautiful and terrifying as it is mysterious.  Is it simply an animal looking to feed and breed?  Is it intelligent?  Is it a weapon?  Is it part of some greater plan?  These are questions the movie leaves unanswered, letting you imagine a great deal.  There is a larger universe created in the film, with things far beyond our perceptions.  But sex and death transcend our ideas of civilization.  Perhaps the alien is the very embodiment of nature, giving life and taking it without regard.  Does it feel or think?  Does it look upon the humans as victims or just a warm spot to put its young?  And what evolution brought about such a thing; what is its home like?

    Alien plays with your expectations.  Who lives, who dies, when and how.  It’s all against the prevailing fashion.  As is the slow pacing and incredibly long build-up.  And I think this factor lends to its popularity and timelessness.  Alien is a movie that hasn’t aged, except maybe that the computers look primitive next to today’s ultra-mini touch screens.  Everything from the sets and costumes to the cast and script ring true.  They seem authentic.  And the alien is still one of the most beautiful things ever created for film.  It is a work of art, made more impressive by how possible it seems.

-Matt

Dork Art: 80s Heroes

Artist Guillaume Singelin tackles classic 80s Heroes as brought to us by the twisted brains of John Carpenter, Ridley Scott, & James Cameron.  There is certainly a lot of manga influence here, but I also see a hefty bit of Dr. Seuss as well.  And the coloring feels like a Dan Hipp drawing.  Whatever the case, I dig em.

--Brad

Comic Reviews: The Phantom Stranger and S&B Vs A&P

The Phantom Stranger

    This whole New 52 business gave me a chance and excuse to try out a bunch of DC characters I hadn’t read (or in some cases heard of) before.  I’m not a fan of starting somewhere in the middle, though I understand all these long-running comics make that a necessity.  Anyway, I dig a lot of those old, pre-Crisis type titles from DC.  The ones that are closer to Tales from the Crypt than to The Fantastic Four.  Swamp Thing, for example, or The Specter.  So The Phantom Stranger made my reading list.  And, it’s… OK.

    It feels very 70s, from the art to the writing style.  And I like that.  I could imagine it being in black & white, in one of those oversized magazine comics, like Savage Sword of Conan.  It feels a bit like watching a horror anthology show, or reading those old Eerie or Creepy comics.  The book starts out pretty good, giving the Stanger’s origin, tying him to some of the other weird characters (Captain Marvel aka Shazam, for example), and seeing the creation of an incarnation of The Specter.  I liked all the hints about the other two members of his ‘Trinity of Sin.’  And the appearance of the ghost of the original Terrance Thirteen!!!  Heck, I even kind of liked when you see what the Stranger gets up to when he’s not being terribly mysterious.  But once John Constantine and the Justice League Dark show up, the whole thing falls apart.  There’s more about the Specter, some about Pandora, and hey, The Question pops by.  But I found myself tuning out, like it lost focus, or I did.  Either way, by the last few pages of the trade, I suddenly didn’t care what happened next.  Bummer.  And I know people love John Constantine.  But after reading Alan Moore’s creation of him in Saga of the Swamp Thing, and now seeing him pop up in other things, I kind of hate him.  By ‘kind of’ I mean ‘really, really.’

Superman & Batman Vs. Aliens & Predator

    Obviously, this is a wacky, silly crossover gimmick.  DC and Dark Horse putting together some of their most popular titles.  Not at all the only time this sort of thing has happened.  Dark Horse itself mixed Tarzan and the Predators.  Green Lantern went up against the Aliens.  Batman and the Predators seem to work well together.  Superman and the Aliens, I guess.  But throwing them all together,  especially in such a short piece, was just too much.

    The art is pretty, with a painterly aspect.  It reminded me a bit of that old Euro comic, Ranx I think it was called.  The one with that hideous muscled guy and his little girl companion.  But the writing is pretty bad.  OK, it’s straight up awful.  The idea of a lost tribe of Predators living in the underground of Peru might have made for a good Batman adventure.  But the banter between him and Superman is lame.  The stuff with TDI is just dumb.  Overall, not as much fun as the goofy concept led me to hope.

Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger Volume 1: A Stranger Among Us
Author: Dan Didio
Artists: Brent Anderson, etc.
Publisher: DC Comics
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4088-2

Superman And Batman Versus Aliens and Predator
Author: Mark Schultz
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Publishers: DC Comics & Dark Horse Books
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1328-2


-Matt