Comic Review: Battling Boy

    Paul Pope is one of those names in the comic field I’ve heard bandied about for many years, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything from him.  I saw Battling Boy go by once upon a time and purchased it with little reason. I finally picked it up this week and gave it a go.

    Playing with various comic tropes and variations on classic characters has become almost a subgenre in itself.  This one takes us to a world kinda like our own, but with a dieselpunk twist. A major metropolis (here called Arcopolis) is under siege by a chaotic wave of various monsters. It is protected by a Rocketeer-type hero, but things don’t go well. In the meantime, the son of a Thor-like god-hero is nearing his coming of age, and is sent down to this troubled world to become a man. Pretty simple, but it works. There are a lot of little nods to comic book traditions.

    The art is weird and a bit ugly, but in a charming way. And it’s colorful, with a peculiar color palette. It works fairly well for the story and setting, especially when it comes to the monsters. There is some clever work in the dialog and a pretty good story. If I can complain about anything, it’s that the book doesn’t feel complete. I don’t just mean that it’s open for continuation, but that it feels like it should have been half again as long, with a bit more of a conclusion.  Still, it’s good and worth a read.

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: The Chimera Brigade Book One

    Regular readers will know that I love the pulps, and a lot of pulp inspired stuff.  Movies like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Raiders of the Lost Ark; comics like The Rocketeer and Hellboy; and of course adaptations of the originals, like Doc Savage, The Shadow, and the like.  I also enjoy a good referential, alternate history story, like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  So, The Chimera Brigade is right up my alley.   Set in an alternate 1938, where Europe was profoundly changed by the arrival of what seem to be superheroes and villains after the Great War.  Across the Continent, forces are gathering, spies are spying, and trouble is brewing.

    Though the book in no way feels like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, that is the most obvious reference when comparing it to something else.  But instead of characters out of Victorian adventure novels, it features a different array of references (from Zamyatin’s We to Orwell’s Big Brother to Meyrink’s Golem), and a very different plot.  I like the setting a lot and am very curious where the plot is going to take the various characters that have been introduced.  The art isn’t amazing, but it’s not bad.  Though not as good, in my opinion, it often reminds me of Mignola’s work on Hellboy.

    Doing a quick bit of research, I found that this is the first of six volumes.  I’m glad that it’s a story that has been completed.  But not I’ve got to wait for it to get translated from the French and published Stateside, which sadly, might take a while.  Because it is only the first of six volumes, this serves primarily as an introduction to the world and to the players, with only hints at the overall story.  It has my attention; hopefully it can hold on to it for however long it takes to get the whole thing out.

The Chimera Brigade: Book One
Authors: Serge Lehman & Fabrice Colin
Artist: Gess
Publisher: Titan Comics
ISBN: 978-1-782-76099-3

-Matthew J. Constantine

Cap Jumps Into Battle!

We've got two days till the Teaser Trailer hits the web, but I'm already jazzed thanks to this killer comic book poster.  Sure, it should be illustration, but that's a bitch-rant I'm tired of spewing.  I just love the image of Cap preparing to jump into battle in our Nation's Capital.  Anthony Russo & Joe Russo are still questionable commodities, but I loved what little I saw at this year's Comic Con.  Hopefully the teaser footage will feature the Elevator brawl we got to see there - Chris Evans kicking Frank Grillo's ass.  I like the first film quite a bit despite it's rushjob climax, but hopefully we can get some satisfying World War II closure in the sequel.

--Brad

A Fistful of Double Features! (Matt’s Picks)

    Brad and I have been talking a lot lately about our favorite films, classics, and various elements of the movies and why we love them.  This may be in part because of the lackluster year 2013 has been, I’m not sure.  Not that it takes much to make us talk about this subject, anyway.  So, after expanding our favorite films list last week, this week we’re looking at movie pairings; movies that are especially good to watch together.  Not just sequels, like Crank & Crank 2 or Alien & Aliens.  But films that go together like peanut butter & chocolate, cheese & crackers, or Kool & the Gang.

5.  An American Werewolf in London & Cat People:  Two movies about doomed love and the beast within.  In both films, an innocent is cursed with an inner monster that must come out.  Both are about love & sex, and romance against the odds.  Both are interesting in their use eroticism; An American Werewolf is playful and cute, while Cat People is deeply intense and kinky.

4.  Apocalypto & The Fountain:  Both films are about going the extra mile for love, about risking everything to save that special someone.  And both feature Mayans as a central element, not a common thing in film.  When I watched Apocalypto with a friend a few years back, part way through the movie, I realized we had to follow it up with The Fountain, and they worked very well as a pair.

