Comic Review: Invincible Volume 6

    Every time I pick up a trade of this book, I think ‘witch one of my favorite characters is going to die this time?’  It’s stressful.  Still, it means I’ve emotionally invested in the series and its cast, and that’s not true of a lot of comics.  And now I know how I’m going to feel when he eventually kills off one of my very favorite characters.  Because I thought he did.  I stared at the panel where it appeared said character was snuffed out and felt resigned sadness.  Like, ‘I knew this was coming, and here it is.’  But then it wasn’t.  I’m sure it’ll be coming for real later.  And the death of another long time core character does appear to be permanent.

    There’s a lot of guest characters in this volume, not just Guardians of the Globe, but other Image personalities.  The whole pantheon has to be called up to face another world threatening foe.  And dang.  Not only is the threat ramped up, but the violence is beastly.  And every time it seems like there’s going to be a pause, it steps up another notch.  So many people get punched to pieces.  It’s horrifying.  I like that these people with super powers do super damage.  You always see Superman punching a normal person and they fall back a little.  A guy who punches planets out of orbit and a human just falls over and looks dazed?  When Invincible isn’t holding back, the turns people he punches into puddles of lumpy red oatmeal.  In the middle of the volume, there is an extended story about Omni-Man and Allen the Alien.  This strange relationship has been evolving for a long time, and has reached a pretty crazy, but awesome place.  Omni-Man sleeping on Allen’s couch must be about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.  Whatever it’s building to should be plenty cool.  A few new characters, possible villains and allies make appearances.  Universa, Dinosaurus, Space Racer, Conquest.  Cool.

    Of the things I’ve read from him so far, this is Kirkman’s best work.  And the series remains fun, grim, exciting, and cool.  Ryan Ottley’s art improves by the issue, and his love of drawing excruciating gore is impressive and sick.  This volume also includes guest artwork from series co-creator and original artist Cory Walker.  And as always, the back end of the book is loaded with sketches and commentary.

    If you’re any kind of superhero fan, and you’re not reading this series, you’re doing yourself a disservice.  It’s got action, cool characters, humor, romance, grand plotting, twists and turns, and a consistent vision.  This has what Marvel and DC are so sadly missing.  Read it.

Invincible Ultimate Collection: Volume 6
Author: Robert Kirkman
Artists: Ryan Ottley & Cory Walker
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-360-5

-Matt

Comic Review: Invincible Volume 5

    What is it I keep saying?  Oh, yeah.  Invincible is the best super hero comic on the market.  That’s right.  And the more I read, the more I think that’s true.  This fifth volume in the Ultimate Collection sees some major changes in Mark’s life.  A falling out with a trusted friend, deepening romance, trouble with his brother, and oh, man, the Mauler Twins.  The Mauler Twins!!!…So much blood.  So much gore.  And like previous volumes, there’s plenty of foreground story, with hints of longer running threads woven in through the background.  What’s all this with Titan?  Something has been building with that guy for a long time.  What’s his deal?  He seems like a pretty good dude, for an underworld boss.  Why’s everybody messing with him?

    The problem I keep running into with this series isn’t actually a problem really.  It’s that feeling you don’t get when reading Marvel or DC.  It’s that feeling that nobody is safe, and things won’t be back to normal in an issue or two.  I’m pretty sure my favorite villains are dead.  Like dead, dead.  Not, gonna show up in another couple issues dead.  There have been a couple cases of characters that seemed dead coming back, but those are uncommon and connected to specific characters (not all that shocking when a guy called The Immortal turns out to be harder to keep dead than normal).  But while I don’t see Invincible himself getting killed, it’s not out of the question.  And pretty much anyone else could go at any time.  This volume carried me through issue 59.  The monthly issues just passed 100.  I want Invincible and his lady to be happy.  But I’m guessing if I were reading issues hitting the newsstands today, I’d be seeing horror and sadness.  I can’t wait, but I also dread it.  Unlike so many ongoing series, the unified voice brought by Kirkman being the continuous writer has kept it more real.  If this came out of Marvel or DC, it would have had six or eight different writers, each one wanting to kill off or resurrect their own pet characters, and each trying to take the series off in different directions, while never straying too far from the studio mandated status quo.  Kirkman has the freedom to shape the story and make things count.  So, again, I fear for the life of every character I like.  And I have good reason to think those fears are justified.

