Comic Review: The Long Halloween

    I’m now up to three Batman graphic novels, and now the good outweighs the bad.  The Long Halloween plays like a hardboiled detective story, with a touch of the Godfather and a dash or two of Val Lewton.  Tim Sale’s art, from the angles to the use of shadows is straight out of the school of Film Noir.  It’s not always pretty, but it’s frequently striking.  And the story’s grim nature never really lets up.

    After the stage is set, the action starts with a Halloween murder in black and white, and red.  The mystery builds as the holidays come and go, leaving bodies in their wake.  A serial killer who strikes only on holidays?  Who could it be?  The list of suspects is a who’s who of Gotham City.  From the usual suspects all the way to the Dark Knight himself.

    Unlike my first experience with Batman comics, The Dark Knight Returns, the appearance of various characters and villains feels natural, not like they were plugged in as an excuse to put them on issue covers.  Catwoman and Harvey Dent are integral to the story, but when The Joker, The Riddler, and Poison Ivy show up, it’s not awkward or clunky.  And the use of The Calendar Man (seriously) as an almost Hannibal Lector character, creepily sitting like a spider in a web, deep inside Arkham Asylum is odd genius.

    Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies are deeply rooted in this story.  Characters, themes, even whole scenes.  I just wish Harvey Dent had made it to the screen more intact.  He’s one of the more compelling characters in this volume and in the film, The Dark Knight, but it always feels like he takes a back seat to more flashy characters like The Joker.  Batman really does have some of the coolest villains and supporting characters, though I think too many are too often over shadowed by a couple of the bigger ones (Joker, Penguin, and Riddler…but mostly Joker).  I think Catwoman could be especially interesting, as she fits in like the classic Femme Fatale, straddling the line between hero and villain, always tempting, always dangerous.  Yet her story in this volume frustratingly lacks pay-off.  It feels like something was building over the course of the story, yet ultimately goes nowhere.

    It deserves its place as a classic graphic novel, and folks interested in Batman should give it a read.  I think it’s a heck of a lot better than The Dark Knight Returns for sure.  Definitely worth checking out.

Batman: The Long Halloween
Author: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Tim Sale
Publisher: DC Comics
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3259-7

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (4/15/12-4/21/12)

    Wow, this week went out with a bang.  As usual, I was all over the place. 


The 7th Victim:  Oh, those darned devil worshipers.  A young woman gets mixed up with some bad goings-on after her sister goes missing.  Who knows where she is?  Is she dead or in hiding?  What was she into before her disappearance?  A sinister cadre of mysterious folk seem to be trying to cover their tracks, but why?  Honestly, this isn’t one of the better Val Lewton produced horror films, but it’s still dripping with mood, gorgeously lit and shot, and has a few really good moments.  The story also has some unusual implications that I’m a little surprised got past the sensors.

Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy:  Lots of good interviews and an impressive collection of photos, along with the narration by James Cromwell help drive this informative documentary about the great 40s horror movie producer.  It’s fascinating to see how this guy got saddled with these crappy titles and told to make some B pictures, but turned things around and made these really fascinating psychological pictures.  Along the way, he fostered some talents who went on to be much more successful later.

Equilibrium:  Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 seen through the lens of The Matrix, this Christian Bale action vehicle came and went in theaters with little notice, but became quite the cult classic on DVD.  While not amazing and not really anything new, it’s solid distopian fun.  There are some pretty cool fights and gun battles, and the oppressive cement city makes a nice depressing stage.  Good cast, too.

Cabin in the Woods:  I’ll admit, I wasn’t very excited about this movie.  Frankly, the trailer made it look like a pretty typical horror movie, with usual stupid characters doing usual stupid things, with a dash of Cube thrown in for a ‘twist.’  However, it actually had a lot more Halloween III: Season of the Witch than I was expecting.  And yes, that’s a good thing, as Halloween III is the only one of that franchise I enjoy (Throw your tomatoes.  I can take it.).  The cast is good.  The script is clever.  And the end was more ‘climactic’ than I was expecting.

