A Fistful of Fall Anticipation 2014! (Brad's Picks)

I don't know about you, but I've been having a pretty spectacular year at the movies.  I've already got a solid Top Ten going, and we're only just getting to the quality season.  Yes, it's that time again.  From September to December, we wade through the Oscar Bait mediocrity and nourish ourselves on "The Best" cinema has to offer.  We're all gorged on popcorn, the gut's been fed, and now it's the brain's turn to get squelched.  That means - Another Liam Neeson Revenger! And A Denzel Washington Pretender!

Okay, so maybe not every Fall Film will score gold next February, but I can appreciate a wannabe Death Wish as much as the next guy.  Neeson's A Walk Amongst The Tombstones is based on a Lawrence Block novel, and I've always enjoyed that author's thrill to punish.  Seems like a good match with Neeson's later day bruiser career.  The Equalizer I'm less confident about, but if it pushes the Retail Warrior routine hard enough, I may just have to cave.

We'll also be getting plenty of Blockbusters-Not-Fit-For-Summer, and the usual kiddie fare.  The prospect of a little known Marvel comic getting the big Disney treatment is certainly exciting.  The first Big Hero 6 trailer got The Wife to squeal from her seat, and I'd be lying if I denied its charm.  East Meets West, but hopefully it's a more successful union than Del Toro's Pacific Rim.  I'm even a little keyed up to see The Penguins of Madagascar.  What?  Have I lost my mind?  No.  It's simply the fact that The Penguins' origin story is going to stem out from Werner Herzog's deranged penguin concept last seen in Encounters at the End of the World.  And Herzog himself will be narrating the opening moments of the Madagascar spin-off.  That's some beautiful madness.

But it's the gems we're hankering for in Fall.  Below you'll find the Top Five films I'm the most giddy about, but the dream is that the films I'm less ga-ga for will actually win me over, and find their way to into The Dorkies.  Tommy Lee Jones has a new Western (The Homesman), but the trailer lacked a certain oomph, or dread that I'm always geared to see on the plains.  The Western/Southern I'm the most curious about is Daniel Berber's The Keeping Room.  Set in the South during the Civil War, the film promises some terrifying violence as three women defend their homestead from bushwhackers & Union soldiers.  Berber proved he knew how to handle terror & blood quite well with Harry Brown.

Then you have the films I'm dreading.  I dig the hell outta The Fury trailer.  However, it's directed by David Ayer, and the wretched taste of Sabotage is still fresh on my lips.  That guy makes some bullshitty man movies.  Haven't liked a one, and as much as I'm stoked for a WWII tank film staring the Inglourious Basterd himself, I cannot get pumped for an Ayer movie.  Prove me wrong, sir.  Also, both David Cronenberg & Tim Burton have new films this fall (Map to the Stars & Big Eyes).  But it's been a long time since they've done something I've cared about, and it's going to take a lot to win me back.  Anyway, I've rambled on enough, time for the Fistful...

5. Birdman:  I'm not the type of cinephile who worships at the idol of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.  I've enjoyed all of his films (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful) to one degree or another, but never quite LOVED them.  But have you seen this trailer???  "How did we end up here?"  Good question, but however we got Michael Keaton to play this washed up superhero actor, and however we got Ed Norton to don those speedos - I approve.  Inarritu has always been a visual stylist, but Birdman looks to be fully embracing a Bunuel-esque surrealism.  Rad.

4.  The Box Trolls:  Before Comic Con 2014, I was interested in The Box Trolls.  With Coraline & ParaNorman, Laika proved itself to be a studio with not just a mastery over stop-motion animation, but also one with a bent Roald Dahl style of morality.  Kiddie Movies with real danger, and real lessons to be learned.  During that Hall H Saturday, my original intention was to simply sit through The Box Trolls panel in true anticipation of The Age of Ultron cast.  On stage were Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Travis Knight, Anthony Stacchi, and Graham Annable.  They were charming, sophisticated, adorable, and utterly passionate for the project.  Their enthusiasm ratcheted mine beyond 11, and the footage they showed was gorgeous.  Also - Jared Harris! Nick Frost! Richard Ayoade!

3.  Gone Girl:  I may not have connected with his last two pictures, and I'm more than a little disappointed that he's tackling Bestseller Lit agin, but David Fincher is one of my very favorite filmmakers.  The characters of The Social Network & The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo were a bit of a bore (I know, I'm in the minority with that Facebook movie), but it's obvious that the man's craft has been getting better & better.  Ben Affleck, wife-killer?  Ok.  Will Gone Girl be more than a simple Lifetime Movie?  I hope so.  The trailer is great, but Fincher trailers are always great.  Fingers crossed.

2.  Interstellar:  Christopher Nolan science-fiction.  'nuff said.  Add Matthew McConaughey as a father desperate to save his daughter as much as humanity from its own self-destruction, and you've got yourself some serious appointment movie watching.  I don't think we're going to get 2001 here - Nolan is far too literal a director - but it appears to be a film steeped in my own love for star trekking.  "Mankind was born on Earth, it was not meant to die here."  You're god damn right.  If Interstellar gets across that message then I'll be pretty darn happy.

