Snake Eyes (1998)

On the Nic Cage scale of craziness, Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes lands in a nice sweet spot. He’s playing an eccentric cop who’s trying to figure out who shot a government official while attending a boxing match in Atlantic City. He’s also trying to help his pal Gary Sinese and the bodacious looking Carla Gugino, but this is the type of movie where no one is what they seem and everyone has ulterior motives. The story itself is the kind of thing you wouldn’t be surprised to see as an episode of your favorite procedural show, but De Palma does some fun stuff, putting his own spin on it by playing with perspective, showing scenes from different angles and even doing some nice camera work like showing an entire scene from a boxer’s perspective and then moving out of it to reveal him in a mirror. Where’d the camera go?! Those tricks plus the performances make it worth a watch.

Return To Horror High (1987)

To be completely honest, I was doing some work while watching Return To Horror High, so I missed a lot of details. At first I thought it was a legit sequel to a movie called Horror High thanks to the title and the premise that posits a film crew is making a movie at the exact location that an actual slasher struck. But that’s all in the fiction of the movie. By the way, I thought of this while watching Scream 3, I’m actually surprised the Hollywood version of Hollywood is more callous than actual Hollywood when it comes to these kinds of things. I mean, it’s not like there’s been a fictional Columbine movie shot in the school. Anyway, the film is super confusing because it bounced between the movie we’re watching and the movie they’re making. And then there’s an ending that I missed the set up to but completely bewildered me. SPOILER Was the whole thing a setup? Why? You might have heard of this movie for being an early appearance of George Clooney who plays an actor wanting to go off and get super famous (but everyone laughs at him, which is funny) as well as an appearance by Maureen McCormick of Brady Bunch fame. She’s way over the top, but is still cute and adorable.

Janeane Garofalo: If You Will (2010)

Janeane Garofalo is one of those stand-ups that I feel like I’ve known about as long as I’ve known about stand-up comedy. She was very popular in the early days of Comedy Central and I’ve fallowed her career to some extent since then, though I wouldn’t say I’m a super fan because I don’t necessarily actively seek out her stuff. A week or two back I listened to an episode of WTF with her and then noticed that this stand-up special was on the NetBox (lots of good stand-up on Instant) and gave it a watch. I assumed it was going to be much more political than it actually was because of how passionate she was on certain issues when talking to Marc Maron. She definitely gets into some of that stuff, but she makes sure to keep it funny and joke based, which made this a really enjoyable hour of stand-up. Even if you don’t think you like her comedy, give this one a look.

Norm MacDonald: Me Doing Stand-Up (2011)

I loved Norm MacDonald on Saturday Night Live and that love easily transferred over to his movie Dirty Work, but not much past that. So, I was excited to watch this stand-up and it was another solid hour. It starts off pretty dark with his thoughts on death, but they’re both honest and funny, so you can’t go wrong there in book. Gets a little filthy (okay, a lot filthy) at the end, but it made for great background while I was working. This is a great way of listening to stand-up without having to buy records.

Skyline (2010)

I added Skyline to my NetBox queue when I first saw it on there, but I moved it to the top after listening to the How Did This Get Made? episode focusing on it. I actually expected it to be a lot worse than it turned out to be. Yeah, there are problems with the script and editing, but I didn’t find it nearly as ridiculous as those guys did, though maybe I was primed for a lot more than anything could have lived up to. I actually give the filmmakers a lot of credit for putting together such a good looking movie by basically shooting in one guy’s apartment and doing a few set pieces. All that being said, I don’t think it’s a great movie by any means. A good effort with great effects, but it certainly has its problems.

Downton Abbey Season One (2010)

There is no reason on paper that I should like Downton Abbey. It’s based in an era and place (1920s England) that I’m not super duper interested in. It’s based on a class structure that enrages the part of me still susceptible to rage. And, it’s packed with the kind of scheming you only usually find in soap operas (I assume). However, this show is so amazingly well written and the characters are so well put together that I can’t help but get absorbed. The key, I think, is that, the writers give almost every main character an interesting bit of business, but without shoehorning them in. Plus, how can you not love Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess? By the way, I still have no idea what it means to be a count or an earl and yet it has not impeded me whatsoever. All you need to know is that it’s very important to Robert Crawley who might be the best, most awesome dude in the history of television. How long until the second season hits NetBox?

Trespass (2011)

Trespass is not only another Nic Cage movie, but also one that I watched because it was going to be covered on How Did This Get Made? so it’s double related! This is the first HDTGM? movie that I actually watched in preparation for the podcast and it worked out a lot better than my experience with Skyline. It helped that the movie starts off as one thing and keeps changing with every lie and nearly everything that every character says is a lie. It’s ridiculous on so many levels that it’s almost hard to keep track. Cage looks bonkers with his hair and glasses, the pace keeps changing (first they have 20 minutes to get in and out then they spend hours there) and nearly all of the robbers are idiotic drug addicts or psychos making them one of the worst possible crews around to pull of a diamond heist. Even with how bad the movie is, I’m shocked it wasn’t in theaters. Between the big stars and director Joel Schumacher who must have some cred left, right? Maybe not. That’s a lot of supposed star power with very little faith from the studio. In fact, this movie holds the record for least amount of time between it’s opening release (on only 10 screens) and coming out on DVD. Also, it only made $16,816 in its short time in theaters. Wow.