3.  The Omega Man & Soylent Green:  Two profoundly 70s Charlton Heston visions of unpleasant futures, these two movies have been linked in my mind for a long time.  I guess part of it is that I’ve frequently shown them together at HestFest celebrations.  Yet, each movie has its own strengths, and somehow they work well as a pair; one about a world where everyone is gone, and the other a world where there are too many people.

2.  Double Indemnity & Lost Highway:  Double Indemnity is one of the nastiest, ugliest movies lumped into the Film Noir genre, with two extremely unlikable characters doing some awful villainy.  And it’s obvious that David Lynch’s work has always been steeped in the Noir aesthetic, but nowhere is it more obvious than in Lost Highway.  Even the whole look of Renee/Alice harkens back to Barbara Stanwyck, a woman too fake to be attractive, but somehow sexually galvanizing, able to lure a sucker into the most vile of evils.

1.  The Rocketeer & Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow:  Two extremely fun homage films deeply rooted in the classic era of movie serials and early comic books.  Neither of the films can be watched while harboring an ounce of cynicism.  From battles atop zeppelins to mad science, these two movies cover a lot of pulp bases.  The Rocketeer might also be paired with The Shadow (1994), The Phantom (1996), or Dick Tracy (1990).  And Sky Captain would work well with Lost Horizon (1937) or King Kong (1933).

-Matt

Oh, the Internet.

Comic Review: The Rocketeer Cargo of Doom

    It will come as no surprise to readers that I am a huge fan of the pulps, of movie serials, and classic adventure stories.  I think old timey stuff is the bee’s knees, the berries, swell even.  So when I saw The Rocketeer many years ago, I thought it was the business.  And when I found out it was based on a comic, which was itself inspired by all those old serials and pulps I loved, I knew I had to read it.  Sadly, it was out of print and next to danged impossible to find.  Eventually seeing a reprint, I was able to enjoy Dave Stevens’ kick-butt original stories for the first time only a few years ago.  I was in hog heaven.  But that was it.  He wrote only enough to be collected in one standard sized hardcover graphic novel.  And he died.  That was it.  But then a bunch of comic people who loved it too came together and made some more stories, The Rocketeer Adventures, which were nice brief reads.  And I guess it was popular enough that Cargo of Doom came about; a four issue story that has enough time to feel like it’s got more meat.

    Mark Waid is a comic mainstay, and his name isn’t always attached to impressive projects.  But he was one of the early guys I read when I was getting into comics with the Crossgen lines.  And I have to give him credit for capturing the right tone for this book.  It’s got enough ‘aw gee, shucks’ innocence and dashing adventure, and lacks cynicism that might make it descend into parody.  It’s pretty pitch perfect in its continuation of Stevens’ work, drawing on the things he clearly loved.  This story is rooted in one of my favorites, too.  Yes, there’s a ship heading to L.A. recently out of a certain mystery shrouded South Pacific island.  It’s not the first ship from that island to bring dangerous cargo Stateside, and the last time things didn’t go too well, either.  The art also manages to strike a balance of quality, retro, fun, and exciting.  Chris Samnee uses more traditional panel design to good effect.  Something about the look of the whole reminded me of Tin-Tin comics.

    Mark Waid sets up some larger story threads here that I hope mean more tales are on the way.  Who is the mysterious puppet-master behind the importation of dangerous beasts?  Will Cliff start to notice Sally as she becomes a woman?  How will Betty deal with potential competition; will she realize that bitchy jealousy isn’t the answer?  And where will conflicted loyalties eventually lead people?  Here’s hoping we find out.  In fact, just a week before sitting down to this collected volume, I heard tell that Waid is slated to do another Rocketeer story.  Time will tell.

The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom
Author: Mark Waid
Artist: Chris Samnee
Publisher: IDW
ISBN: 978-1613775653

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (4/14/13-4/20/13)

    Sunday morning, Paul, Ben, Brad, and myself went out to see Trance, and more importantly, to eat at Denny’s Baconalia.  Oh, man.  Bacon, maple syrup, and ice cream.  Great combination.  I think it has become a new tradition.  If they do it every year, and I’m not dead, I think we’ll be back.  Otherwise, it was a kind of normal week.  Not much new or different.