1.  Inherent Vice:  Joaquin Phoenix is a drugged out cop in 1970s LA, on the hunt for a missing ex-girlfriend.  Noir? Neo Noir? Neon Noir?  Doom & gloom, that's all that's important.  Along the way he butts heads with Josh Brolin, Benecio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Martin Short, and Eric Roberts. Based on a pulpy Thomas Pynchon novel, and directed by the master of the modern epic melodrama, Paul Thomas Anderson.  That photo - it's enough to sell me a ticket.  And I've been waiting for Brolin to knock out another killer role, cuz 2014 has been just brutal on his credibility (Labor Day, Sin City 2).  The man's Thanos, start acting like it!

--Brad

Brad's Week in Dork! (11/24/13-11/30/13)

Thanksgiving and Black Friday got in the way of some serious movie watching this week.  Can't really complain about that though, can I?  Life is good.  Family is sweet.  And Business is a boomin'.  Started the week with Matt at The Angelika for Alexander Payne's Nebraska.  It's certainly not going to make my Top Ten List this year, but Bruce Dern is a serious contender for the Oscar race.  On Wednesday The Wife and I made it over to The Alamo for Hunger Games 2.  Better than the first film, but the best part about the night was still the Drafthouse pre-show.  SNL skit was actually pretty funny. And we came home from the movie craving real entertainment, so we had ourselves a double feature with the This Is The End & The Word's End blu rays.  Before my Black Friday got on the way, I caught both Philomena & Oldboy on the big screen while my Brother-In-Law tagged along for the adventure.  Probably couldn't pair two films as different as those.  However, the best film I watched this week was Plunder of the Sun.  Glenn Ford doing that mean bastard routine.  I love it.

While at work on Saturday, I got word that Paul Walker had died.  I'm happy to say that I have always been a Walker fan.  The man appeared in a lot of crappy cinema (the first two Fast & Furious flicks, Into The Blue, Bobby Z), but he's also rather amazing in Running Scared.  I've sung that films praises numerous times on this blog, and I'll take the opportunity again to send you running to your TV set.  It is simply an amazing bit of gonzo cinema.  A Grimm's Fairy Tale remake of Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog featuring possibly the greatest tribute to John Wayne this side of Garth Ennis's Preacher comic book series.  Not to mention those terrifying Nosferatu Pedophiles!!!!  If you haven't seen Running Scared than I demand you drop what you're doing right now and check it out.  If you're looking for other great Walker flicks to tribute and you've already exhausted Fast Five, then I also suggest Joy Ride (see below) and the more recent Pawn Shop Chronicles in which Walker plays a buggin' out meth head.  The man knew how to have fun on screen.  I'm gonna miss ya.

Nebraska:  I've been listening to a lot of conversation surrounding Alexander Payne's latest flick.  From one podcast to the next - Slashfilm, Operation Kino, Battleship Pretension - one critic blasts it as a mean-spirited mockery of the midwest, and another calls it a searing character study.  One thing is certain - Bruce Dern delivers a quiet, painful performance as the senile father determined to collect his million dollar sweepstakes.  And as a city slicker kid who occasionally spent his summers in Taylor, North Dakota population 148, I felt a lot of kinship for Will Forte's interloper.  Is it mockery?  At times.  Is that a bad thing?  I don't know.  I was always told by my teachers that it was cruel to laugh at others, and Nebraska certainly gains a lot of its comedy from pointing the finger.  So maybe I'm an asshole.  I enjoyed Nebraska.  Not the kind of film I'll watch over & over again, and I absolutely prefer Payne's The Descendants, Sideways, About Schmidt, & Election, but I'll root for Dern come Oscar time.

Plunder of the Sun:  "How hard can you beg?"  Now here is a beastly little diddy that does not get the praise it so rightfully deserves.  Glenn Ford, very much in the spirit of Gilda's Johnny Farrall, is an insurance investigator ensnared in an archeological heist when Patricia Medina bats her eyes across the barroom.  Ford is an amazing bastard in this movie, delightfully selfish, and cool as ice in the face of danger.  I absolutely love how no jackbooted thug can take this man down, and how heartlessly mean he can be to a beautiful woman when she attempts to play villain.  Imagine Indiana Jones mixed with In The Mouth of Madness's John Trent and a little of Prime Cut's Lee Marvin and you get Glenn Ford's beastly idol robber..  In 2013, having recently discovered or rediscovered flicks like The Big Heat, 310 To Yuma, Gilda, and Plunder of the Sun, Glenn Ford has climbed himself to the top of my favorite "classic" actors list.  He lives proudly next to Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, and Lee Marvin.  Now it's time to devour the rest of his back catalogue.

Medium Cool:  "I understand that you have some problems."  Robert Forester is a TV cameraman attempting to navigate the civil unrest of the late 1960s.  The story itself is pretty much what you expect, but Haskel Wexler's in-the-trenches documentary direction perfectly mirrors the era's primetime media assault.  Remember when journalism could make a difference?  Sigh.