    The sideline story with The Astounding Wolf-man felt a bit shameless pluggy.  But whatever.  However, the Allan the Alien interlude was amazing.  Are they building up to the greatest comicbook character team-up ever?  If what it looks like actually comes to pass, I’ll have to put a little ‘power of 2’ sign next to my statement that this is the best superhero comic on the market.  (Also, keep an eye out for a cameo from Doctor Venture and Brock Samson, as well as another awesome dig on Aquaman).  So, if you like the idea of superheroes, like the style of the Silver Age, but want something a bit more meaty, a bit more emotionally impacting, try Invincible.  This feels like all the potential of the Marvel Universe, without the status quo mandates demanded by their market position.  I believe I cautioned readers about this before, but do remember it’s not an ‘all ages’ title.  There is violence, and when that violence happens, it’s not pretty.  In fact, it’s some of the nastiest, bloodiest, freakiest violence I’ve seen in a comicbook (Oliver punched that dude’s jawbone out the back of his head!).  But for the adult reader, this is top shelf material.

Invincible Ultimate Collection Volume 5
Author: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Ryan Ottley, etc.
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 978-1-60706-116-8

-Matt

Brad's Week in Dork! (1/27/13-2/2/13)

This was a fun if somewhat confusing Week in Dork.  After a couple years of nervous anticipation, Jason Statham finally hit the big screen as Richard Stark's Parker.  If you've been reading this blog for even the last few weeks, let alone the last two years, then you know I am a Parker super freak and that from the very first glimpse of the Taylor Hackford adaptation I was rather jittery.  I wish that I could report that the new Parker film (and the only one granted the usage of the actual "Parker" name) is a rip-roaringly good time out at the movies...but, sadly, it's a tragic mess of a movie barely worth the energy it takes to properly deride it.  This will not be the final Parker film.  Although, I'd be shocked if they ever let Jason Statham near the property again - and that would definitely be the right decision.  I think at this point, the producers should just grab Darwyn Cooke's graphic novelization of The Score, cast Michael Shannon as Parker and bask in the glory of "Mad Men With More Murder" (a term coined by my clever friend Kevin).  There's a hit film there - I just know it.  At the very least, this latest cine-tragedy has got me aching to finish off Stark's series of books.

The second momentous release of the week was Robert Kirkman's Invincible #100.  Last year I blitzed through 97 issues in just over a week and I came to the realization that Mark Grayson is the greatest Super Hero character in comicdom.  Issues 98-100, titled "The Death of Everyone," certainly put the young Grayson through the wringer as he went mano y mano with the hulk smashing mad genius of the environmental overlord Dinosaurus........but, I also have to admit that I was not overjoyed by the seminal event.  Solid.  But not the painful, consequence porn that Invincible usually proves time and time again.  But, similar to Parker, maybe the anticipation for the event was too great for genuine adoration.

The real joys of this week came during the back half.  After some solid Oscar Nomination viewing, on Friday, Matt & I returned to the beautiful AFI Silver for Count Gore De Vol's 40 Anniversary of Creature Feature.  I moved to the DC area a little too late to be considered a proper follower of the Count, but he's always been a staple of the horror convention circuit and I dig his brand of late-night, pre-dawn TV goofery.  And for February I've decided to crank out another Blaxploitation Movie Marathon - this is a theme I did a few years ago and I remember having as much fun with Shaft & the Gang as I generally do for my annual October Horror-A-Thons.  I've been meandering about with films of late, and I'm craving a theme.  Richard Roundtree certainly delivers on the promise of the genre.

Parker:  "He was an angel from heaven sent to test us." Cut to black. "In Memory of Donald Westlake" You hear that sound? That spinning, screaming wail? That's Donald Westlake (aka The Dark Half, Richard Stark) infuriatingly spinning in his grave. AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN!!! GAAAAAWWWWW!!!! That's the very last line of the movie. It's done for a laugh, but it also gets to the very essence of what is so bloody horrible about this most heinous adaptation. Parker is not a good guy. He's a criminal.  A murderer.  He's a professional thief with a set of rules that keeps him well employed and out of prison. He won't hurt you unless he has to...but he will hurt you. I'm not sure who director Taylor Hackford & screenwriter John McLaughlin had in mind when crafting this pap, but it most certainly was not Westlake's creation - my guess is that they were trying for Lee Marvin's Point Blank, but even then they failed miserably. Jason Statham might not be the right choice, but he's also not a terrible one. The opening heist has a little bit of that Stark flavor, and I couldn't help but enjoy it's Prime Cut midwest freakshow. Statham also has a fairly kick ass hotel brawl with knives pushed through hands and toilet bowls cracked over skulls. But the needless and seemingly endless flashbacks, the shoddy CGI bloodwork, and Jennifer Lopez's "What Am I Doing Here!?!?" performance send this flick directly into the black bowels of Wal-Mart's 5 dollar bin. Not the most boring Parker adaptation (that would be Jim Brown's The Split), but since this is the first one to actually have the privilege of the Parker name, it is easily the most offensive.