    The comic reading spree that started Saturday kept going on Sunday with issue 8 of X-O Manowar.  That’s a thing.  The primary reason I was interested in this series was Cary Nord’s art, and he left the line after like three issues.  The introduction of the character Ninjak pretty much killed it.  Too 90s.

    I don’t fully understand how the Dark Horse Star Wars comics are done.  So when I picked up issue 1 of the five part Fire Carrier miniseries, I didn’t realize it was issue 23 of the Dark Times series.  So there was a bunch of stuff that happened before I didn’t know about, or that it mentions in passing.  Still, the first two issues of this mini are pretty good.  The stuff with young Vader is kind of blah, but I guess they have to bounce back to him occasionally to keep the overall thread of the series.  The stuff with the young Jedi kids and their master at a sinister refugee camp is good though.  Timely.  It has a touch of Nazi Germany, but also of the refugee camps in various warzones of today.

    Having The Avengers come out last year was a trip.  Look, I’m not much of a Marvel fan.  I don’t think very highly of The Avengers.  The few comics I’ve read about them have been ultra-lame.  Still, it was an amazing thing to have such an extremely geeky property get a major, big budget release that didn’t substantially dilute the comic-crazy, and draw tons of box office bank.  As crazy as that was, it absolutely did not prepare me for the announcement that one of the next big Marvel movies was going to be…Guardians of the Galaxy.  What?  That’s crazy.  First, they’re fairly obscure.  Second, they’re the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Rocket Raccoon, man.  Rocket Raccoon.  Anyway, they’ve re-launched a comic and I figured I might as well give it a go.  Issue 0.1 (what is it with comics and their cute numbering systems?) and issue 1.  It’s nothing special so far, but it doesn’t suck.  I prefer my comics cosmic, so I’m more inclined to go for something like this than say X-Men.  I don’t get why Tony Stark is in it.  I haven’t been reading Iron Man (‘cause it sucks), so I don’t know what’s going on there that would make him want to go into space.  Seems odd.  But I’ll keep reading if it doesn’t turn to crap.  Of course, the fact that the last page of issue 1 has them heading back to Earth doesn’t fill me with confidence.  The last place I want cosmic characters (Green Lantern Corps, Silver Surfer, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.) is on Earth.  That’s sort of like a ninja drinking coffee or a dog trainer watching bowling; odd for a moment, but not something to build a comic series on.

Trance:  “Strawberries.”  I can’t say I really liked this movie, but I was mostly entertained by it.  The last ten minutes or so, I checked out.  I look at it as too many ‘shocking’ reveals, but those I saw it with think it’s one long reveal.  Either way, once it started unraveling, I tuned out.  At least it wasn’t a) all a dream or b) that the two male leads were the same person.  Had it been either of those, I think I’d have screamed.  I like the cast, and it was sooooo nice to see Rosario Dawson in something that didn’t totally suck.  It’s been far, far too long.  She’s an actress I want to like, but she keeps doing the worst films (now, if only Olivia Wilde would make some good choices…).  In a week, I’ll probably only remember how cute (and naked) Dawson was, the film itself being of little consequence.  In fact, only hours later, most of my memories of the film are of her, not the plot or the action.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:  “Buried aliiiiiiiiive!” Like The Motion Picture, there really isn’t much in the way of story here.  They find Khan, he’s angry, they fight, the end.  What elevates it is the design, the performances, and the music.  If you took out any one of those elements, the film would likely have failed.  There are some problems, especially in the light of continuity.  Why are all Khan’s people blonde now?  Why do Khan and Chekov know each other?  Why does nobody think about the whole Ceti Alpha 5 thing before they land?  Still, it’s a fun, action packed film with some great visual elements.  Unfortunately, it’s more action heavy focus would become basis for most subsequent Trek movies, with exploration and problem solving taking a distant back seat.  As it is kind of a re-start, it is also the first in a continuous story that creates a trilogy within the series.