Catching Fire:  I really just don't understand the appeal of these movies.  I've seen dozens of dystopian sci-fi hellholes.  Some I idolize - A Boy And His Dog, Logan's Run, Soylent Green, District 9.  Some I hate - No Escape, In Time, Johnny Mnemonic.  But The Hunger Games and this redo sequel are just soooooo booooooring.  Doesn't help that I'm not the biggest fan of Jennifer Lawrence's steely-eyed acting (minus Silver Linings Playbook, which is awesome, and her constant red carpet shit-talking).  Seriously, let's see some real deal emotion lady!  You just butchered a dome full of kids and all you can muster is some scream dreaming?  I dig the gender reversal of asskicker Katniss & Josh Hutcherson's damsel-in-distress, but why rehash the structure of the first film?  How 'bout doing something of note with these old ass tributes?  Geoffrey Wright is in your movie!  Use him!  Phillip Seymour Hoffman is in your movie!  Use him!  How can a film be nearly three hours long and have so little plot?  But since this flick just made a butt load of cash at the box office, I must be missing something.

This Is The End: "Call me your Prince of Persia..."  This is not sophisticated satire, it's a ferociously obscene assault on celebrity culture as seen from within.  I've always been a sucker for Seth Rogen's pothead comedy (Pineapple Express & Your Highness), but I don't think it's ever been funnier than it is in the moment when he & Jay Baruchel return from an L.A. Revelation to find all their Hollywood friends Left Behind at James Franco's house party.  One by one, they are either swallowed up by the Earth, impaled on sharp instruments, possessed by Satan, or welcomed into the Donner Party.  Their only option for salvation is to learn & live The Golden Rule.  It does not go well.

The World's End:  "Back to the dark ages."  Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg tackle the apocalypse from a much different, far classier, smarter, and typically British perspective.  I've watched the film three times now, and with each viewing I love it more and more.  I am very comfortable in calling The World's End one of the year's very best films, and even if I rank it at the bottom of the Cornetto Trilogy, it's still one of the finest emotionally wrenching comedies.  It also helps that it so easily Out-Star Trek's this year's abysmal Into Darkness atrocity with Simon Pegg expertly Kirking The Computer.  The World's End also offers the strongest performances yet from both Simon Pegg & Nick Frost.  Pegg's drunkard turned savior, Gary King never quite learns his lesson, but he comes close enough.  The apocalypse is not the awful part, it's how the apocalypse warrants his stagnancy.  The Loser Reigns!  Just what all isolated fanboys dream!  But my favorite delight is watching Frost's sober suit transform into the Pink Hulk of robotic destruction.  We've all seen the slobby brute, but I don't think we've ever been blessed with a prim & proper Frost.  Hard to take at first, but it's all worth it for when the shots hit the table.

The Killers:  Using Ernest Hemingway's short story for the opening scene, the rest of the film traces the actions of Burt Lancaster's punched-out boxer that lead to his inevitable assassination.  This is solid noir.  The flashback structure prevents it from fully capturing my passion, but it's also what gives the overall story its sense of dread.  There's no happy ending here.  Burt Lancaster dies in the first ten minutes and there's no resurrection.  The film has all the genre hallmarks, and Ava Gardner's Femme Fatale is exceptionally venomous with her dialogue.  "You touch me and you won't live till morning."  Don't mess with this lady folks.  She'll drive you to suicide.

Philomena:  Who doesn't love Judi Dench?  Who doesn't love Steve Coogan?  Only the soulless.  Dench plays a woman determined to find the son she was forced to abandon when she was barely a child herself.  Coogan is the failed journalist plunging the trenches of the human interest story to regain some hold on his career.  Philomena manages to be a searing look at the hypocrisy of religion while still managing to not make a mockery of faith.  Everybody wins.  It's the cliche "You'll laugh, you'll cry" kind of dramedy.  Well done, Mr Frears.

Oldboy:  A serviceable remake.  There are a few changes to the Korean original, but a lot of the horror of that film is surprisingly maintained in this Spike Lee joint.  Josh Brolin is pretty damn great as the American businessman kidnapped off the streets and mysteriously imprisoned for ten years.  Suddenly released, Brolin beats, bashes, and hammers his way through a variety of thugs until he finds the man responsible for his torture.  Along the way he meets Elisabeth Olsen's attractive social worker and does things he shouldn't.  Besides being totally unnecessary, I have a few other complaints in regards to Newboy - Sharlto Copley is far too James Bond Villainy as the billionaire beast, the film rushes too quickly towards its climax, and never properly establishes the "love" between Brolin & Olsen.  And could we please stop with the CG bloodwork!?!?  I hate it sooo much.  Still, it could have gone down a lot worse.

We Steal Secrets - The Story of Wikileaks:  "I like crushing bastards."  I'd love to tell you I was a socially conscious person.  But I'm a pop culture freak.  I can drone on and on about the merits of Roger Corman, but can barely string a sentence when it comes to the politics of the day.  I'm trying to be a better American.  I probably should venture out further into the real world than the handful of documentaries I watch a year.  I knew very little about Wikileaks before watching We Steal Secrets.  Similar to The Act of Killing, I found it to be a rather disturbing viewing experience.  What is the truth of the Red, White, & Blue?  What can we as Americans accept as collateral damage?  Wikileaks is incredible.  Too bad Julian Assange is such a hypocritical asshole himself.