Rome - Season One:  Here's another HBO series they weren't wrong about.  Finally succumbing to the pressures of friends & neighbors, I devoured the first season of Rome in just two days.  The main arc details the the slow fall of Julius Caesar (the exceptionally cast Cirian Hinds) at the hands of the treacherous Roman senate.  But as much fun as the diabolical politics can be, the real hook of this series lies with Lucius Vorenus & Titus Pullo, two bickering Centurions fated to sway the history of the iconic city.  As Pullo, Ray Stevenson is a Tyrannosaurus of rage and brutality.  He goes from faceless soldier to gladiatorial celebrity and his friendship with Kevin McKidd's Lucius represents one of the best fictional bromances.  Too bad (for them, not us) their historymaking is tied to a flood of blood.  I'm not sure where this show can go once its hit The Ides of March, but I can't wait to find out.  It certainly isn't going to be sunshine and flowers.

X-O Manowar #9:  I am so glad Ninjak is outta this book.  And I don't want him to get his own title.  That cat is just too silly.  The Vine invasion force is knocking on Earth's atmosphere,  but Aric's XO armor has found a way to patch into their hoodoo communication seminars.  Taunt him all you want, but the man has the heart of Conan The Barbarian and the technology of Iron Man - you do not want to mess with him.  Next issue, marks the beginning of the Planet Death storyline and I feel like mankind is pretty much screwed since Aric seems not to give one cuss for this modern society.  Someone better hurry up and appeal to his savage ways before he lets it all go tits up.

Uncanny Avengers #3:  I really loved the first issue.  And I thought the second issue was decent.  But this...?  I like the general concept of this Red Skull clone mucking about with Charles Xavier's brain, but Rick Remender's narrative rambling is getting in the way of the kooky crazy plot.  Lots of eye rolling from this reader.  And despite the delay, John Cassaday's art looks rushed and simple in places - the man is one of my favorite artists but I can see why he's leaving this book.  Marvel Now's rushed production schedule is not doing anyone favors.

Stumptown #5:  Hey!  I thought this book ended with last issue, but it just keeps on going!  Well, apparently this is the conclusion but my thoughts on the series are still the same.  A bit of a bore.  Drugs.  Neo Nazis.  Rock & Roll fanboys.  Another yawn.  Greg Rucka never grabbed me with this lukewarm mystery and P.I. Dex is like any dozen other wannabe hardboiled detectives, only with lady parts.  If you're a fan of this book let me know, cuz I want to understand the appeal.

Deadpool #4:  I need to drop this book.  Four issues into this Zombie President one trick pony and I find the humor to be utterly tiresome.  We get it!  Taft's Fat!  Kennedy Loves Ladies!  No One Cares About Zachary Taylor!  Hilarious?  No.  It's sophomoric at best, and Deadpool himself remains a lamebrain attempt at meta storytelling - you want to know how to break the Fourth Wall in style then watch Boston Legal.   My infatuation with Marvel Now is fading, and I'd be surprised (and a little disgusted) if I continued on with this series.

Winter Soldier #14:  Ed Brubaker's Captain America/Winter Soldier run comes to an end, and it's less than a whimper - it's a full on fart of disappointment.   Bucky finally gets face to face with his Commie Mirror Self and frees Natasha from his evil mental clutches.  'Course she doesn't escape unharmed and her relationship with Bucky is left in ruin.  Black Widow Hunt has been the most yawning of middle-of-the-road plot lines and it's rather depressing to think that Brubaker's final statement on his (re)creation ends with such a thud.

Avengers #3:  Jonathan Hickman seems to be building something big with this Avengers book, but I'm not sure I really want to hang on for the ride.  Jerome Opena's art is stunning, but he's already off the book so enjoy the pretty pictures while they last.  Frankly, I just can't get a hold on these characters.  Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Spider-Woman, Cannonball, Manifold...you can traipse out the entire Marvel Universe but it don't mean a damn if you don't give them enough time to interact with each other let alone the reader.  It's all vague universal catastrophe jargon slapped atop smackdown artwork.  And then suddenly it's over.  Cap basically chastises the Martian troublemakers and everyone goes home happy.  Whatever.

FF #3:  Look!  A comic book that I actually enjoyed this week!  Wee!  A one-eyed, white haired John Storm pops out of the time tunnel with tales of a mad future in which Kang The Conqueror, Doctor Doom, and Annihilus have transformed into one giant puddle of super villainy.  This dark future is just the excuse that revenge seeker Scott Lang has been waiting for, and he charges the FF with a mission to bring down Doom.  FF is easily one of my favorite books to come out of Marvel Now, and its a joy to read...something rare in these straining days of dark edgy storytelling.