Fraggle Rock Season 2:  “Come on everybody.  Let’s push this greased up monster outta here.”  The stories continue to be just as good through the second season.  This is some of the best youth-aimed entertainment I’ve seen, managing to be profoundly thoughtful and moral, without being preachy or condescending.  If I were ever to have kids, and could let them watch only one show, this would be it.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock:  “He’s fruity as a nutcake.”  Like The Motion Picture, Star Trek III gets a lot of guff.  The second film in the trilogy within the series, this is about both loss and rebirth.  One could argue that though enraged, Kirk doesn’t get nearly as upset about the loss he suffers in this film as he did with Spock.  But then, how much of a connection did he really have with the person who dies?  And part of me wishes they’d waited, either until the very end of this film, or the next film, to actually find Spock.  There’s really not much of a ‘search’ for him.  It’s more like the opening credits end and ‘oh, hey, there’s Spock.’  I guess ‘Star Trek III: The Stumbling Upon of Spock’ isn’t as catchy a title.  But the movie has a bunch of good character moments, and the emotions in the post climax feel genuine.  The Christopher Lloyd Klingon story is the weakest element of the film, and I think distracts.  They could have had the whole tale be nothing but the investigation into the problems on the Genesis Planet, what was  going on with hyper-aging Spock, and what David had to do with it.  I think the Klingons are a distraction, and sadly kind of cement the Kirk VS. X thing that, with the exception of IV becomes the formula for the rest of the films (replace Kirk with Picard for the Next Gen movies).

Kiss Them for Me:  “I sleep in the raw.”  I love Cary Grant, and this is a funny movie.  But Jayne Mansfield is dreadful.  Grant’s reactions to her…uh, wit(?)…hysterical.  The movie itself is pretty good, it’s tone light, yet dropping in some serious business along the way.  Three buddies (and another kinda friend) go to San Francisco for a four day leave.  Each man has something on his mind.  One is cracking up a bit, one has his sights on political position back home in New England, and one is bitter about it all.  They find romance and fun, drinking and drinking and drinking their way through night and day.  There is a lot of awkward dialog looping, especially from the women which occasionally becomes distracting.  But all in all, it’s a genuinely interesting look back at life near the end of the War (from a decade later), with bits about women workers, injured (physically and psychologically) soldiers, and the like.  You can learn a lot about a time from its entertainment.  Oh, sure, it may not be 100% accurate, but you get a taste of cultural shifts, concerns, attitudes, etc.

Star Wars:  The Clone Wars Season 4:  “I’m not much of a talker.”  The fourth season is not as impressive as the first two, but it’s still got several good episodes.  Again, the show’s major failings are all related the movies, and trying to maintain connections to them.  The lamest characters, the dumbest storylines, the inevitability of stupid plot twists that viewers of Revenge of the Sith already know will largely void various aspects of the series.  The last several episodes of the season do reach some of the highs of the first couple, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the reintroduction of a character that should never, ever have come back.  They also did a lot to make the bald villainous chick into a much more interesting character than when she was originally around, working for the Separatists.  Several of the final episodes of the season follow villains about their business, which becomes far more interesting than watching Skywalker be a snotty jackass.

Solaris:  “She’s a bit tricky, but I guess she’s worth while.” This movie takes a lot of flack, because it’s too slow for many viewers and not slow enough for fans of the original Russian version (nor does it feature enough excruciatingly slow zooms into a guy’s ear).  But I really like this meditation on loss, the hunger for connection, and the hope for second chances.  This is Quiet Clooney, so there’s a lot of him sitting, walking, and looking, and not a lot of him talking (see also: The American).  When he is called to a research outpost floating above the planet Solaris, he finds a lot of questions, not many answers, and way, way more than he went there to find.  And then his wife shows up…his dead wife.  Well, that ain’t right.  The film is beautiful, the music hypnotic, and the story thoughtful.  The unfolding of these fractured people’s past is painful, but relatable.  Clooney plays a guy haunted by his past.  Natascha McElhone is that past, a mysterious and challenging woman with a darkness and sadness that consumes.  Don’t go in looking for an action movie.  But if you like drama or quiet science fiction, this is worth checking out.  And no mater what the Criterion cultists say, I still like it better than the Russian version.

Yeelen:  Years ago, I went on something of a quest to find African fantasy films or books (not going into the story behind that right now).  I found little to nothing, and certainly nothing to match what I was looking for.  Well I finally have.  It is an odd tale about a young man on the run from his evil father.  Both are wizards of a sort and do some crazy magic.  The young man has several adventures where his magic helps him win the day.  I know, straight up, that there were large sections of the movie I didn’t get.  But, this is an interesting experience.  And it is a fantasy film based on African magic, which can’t be a common thing.  Did I like it?  It was OK.

    Friday night was the latest graphic novel club meeting hosted by Lisa and Brad.  We had a somewhat spirited discussion of Hawkeye’s first volume.  I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t all fired up about it.  But opinions varied, from those who really enjoyed it to those who hated it.  I’m on the slightly likeier side of middling.  It’s better than a lot of the Marvel stuff on the newsstands right now, but it wouldn’t even be on my radar if not for Brad’s constant evangelism.