The Darkest Hour:  Another one of those movies that isn’t great, but is a heck of a lot better than it looked and than I had any expectation of.  There aren’t really a lot of new ideas, stunts, or gags in it, but they’re still mostly well done and the Moscow setting gives it a different feel than you’d usually get in L.A. or New York.  It even managed to surprise me once or twice, killing off people in a somewhat unexpected order.  The music is a little too emo, but I guess that goes with the age and the cast.  I think I’m simply not in touch with those young people, man.

Emanuelle, Queen of the Desert:  Laura Gemser was a really, really gorgeous woman, and she seemed to have no issues whatsoever disrobing.  Unfortunately, she was in mostly drab Euro-crap.  This movie looks like it was shot on video.  The DVD was surely copied from video, as it looks like a low greade VHS.  The dubbing is somewhat entertaining in its crappiness.  The music is awful.  The plot, if you can call it that, revolves around a bunch of stupid guys who can’t keep it in their pants, wandering around the countryside familiar to spaghetti western fans.  It felt like there was little thought or preparation for this film.  More like, “we’ve got a camera, a few dudes, and Gemser’s willing to take it all off…Let’s make a movie.”

Casino Royale:  Like the best of Bond, and often the best of film, this has a timelessness that transcends.  I’ve raved about it before, how it’s the best Bond since From Russia With Love, how Craig is the first to play Bond as the beast he should be since Connery’s first couple go-arounds, how it’s the first to capture that 60s wonder of exotic locations in a long time.  It’s just a darned fine film.

Or, as I call it, a Saturday.

    All right, so on Saturday I attended Avengers Fest 2012, hosted by my friend Darren.  It seems Darren was inspired by Brad’s ShatAttack, which was in turn inspired by my HestFest, to do his own.  And it was flippin’ EPIC.  Sadly, I’m an old man, and have a very difficult time staying awake after 10PM, so I missed the end of it (see Brad’s Week in Dork!).  But, up to that point, it was awesome.  We went in expecting to see the movies that lead up to The Avengers.  But we ended up with a few surprises along the way.

Iron Man:  On what I believe is my third viewing of this movie, I’ve gotten past my initial disappointment.  When I first saw the film, I was annoyed at how ‘by the book’ the story was.  Well, it still is, covering all the typical superhero plot points in all the typical ways.  However, I’ve come to enjoy the film much more, focusing more on the performances and dialog.  The effects are pretty good and lots of stuff blows up, but it’s Robert Downey Jr. playing the foppish Tony Stark that carries the film.

Iron Man 2:  The follow-up to the smash hit breaks away from its origin story mold to build on what was started in the first film.  Downey Jr. is still doing his thing, hamming up Stark’s larger than life personality, and the rest of the cast follows along nicely.  Sam Rockwell slips into his dorky coward character with ease, and is good for plenty of laughs.  And man, Don Cheadle is such a HUGE step up from Terrance Howard.  I don’t generally like when they switch actors, but it’s well worth it here.

Surprise number one:

Nick Fury-Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.:  “From one of the writers of Batman Begins.”  Oh, yeah.  This movie, coming before X-Men helped reshape people’s idea of what comicbook movies could be (read: well done and successful), is total, made for TV garbage.  Entertaining?  Heck yeah.  Good?  No way.  Bad effects, awful dialog, worse acting.  The Hoff is so terrible, you have to wonder how he ever got work.  I’m fairly certain he’s drunk in most of this, too.

The Incredible Hulk:  So, I’m on that very, very short list of people who not only liked Ang Lee’s Hulk, I actually loved it.  One of the things I liked about it was that they took a character I was never overly fond of, and turned him into someone I cared about.  So, when I saw the first trailer for The Incredible Hulk, which made it look like all the stupid Ang Lee had left out, I was less than excited.  To my surprise, when I did finally see it, I ended up really enjoying the film.  Norton is pretty good, the story is solid, and the action exciting.  It’s not the high drama of Hulk, but it’s still a good movie.