Superfuzz:  Sometimes you can take great pleasure in a bad movie (see Enter The Ninja), and sometimes no joy can be had. Super Fuzz most definitely falls into the unjoyous category. As much as I love Sergio Corbucci & his vast grim landscape of Spaghetti Westerns, I was appalled by this grossly dumb cop comedy - it really does make the Police Academy films seem like the highest form of comic entertainment. But this is not the first time I've experienced the pain of Italian Comedy. There's just something that doesn't connect between our two continents. Slide Whistles are not actually funny - in fact, let's just avoid goofy sound effects all together. Sped Up Frame Rate is also not comic gold. And Ernest Borgnine dancing on a balloon is not funny...ok, that might have been genius.

The Master:  Similar to There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master is a powerhouse performance piece photographed with the eye of a painter as well as a craftsman.  But also similar to There Will Be Blood, I never quite connected with the emotional turmoil of its three leads.  Joaquin Phoenix is a shaking tyrant of psychosis who stumbles into the equally mental clutches of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's L Ron Hubbard substitute.  But The Master is not an all out assault on Scientology.  Whatever your opinions on the pseudo-ideology (can you guess my viewpoint?) The Master will not change your mind.  It will pick your scabs, but there is fun in that emotional mutilation. The film is a battle for the soul of Phoenix whether it's worth saving or not, and the two lead actors give spine-twistingly painful performances, bending & breaking under the weight of their psychological warfare.  Witnessing The Master is a lot like an ant accepting his place under the magnifying glass; what looked like a pleasant spot to sunbathe transformed into an excruciating glimpse at life's end.

Justified - Season 4 "The Bird Has Flown": Ah, poor Raylan.  His bartender bedroom partner turned out to be quite the devious minx.  With a little help from his Marshal friends, he tracks her & her doofy looking beau across various Kentucky Backyard Brawls and finally retrieves the contents of his looted sock drawer.  But does a van full of chickens stand in the way of true happiness?  Or is it just a sign that Raylan doesn't deserve it?

The Sessions:  You pretty much get everything from this film that you get from reading the logline or watching the trailer.  John Hawkes is a poet trapped inside his body that's in turn trapped inside an iron lung.  He's a virgin looking for love he deems impossible to grasp.  After consulting the most cinematic of Catholic priests (the ever charming William H Macy), he seeks the consult of Helen Hunt's sexual surrogate.  Solid performances.  Hearts will be warmed.  Sex will be had.  But it is very much that quirky indie film that excelled so well at Sundance twenty years back, and it's an era of cinema that holds little interest for me these days.

The Impossible:  This movie destroyed me.  And I mean that as the highest of compliments.  Ewan McGregor & Naomi Watts are Mom & Dad.  They take their three boys to Thailand for a relaxing beachside vacation.  Ten minutes into the movie the 2004 Tsunami hits and the world around them is engulfed in horror.  The family is cast apart - Mom and eldest son, flesh ripped from branches & trash, drag their ravaged bodies across the swampy wasteland while Dad & the two youngest drift from hospital to hospital in search & rescue.  This is a survival saga.  It's not a downer.  It's thrilling.  But exhausting.  I pretty much cried through the entire runtime.  Is it emotional torture porn?  Maybe.  And it does irk me that the real life Spanish family is painted over with white actors.  That being said, McGregor & Watts are phenomenal actors.  And Tom Holland as the eldest son is even better.  They sell the pain, but they also sell the love and the joy.  Grab your hankies and mentally prepare yourself, but when you're ready The Impossible is a powerful celebration of life.

Hansel & Gretel - Witch Hunters:  There is a fun shitty movie to be had here.  But the filmmakers can't seem to find the sculpture in this block of fecal stone.  Gemma Arterton & Jeremy Renner are lifeless as the infamous hag bait children all grown up.  Famke Janssen is even more wooden as the lead Witch plotting to free her sisters from the pain of fire.  And the only thing more inanimate than the players is the script.  I couldn't help but think of Terry Gilliam's unfairly maligned & far superior Brothers Grimm while this dud played out.   I scratch my head - for a film featuring gattling gun massacres & speed racer broom chases there is not an ounce of fun to be had in this plodding B Movie.

The ABCs of Death:  I love anthology films.  But they're never perfect.  Their mostly fair to midland by nature.  The ABCs of Death is no different.  26 Directors are given a letter of the alphabet and three minutes to tell a story of destruction.  You've got guys like Jason Eisner (Hobo With A Shotgun), Lee Hardcastle (Pingu), Angela Bettis (Roman), Ti West (House of the Devil), and Ben Wheatley (Kill List) with titles like "B is for Bigfoot" & "T is for Toilet".  Some stories are fun.  Some are gross.  Some surreal.  And some are downright terrible.  But it's a great experiment and I was glued to the screen as each letter turned to the next.  My favorite letter had to be "H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion" featuring a World War II bulldog ace and a feline Nazi stripper cat.  Absolutely bonkers.