Gappa:  “Stupid bird-lizard!”  An expedition to the South Pacific takes a band of scientists to a volcanic island that appears to be the remnant of an ancient civilization.  Yeah, the same one Easter Island was a part of…when all the islands in the Pacific were one…millions of years ago.  You know.  Science.  Those darned primitive descendants of old civilizations sure do love to dance, play drums, and worship volcanoes.  It seems to have been all the rage on lost islands.  There’s not much new here, and it’s obviously not on a technical par with Toho.  The models are kind of cheap and the action clunky.  Still, it’s a perfectly watchable bit of Kaiju fun with plenty of great bad dubbing.  Why do these giant monsters always get along with kids?  I guess kids were the primary target audience, but still.  It’s weird.  I guess this was supposed to spoof the genre, but a spoof of a genera that is already super weird is difficult to pull off.  Maybe I’d get the spoofiness more if I understood the language.

Marquis de Sade’s Justine:  “I spend my days painting.”  My fascination with trash cinema and the enjoyment I’ve recently had of the madman Klaus Kinsky, plus the film’s early production date, prompted me to ignore my Jess Franco Alarm and rent this anyway.  Franco’s early work still has a freshness and enough production value to make watchable, if not good.  And this does appear to have been shot on quality film by a cinematographer who understood how to work the machine (not always true of the director’s work).  It’s not awful.  Frankly, it’s pretty tame considering the topic.  The thing that makes it almost worth the effort of seeking out is Jack Palance.  He’s treating the scenery like a pack of Hubba-Bubba.  It’s kind of amazing, even for Palance.

    On Saturday morning, I finished up Book Four of Saga of the Swamp Thing.  Alan Moore’s run is uneven, but this volume was really good.  It’s a character I think could hold a lot for this reader, if handled by the right writer.  Moore certainly fits the bill, taking the old green monster into some interesting places.

    “Now imagine them with rockets.”  I also read The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom, which was all kinds of fun.  I love the Rocketeer, and was always bummed Dave Stevens hadn’t done more with the character.  I’m glad to see that people are paying his memory proper respect with a great adventure tale like this one.

    I got a chance to hear the new How to Destroy Angels album this week.  It’s pretty good.  Just on first listen, I like two or three songs right away.  And I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like.  Give me some time with it and we’ll see.  I’ll be curious to see how long this project/band goes on.

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (4/7/13-4/13/13)

    I figured before Brad went into fits, I’d best start up Deadwood again.  I’d started watching it a couple years back, during an awesome Western month, but things happened and I didn’t continue.  After cranking through Rome while I was on vacation last week…well, I wanted more Rome truth be told.  But instead I decided to pop this back in the old DVD player.  They sure do talk pretty in Deadwood.  C&%$suckers, @$$f*&%ers, $#!tkickers, c#!%s, and lots of other words I typically use old-style comicbook style profanity for.  There’s enough swearing in this show to make salty sailors blush.

The Seventh Seal:  “My flesh is afraid, but I am not.”  Young Max Von Sydow is bloody terrifying, with his blond hair and his chiseled face.  He has a very sinister way about him.  This meditation on death and the fear of death is set against plague ravaged medieval Europe.  Von Sydow and his worldly squire have just returned from the Crusades, tired, bitter, and nearing death.  When the Grim Reaper arrives, they begin a chess game to decide fates.  As the story progresses, we meet a traveling circus with a goofy clown, and his comely wife, and their young boy.  Each step along the way, we meet various people trying to come to terms with life and its meaning.  There are some great discussions both funny and touching about love and living.  And some dark delvings into fear and horror.  It’s bawdy and thoughtful, and rather strange.  Even Death himself is rather funny, and sinister.  Interesting combinations in the movie.

Excalibur:  “Rest in the arms of the Dragon.”  Oh, John Boorman, you mad bastard.  Stylized and surreal, Excalibur is anything but naturalistic or realistic.  It is operatic fantasy, an epic poem on film.  He even opens it with my favorite piece of Wagner, Siegfried’s Funeral March.  Everyone is Shakespeare acting, bellowing dialog at the top of their lungs like devotees of the great god Brian Blessed.  You can imagine that John Q. Public circa 1350 might have imagined the story playing out much like this.  No connection to reality or history, but dwelling in the deepest and strangest of mythology.  What always kills me about this story is how kind of awful the ‘heroes’ are.  It takes all of two seconds for Lancelot to betray his ‘best friend.’  Of course, it took all of two seconds for them to become best friends in the first place, and just as little time for Arthur and Guinevere fall in love.  It’s not that I want the film to be longer, but it feels like it is supposed to be.  It feels like large chunks are missing.