I’ve also been super busy writing about comics over CBR including this great interview I did with Joe Keatinge. If you dig the logo of me and the chimp at the top of the page, check out my pal Rickey Purdin’s other sketches for possible logos over on Rowdy Schoolyard.

I do not care about the Watchmen prequels, but I dug my pal Brett White’s take on it for CBR.

Wish I had thought of doing this Godzilla misconceptions list for Topless Robot.

I am very excited to listen to Jack White’s very first solo album. It’s called Blunderbuss and drops in April. Something to look forward to! (via Rolling Stone)Scott C did an Over The Top Showdown! Awesome!

Alan Lomax was a dude who went around the country recording folk, blues and country artists to create an aural history of American music. According to Rolling Stone, his archives are being digitized and will be streaming and sold as CDs, this is very cool news.

Dave Grohl and Dana Gould are working on a rock star based sitcom for FX? Considering how solid all the FX comedies are and how much I like the Foo Fighters and Gould, this should be an excellent show. (via THR)

Finally, if you’re interested in this sort of thing, I’m selling a never opened Garindan Long-Snoot minibus from Gentle Giant over on eBay. Happy bidding.

Here’s the story. Goldie Hawn’s husband William Atherton is in a jail for people who are about to get out of jail. It’s a pretty relaxed looking favility, which is proven when Hawn breaks him out by giving him some clothes and sunglasses. See, their son got taken away from her and she wants to get him back. Atherton only has four months left before getting out, but apparently the kid is going to get moved before then. So, she needs him out now and he goes. They get a ride away from the jail thanks to a fellow inmate’s parents, but the old man drives so slowly that he winds up attracting the attention of a cop played by Michael Sacks. After a chase scene, the couple wind up kidnapping the officer which leads into a chase with the cops to try and get him back. But it’s not a very fast chase, even if it does seem to occupy every single cop in the south (cars literally wrap around bends at times in this film). The goal is to get the kid, but with the cops on their trails, it’s hard to assume they’ll succeed even if this is based on a true story.

I think watching this movie first would be a better choice for someone looking to explore Spielberg’s movies. It’s a lot more by the book than Duel. It also feel less tonally consistent with its elements ranging from child endangerment and snipers to ridiculously long car chases and incredibly stupid lead characters. Duel might have felt like it was inspired by Hitchcock, but Sugarland feels like Cool Hand Luke mixed with Blues Brothers two movies that are great on their own, but apparently don’t synthesize well.

There are a few other elements working against the movie for me as a viewer, some of which are my fault, some are reactions to choices by Spielberg and the writers. I’ll give up my own problems first. One, I do not like Goldie Hawn. The only thing I’ve ever seen her in that I liked was Death Becomes Her and I was a kid. There’s just something about her as a person that bothers me. Add to that the fact that her character, while having legitimate reasons for what she’s doing, is simply a dummy and you’ve got a recipe for me not caring. Even if you think the breakout makes sense (which I don’t) you then have to forgive her for ruining her own plan, freaking out, stealing a car and kidnapping a cop. That was all her. Had she just chilled out, it wouldn’t have been a problem. I know she sees a time table for getting her boy back and all that, but every decision she makes seems stupid and ill thought out. At times, watching her is like watching an episode of MTV’s Teen Mom. I also personally don’t know enough about the 70s era prison systems or police work, but the escape seemed way too easy and the chase ridiculous. If these were normal procedures, that’s on me, but if not?

Well, that gets us into my problems with the story. Like I said, the escape seemed ridiculous, though I guess I can buy it. Different time, less security. But, my real problem is how the police cavalcade is handled. It’s like a much more civilized  version of the end of Blues Brothers, but spread out over an entire movie. My biggest problem, though, is that I never once believe that these people can succeed in their mission. No logical person believes that these two idiots are going to have a happy ending. How could they? It’s impossible. They are going to get caught, so no matter how many deals are made or attempts on their life foiled, the end is always going to be the same. If this were a straight up comedy in tone, it would make sense, but the mix is just nuts. You’ll have a heartbreaking moment of a little boy crying for his mother followed by that ridiculous string of cars behind our supposed heroes. Those elements don’t quite fit together and thus put me off balance as a viewer.

There are good moments of course. Spielberg is the master of getting cool shots that you almost don’t even notice. One of my favorites was pretty simple, but towards the beginning when the cops are getting called to action, there’s a shot of two cars pulling away from a diner. The camera is situated between them and the both pull out right past the camera at the same time. I don’t know why, but that one struck me as cool. There’s also a pretty gnarly shoot out at a used car lot and a stunt where a van gets driven off the road where a guy looks like he actually flips into a pond and then the van lands on him! These scenes both looked great. And that end shot is beautiful.