Surprise number two:

The Incredible Hulk Returns:  Dr. Banner has settled down, kept calm, and slowly worked out a way to get rid of his greed side.  But, when a dorky ex-student shows up with a bag full of hammer, there’s trouble to be had.  The Thor business in this film is really weird.  But, kind of awesome.  Thor is just a dude who wants to have a good time, and he wants the little nerdy dude to man up.  It’s so wacky, and so 80s, I just couldn’t help but smile.

Thor:  They’re making a Thor movie?  Really?  A movie about one of Marvel Comics more ‘huh?’ characters?  OK.  I have to admit, I wasn’t especially interested in this movie.  And the interest I did have was almost all wrapped up in my liking of the director.  So, color me shocked when I ended up enjoying the heck out of it.  It’s funny at the right moments, dramatic when it needs to be, and surprisingly bold in its scope.  Where Green Lantern failed by spending too much time on Earth and not enough in space, this film succeeds by embracing Asgard and all that it implies.  I still can’t believe this film got made.  And I can’t believe I liked it so much.

    With good food, good folks, and good films, Avengers Fest 2012 was a great way to help kick off the summer season of blockbuster movies.  And the bag of goodies I came away with was awesome.  A new poster for framing, a sweet mug, and a bunch of cool Nick Fury swag.  Maybe next time I down a pot of coffee and make it for the whole thing.  And I really feel like I need to step up my game for HestFest this year.

    As far as stuff not Avengers Fest, I got some reading done, finally finishing the second Aliens VS Predator Omnibus (see my review here).  And I listened to Douglas Adams’ Salmon of Doubt (my review here).

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (2/26/12-3/3/13)

    I’ve been enjoying my weeks, lately.  Busy, but still full of my nerdy escapes.  And shocked though I was, I got a chance to see Coriolanus at the West End Cinema.  I like that little place.  I wish I was more into video games.  I’ve been looking at all kinds of Mass Effect images and thinking about how cool it seems.  But, knowing my game playing (not to mention current system limitations), it would not be worth my while to try getting into it.  Maybe I’ll read some of the novels. 


The Trans-Atlantic Mystery:  Creeper Donald Meek is back to investigate more nefarious deeds.  Jewel thieves, double crossers, and cold blooded murderers.  I don’t know what the weird doctor would do if there weren’t evil in the world.  He’d probably do some of his own.  What’s weird about this one is how long it takes for the doctor and his cop buddy to show up; more than half the runtime of this short.

Wild Boys of the Road:  The movie starts at a ‘Sophomore Frolic,’ which they did not have when I went to high school, let me tell you.  Our wild boys are with some pretty wild girls, and up to some pretty wild business.  But the Depression, man.  These boys have to face the grim reality of parents being out of work, and the world spitting in their eye.  Then they hop a train and head out into the wide world to find their fortune.  They find all kinds of crime and corruption, and then brutal violence and death.  Things get ugly on the road and on the tracks.  Another movie that shows the problems of today aren’t much different than the problems of yesterday.

Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick:  It feels like William Wellman is a lost great.  He was a driving force behind some really great movies.  At least as colorful as the characters he put on film, he was a crazy and brash worker.  This documentary has an amazing line-up of interview subjects and covers his life with a dramatic flare, helped by narrator Alec Baldwin.  These kind of larger than life folks are the stuff of legendary America.  Some kind of quintessential, mythological essence of life taken on with two fists.  Like a good documentary, it makes me want to know more.  And like a good one about film, it makes me really hungry to watch a bunch of movies.  I found the home movies of Wellman especially effecting.

The Men Who Made Movies: William Wellman:  This documentary goes over much of the same material as Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick, but from different angles.  One of the coolest things about it is the use of actual Wellman interview footage.  Obviously quite the character, hearing him tell his stories is extremely charming.