L’Incoronazione di Poppea:  “Your breast deserves a sweeter name.”  Rome still on my mind, I lucked into having this one come in.  I didn’t actually know it was about Nero and his devil-wife Poppea.  It’s well produced.  I was surprised to see that it was from 1984; it felt more recent.  I’ll admit that I’m not more than a rank amateur at this whole opera thing, but I’m pretty sure I don’t care much for Italian opera.  So far, I’ve typically preferred the German stuff.  But again, I’m kind of new to it all, and still testing the waters.  Part of it is the music itself.  I want something a bit more epic and sweeping, where the Italian stuff I’ve heard so far sounds like little more than a harpsichord and a few violins (even when there’s a whole orchestra).  If you silence the singers and listen to Wagner, it’s still compelling music.  If you silenced the singers in this opera, I’d be wondering what I should order from the wine list, and hoping the cream sauce isn’t too rich.  Now, I realize what follows is an awfully shallow observation, but I’m an awfully shallow guy.  The lead actress Maria Ewing seems built for the stage.  From a distance, like from where you would see her if you were in the audience, she appears beautiful.  But up close, she looks kind of like a Muppet.  It’s distracting.  I don’t know if it’s bad plastic surgery, weird make-up, or she’s just an odd looking woman.  But it kept weirding me out whenever the camera would zoom in.  I wonder if she’s from a coastal town, ‘cause she has a touch of the Innsmouth Look about her.  But then, the guy playing Nero looks kind of like the Fat Kid from every 80s teen comedy, so what do I know?

Prehistoric Women:  “Strangely enough, the swan dive was invented before the swan.”  You know what I like in a narrator?  I like a narrator to explain in detail exactly what’s happening on the screen.  That’s great.  It reminds me of the masterworks of Stan “The Man” Lee.  Due to a brief domestic dispute, a woman leads a bunch of her tribe away from the men (like five guys), to create a tribe of ladies who know how to do stuff (like fish unsuccessfully and get caught by giants).  Years later the children of this splinter faction return to get them some lovin’ from Not Russ Tamblyn and his buddy Not Sal Mineo.  The battle between the ladies and the men would later be echoed by the epic opening of Saving Private Ryan.  Truly harrowing.  I believe this is based on the same Shakespeare play that inspired Captain Caveman.  Certainly, the totally authentic prehistoric language, consisting of as many as 5 words, seem to encompass the range of human communication eloquently.  The film adheres to the great Raymond Chandler’s advice, “when in doubt, have two women wearing animal skins wrestle for a few minutes.”  As the narrator says, “it seems that women were women in those days, too.”  Boy, I’ll say.  I bet if you checked, you’d find that their legs went all the way up.  The erotic mating dance is pure interpretive genius.  The pteroducktyl may be the most terrifying use of stock footage of a waterfowl ever captured in cinema.  I hope the AFI will finally relent and name this one of the greatest films of all time.  It deserves the credit after all these years.  The discovery of tools, fire, misogyny, cooked meat, and how to drive off ducks all in one generation.  Amazing.  And the use of the grunting, hairy giant as a metaphor for our loss of humanity in an ever increasingly mechanistic society was thought provoking to say the least.

Spies-A-Go-Go:  “Ve noticed the sign und ve are rocking und rolling enthusiasts und ve are here for the dance.”  Everything is better when it’s A-Go-Go.  In case, like me, you find the comedy stylings of Benny Hill a bit too cerebral, there are options, like this fantastic spy adventure comedy staring Arch Hall Jr. and his amazing Giant Face.  See, you know it’s funny, because there’s zany music and ethnic stereotypes.  And of course, the funniest thing ever to happen in the history of funny things, a dwarf trying to rope a cow.  Pure.  Comic.  Gold.  Cowboy Jaws knows it.  Creepy, giant faced Arian monster Elvis, Arch Hall Jr. makes for a heck of a singing secret agent.  Forget Val Kilmer in Top Secret, it’s all about having a huge face and knowing how to mug the camera…mug for the camera.  Always remember to watch out for snakes.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture:  There’s not really much plot here.  It’s kind of a summation of all the various ‘find a supercomputer’ stories from the old show.  But it also lays the foundation for Trek to come, and ideas from this film echo on.  Ilia and Decker become Troi and Riker.  V’ger becomes the alien probe from The Voyage Home, and I think partially inspired the Borg, too.  The music is good.  The effects are nice.  And I like a lot of what makes it to the screen.  But there are some unnecessary scenes, and though I like a lot of the sequences of flying through space and around objects, there as room for trimming for sure.  But I don’t think this movie deserves the derision it typically receives.  I respect them for trying to keep Trek its own thing and not just follow Star Wars’ lead by making it action heavy, as they would do in Wrath of Khan.