I also have to say that, with a few changes in casting, editing and presentation of the story, this could have been a great movie. William Atherton is great, so is Sacks. The relationship between these three characters is pretty great, even with me not liking Hawn. Oh, and you can’t forget Ben Johnson as the captain. He has some great unspoken moments and almost seems like he’s in a different movie, a much more serious one. The ending feels like it’s from a different movie too because of how serious things get. In the parlance of today, shit gets real real fast. But, like a lot of other parts in the movie, the ending doesn’t match up with the other parts and the whole thing feels off balance and long.

I actually feel bad dumping on this movie as much as I am because of how much I liked Duel, but I think that’s why I was disappointed with this one. Duel is amazing, a great piece of filmmaking made all the more impressive considering the time constraints, that it was made for TV and Spielberg was so young and inexperienced when he made it. This one doesn’t feel nearly as impressive no matter how many smaller moments or shots appeal to me. Even the very end makes me feel bad about not liking this movie because the last scene is so perfectly shot.

Speaking of Duel and Spielberg’s other movies, I noticed a pair of interesting themes in these flicks that I’m sure are more coincidental than anything. First off, during a chase scene there’s a train that inhibits the forward motion of the hero. In Duel this scene is super suspenseful as the truck is trying to push the car into the moving train. This time, Goldie just has to swerve out of the way. Could this be a commentary on how transportation situated on tracks get in the way of our personal freedom and movement or just a thing that happens to people? There are also a pair of old people in both films who can’t be labeled as bad guys, but definitely aren’t as helpful or good as they could have been. In Duel it’s the old people who run afoul of the truck while Mann is asking them for help, in Express it’s a pair of old timers who do give our heroes a ride, but do it in such a manner that they wind up getting pulled over by the cops. This might be a commentary on the elderly’s inability to get out of the way of youth.

At the end of the day, I’m really not sure if I’m more disappointed by the film or unsatisfied with it. I think the two go hand in hand, but my expectations were raised so much by Duel and his next picture, Jaws, that I expected Sugarland Express to be up there with those. To be fair, it is a different kind of movie and I can appreciate a director trying to do new things, but the off kilter tone doesn’t do this film any favors.

I actually read these two volumes of Post-Blackest Night, Brightest Day Green Lantern Corps trades at the same time I read their Green Lantern and Emerald Warriors counterparts, but kind of ran out of steam writing about GL books again. Like those books, these have a somewhat new status quo with the Honor Guard’s ranks swelling to include Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Ganthet (now a Lantern), Stel, Soranik Natu, Boodikka and Hannu after they save the universe from Cyborg Superman…again. I really liked this trick the first time it was pulled back in one of Johns’ earliest arcs on Green Lantern and I get the recurring theme of Cyborg wanting to figure out a way to die and thus using various machines to help him get that (Manhunters earlier, the Alpha Lanterns and Stel’s robotic people here). That’s what the majority of this arc deals with, which I appreciate because it’s not like the other books and so obviously a set up for War of the Green Lanterns, but the more I think about it now, the more original I wish the story was. Bedard does a good job of working with these characters, their relationships and their quirks, but, like I said, I wish it was more on its own and blazing new trails. What I’m saying is, Cyborg Superman needs a long break (does he even exist in the New 52?).

Meanwhile, this collection also brings together the two issue arc by Sterling Gates that chronicled Boodikka, some of her past and her present as an Alpha Lantern. These aren’t the greatest stories to ever be told, but you guys know how much issues getting skipped over bothers me, so I’m glad they’re in here.

I know I sound pretty down on this book, but I like how Bedard handled the characters and Syaf’s art is growing on me. He does good, bold characters, has some solid faces but comes off a little muddy (that might be on the inker or colorist, though). I also dig this team. It might be further away from the previous GLC idea of “NYPD Blue in space,” but I have an affinity for these characters from the old days.

Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer (DC)
Written by Tony Bedard, drawn by Tyler Kirkham
Collects Green Lantern Corps #53-57

I enjoyed this second volume a lot more than the first. Not only is the team I enjoy already established, but it deals with evolving issues like Kyle’s relationship with Soranik and her father Sinestro as well as a new villain who has the power to wield an aspect of the White Lantern in The Weaponer. See, this guy actually created Sinestro’s first yellow ring on Qward by harnessing the power of their god the Anti-Monitor. Because he was successful, Sinestro returned and essentially enslaved his fellow Qwardians to make enough yellow rings for the burgeoning Sinestro Corps. This eventually made him an outcast to his people which made him go a bit mad. There’s some Brightest Day stuff in here that I don’t really know about (including the very clumsy inclusion of Firestorm for an issue or two) but the important thing is that the Weaponer figured out how to manipulate some of the white lantern energy into all kinds of weapons.

Since he understandably hates Sinestro, the Weaponer takes Soranik captive and tells Kyle that he’ll let her go if Kyle brings Sinestro to Qward. But, Sinestro refuses. Instead he sends his corpsmen into the fray and a war erupts. This is the kind of stuff I dig if you’re going to get away from the space cop idea. Space army works just as well in my book if it’s handled well. There’s an added element here that I also found interesting as the Sinestro Corps members wind up on opposite ends of a battle with some Green Lanterns because all the Corps have a cease fire on the heels of Blackest Night. How the various characters dealt with that bit of business was fun to watch. I also appreciated the ending which I won’t ruin, but showed exactly what kind of character we’re dealing with in the Weaponer.