Isle of the Dead:  Another striking Val Lewton produced horror film.  This time we’re in Greece, and Boris Karloff is a cruel but somewhat tragic military man stuck on a plague infested island where his wife was buried.  Is it the plague?  Or is someone on the island an evil spirit?  An interesting study in paranoia, superstition, duty, and dignity.

Dark of the Sun:  Rod Taylor leads a band of mercenaries through hostile territory to rescue some people and reclaim some diamonds.  In the face of brutality and horror, Taylor and Jim Brown are stoic forces of order.  The plot travels in many strange directions, culminating in a crazy fight.  Broken and dangerous men in a broken and dangerous land.  The movie goes through some dark stuff.  Good though.

God’s Gun:  The great thing about Spagetti westerns is that even when everyone speaks English, they’re horribly dubbed.  Even when they have moderate actors, the acting sucks.  The music is terrible and everything looks crappy.  I’ve got NO idea what Jack Palance was going for.  Villain or no, his mannerisms seem more in keeping with an old time silent comedian.  Lee Van Cleef is double the awesome, though.

Vanilla Sky:  An interesting meditation on loss, love, and idealized youth seen through the eyes of a wealthy media scion.  Tom Cruise is good as the guy who has it all, then looses it to a jilted crazy woman.  The cast is solid (even the normally unbearable Cruz), the visuals interesting, and the music atmospheric.  Though I’ve heard many people complain that the movie was hard to understand, I think if you’ve got even the most rudimentary understanding of science fiction film, or have ever watched an episode of The Twilight Zone (or similar show), you shouldn’t have a hard time following along at home.  Granted, you also have to pay attention, so maybe that’s the issue.  It may not go on my list of best, but this is a worthy movie in the ‘what is reality?’ subgenre.

Smiley’s People:  I found this follow-up to Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy to be far more engaging.  Alec Guinness still plays it about as cool and detached as possible, but I think his more active involvement in the happenings helps.  Plus, the location shooting gives it far more credibility.  There’s something about continental Europe in the late 70s and early 80s, some depressing magic that takes me back with a twisted sort of nostalgia to the constant fear and paranoia of the Cold War.  What can I say, I grew up in the shadow of the Iron Curtain (psychologically) and so it reminds me of my youth.  Overall, I found this second series much more satisfying.  It’s too bad they were not able to make the second book in the semi-trilogy involving Smiley and his hunt for his elusive opposite on the other side.

Coriolanus:  The Beast Fiennes, covered in the gore and grime of fallen foes, spews hate at the mindless and easily swayed masses.  His disgust at the hoard mentality of the common man, fueled by fear and complacency is infectious.  The cast is awesome, and Fiennes loves to keep everyone in uncomfortable close-up.  He revels in everyone’s wrinkles, blemishes, and sweaty, hide-stretched bone structure.  Visceral in the extreme, this is Shakespeare’s Modern Combat.  And another reminder that when you have an ultra-loyal, ultra-competent killer devoted to you, don’t betray him.  It’s just asking for trouble.

Hannie Caulder:  Yikes.  Three degenerates (Strother Martin, Ernest Borgnine, and professional creep Jack Elam) plunder, murder, and rape their way through the wild west.  But they make a big mistake when they leave one victim (Raquel Welch) alive.  Then, in walks Robert Culp and his beard, who introduces her to Christopher Lee and his beard.  Welch is a knockout in this movie, and it’s one of her better performances (not really saying much).  There is some pretty bloody violence, as well as an extremely disturbing (though thankfully not graphic) sexual assault.  The final credit music is shockingly bad, though.  Not sure what’s up with that.  A good western, revenge film.

Frankenstein Conquers the World:  A slow radiated kid turns into a giant (still slow) monster and wanders around doing stuff while scientists waffle about trying to figure out what to talk about maybe doing sometime.  Then a giant demon dog with a glowing horn shows up to eat chickens.  This is Japanese.