Joyride:  I love Joy Ride.  Co-written by JJ Abrams and directed by John Dahl, the film is the closest this century has come to crafting the classic noir screenplay.  It's Detour populated with sexy young things.  While on a cross country roadtrip, two brothers punk a trucker using sex as temptation, and unleash a nightmarish Duel on the freeways.  Paul Walker & Steve Zahn are so much fun to hang out with that you forgive their idiotic prank and cheer them on to victory.  Too bad the film doesn't have the grit to adhere to its noir heart, and falters with a too-neat climax.  And Leelee Sobieski should totally Femme Fatale these bozos, but is simply relegated to the damsel-in-distress.

--Brad

A Fistful of Fall Anticipation 2013! (Brad's Picks)

Just four more months left to the year.  September, October, November, December.  Summer is behind us; it's time for Hollywood to unleash the Oscar Bait heavy hitters.  Don't know if you've picked up the mood around ITMOD lately, but Matt & I are desperate for some real-deal cinematic entertainment.  So far this year I've seen 54 films.  I've liked a bunch, but I've only LOVED two films (Only God Forgives & The World's End).  That's fairly depressing.  And going into this prestigious Fall Season, I don't see a lot of options to perk up my mood.  None of the films listed below are there due to their content.  The plots do not really interest me, but the filmmakers behind the camera certainly do.

Honorable Mention - Oldboy:  I am not anticipating Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, I'm dreading it.  Josh Brolin & Sharlto Copley are perfectly paired as the tortured & torturer, but I just cannot imagine this film sticking the original's epic revenge twist.  And judging by what little I've seen of the trailer, this Spike Lee Joint doesn't even seem bothered with pulling off the Korean climax.  So...good, right?  Be it's own thing.  Maybe focus more on the original comic?  Well, except the trailer seems to rob every other beat from Chan-wook Park's film.  Beards, umbrellas, hammers.  Color me cautiously curious.

5.  The Monuments Men:  I think George Clooney is one of the most fascinating, if not all-together successful, actor-turned-directors out there.  Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night and Good Luck, Leatherheads, Ides of March.  Each of his movies are wildly different from the next.  Not just in plot or tone, but in visual style.  Name me another actor/director that has as strong an eye as Clooney?  You can't.  Good Night and Good Luck is probably his strongest effort, but I've also really enjoyed the oddity of Confessions, and I think Leatherheads is ridiculously charming.  But Ides of March was just a basic political melodrama with strong performances, but a blah predictable screenplay.  I'm happy to see him tackling this oddball WWII art caper flick, but is this just a period piece Ocean's 11?  There could be worse things.

4.  The Wolf Of Wall Street:  Martin Scorsese makes a movie, I get excited.  And with its Kanye score and Matthew McConaughey chest thumping, I absolutely adored the first theatrical trailer.  My only concern is that this is just a Social Network wannabe.  Asshole Leo tossing midgets, lobsters, and orange juice and making boatloads of cash off all us American suckers.  We've had a lot of Rise & Fall stories throughout the years, and Scorsese himself delivered two of the greatest with Goodfellas & Casino.  Does he have a third one in him?  I sure hope so.

3.  Thor - The Dark World:  Pre-Avengers, Kenneth Branagh's Thor was my favorite of the Marvel Studios movies.  Chris Hemsworth is the single greatest spandex discovery since Christopher Reeve.  His smile owned that movie.  It was a romcom fish-outta-water adventure that didn't need to bother with brooding responsibility a la Iron Man or a dozen other super hero flicks.  All Thor cared about was having fun at the movies.  But now Branagh is out, Game of Thrones's Alan Taylor is in, and The Dark World promises to deliver the Empire Strikes Back.  Not sure if that's what I want from the mighty god of thunder, but Jason Aaron's comic has brought new levels of enthusiasm to the character, and I'm fascinated to see if Hemsworth's lackadaisical brute can handle the doom & gloom.

2.  The Counselor:  Frankly, given my absolute frustration surrounding Prometheus, I am simply stunned that Ridley Scott's latest has not only made my Top Five, but my Number 2 to boot.  Just goes to show you the power of Michael Fassbender.  Not too mention Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Penelope Cruz viciously chewing up a scenery supplied by Cormac McCarthy.  Guns, drugs, and jaguars - Oh My!  This project was born out of the director's inability to adapt McCarthy's hateful western, Blood Meridian, so cross your fingers that this flick brings the rage found within the printed page.  Although, I'll simply settle for some Black Rain blood squibs.

1.  Inside Llewyn Davis:  IMDB's short synopsis reads, "A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961."  That doesn't really get the heart pumping, does it?  Of course, that's the charm of the Coen Brothers.  They can seemingly take any subject and transform it into a comedy, a drama, a western, a noir, a whatever.  With the exception of Intolerable Cruelty, every single one of their movies has landed in my end of the year Top Ten.  I expect the same here.  You've got Coen stalwart John Goodman, but a lot of fresh faces as well.  The lead Oscar Isaac has been on the verge of a breakthrough for nearly the last ten years (Robin Hood, Sucker Punch, Drive), and given enough critical praise & audience acceptance Inside Llewyn Davis might be his ticket.  Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, F Murray Abraham, and Neelix round out the supporting cast.  I certainly like these faces.

--Brad

The Oldboy Trailer - Break Out The Parachute Pants Cuz It's Hammer Time!