I really dug Kirkham’s art on this book. I don’t know how many of his comics I’ve actually read, but he’s got a really nice dynamic style that works well with the mix of constructs, muscles and drama found in these pages. Flipping through the book again, I’m hard pressed to find a panel that doesn’t look kinetic and interesting.

KEEP OR DUMP? There’s no real question here, I’ll be keeping both of these books. I’m pretty proud of my Green Lantern trade collection (I’ve got everything post-Rebirth up to but not including War Of The Green Lanterns. I think it’s a solid series that I’ll keep getting the books for, though, as always, I’m curious to see how things transfer over into the New 52. That’s something I’m completely unfamiliar with at this point, but I hear things carry over pretty well. However, if it turns out I don’t like where things go, I’ll go back and evaluate where I want to cut off my involvement with the collections. Wow, I really made that sound a lot more in depth than it is.

Cut to the challenge which is called Hook Up. This one’s a bit difficult to explain, but I’ll try. There are several planks suspended in the air (over water of course). As a couple, you have to move from one plank to the next using a large stick with a hook on it. There are rings between the planks which are spaced further and further apart the further you go. The two teams that get the most planks in the shortest amount of time face off against each other to see who becomes the Power Couple while the team that gets the fewest planks in the shortest time loses and automatically gets sent in. 

Since Johnny and Camila are still the Power Couple, they get to choose the order. As you’d expect Wes and Mandi went first along with Dustin and Heather and got one and two planks respectively. Tyrie and Jasmine go at the same time as Naomi and Leroy with both getting one. Sarah and Vinny get three, while Ty and Emily fall after two. CT and Diem run into some communication problems up there, he yells at her and she won’t move. Meanwhile, they only get two while Abe and Cara Maria walk away with the same number. Mark and Robin fall after the first with Robin smacking her face into the padded platform (she’s okay it seems) while Camila and Johnny make it all the way to the end. Finally, Aneesa and Rachel compete alongside Paula and Dunbar with both getting one. Turns out that, obviously, Johnny and Camila made it to the finals, but so did Vinny and Sarah, so they went up again and Sarah and Vinny came away with a surprise win. Meanwhile, the losers turned out to be Leroy and Naomi, so they’re automatically in The Dome. I gotta say, I’ve disliked Sarah more and more with every Challenge, but I was rooting for her and Vinny, but anyone is better than Johnny coming home with another win. Back at the house, things get odd. Apparently Sarah has this thing about not wanting drama or chaos in the Challenge house. Let that sink in a second. Yes, it’s insane. Also, don’t forget that Sarah spent huge amounts of her past two Challenges making them hell for various teammates she didn’t deem worthy. So, with that in mind, she sits Jasmine and Tyrie down and explains all that to them as a way to explain that they might be sent into the Dome. Then you see Vinny and Sarah holding court with Wes and Mandi. I thought they were just having a conversation (and maybe they are) but then Vinny says he doesn’t like that Wes sent him and Sarah into the whatever during Fresh Meat 2. Wes explains that this is a different game, but Vinny doesn’t seem to be listening. You just know this dude wanted to be on Jersey Shore and was disappointed when he landed a Challenge. Wes tells the camera that this game in particular is rough for him because he’s better at all of them at the game…and life. Why do I love this guy?

Instead of sticking around the house, the gang all head out to a club. Everyone’s dancing and having a good time. I was looking at something on my computer and my wife pointed out that Mandi was wearing a shirt that looked a lot more like a scarf than anything. We then get to see Aneesa and Leroy dancing in a way that would make Madonna curious and then things get gross. What first looks like a nip slip from Mandi turns into something awful when it turns out that Vinny walked behind her and pulled her shirt open. She realizes, runs away and covers herself back up. He thinks the whole thing is a joke. Wes comforts her and tells the camera that if this was the real world, he would have knocked Vinny out, but too much is on the line. It’s a smart way to play, but man, it must have been hard not to slug that slug. The next morning, before TJ shows up to find out who Vinny and Sarah are sending into the Dome, Mark informs us via interview that you can get sent home for the kind of thing that Vinny did. It seems like that won’t be happening because TJ shows up, everyone’s gathered together in the “sending people into the Dome” room and they get down to business. At first Sarah brings up Tyrie and Jasmine, so I thought they were the ones going in and then Vinny goes on this strange tangent about wanting to send in the ugliest team or guy and that he feels bad for Mandi and all this nonsense. Not once does he apologize for what he did. Then, Wes calls him on his bullshit and asks what he would have done if someone had done what he did to Mandi the night before and Vinny replies with something along the lines of “Shut up, you’re an idiot.” After THAT, they send Wes and Mandi into the Dome! I was pretty shocked, that’s low class.