The House of Frankenstein:  Here you've got all your favorite Universal Monsters clambering to win your attention for a brief 80 minutes  John Carradine makes the briefest of appearances as the dimmest of Draculas and the film really doesn't become enjoyable until his carriage crashes through the sunny skyline.  Boris Karloff kicks ass as the Mad Doctor determined to resurrect Frankenstein's Monster but when does Karloff not kick ass?  Lon Chaney maintains his mopey moon man problems while J Carrol Naish's Hunchback rages over his good looks.  This is not a classic.  But it's of a time & place that's essential for genre lovers.

Shaft:  Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song might have been the birth of the Blaxploitation era, but it was MGM's Shaft that cemented the pseudo-genre as a gateway to bucket loads of cash.  It's a decent crime story.  Nowhere near as good as its inevitable legacy, but Richard Roundtree (along with Issac Hayes' brilliant theme song) is why this private dick will forever be remembered as an icon of cool.  He's got the smile, the wit, the bravado, the mustache, and the jacket.  It's basically Yojimbo all over again as Shaft navigates between Harlem hoods & the Italian Mob.  There's a kidnapping plot and a shattering pistol whipped window that brings a great smile to my face.  But for me it's the sequels where Shaft really scores.

Invincible #100:  After so much build up, I'm pretty sure the final confrontation between Mark Grayson and Dinosaurus was bound to be a disappointment.  And Kirkman's decision to play the most dramatic element of their battle off panel is a clever, if somewhat frustrating manner to supersede our expectations.  The final punch of issue 100 lands like a reset button with Invincible finding himself back in the safe arms of the government.  This is epic stuff...but The Death of Everyone????  This definitely did not live up to the solicitation expectation.  Of course, how much brutality can one book take?  I say, MORE!

Batman Incorporated #7:  Grant Morrison's run in The New 52 has been peeks & valleys.  It certainly doesn't feel like it belongs with the rest of the continuity, but I really don't care if it jives with Justice League or not.  He's still writing Damien Wayne better than anybody else, and the young Robin's return to spandex shown here is sooooo freaking badass.  And his love of animals?  One panel depicting a snuggling pile of Bat Cow, Ace the Bat Hound, and Alfred the Butler Cat?  That's just two tons of comic book fun.  Go save your Dad, Robin.  And bash some teeth in while you're at it.

Shaft's Big Score:  When the brother of the woman he's currently banging explodes all over the neighborhood,  P.I. John Shaft continues his Yojimbo war between Harlem's top goon Bumpy & the white faced Mob.  A lot more gunplay than the original film, Shaft's Big Score is the violent crime drama you're looking for with tumbling car chases and shotgun helicopter battles.  Richard Roundtree supplies even better one-liners, and even bigger badass swagger.  This is the king of cool.

--Brad

Brad's Week In Dork! (12/30/12-1/5/13)

Happy New Year!  Continuing the trend from last week, I kept popping in the DVDs as the year rushed to its conclusion.  Had to make sure that my Best Of List was as complete as possible.  I watched a couple of new films, but spent most of my time revisiting the flicks that I thought had the most potential of ranking in the Top Ten.  Movies like Cabin in the Woods, The Avengers, & Moonrise Kingdom.  The Wife & I also found our way back to the big screen for another round of Django Unchained.  We were happy to drag our friend Ben along and I spent nearly as much time watching his reaction as I did the fastest gun in the south.  I cannot stress enough what an enjoyable movie going experience that big beast of a film truly is - thinking on it now, it feels not only like the best film of last year, but one of my favorite films of the last decade.  Crazy, but my enthusiasm seems to know no bounds.  

The mass consumption of big & little screen entertainment always makes this time of year incredibly enjoyable.  The Holidays are over.  A bright new future of potentially kick ass flicks lies ahead of us.  And I'm counting down the days until my post-Christmas decompression vacation - a time where I'm gonna hit up those Cinematic Resolutions and just relax in the apartment.  Ah, I can already feel the tingles of bliss.

Jack Reacher:  Started this week with a re-watch.  Matt was surprisingly annoyed that I saw Tom Cruise's latest without him (seriously, pre-Knight & Day, Matt couldn't stand The Great One), so we journeyed out early Sunday morning to see Jack Reacher ball punch some bros.  What I enjoy the most about this disposable flick is that Tom Cruise is a real A-Hole.  And there's a good bit of pleasure in watching him belittle barstool sluts and the boyfriends that use them.  Sure, you're sitting in the theater to watch Cruise action star his way through various faceless goons, up the ladder to Werner Herzog's milky eyed sociopath, but the best bits in the film are achieved through Christopher McQuarrie's snarky, talk-back dialog. The moments where Jack Reacher schools David Oyelowo's too-good detective or shirtlessly charms Rosamund Pike's idealist avenger. He's so damn full of himself and part of you has to wonder if that's Reacher talking or Tom Cruise himself. Whatever the answer, it's a treat to watch.