Hmmmmmmm...this looks a lot like the original.  And already people are bitching and moaning that it looks too much like the original when just days ago (me included) they were bitching that there was no way Spike Lee's remake will be as hardcore as Chan-wook Park's feature.  The Red Brand trailer delivers blood, boobs, & hammers.  Josh Brolin & Sharlto Copley are inspired choices, and even though I'm not the biggest Spike Lee fan, I am pretty darn excited for this fall release.



--Brad

Spike Lee's Oldboy Gets A Poster!

This is certainly one of my most anticipated - or feared - films of the fall, but I gotta give props to this screengrab poster for Spike Lee's Oldboy remake.  I certainly don't believe that this redo will reach the levels of depravity of the original film (Elisabeth Olsen certainly won't be succumbing to one particular revenge), but I love the nemesis pairing of Josh Brolin & Sharlto Copley.  I could watch those guys all day long, and I know they can reach the levels of rage experienced in Chan-wook Park's neo classic.  The trailer will launch Wednesday, but those who haven't experienced the terror of the original should do so immediately.  I often cite it as my A No. 1 Revenge Film.

--Brad

New Release Tuesday!!! (4/23/13)

I'm still giddy over last week's Django Unchained release, and I'm not quite done with the multiple exclusives I ridiculously purchased.  And I haven't even cracked open my Criterion Repo Man!  So, it's just a-okay, that this week offers very little in the way of Must-Buys.  We can use a break until the Summer starts cranking out the essential purchases.  However, there are still a couple of gems to take a look at this week.  A look into the Black & White past is your best bet, the newer releases are just fine but not necessarily demanded by your DVD shelf.

BUY!

Champion:  I'm a sucker for a good boxing movie.  And I'm as equally a sucker for these Olive Film blu ray releases.  China Gate, Johnny Guitar, Ramrod.  Classics & not-so-classics have never looked better.  I cannot attest to the genius of this film but Kirk Douglas bashing it out with various dopes in the ring while fending off the whims of Marilyn Maxwell - sounds like a good enough time to me.  The problem will come in how does one consume this picture?  The On Demand options aren't there yet, nor the Netflix route.  If you wanna see it you might find it on some Internet backchannels, but since I don't do that kinda thing, looks like I'm stuck with the Buy route.  See my future Weeks in Dork for the inevitable opinion.

RENT!

Gangster Squad:  All the way up to its release I had high hopes for Gangster Squad.  I love the period.  I loved Josh Brolin, the law enforcer.  I loved Ryan Gosling's squeaky voice.  And I loved Sean Penn's big block Dick Tracy head.  But the film never gels.  It's....ok.  The film starts off as Sin City mean, but loses its way with Emma Stone's moll, and Josh Brolin is never as beastily as he should be.  Not to mention, the digital photography looks like genuine ass.  Sure, you could do worse (see The Black Dahlia), but you're better off with flicks like LA Confidential and even Mulholland Falls.

Jurassic Park 3D:  Just weeks after the theatrical release, Jurassic Park hits your 3D tvs and maybe you care and maybe you don't.  My television is of the lowly 2D variety, so there is no sense in me picking up this disc.  However, I really enjoyed seeing Steven Speilberg's dino romp on the big screen despite its awkward barrage of floating lens flares, and I can see the appeal of darting from T-Rex's on the couch.  One of these days I'll make the plunge and Jurassic Park 3D will probably be one of my first purchases.

The Impossible:  No film made me cry harder last year than The Impossible.  An absolutely punishing film that grabs at all the right heartstrings.  It's not the type of movie that you watch over and over again, so I see no point to adding it to the collection.  But if you haven't seen it and you're in the mood for a good, life-affirming cry than pop it on your queue.  Not to mention it contains some of the best gore makeup I've seen in recent years.  Lots of hanging flesh bits.  Sounds fun, right?

Richard III:  This is one of my favorite works of Shakespeare, but I have never seen the Laurence Olivier version.  Ian McKellen has always been my favorite psycho king.  Now we get a fancy new blu ray upgrade from Criterion and purply new cover.  No more excuses, gotta check it out.  However, I don't like the new purply cover.  I like the Kingdom for a Horse and the mustard yellow background of the original disc.

--Brad

First Look: A Dame To Kill For

Robert Rodriguez has tweeted out a couple of images from his upcoming Sin City sequel, A Dame To Kill For.  Josh Brolin was certainly made for this ultra noir universe, and I really loved how he chewed the scenery for Rodriguez's Planet Terror.  Still, I can't see how this Dwight transforms into the Clive Owen version of the first film, but if Richard Stark's pen can make Parker the Man With The Getaway Face than why can't Rodriguez's camera?

--Brad

Trailer & Poster: Gangster Squad

We've got a new poster and trailer for Gangster Squad which is hitting the big screen early next year.  Still bummed that this got pushed to 2013.  Love the idea of Ryan Gosling & Josh Brolin bashing their way through the underworld of 1940s LA.



--Brad

Brad's Week in Dork! (8/19/12-8/25/12)

This was a damn fun Week in Dork.  Well...besides coming down with a nasty case of the retail plague.  But the plague allowed for some serious downtime in the apartment where I consumed a crap ton of movies, TV, and comics.  Win!  I finally jumped into the reverse Coen Brothers marathon I'd been planning for the last couple of months and I'm having a blast going back in time with these twisted siblings.  And if push came to shove, I would have to go with the Coens as my favorite directors on the planet, and so far I can only think of one film of theirs that I really just have no time for...scroll down to find out which one.