There’s an interlude before the Dome, which must always be at night for ambiance, that finds Wes and Sarah talking in the pool. Wes says he’s worried for Sarah that Vinny might get replaced and she just wants peace in the house. I’m not sure where all this comes from, maybe it wound up on the cutting room floor, but it seems to be coming out of nowhere. And then, TJ’s back in the house explaining that Vinny has to leave because you can’t pull that kind of nonsense. So, the big question is what will happen to Sarah. I was wondering if there was anyone she hooked up with on her Real World season, but couldn’t think of anyone. Then, my wife tossed out Kenny’s name. It wouldn’t surprise me if Kenny is just hanging out at all times in case someone gets sent home. But, as we found out after a long commercial break, she got sent home too! I don’t remember this ever happening before. Last season on Rivals, when Adam flipped out, Leroy didn’t get sent home, Mike came in to replace him. I can’t think of any other examples, but I know they’re out there. I actually felt pretty bad for Sarah who was crying and upset and Vinny didn’t say one thing to her. Jerk. Please keep that assbag off of all future Challenges.

Even more surprising is the fact that they still have the Dome! They lost one team already and now they’re about to lose a second. The challenge is called X Battle and it’s a pretty basic one. There’s an X that players of the same sex grab onto and have to wrestle away from the other. Men and women both go, best of three wins. If there’s a tie, there’s a coin flip and either the men or women will play again to see who wins.

This one was pretty intense. I like Leroy, but I think Naomi is weak sauce and way too much drama with how obsessed she is with him. I can’t seem to make myself not like Wes, so he was the one I was rooting for. Alas, it was not meant to be. Leroy and Wes went first and they battled like dogs, but Leroy came away with the X. Then it was up to Mandi and Naomi and this time Mandi got it twice. The coin was flipped and it landed on men. It was another tough one, but Wes never seemed to get the strategy that Mandi got naturally: get between the other person and the X. That gives you more leverage to wrench it away. His flying head butt into Leroy looked cool, but it didn’t work out like he planned. So, unfortunately, Wes and Mandi got sent home. I like how Wes screws with people and think he’s noble in a strange way within the context of the show. I also don’t want to see Johnny try and take over now.

There’s more Naomi and Leroy drama back at the house when he tells her not to sleep in his bed anymore because he doesn’t want to lead her on. Naomi’s issues with intimacy are pretty huge and get annoying after a while. We get it, you’re territorial and desperate for connection, deal with it already. So, there’s that.

A few thoughts. It seemed odd how the second half of this episode was put together. Why did TJ come to the house twice? Shouldn’t he have just kicked Vinny off right away? Did they keep him around to make his stupid speech and vote Wes and Mandi in and then get rid of him? Was it filmed in a different order? Interesting. Also, with Wes gone, I wonder if Abe will step up as a kind of ring leader or drama instigator. I don’t remember seeing him and Johnny bump up against each other, but I’d like to. After the first episode’s focus on CT and Diem, I was surprised to see them take up very little screen time tonight. Looks like we’ll get back to that next week though as Diem’s recounting of her past with CT seems to make Abe cry. Shit’s gonna get real, you guys, real emotional.

The first step was figuring out exactly what to collect in my custom hardcovers. It worked out well that Dan Jurgens’ run on Justice League America ran a fairly concise 17 issues (#61-77), so that just made sense. Meanwhile, Justice League Europe only went up to issue #50 after “Breakdowns” before turning into Justice League International, so that also made sense. So, I put together Justice League Europe #37-50 and Annual #3 to make a nice book. I also happened to have two copies of the Justice League Spectacular one-shot that lead into both runs, so one of each went into the beginning of each volume. With the issues decided, I then figured out I’d go through the Houchen Bindery. The place I used previously actually shut down and Houchen gives you the opportunity to create your own cover, so I was sold. Plus, their pricing is pretty good at $17.50 per book when you do 2-4 volumes plus shipping. I then got to work making the covers based on a template and some notes I downloaded from Houchen’s site. This actually took quite a while because I’m not very well-versed in Photoshop, but I think they turned out great. I tried to get good team shots from actual issues and scanned those covers. I then used some cloning tools to get rid of things like the company logo and creative team lists. After that, I got an interesting image for the back, did some silhouetting, created the spine text, chose the colors and was good to go. The part I had the most difficulty with was the spines because I originally wanted to use the actual logo, but I couldn’t find one online that was big enough and I couldn’t get one clean enough with Photoshop. I discovered that Impact Bold font is actually pretty close to the Justice League logo of the day, so that worked out quite well. That last element is what I was most worried about in the finished version, but wound up looking pretty good. I packed up the issues and put a PDF of each cover on a cheap memory stick (which they returned) and sent them off. The whole thing took about a full month, maybe five weeks, but I think that’s because I sent the books out around Christmas and things got backed up. I got the invoice and paid and all that was fine, but waiting for them to actually get here was the hardest part. Every day last week, I hoped they might come, but didn’t. I was bummed. And then, last night, after dark, the doorbell rang and the UPS man was there with a box from Houchen. I was giddy. The books turned out great, if I do say so myself. I was worried the typed stuff would look really crummy or my cloning would look glaringly obvious, but both turned out well. I was also a little worried about gutter loss, but the only thing I noticed was that you can’t read some of the issue numbers on the covers. But that’s it and you can see them in the indicia if you need to figure out which issue is which.  What I like most about getting comics bound is how customizable the process is. If you wanted to include the four issue Elongated Man miniseries that lead into Justice League Spectacular, you could. If you want to do one huge book with all of the DC One Million issues in there, go for it. That’s one of the reasons I want access to all of my collection before really getting into binding some books because I organized my collection alphabetically, so if there’s a Green Lantern crossover with someone and the other book is in another box, I can’t put things together just yet. Like I’ve said before, I don’t feel the need to get everything bound. There’s a fuzzy line in my head between comics I have an emotional attachment to that I want to keep even if in a slightly altered form. Newer books, I’m cool with just getting trades.