Paul Williams Still Alive:  If you already love Paul Williams (and how could you not? The Muppets, Phantom of the Paradise, Battle for the Planet of the Apes = classic childhood cinema) then there's enough in this lovefest documentary for you to enjoy. Stephen Kessler pesters Williams for an hour and twenty minutes.  We get a little glimpse into his rise and fall in the dark land of celebrity, and there are a few touching moments of introspection. But for the most part it's awkward squirming and chit chat about the delights of squid consumption. Enjoyable, but slight.

The Queen of Versailles:  Not my usual fare, but since this doc appears on several critic's Top Tens I thought I would give the Netflix Instant a try.  The film opens with the delusional billionaires Jackie & David Siegel burning their way through millions of dollars to construct a replica of Versailles in the swamplands of Florida. As you might expect, for those not living the Richie Rich highlife, it's rather disconcerting to see such a tragic waste of cash.  Then the financial crisis hits, and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has an interesting riches-to-rags...oh give me a break, this is a riches-to-not-quite-as-rich story and since they don't even come close to hitting rock bottom this documentary feels even slighter than the Paul Williams showcase.  Despite her discovery of limited funds, Jackie Siegel is still a vacuous creature with very little sympathy and her economic monster of a husband seems to care for little else than the recapturing of his empire.  Queen of Versailles is simple naval gazing, sometimes entertaining but nothing revelatory - and certainly not one of the year's best films.

Looper:  One of the reasons I love this movie so much is that when we first meet Joseph Gordon-Levitt's hitman, he is such a sociopathic little shit.  He kills whatever baghead victim appears before him  and spends the reward on fashionable ties and the occasional eyedrop high.  And he's infatuated with a stripper who's only using him as a portal to his gangster wallet.  The man is a putz.  He only becomes a human being when he's confronted by his future self; when he can't bare Bruce Willis' self-hating staredowns.  The contempt Willis holds for his younger self at the diner makes the movie.  Plus the fact that Old Bruce Willis' actions to protect the love of his life are equally as heinous as the crimes committed in his youth.  This is not Good Guy Adventure Cinema.  It's morally corrupt sci-fi, something not too common these days.

Sleepwalk With Me:  My wife is a big fan of Birbiglia's stand-up, and I've enjoyed his albums through her car stereo on numerous occasions.  But this semi-fictional telling of his first serious relationship is much more painful to watch than listen to, and even though I thought the film was crafted extremely well I just could not find the entertainment in the self-destruction.  A little too fly-on-the-wall.  Everyone is just too darn understanding; sticking to the relationship just cuz they like (not love) each other too much.  That feels real; a genuine problem some folks might have, but it's a predicament I find too bland for my entertainment.  Still, Birbiglia is incredibly charming and the sleepwalking provides for some inventive storytelling.

The Cabin in the Woods:  It's entertaining looking back at some of last year's earlier posts and seeing my unabashed enthusiasm for Cabin in the Woods.  It's a film I thought for sure was going to be one of the year's best (even if Matt was a hater from the get-go), but as much as I enjoyed the flick, I really am not as in love with it as the rest of the internet seems to be.  The corporate underground story of Richard Jenkins & Bradley Whitford is darkly comic and extremely compelling.  But the Whedon college kids above ground are still just a batch of run-of-the-mill fodder, and the Redneck Zombie attack is not nearly as scary as it should be to sell the comedy of Jenkins & Whitford.  But, damn, once the film goes Cube it really turns up the Horror Show crazy and it achieves some pretty rioutous laughter from fanboys.

The Avengers:  Are you sick and tired of me ranting and raving about The Avengers?  Well, I'm pretty much spent on anything else that I could say.  I Love This Movie!  It's pure comic joy on the big (or little) screen, and it gets the characters better than any of the previous Marvel movies.  It puts a lot of pressure onto Shane Black's Iron Man 3, but I have hopes that the man behind Kiss Kiss Bang Bang knows that you don't have to Go Bigger to Be Better.  Besides you really can't get bigger than this beast of a flick...at least not till Thanos comes knocking in 2014.  For now I need to give this flick a rest.  Gotta keep it special and after nearly ten viewings I can feel the shine dimming.

Moonrise Kingdom:  There are two movies at play in Wes Anderson's latest.  One half of the film is devoted to the pure romance between two barely pubescent children, and the other half of the film depicts the tragically, grown-up problems adults create around their love affairs.  It's easy to gravitate to the sweet-hearted adventure of Sam & Suzy, but with this viewing I found myself aching for the males trapped in the heart of Frances McDormand.  Can anyone out sadsack Bill Murray?  Hmmmm, looks like Bruce Willis can.  Along the way you've also got the good hearted and well nicotined Edward Norton, fighting to keep the troop together and succeeding where Social Services continually fails.