Doing the marathon in reverse order has been a blast too.  After The Man Who Wasn't There in 2001 there was this period in time where people thought (me included) that The Coens were winding down.  Then 2007 brought No Country For Old Men, their most unique film to date, and a new era in Coen cinema was born.  Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit.  I love every damn one of these movies; each one has made my Top Ten lists for their prospective years.  I managed to pack in the last 12 years this week, and I'm racing to get to Blood Simple.

And thanks to Matt and cineAWESOME! (their Jesse Stone eps, actually), I'm a full blown Magnum PI addict.  I whipped through the first season in record time and I'm stunned that The Wife & I still managed to conclude the second season of Deep Space Nine as well.  People ask me how I consume all this dorkery and sometimes I'm flabbergasted by my ability to do so as well.  Seriously, what the hell?  Did I create more hours in the day this week.  Certainly appears so.

TV OF THE WEEK!

Magnum PI - Season One:  I grew up with this show.  Magnum PI, The A Team, Knight Rider, and Simon & Simon.  You want to understand the 1980s than you watch these shows.  Tom Selleck is so damn charismatic as the Vietnam Vet turned Hawaiian Private Dick Playboy.  Five minutes into this show and I was mancrushing all over the place.  I'm not afraid to admit it.  Men want to be Tom Magnum and women want to be with Tom Magnum.  He's the king of mustache cool.  Sure, there's not much to the show.  Magnum gets a case.  There's a guest star (Ian McShane!  Ted Danson!).  He solves the case.  But it's soooooooooo much goofy fun.  We're having a Halloween party this year and I definitely have my costume already picked out...just need to find a Detroit Tigers ballcap.

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine Season Two:  The show is still finding its ground in the second season, but the Cardassian/Bajor relations get more interesting thanks to Andy Robinson's devious Garak and Nurse Ratchet's heinous Vedak vile.  The series also gets a couple of highlights thanks to an Odo flashback, Bernie Casey's Marquis baddie, and the re-introduction of the Mirror, Mirror universe.  And season 2 climaxes with the introduction of the Dominion foot soldiers, The Jem'Hadar and the promise of greater future conflicts.  Season 3 is where the show really finds its legs and I cannot wait for Sisko to loose his hair.

MOVIES OF THE WEEK!

Red:  Had to follow up last week's Expendables birthday bash with more nostalgic gunplay.  Red is a joyous PG-13 Audience Approved Action picture with the added bonus cast of adorable Grumpy Old Men. Seriously, I just wanted to snatch up John Malkovich's LSD burn-out machine gun enthusiast like a weepy eyed puppy and squeeze him to death! "Poop On That!" indeed. But besides big boys like Malkovich, Willis, Freeman, and Miran you've got great little turns from classics like Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dryfuss, Brian Cox, and even James Remar (for about 3 seconds). And yes, the sanitized not-R violence was handled well providing a surprisingly intense MTV-cutty roustabout between Willis and Karl Urban. So, if you can handle the cuteness and the silly than you will have plenty of fun with Red.  I'm ready for the sequel.

The Sitter:  "Make Love To The Night!" Damn. I laughed too much at this raunchy Adventures in Babysitting remake. Jonah Hill is left in charge of three psychotic pre teens who do their darndest to prevent the oversexed loser from scoring coke from Sam Rockwell's muscle enthusiast and bagging skanky Ari Graynor. The Sitter is probably primed to leave my mind thirty seconds after writing this paragraph but it produced several good bellylaughs during its hour and twenty minutes of time killer.

True Grit:  Forget the original, the Coen Brothers have delivered an instant Western classic in their adaptation of the Charlie Portis novel. Jeff Bridges is a nasty, disgusting beast of a marshal and if his lack of sobriety gives young, vengeful Mattie Ross any pause, his wicked trigger finger sates her bloodlust. Matt Damon is the real surprise as cock-of-the-walk Texas Ranger LaBoeuf and his teethy bickerings with Bridges' Rooster Cogburn provide many of the films quotable guffaws. Rounding out the cast are a plethora of ugly brutes, most notably troglodyte Josh Brolin and the spitty Barry Pepper. But let's not forget the gorgeous cinematography from Roger Deakins or the mythic score from Carter Burwell.  True Grit belongs right to the top of the Coen's masterful CV.

A Serious Man:  "This Man Bothering You?" A brutally hilarious modernization of the destruction of Job, Michael Stuhlbarg delivers one of the great modern performances as the doomed physics professor suffering life's hateful treasures. Few films have had me aching with laughter like A Serious Man and I don't know if I should feel ashamed or commended for being in on The Coen Brothers' beautiful joke. Strangely (or maybe not), I think this would make a perfect companion film to The Big Lebowski--that other visual feast detailing a Dante-esque decent into the hell of stupidity and frustration.