My only complaint about the whole process is how much they charge for shipping which was $17.85 for the two books combined. I appreciate that they want to ship via UPS, but when I did my books from the other place, we did media mail and it was much cheaper. I gotta say, being charged essentially what it would cost to get a-whole-nother stack of comics bound is a deterrent. As much as I liked Houchen’s work, I am still always looking for a local bindery that might be interested in doing the same kind of work but closer so I can save on shipping back and forth. Anyone know of one in the Orange County New York area?

After getting a good deal on the second volume of Secret Avengers from Thwipster, I was pretty excited to check out the first volume. So, right after finishing, I went on Sequential Swap and set up a trade for the book. When it came in the mail on Saturday, I read it pretty much immediately. This is basically the perfect team book for Ed Brubaker to write because it’s perfectly set in his wheelhouse. Not only does it star Steve Rogers, the character he revolutionized over in the excellent Captain America, but it’s all about the black ops side of the Marvel Universe and includes characters that fit in that world either obviously like Moon Knight, Sharon Jones, Black Widow and Ant-Man (the most recent one) in ways that make a lot of sense even if you didn’t think about it like Beast, War Machine, Valkyrie and Nova. The idea is for the team to be more pro-active, a buzz concept in comics that always sounds good on paper, but doesn’t always deliver because, how do you stop crime before it happens?

So, with that team and that idea in mind, Brubaker kicks the first adventure off with a trip to Mars! It’s the kind of story that might not seem he’s suited for, but it still deals with evil corporations, brainwashed henchmen, a secret organization and heroes fighting other brainwashed heroes. Here’s the actual story: Roxxon has a mining operation on Mars, but all the workers disappeared and Rogers thinks something’s up. He sends his space guy–Nova–to check it out and he finds a crown very similar to the Serpent Crown that instantly takes over Nova and results in the rest of the team–minus Sharon Jones who is back on earth getting ambushed–heading into space. It turns out that Roxxon made a deal with a Hydra-like organization called The Shadow Council to mine there, but they accidentally stumbled upon a prophecy or something that will lead to the end of the universe. So, it’s up to Commander Rogers (don’t think I’ll ever get used to that, not that I need to), Moon Knight, Valkyrie, Ant-Man, War Machine and Beast–all in pretty awesome looking space suits, by the way–to stop Nova and save the universe, which includes seeing Steve put on Nova’s helmet and get a Nova-based costume, which I dug. It sounds like a straight forward superhero story and it is, but it’s also got a lot of those awesome espionage flavored moments that signify a great Bru comic. That really gets focused on in the fifth issue that explains who the Nick Fury lookalike that’s working for the Shadow Council is. Really fun stuff.

I talked about Deodato’s art in the last post and I feel the same way with this earlier volume. I think he’s a great choice for this book if you want to get away from the Steve Epting style set up in Captain America, or the Michael Lark/David Aja look that is actually used in the fifth issue. He’s doing great on the big superhero stuff, but also–and this might be thanks to the inking or coloring–things look shadowy, which fits the theme of the book perfectly. At first it was a little distracting, but once I started thinking that way, I was in it all the way. It’s not noir by any means, but shadows are impotant for a black ops team.

Fallen Son: The Dead Of Captain America (Marvel)
Written by Jeph Loeb, drawn by John Cassaday, David Finch, Ed McGuinness, John Romita Jr. & Leinil Francis Yu
Collects Fallen Son: Wolverine, Avengers, Captain America, Spider-Man & Iron Man

I am a very big fan of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America. If you’re into espionage super hero comics, I don’t think you can find a better one than that. I was disappointed when Steve Rogers got killed off a few years back, but, I mean, it’s comics, so you know he’s going to come back, it’s just a matter of when and how. Plus, Bru did an excellent job making me care about Bucky Barnes just as much, so I was okay. But, when I heard that someone else was going to be writing a series of one-shots showing what Cap’s death meant to a variety of heroes in the Marvel U, I wasn’t super excited. I think I read the issues when they came out and I was working at Wizard, but didn’t remember much about them, so I was curious to see how they played out a few years later and with Steve Rogers back in the land of the living.