The Vanguard:  This low budget sci-fi horror film has a deep running, very bent sense of humor.  There are hints of Evil Dead, Mad Max, Dog Soldiers and some other lower budget, fringe films.  It’s sort of what I was expecting from Bellflower (not the hipster snooze-fest I got).  Don’t get me wrong.  It has some serious narrative flaws, giving some character backgrounds that don’t exactly add up to motivation, losing the thread a few times, and it features a let-down ending.  Still, it has enough going for it that fans of low budget stuff should find something to enjoy.  The final blood explosion really doesn’t work, though, and it’s kind of a bad way to finish up, with a memorably ineffective special effects shot.  I did like the lead actor’s weird deadpan beard acting, though.

Beyond the Valley of the Doll:  “This is my happening and it freaks me out!”  Heavy weight philosophy, the dope, rock n’ role, an aggressive ambisexual, and more boobs than a Congressional subcommittee.  The wild world of Russ Meyer, the greatest dirty old man to ever point a movie camera at some bimbos in bellbottoms.  While it is obviously a ‘bad’ movie, it’s kind of great like only bad movies can be.  It’s so danged surreal, with scenes that don’t seem to have anything to do with the plot, characters acting in ways that don’t make any sense, and a tone that would be hard pressed to be less even.  Joke joke joke --Beheading!!!  Sing sing sing -- Attempted suicide!!!  Yet, for some reason (other than the enormous boobs), I was very entertained.

Lost, Lonely, and Vicious:  “Yes, I know how it feels to be lonely…Wanna Coke?”  They may not be rebels, but they’re sure without causes…and clues.  Johnny Dennis and his vacuous jerk buddies don’t know what they want but they’re willing to sit around in a café and bitch to get it.  A young James Dean type guy is about to screw up his whole life because it’s going too well.  The glitz and glamour ain’t all it’s cracked up to be…I guess.  One day I do want a cute young lady to hold my bongos.  If it’s at a lake, all the better.  This is a heartfelt movie, if not a very good one.  It feels like the MST3K boys should take a go at it, but at the same time, it really does have a lot of heart.  The ending feels false, though.

    I watched a few old shorts on Friday night.  Crisis in Morality was a delightfully stupid Christian fluff piece about how everything fun or worth doing is evil.  Hell is a Place Called Hollywood is a nice sleazy short about the dangers of going to Hollywood, which almost certainly is the product of exactly what it’s about.  It features a bunch of cheeky nudity in the name of education.  We need to see the young starlet take her clothes off in the story of a young starlet who is exploited and made to take her clothes off.  It reminded me of that awesome Social Disease short from Amazon Women on the Moon.  Those pesky reform school girls are the subject of the third short, Little Miss Delinquent.  The lead girl in that one is surprisingly good.  I wonder if she went on to anything, or if her weird side-bite kept her from success.  And it’s Canadian, which makes it extra special.

Jacktown:  “All of a sudden you’re like…Gettin’ headaches.”  Whenever I review a uh…movie, I think I’m gonna dramatically uh…pause.  This is how you know I’m very uh…serious.  The two dimwit punks we meet seem to have a uh…inability to talk about what they’re talking about.  It’s like those villain conversations where the bad guy talks about ‘taking care of’ someone, or somebody ‘having an accident,’ but never actually says what he means outright.  When Blondie McDouche gives an underage waitress the business in his sweet convertible, he goes to the slammer for the statutory rape.  What follows is a kind of After School Special type prison experience, as the emotionless surfer-dude goes through the prison paces.  Then, through the ultra-kindly platitudes of the warden and the ministering of his bobbysoxer daughter, he gets the Jesus in him and becomes a good boy.

Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks:  The beginning of the final stretch for classic Who, this is the episode I always think of when I remember Sylvester McCoy’s run.  The Doctor and Ace head back to 1963 and uncover some funny doings.  A annoyingly typical military dullard is in control of a unit of soldiers investigating, at odds of course, with the scientists who are trying to figure out weird energy sources.  Ace is especially cute in this one, letting her hair down a bit, and getting a chance to drop the hammer on some baddies.  She’s probably the closest companion the Doctor ever had to the great Leela.  The storyline makes interesting connections to William Hartnell, implying that he had some specific reasons for being on Earth at the beginning of An Unearthly Child that he was unable to accomplish.  I like when they build on the Doctor and his past, dealing with things he did even so far back as the first stories.  This is a pretty good Dalek story, and certainly feels more like traditional, pre-Trial of a Time Lord stuff.  One complaint I have is the voice of the Daleks; there’s something off about them here.  But I like their look, one group in white and gold, another in black or grey.  And the ‘special weapons’ Dalek is fab.

Monsters:  “The vibe just changed.”  Scoot McNairy does something I’ve rarely seen in film here.  At the beginning of the movie he makes you hate him so much; not because he’s bad, but because he’s just such a sniveling turd.  But as the movie goes on, he wins me over, growing as a character and maybe becoming more of a man.  And he does one of the only really effective drunk performances I’ve ever seen.  Beyond that, this low budget science fiction/horror film is surprisingly effective.  A photographer is tasked with getting his bosses daughter back home to the United States from Central America.  The problem is, most of Mexico is covered in what is known as the ‘infected zone,’ a region covered in invasive alien life.  I suppose there’s an element of social commentary, looking at how giant disasters effect those without the financial means to escape and the extreme methods people use to get to America (not to mention the advantage taken of those who try).  But overall, it’s a road trip adventure movie mixed with elements of classic Kaiju.

    I finished Scatter Adapt and Remember, a pretty darned good book about how we might survive an oncoming mass extinction.

    “The greatest Bruce in rock is Bruce Kulick, guitar player for Kiss 1984-1996, from Brooklyn.  Case closed.”  I read issues 7, 8, and 9 of Hawkeye.  It’s a fine comic, but I still don’t get what the big deal is; why people are going so apenuts for it.  There are some funny bits, and I like that they’re keeping a lot of the more outlandish superheroes and villains out of it.  But I still hate the art, and I still don’t see what makes people so gushy about it.  I guess it’s like E.R., or Seinfeld and Friends, or Richard Geer.  I know they’re popular, so they must have something that makes people watch.  But whatever it is is totally lost on me.

    “Gods are such beautiful creatures, I’ve never been more sure of that.  Because I’ve seen what they look like on the inside.”  I then read issues 2, 3, and 4 of Thor: God of Thunder.  Only one more issue to go in the God Butcher story arc.  The first issue was great, with a lot of ‘holy cats!’ kind of potential.  Once the story really gets going, though, it’s only pretty good.  I don’t know if maybe, like Godzilla The Half Century War, it should have been a bit longer, like say 10 issues, or if the idea wasn’t quite as good as it seemed like it might be.  I’ll have to read the final chapter in the story to find out for sure.  Still, I love the art and there are a lot of intriguing ideas.  I want more of Thor doing intergalactic P.I. work.  Even the appearance of Iron Man, which initially bothered me (the first panel, with the two of them flying together, gave me that heart sinking feeling when you’re hoping for a new pony but get a pair of socks), is handled pretty well.

    “Get the boys to load her into the car--Then you can dump her like a gentleman.”  On a roll, I figured I’d read the first two issues of the new Rocketeer miniseries, Hollywood Horror.  Now, I love the Rocketeer and I love Lovecraftian horror.  And I even see ways they might work together.  This ain’t it.  I dislike the narrator intensely and I absolutely hate the art.  It’s like a super-crappy kids comic, the sort of thing only kids would be so lacking in sophistication as to accept as passable.  It looks like the worst stuff Cartoon Network dishes out.  Anyway, in spite of my Rocketeer love and immense gladness that the property is being developed, I can only hope that this isn’t a sign of things to come, simply a speed-bump along the way.

    “I really hope that brown river has something to do with chocolate…”  Yeah, they’re not that great, but Futurama comics give me a nice bite sized chuckle.  The writing is about on par with later seasons of the show, not the classic amazingness of the first few.  The art is fine.  It’s not something anyone needs to rush right out and buy, but if you’re looking for something quick that gives you a laugh, it’s a pretty good choice.

    And to round out my comic reading for the week, I ended up finally sitting down to the two Morbus Gravis trades I picked up years ago.  Man, I like the art.  I don’t think much of the content, though.

-Matt