Burn After Reading:  "I thought you might be worried about the security of your shit." This is kinda the demented cousin to Ocean's 11. Just like A Serious Man, Burn After Reading chronicles the horrors of humanity but with a more vulgar Marx Brothers kind of lunacy. Frances McDormand's plastic surgery obsessed hardbody gets in way over her head after she discovers the unpublished memoirs of John Malkovich's blathering memoir. She and the ipod jacked Brad Pitt might see money to be made, but there's nothing to be found in this scheme but eye popping dildos and axe chopped foreheads. Burn After Reading seemed to be quickly forgotten but if yer as twisted as I am than you might discover the most quotable film in The Coen Brothers cannon.  "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE FUCKER!"

No Country For Old Men:  A deeply dark and depressing Western Noir that brilliantly and frustratingly thumbs it's nose at the conventions of both genres; No Country For Old Men only gets better with multiple viewings. A chase picture that sees Javier Bardem's demonic hitman tracking Josh Brolin's happenstance cowboy with an exhausted Tommy Lee Jones trailing behind their bloody wake--it's not gonna end well. No Country is both like and unlike any other Coen Brothers flick. It has the darkness of Miller's Crossing and Fargo, but lacks their wink. Whatever the case, great cinema.  Putting together the best films of the last ten years, No Country For Old Men falls near the top.

The Ladykillers:  "Gimme That Donut Money!" I'm a fan. So much so that I claim Tom Hanks' performance as the Foghorn Leghorn Professor Dorr to be his absolute best, and his snooty, vile criminal mastermind is one of the great screen villains. Yes, yes, yes--how dare I say anything good about a film that would dare remake the Alec Guinness classic but the way The Coens mix the presence of a vengeful God into the fray along with the ghost painting of Otho heightens this black comedy silly into magical mondo madness. And Irma P Hall is a force unto herself, the poor thieving saps never stood a chance against her righteousness. Even the normally abysmal Marlon Waynes is a treat with his profane proclamations and his hatred of Mountain Girl. So, hater, take that chip off your shoulder and try to appreciate the absurdity of one of cinema's best remakes. Otherwise, I'll sic The General on your nostrils.

Paranorman:  This stop-motion monster mash is gory gobs of kiddie fun that's very much in the same vein of 80s classics like The Monster Squad, Explorers, and The Goonies. A group of disparate misfits are forced together to battle a cluster of terrified zombies and one hateful witch. Paranorman is quick and clever, and quite the relief in the sea of modern happy-happy family friendly kid fare--this is the film for your outsider child, and they're all outsiders.

Intolerable Cruelty:  This is really the only Coen Brothers film that I find to be completely unappealing. Clooney is pretty much perfect as the teeth obsessed lawyer trapped inside this wannabe Tracy/Hepburn comedy, but the jokes feel incredibly staged and fall flat rather than achieving cleverness. There's a falsity to the film, and not in that charming Wes Anderson artificial beauty kinda way but just a runofthemill romcom situation. I did apprecieate the change of character for Billy Bob Thorton, this chitter chatter attacker following the slowmo thoughtful gazes of the far superior...

The Man Who Wasn't There:  "Me, I don't talk much. I just cut the hair." Billy Bob Thorton's Ed Crane is another classic Coen character. He barely says a word. He smokes like a chimney. He's a barber who wants to be a dry cleaner. And when that desire leads him to the film noir nightmare that is this film we are treated with the most amazing barrage of narration ever put to screen. I would put this right up there with Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski, and No Country For Old Men as the absolute peak of Coen artistry.  Flying Saucers and never ending hair...what's it all mean?  Not sure.  Just pay the lawyer and accept your fate.

COMICS OF THE WEEK!

Saga #6:  Yep, yep, yep. Definitely one of my favorite books on the stands right now. Marko & Family reach the Rocketship Forest and the universe of the book immediately expands. As does the Family itself. After the shocking final pages of last issue, it’s good to see this fresh book has plenty of surprises to drop on us. One helluva cliffhanger after another.  And yeah, The Will is gonna destroy Prince Robot.

Bloodshot #2:  Issue two does a better job of detailing the crazy that is Bloodshot’s brain and it goes a long way in increasing my interest in the title. Conspiracies within conspiracies wrapped in great gobs of soupy blood. And Bloodshot loves his steak. Gross.

Daredevil #17:  It seems like I can’t walk into a comic shop or listen to a podcast without being hassled by a dozen nerds telling me how genius Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil has been. So when I saw Madman artist Mike Allred pop on for a one shot, I decided to give the book a go. I don’t know if this is the revelation some people are claiming it to be, but Waid writes a fun Matt Murdock. Which is definiltey a change from the brooding tragic hero I’m used to…but I like my Daredevil tragic. And I guess it’s unfair to judge a book on one issue but I much much much prefer Bendis & Maleeve’s crime opera to this horse play. Still, Allred is soooooo much fun to read. And I’m really looking forward to his take on Matt Fraction’s FF.

The Victories #1:  Here’s another book people seem really excited about. The Next Watchmen! Uh…yeah, I don’t think so. Sure, it’s set in an “adult” comic book universe where super heroes and villains say "fuck" a lot and shit down the throats of district judges but Greatness that does not make. And I’ve enjoyed Michael Avon Oeming’s art better in a dozen other books. It’s fun, but I’ll just wait for trade if I bother picking it up at all.