I gotta say, it’s a pretty melodramatic thing to read which feels somewhat unnecessary, especially considering the fact that Steve Rogers is back. I get the idea behind it, putting together one of the best selling writers in comics with a series of big time artists on the subject of the death of a popular characters. And, as a story, it’s interesting how the issues tie into one another (something I didn’t remember from the first read), and there are some cool moments and ideas like Hawkeye thinking about becoming the new Cap at Iron Man’s request and Spider-Man remembering how Cap helped him out, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t seem to carry any weight now. It also features at least one character issue actually saying “The death of Captain America,” out loud which just never sounds right.

However, if you are an art fan, this is a pretty fantastic book. I love Leinil Francis Yu, David Finch and Ed McGuinness and seeing them tackle a wide variety of characters is a lot of fun, especially since they’re one-shots and you don’t have to worry about them missing a future issue. I’m not the biggest John Romita Jr. or John Cassaday fan, but they turn it on full blast too.

KEEP OR DUMP? So, the big question every time I read a trade is: will I keep this book and I’m split on these two. I will definitely save both Secret Avengers trades because I think they’re great continuations of Brubaker’s run on Cap with a lot of fun other elements thrown in. On the other hand, cool art just isn’t enough to keep a book in my collection, with very few exceptions.

On paper, Duel should be a ridiculously slow and boring movie. It’s about a tanker truck that torments a man because he passed him. Their cat and mouse game leads them across some desert territory and one of them triumphs. Those are the basics I knew going into the movie (as well as a fairly good idea about the ending which I saw on one of those “Scariest Movies Ever” TV specials back in college). I mean, how scary can a truck be, right?

Pretty friggin’ scary, you guys. There are two very simple elements that make this a movie that doesn’t only not drag but also sucks you in like nothing else I’ve seen and that’s the script by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend the novel and several Twilight Zone episodes including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”) and the nascent genius of Spielberg who had directed a few hours of television up to this point as well as some shorts and student films, but nothing this long (it was originally a TV movie that had some scenes added and was theatrically released across the pond).

So, while much of the tension was already ingrained in the script by one of the best writers around, Spielberg made a number of choices that really added to it. There’s a featurette on the DVD where he talks about a lot of the things he did, some of which I noticed while watching and some I didn’t. First off, the truck is legitimately scary looking. It’s big and huge and dirty and gross and dangerous looking. He chose that particular truck because it’s cab stuck out like a face instead of being flat. He also had the crew apply dirty and grease every day to make it look worse and even put dead bugs in the grill. He also did some amazing things with cameras, getting angles that really put you into the movie. Some are mounted on the corners of the car while others seem like their right there next to the wheel. In the featurette he explained that he mapped out the entire movie so he’d always know where he was–the whole thing was shot in 12 or 13 days, he couldn’t remember) and that he would use multiple cameras, a car designed specifically for chase/auto scenes and all kinds of lenses to make things look faster and more dangerous than they are. I had heard that he was a kind of a geek when it comes to the tech side of filmmaking, but hearing him talk about it, he really knows his stuff and more impressively, knew it back then when he was 25 years old!

But, it should also be added that Dennis Weaver who plays the main character–David Mann–absolutely kills it. The movie is about a man being pushed to the edge by ridiculously dangerous circumstances and SPOILER overcoming them. Weaver does an excellent job of keeping his character in check and unleashing the rage and fear that comes from this kind of situation, especially towards the end.

You might notice that I labeled this as not only a horror movie, but also gave it the Slasher and Monster tags. While I don’t think anyone could argue against the idea that Duel is a psychological horror film, I think the arguments for the others could be equally made. The truck (or the driver who we never see) is like a slasher in that it is always exactly where it needs to be to give Mann trouble. It stalks him like a slasher–or a monster–at all turns, attacking when it needs to, even going so far as to make it’s evil presence known to other people. At the same time, it’s a big, hulking, ugly monster that wants nothing more than to kill Mann. Why? Because he passed the truck. Or maybe it’s a random selection along the lines of The Strangers (Why us? Because you were home. Why me? Because you were on the road.). Spielberg says in one of the featurettes that the license plates that adorn the front bumper of the truck represent previous victims, something I hadn’t noticed or thought about. In my head, this dude just snapped today, but I like that just well.

In a lot of ways, Duel is, as other people have described it before me, Jaws with automobiles. That’s true to an extent, but it also feels limited to me. This movie is very Hitchcockian, something that Spielberg say in the short story itself, but also something reflected in the score–which is more noise than music. There are definitely times where it sounds like the shrill violins from Psycho make an appearance, though they seem even more primal. In addition to Hitchcock references, there are also ones that Spielberg would go back to. I didn’t catch these, but he mentioned them. The old woman who runs the gas station/snake farm plays a gas station attendant in 1941 (which I haven’t seen) while the old folks who stop and don’t give Mann much help towards the end are on the helicopter in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. But that’s not all, he also used the same exact dinosaur sound that he used as the SPOILER truck exploded at the end when the shark gets blown up in Jaws. He explained that he’s both sentimental and grateful, like these little nods are way to say thank you to Duel for spawning his career. Which it did. This movie got him Sugarland Express which lead right into Jaws.