Take This Waltz:  Here's another flick that inexplicably found its way onto a lot of critics' Top Ten lists.  Solid performances from Michelle Williams & Seth Rogen, but like Sleepwalk With Me, I really just do not enjoy watching a relationship self destruct.  Must be the newlywed in me.  Take This Waltz seems to be saying that you need to know yourself before you can commit to love or marriage, but it's an obvious revelation labored through disturbing and rather annoying hipster banter.  A three way will not save you from Seth Rogen's chicken recipes.  Fact of life.

Django Unchained:  Only two films got me high last year:  The Avengers & Django Unchained.  Granted, I have a shameless devotion for both Super Heroes & Westerns and when I see a film that so perfectly captures my idea for those genres I get childishly giddy.  And both of these flicks leave you feeling deliriously triumphant as the credits roll; Django Unchained is grande adventure cinema revolving around America's horrific past.  Some might not feel that the two should blend together, but I think it's essential for them to do so - this is how you remember horror, and move past it.  Jaime Foxx is the perfect Fred Williamson.  He crushes his enemies.  He gets the girl.  He leaves ya with a smile.  Christophe Waltz shows us that he's more than just a good part; he takes the gleeful gesticulations of the  diabolical Hans Landa and reworks them for the fabled heroism of King Schultz.  Leo DiCaprio has the showiest part in Calvin Candie, and it's obvious that he's having whole heaps of fun playing such a despicable human being.  But it's Sam Jackson that's Django's true villain.  Just when you've watched one too many direct-to-dvd, phoned-in performances from Sam Jackson, he delivers one of his most audacious and unique roles yet.  His house slave Stephen is a grotesque.  From one angle, the dutiful servant.  From another, the murderous puppet master.  His final moments are the film's most important.

Drum:  That's a helluva poster, right?  Looks like a great blaxploitation adventure worthy of a Django Unchained double feature?  Nope.  Drum is pretty much just a terrible bore.  This apparent sequel to Mandingo follows Ken Norton's pit-fighting slave after he's sold to the house of Warren Oates; his attempts to go unnoticed are quickly thwarted when Oates's lustful daughter takes aim, and his pal Yaphet Kotto senses his Uncle Tom leanings.  This is not serious drama or fun 70s exploitation.  Drum is cheap, and it does not earn its lurid sights.  I get the impression that there's an intense Yaphen Kottosploitation flick hidden somewhere within the final revolt, but the rest of the film is too dang dull for further exploration.

Hellboy in Hell #2:  I enjoyed the first issue.  But it was very much a 1st Issue.  Here, however, we get one of the most exciting books in the Hellboy cannon.  Taking the Christmas Carol conceit glimpsed in the last issue, Hellboy wanders the empty streets of Hell's chief city Pandemonium with the aid of three spirits - well, demons.  Mignola is very much trying to put a cap on Hellboy's Beast of the Apocalypse destiny and I love how it takes a trip to his birthplace to make that happen.  In the first storyarc long ago (Seed of Destruction) we saw little Hellboy's arrival in our dimension via Nazi Sorcery, but now, finally! we see Hellboy's actual birth and the placement of his Right Hand of Doom on his tiny, red baby stump.  And the satanic promise of the last couple of pages?  Oh man, this is the stuff I was craving when I first heard the title: Hellboy in Hell.  As a die hard Mignola fanatic, I have some dangerous anticipation for this epic and I'm curious to see how the first four issues of this series will not end up being it's final four issues.  Where does this book go when there is no Beast of the Apocalypse?

Invincible #99:  Pretty much an all smackdown issue.  Invincible smashes into Dinosaurus, trying so dang hard to pummel his snout into pulp but discovering that his might is probably not enough for this big bad devil dinosaur.  Most of the conversation that happens between the two while they're beating the snot outta each other has been treaded before, and this comic does feel a little bit like filler until we get to the utter devastation of the next issue.  And yeah, I think Mark might be going down for the final count.  Heads will pop.

Fatale #11:  I was seriously apprehensive about this issue.  When I heard that Ed Brubaker had decided to expand this series with a collection of one-offs I was left scratching my head.  Josephine flashback issues?  Uh...that could be interesting.  Well - Oh Hell Yeah!  Issue 11 turns out to be one of my favorites from the series.  Set in California during the 1930s, Josephine tracks down a pulp novelist who apparently knows a thing or two about her powers of manly persuasion.  His supernatural story is the most Lovecraftian chapter yet, and artist Sean Phillips has crafted some images here that are hauntingly beautiful but also very horror-horror.  There are definite ties to what we've seen before and I'm now really curious to see what these other standalones will have to offer.  Fatale is my favorite ongoing comic right now, and if you're not reading it for whatever lameass reason than you're missing out on some of the best genre blending in any medium.