Fatale #7:  Still my favorite book currently on the stands. Issue 6 read almost like a first issue, but #7 reveals how this Hollywood Cult plot will play into the overall horror of Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips’ epic. B Movie star (?) Miles is definitely much more of the sadsack than Nicholas Lash or his uncle, I can see this junkie reaching a horrible and probably gory end.  And the second I turned the last page I was aching for the next.

The Rocketeer - Cargo of Doom:  I love the movie. I really like Dave Stevens original batch of comics. And The Rocketeer deserves a place next to the other typical comic super heroes. Written by Daredevil’s Mark Waid, Cargo of Doom is another light, fun frolic through the pulps with a mysterious shipment of scaly creatures on their way to rassel with goodboy pilot Cliff Secord. But how will this affect his relationship with bombshell Betty? And who is that creeper lurking in the bushes? I’m hoping for Rondo Hatton.

Batman Incorporated #3:  Well, I had to wait an extra month but issue three was worth the wait. Easily my favorite of the New 52 relaunch books, Grant Morrison introduces Bruce Wayne’s gangster counterpart Matches Malone into the universe, and he is appropriately goofy cool. Wayne is obviously thrilled playing the mustached part with his Hollywood lingo and abrasive chauvinism.  Plus, BAT COW LIVES!!!!! Damn right.

Archer & Armstrong #1:  Unlike Bloodshot and X-O Manowar, I never read Archer & Armstrong during its initial run and I only have the tiniest of memories of its original plot.  The relaunch is pretty interesting.   Starts off in Ancient Mesopotamia with a sci-fi cataclysm and quickly jumps into present day with Creationland amusement parks and whackjob religious zealots.  Archer leaves the cult for New York City and the Beast of the Apocalypse or something, and Armstrong bounces his way into the action with his ancient knowledge.  Definitely curious to see where this book goes but I’m not aching for the next issue…but I guess that could be said for all the Valiant books.  They haven’t reached the status of Must Reads…yet.

Fatima - The Blood Spinners #3:  Just when I think this book can’t gross me out any further, I’m shocked into revulsion as a I watch a couple of Blood Spinner agents get impregnated by big black slimy maggots. Fatima can’t trust her friends after she jumps seven years into the future, but she doesn’t have time for doubt as she’s blasting junkies in the face and escaping the gullets of roving slug beasts. Just a fun, gross, and weird book.

Lobster Johnson - The Prayer of Neferu:  I really want to love these Lobster Johnson books but they have yet to amaze me in the same fashion as Hellboy or BPRD. That being said, this latest one shot is a fun pulp adventure with the Lobster’s claw brandishing justice on a bunch of Mummy worshipers. Artist Wilfredo Torres should definitely stick around the Mignolaverse—his cartoony style is reminiscent of Jonathan Case’s crisp heroic characters and with Dave Stewarts colors Lobster Johnson seems to pop off the page.  Disposable, but good.

American Barbarian:  Tom Scioli channels the architecture of Jack Kirby's New Gods for this riotous homage to the sci-fi action of yesteryear.  But this is not just drab imitation, Scioli drenches American Barbarian with uproarious vulgarity that ignites plenty of chuckles as you watch the youngest son of Yoosaman slash & bash the armies of the Two-Tank Omen.  Imagine the post apocalypse of Mad Max populated with the goofy grandeur of the Silver Age and you'll get some idea for this colorful book.  It's not quite the genius of Scioli's Godland, but there's plenty of crazy to enjoy.

THE ULTIMATE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY BOOK CLUB!

Habibi by Craig Thompson:  Our first two meetings were centered on a couple of very Super Heroy comic books (Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and Batman - The Long Halloween).  For our next effort, the group wanted to tackle something a bit more "serious."  Sigh, yes, yes, I treat X-Men & Batman very seriously but it was time to expand the minds of the group-show folks that this medium is not just for capes & cowls.  But maybe Habibi was too far into the deep end of the pool, and they might not have been properly prepared for the horrors that the book puts its main characters through.

The story of a nine year old girl sold into marriage; she must navigate a life of slavery as a revered member of the Sultan's harem...well, that's where the sexual horror comes into play and Craig Thompson does not shy from revealing the torture of these characters.  But Habibi is also the story of two damaged children surviving their lives using the stories of the Bible, the Torah, and the Qu'arn.  And somewhere in all this horror they find each other, loose each other, and find each other again.  SPOILERS.....some in the Book Club were dreading a horrible end to this Epic, but I could see the light on the horizon.  Unlike most of the others, I read Habibi is two quick bursts over the course of 24 hours and as I blitzed through its pages I just knew this was a book of hope.  And I found myself uplifted by the endeavors of these lost kids.

I'm not sure if Habibi is the Best Graphic Novel of the last ten years, but it is a pretty damn fantastic book.  Turns out, it's not for everybody-no shock there-but if you can handle frank depictions of both sex and violence while being interconnected with stories of faith than you will find this tome to be quite rewarding.

And the art!!!  Yowza, Craig Thompson is a fine storyteller but his cartooning is some of the absolute best.  There are pages in this book that totally floored me.  The way he transforms arabic into not just the borders of the panels, but the rain, the rivers, the animals of Habibi--it's stunning.  You can tear out any page in this book and hang it right on your wall.  It's art.

--Brad