I have to say, I was shocked at how much I liked this movie. If you’re a Spielberg fan, you want it to be awesome, but like I said above, you don’t know about a movie that features a truck as a bad guy. I figured it might be like going back and getting the first indie record of that band you really like and realizing it’s alright, hints at greatness, but doesn’t really life up to the classic ones. In this case, though, he started his feature career at the top of his game. To be able to make such a taught, absorbing TV movie that still holds up 41 years later, is nothing short of amazing. If you haven’t seen it, absolutely, positively go out and get a copy of Duel. I’d also recommend checking out the extras that include a few interviews with Spielberg as well as one with Matheson. Awesome stuff.

I gotta say, I’m kind of surprised I’m as high on this movie as I am because there at least three tropes in it that bug me in other movies. First off, you’ve got the basic “action guy protecting a girl he wants nothing to do with…for now” thing. That one’s so broad that it’s not as bad, especially when you take into the fact that he’s not constantly needing to protect her. The second trope that got on my nerves is how Frank–Statham–keeps saying his rules for being a transporter (literally a guy that drives things from one place to another) out loud at random times. I like how they tweaked this for the second movie and he has rules for how the little kid should treat a man’s car, but it’s a little forced at times here. And thirdly, I am getting sick of seeing action scenes set on shipping yards with those giant metal containers all around. Maybe this is because I just watched Batman Begins again and there was a scene like that in there or because of the overuse of that place in LA with all the cranes (which was in Red, The Losers and another movie I can’t think of).

So, why do I still like the flick? Because the end is bonkers awesome. With a few exceptions, the fight scenes in the first half are pretty standard with Statham looking a little slower than you come to expect after seeing a ton of his movies. But, the second half is awesome. The aforementioned dock scenes leads into a fight on a parked bus which is immediately followed by the best fight in the movie which involves him (shirtless and shoeless) pouring motor oil on himself and fighting a bunch of dudes. This is the kind of fight scene I’ve come to expect from the movie. The end involves him jumping out of an airplane with a parachute and landing directly on the car of an enemy which, of course, leads into an awesome car chase. So cool.

While this movie maybe doesn’t live up to the coolness of the sequels, there are definite hints at the kind of stunts that make it work and showcase Statham’s radness. It’s shot beautifully between the combined efforts of directors Corey Yuen (The Enforcer) and Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2, Incredible Hulk). With Luc Besson (District B-13, Taken) co-writing the movie, it’s no surprise how enjoyable this turned out to be. I’m glad things got turned up to 11 for later installments, but this is a pretty good start.

Much like Puffy Chair, this one stars Duplass as a an immature adult, Sam, who wants to hang on to his adolescent dreams. He doesn’t have a job-job, his girlfriend just broke up with him and he’s in a band that plays for a handful of people at a bar. The first third or fourth of the movie just shows his life and soon gets him to his aunt’s house. Said aunt is played by the amazing Melissa Leo and also has a teenage son Oliver who’s kind of a jerk. We’re introduced to him as he throws a squid meant for dissection at a girl in his class. Turns out that Oliver’s estranged father was supposed to take him and his pal Jake on a camping trip, but flaked out, so Sam eventually agrees to take them.

The trip to camping and the actual experience in the woods/on the beach (they’re in Washington, so I guess that’s a thing that makes sense) makes up the real meat of the story as the boys not only explore their relationship with girls and each other and Sam gets a taste at some real responsibility in watching over a pair of teenagers. In a relatively short period of time–the movie has an 88 minute run time–writer and director Craig Johnson does an excellent job going through the characters’ stories without being super obvious and “movie” about everything.

Here’s an example that gets into some spoiler territory, so if you want to go into the movie completely clear, skip this paragraph. There are hints during their travels to the camping area that Jake might be gay or at least questioning his sexuality including a somewhat confusing scene where he stops making out with a girl in a pool to swim over and start wrestling with Oliver who was also making out with a girl in said pool. There’s a quick moments where Sam opens the boys’ tent and they’re kissing. This event spurs on the rest of the movie from that point, but I was really impressed with how it was handled. In a clunkier movie you would have seen a whole scene between the boys leading up to this, but none of that is necessary.

In a way, the movie reminded me of Cold Weather which I didn’t like. They both have main characters who could be considered averse to responsibility, but Duplass pulls off this kind of role with a confident brashness that makes me like him instead of annoyed with him. Both films also take advantage of the beautiful scenery in the shooting area, but while Cold Weather simply shows you these scenes, True uses the environnents for the purpose of the scene and builds the story around them (or at least the second half). That way, you get both the beauty and actual story instead of stopping the latter for the former.

So, to put it simply and state the obvious, I really dug True Adolescents. It showcased it’s players really well and also showed an economy of story that fit very well with the tone of the film. Plus, kind of like the Duplass Brothers films, I got the idea that Johnson made it on a pretty low budget. I could be wrong about that and haven’t done any research, but as always, that “I’m gonna make a movie” spirit is one that I can appreciate and feel the need to foster in myself. Maybe this year!