Tarzan and His Mate:  Oh, my.  Maureen O’Sullivan is really something in this one.  Sure, the nude swimming scene is a body double/stunt woman.  But even so, O’Sullivan’s Jane is a super-charged, uninhibited sexual creature.  Tarzan remains little more than a grunting animal; a sort of embodiment of nature Jane has not only embraced, but mastered.  When folks from civilization show up with some dresses and make-up, trying to lull her back, Jane will have none of it, having freed herself from the chains of polite society.  And her loincloth get-up is nothing short of genius.

Tarzan Finds a Son:  As the title says, Tarzan (and Jane) find an orphan boy and adopt him.  Growing up in the jungle is dangerous, but fun for the trouble seeking little kid.  When some more interfering white people show up and cause a rumble in the jungle, Tarzan is less than amused.  This movie uses elements of Tarzan’s background from the books and places them on the adopted Boy.  Jane’s costume is a heck of a lot more conservative by this film.  Too bad.  And if these movies have taught me anything, it’s that if you even look at water, crocks will dive in and start chasing you.  There’s also a scene with chimps riding elephants.  Bam.

Bedlam:  Boris Karloff stars in another interesting more psychological horror from producer Val Lewton.  This time, he plays a cruel and conniving doctor at the titular asylum.  When a young woman calls him and his wealthy cronies, on their casual villainy, the bad doctor works to commit her.  Karloff is like the foundation of a good film.  If you give him good material, you can build something great on his shoulders.

    I watched some Tomorrow People this week.  Man, that show is crazy.  70s England mixed with really weird science fiction.  Telepathic kids.  Shifting paintings of alien worlds.  Teleportation.  And a new Tomorrow Person joins the group.  This story arc is all about the blue and the green.

    And to cap off the week, I showed Ben a couple episodes of the original Star Trek, ‘The Cage’ and ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before.’  I’m figuring on giving him a crash course in the best or the original series.  I miss the mad bastardry of that era’s science fiction, rarely captured in this era.

    I got some reading done this past week, which was nice.  Started off with a surprisingly not terrible comic about Burroughs’ Mars, and then ended off the week with two books from my new favorite Norwegian (seriously, what’s up with Norway producing so much awesome lately?).  Check out the reviews here.

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (1/5/12-1/11/12)

    A good week.  With some solid nerd stuff, some recaptured youth, and a good dose of culture, it was one to beat.  My weeks keep getting bookended by black and white.


I Walked With a Zombie:  Extremely moody, this Voodoo movie is less sensationalistic and crass than your usual film of this type and era.  The soundstage work is top notch, creating that fascinating unreality that seems cheesy in the wrong hands, but oh, so cool in the right hands.  The characters are, as in other Val Lewton produced films, more complex and interesting than they appear and you might expect.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Body Snatcher:  The cast is in this is awesome, the dark Noir-type mood impressive.  Boris Karloff is an absolute monster, able to be grandfatherly and charming in one breath and devilishly evil in the next.  Really good stuff.

Red: Werewolf Hunter:  Felicia Day is cute as a button, but this movie is pooptastic.  All the usual cliché bits that feature in these sorts of movies are on parade.  And, as always, the CGI creatures don’t help.  They just look like crap.  Honestly, I’d MUCH rather see someone in hairy face make-up than some crappy CG cartoon.  The whole endeavor is hopelessly uninspired.  It almost made me long for the bird flipping werewolf in Cursed.  Almost.  Skip this turd, even if you’re a Felicia Day fan.  Maybe especially if you are.

Road House:  I’m sure that not having seen this when I was 13 makes a lot of difference, but I just don’t see what all the fuss is about.  Sam Elliot is clearly the best part of the movie, and he’s hardly in it.  There’s a lot of great 80s stupid, and plenty of dialog that must have taken some skill to say without laughing.  And boy, a lot of stuff blows up/burns down.  But, in spite of the amazing cast of ugly people, it’s just not quite silly enough to be as entertaining as I’d hoped.  I’m sure it’s a matter of too much hype for the film to live up to.  Alas.