Butter:  Pretty broad political commentary set in the seemingly quirky world of Butter sculpting.  Basically, aren't Conservative Republicans hypocritical crazies?  They sure do love strippers and telling us what to do!  And the jokes are flat, but not as flat as Jennifer Garner's performance.  She is ridiculously over-the-top with her screamy self-righteousness and her moments on screen are painful to watch.  Hugh Jackman is kinda fun with his cowboy smile but blink and he's gone.  Rob Corddry is solid as the good-natured father befuddled by the butter culture and it's nice to see Alicia Silverstone still working.  Still, Butter wants to be quirkier than it is and will never be thought of again after the period on this sentence.

New Avengers #1:  Not bad.  But also not terribly exhilarating.  Some crazy planetary shenanigans are happening over in Black Panther's Wakanda kingdom and he's going to have to make nice with the Marvel Universe's heavy hitters.  I'm gonna keep reading cuz I trust Hickman and I'm curious to see how this ties into his other Avengers book, but I've never been a fan of Wakanda or Black Panther's royal ego.  Steve Epting is a great artist, and I'd really love to see him do a Man Without Fear Black Panther story than this global threat stuff - it all feels very been there/done that.  Frankly, I would just nuke Wakanda.  It's just too dang goofy.

Mara #1:  Brian Wood's Massive is a cool comic book.  So gotta give his new book a try.  Imagine a world where Volleyball is the ultimate entertainment - yeah, that's a bit of a stretch but this is a dystopian Rollerball society and through the suspension of disbelief readers can make that fantasy acceptable.  Mara is the world's most famous Volleyball player and global conflicts seem to rest on her ability to spike a ball.  But is she just a simple athlete, or is there something super human to her talent?  But I'm not sure I care to know the answer.  The book was mildly enjoyable but unless some friends start to spout some serious praise I don't see myself continuing.  

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #19:  Miles Morales is home again.  No more Ultimates.  No more Giant Woman Hydra battles.  Glad to be back in NYC where his biggest problems seem to be the lack of web fluid and how to handle his best bud's Spidey infatuation...oh, and the fact that the Venom symbiote is alive and well and killing Daily Bugle reporters.  I am really excited to see how a Peter Parker villain goes up against Miles's Spider-Man.  As much as I love this comic, I feel like we've been waiting too long for these two worlds to collide, and the hint of another Gwen Stacey encounter is incredibly appealing.

Godzilla - Half Century War #4:  Fatale & Hellboy in Hell might have been my favorite books this week but Godzilla comes in at a close third.  Stokoe's comic is an epic celebration of our favorite Tokyo smasher, and this latest issue pits the big beast against not only MechaGodzilla, but SpaceGodzilla as well!  Jumping ahead in time to 1987, AMF agent Ota is an old man feeling cast aside by the agency's young hotshots.  But can these youngins properly pilot MechaGodzilla?  Of course not!  Ota's gonna have to get his hands dirty, time for a tag team grudge match against the crystalized monstrosity.

Iron Man #5:  Why am I still reading this!?!?!??!?  Brad, stop throwing your cash away!!!!!  Tony Stark has another standoff with an Extremis terrorist.  This time - in Space!  Time for another armor and an excuse to send Stark into the realm of the Guardians of the Galaxy.  I'm just soooooooo not interested in these various Extremis encounters.  Kill 'em all and move on.

Daredevil - End of Days #4:  Ben Urich continues his investigation into Daredevil's last days.  What he finds is Bullseye's corpse and another mysterious reference to "Mapone."  What does that word mean?  A person?  A place?  But this is not Rosebud, it's a gibberish concoction with absolutely no draw to the mystery and the question to its meaning is stretched thin by the fourth issue.  Now, the last few pages promise a rather fascinating conversation with a famous convict and I'm really curious to see where the next issue takes the Daily Bugle reporter.  Bendis has me till the end.

Batman Incorporated #6:  After the explosive conclusion to the last issue we see the grisly results to Talia's super villainy, and the Bat Family takes another hit...of course, only crazy cooks like Grant Morrison might feel the pain of this D-list tragedy.  The best bits of this issue happen in the Bat Cave with Alfred presenting young Damien with another house pet.  And Bat Cow gets a new friend.  I'm still waiting for serious hell to hit, and I'm dying to see Bruce Wayne face-to-face with the mother of his child.

All New X-Men #5:  I may not love how and why these X-Men from the past found their way into our present, but now that they're here I'm loving their ghastly reaction to their history.  Poor Jean Grey.  What an F'd up life you will lead; can you possibly change your future for the better or are you doomed to repeat the Phoenix horror?  This is the stuff that's so dang exciting about Bendis' high concept.  How will these old characters change with this knowledge.  And what tantrum will Angel throw when he learns about ArchAngel?  Should be epic.

--Brad