Colombiana:  Holy nuts.  This movie is a giant steaming crap.  The script is more awkward than an 80s nerd at a hot chick convention (They have those…Shut up!).  The only thing less appealing than the acting is the actors, who all looks like rejects from a 90s fashion shoot (read: skinny, dirty, and ugly).  Zoe Saldana is a very striking woman, but seems to be in desperate need of a good meal (and a shower), and is surely in desperate need of an acting coach.  Boring.  Cliché.  Stupid.  The greatest sin is, of course, Boring.

There's a hole in this script.

Guns:  This fifth in the epic Andy Sidaris series gets off to a slow start, with nearly 20 minutes going by before the first nudity (?!).  It’s goofy as all get-out, with all the expected awful dialog and dreadful acting.  Several cast members are once again recycled.  I didn’t find this one as dubiously charming as previous entries in the series, but it still has its moments.  Running beach high five!

Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs:  OK, first off, yes.  The dinosaur effects in this story arc are awful.  Even for Doctor Who standards, they look bad.  They make Land of the Lost look like Jurassic Park.  And yes, like a lot of Pertwee era stories, this one is overlong by at least an episode.  All that aside, the story is very cool, with lots of interesting twists and ideas.  Betrayal by friends, utopian zealots, and plenty of action.  Even the debut of the Doctor’s weird sci-fi looking car.  I also loved a lot of the deserted London stuff.  Reminded me of Day of the Triffids and other similar films.  If you can get past the crappy looking dinosaurs, this is a very cool one and well worth checking out.

Wall Street:  Greed is good.  The mid 80s Wall Street madness is skewered in this indictment of rampant, unscrupulous capitalism.  Everyone is slick and confident, pushy and ultimately shallow.  I’ve always found the world of the stock market mysterious.  I don’t mean technically.  I actually know the math and practices for the most part.  But when it comes to the culture, the meaning, the taboos, I’m lost.  The whole time I was watching this, I was thinking about what Patrick Bateman might be doing at the time.  Now I feel like watching American Psycho again.

    I also started watching Breaking Bad, which is quite good so far.  I like that the names of the second and third episodes, “The Cat’s in the Bag” and “The Bag’s I the River” are references to the great Sweet Smell of Success.

    I also watched the first few episodes of season 4 or Primeval.  I like the show.  It’s got a lot of cool ideas and a lot of potential.  But somehow, it always feels a bit off.  I wish somehow it could be boiled down to its basics, and rebuilt from the ground up.  With a better handle and direction, I think the show could have really been something.  As it is, it’s fun, but not great.

    And last, but most assuredly not least, I made the greatest financial decision of my life when I paid $7.50 for the first season of the original Charlie’s Angels.  Holy smokes, I’ve enjoyed the heck out of that show.  It brings back memories.  And just in general captures that giddy, stupid fun of TV from the era.  Though a bit earlier, it reminds me of the fun I had recently watching some T.J. Hooker.

    On Friday night, co-Dork Brad, his folks and myself all headed up to Kensington Maryland to see Brad’s wife in a presentation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday In the Park with George.  It was my first time seeing the play, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  I liked the story, and the production was well done.  I found the second act less engaging.  But upon reflection, I like how it takes the theme of the first act, that of Surratt’s uncompromising devotion to his vision, and turns it on its head; with Surratt’s possible descendant being lost in everyone else’s expectations and desires.   Ryan Burke, with his theater beard, made for a great, driven artist.  And Farrell Parker had just the right amount of spunk, in addition to a perfect mix of innocence and worldliness to be an artist’s muse and lover.  Eric Jones as the Soldier made me laugh out loud more than once, his almost Adam West like goody-goody attitude and crackerjack comic timing was a riot.  And our seats were perfect for seeing Lisa, who had several of her best bits not five feet from us, including the unsavory appetites of a philandering old man.  If you’re anything close to local, get out on see the play while it lasts.  There’s something special about live performances.

-Matt