There’s a movie filming right now that I’m more excited about than anything. This movie does not have giant transforming robots in it. It does not have costumed heroes and is not based on a graphic novel. It will not be an Oscar contender or a sleeper hit. It does not have a hot soundtrack or witty banter that makes me want to write. No, this movie… this amazing movie that has not even been completed yet… is The Expendables and it will rock you. Haven’t heard of it? Don’t worry. It’s understandable. This one is a little under the radar (but there’s no reason it should be). It happens to be the new movie from writer/director/actor/action god Sylvester Stallone. Yeah, yeah. I know what you’re thinking. ”Isn’t he dead?” Well, maybe that’s not what you’re thinking. What you’re thinking is probably something not too flattering. Me, personally? I’ve been a Stallone fan since I was a kid. Nighthawks, Cop Land, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, F.I.S.T., Tango & Cash… and oh yeah, Rocky and First Blood. So what’s so exciting about TheExpendables? It’s Stallone writing and directing again after his last two moments of awesome, Rambo and Rocky Balboa. What else? The cast. The Expendables stars Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundren, Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts, and Terry Crews. We’re talking the best in the business and they’re given a simple, straight-forward action movie where they get to be badasses and take on bad guys and save the fuckin’ day. Let’s face it: This is a lost art of movie-making. We’ve become obsessed that our action movies have some sort of relevance. There must be wire-work and innovative gunfights and death-defying stunts that make us “oohhh” and “ahhh” and directors imported from Russia and China and plots ripped off of Japanese and Korean horror movies… The American action movie will hopefully still be alive and well come 2010 and I hope, nay, I pray that The Expendables meets my lofty expectations. I hope we get Stallone with outrunning fireballs and Jet Li moving faster than the camera and Jason Statham mouthing off pithy one-liners and Dolph Lundren telling someone, “I must break you.” Fingers crossed, rabbits feet in hand, four-leaf clover in my pocket… Here’s hoping.
One of the first comics I was exposed to as a kid was the New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. I was in a small bookstore on the Oregon Coast and stumbled upon a black-and-white collection of the New Teen Titans first batch of issues reprinted in a format the size of a paperback novel. I read it cover to cover in no time flat and then continued to read it for the rest of the summer I bought it. I fell in love with these characters that I’d never heard of (except Robin, obviously). I can’t tell you what about this comic struck me as something so compelling, but I can hazard a guess: Every kid wants to be a super-hero. The Titans were different, though. They were teenagers reluctantly dealing with the legacies that were thrust upon them. In a world that naturally accepted the concept of super-human protectors, they still had to prove themselves as true heroes due to their age and inexperience and that made them twice as formidable. It’s this charming concept that infuses the pages of a little book that I ordered based solely on the cover and Previews description: ”Years ago the superhero team, SENTINELS, disappeared. Now their children have taken their place and get pulled into the mystery of what truly happened to them.” Between this and some of the posted preview pages (and a whole graphic novel packed with extras for $14.95), I placed the Diamond Order number on my list and waited the three months for it to arrive. Sentinels Book 1: Footsteps was a thrill to read not because it was the best graphic novel I’d ever read (for all its merits, it wasn’t earth-shattering), but because it reminded me of those old New Teen Titans comics I’d grown up on. That level of nostalgia alone was enough for me to keep an eye out for the subsequent books in the series. Book 2: Masks, Book 3: Echoes, and Book 4: Hope were all just as good and as the characters developed and went through the trials laid before them as legacy heroes of the greatest super-hero team of their world, I kept wanting to know what happened next for these wayward 20-somethings. Where New Teen Titans captured the angst of having to prove yourself as a teenager, Sentinels showed the “quarter life crisis” through the eyes of a super-hero. The fact that these books are completely independently published by Drumfish Productions is an even greater feat for such a title. Just like the characters they created, Rich Bernatovech and Luciano Vecchio set out a goal and met it: they brought their characters’ saga to the masses and told the complete story arc of their creations. That’s as admirable as saving the world from the forces of evil, if you ask me.
One of my all-time favorite films is Heat by Michael Mann. Never before had a I seen such a truly amazing rendering of the “cops and robbers” dynamic of the crime film done in such a fair and balanced way to both sides. Al Pacino as Lt. Vincent Hanna and Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, expert thief; Here you had two of the greatest living actors of screen playing two extremely intense and driven characters on a collision course with each other. Honestly, as the movie approached it’s incredibly tense finale, Mann’s careful plotting and direction leaves the audience on the edge of their seat for who will come out on top: the thief or the cop. I’m hoping that we get treated to that level of crafstmenship with the forth-coming film from Mann for this summer, Public Enemies. The film will follow John Dillinger as he, at the height of his infamy as one of America’s greatest bank robbers, is hunted by Special Agent Melvin Purvis of the FBI. Johnny Depp plays Dillinger and Christian Bale plays Purvis. I’m not sure how this movie can be disappointing when you have Batman vs. Capt. Jack Sparrow at the direction of the master of cops and robbers films.
Synopsis: In the action-thriller Public Enemies, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the incredible and true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Depp)the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoovers fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyonefrom his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression.
But while the adventures of Dillinger’s ganglater including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw’s capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One. Hoover sent in Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI”. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis’ men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) who were real gunfighters and orchestrating epic betrayals from the infamous “Lady in Red” to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nittiwere Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger.
Release Date: July 1st, 2009
{The song in the trailer is “Ten Million Slaves” by Otis Taylor}
Anna Mercury: The Cutter: Warren Ellis knows what he likes to write. There is never any real surprise to the voice and direction of a Warren Ellis title. Whether he’s doing work-for-hire comics for Marvel or original material for Avatar or Image, Ellis has, over his many years in the comics industry, created a style of science fiction and adventure comics that always entertaining (if you like Warren Ellis, that is). Anna Mercury is no exception. The story follows the title character, an interdimensional secret agent and seditionist, as she must stop warring factions in a parallel dimension from essentially killing each other off. The story is pretty brief and the character development is sparse, but, again, if you enjoy the standard that Ellis sets down for his books, then you’ll find a lot to enjoy in Anna Mercury. The art chores are handled by Facundo Percio and while some panels leave something to be desired, Percio really does try to get as much action and movement into his story-telling.
Daredevil: Lady Bullseye: I wish Ed Brubaker could write Daredevil forever. I say that with all sincerity. Under his, Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano’s guiding hands, Daredevil went from a comic I just enjoyed reading to what felt like the best TV show out there. Each issue was crafted like an episode as opposed to the previously drawn out story-telling that Bendis had instilled (I loved Bendis’ run, don’t get me wrong). The Lady Bullseye story arc is no exception. Brubaker takes a character idea that sounds uninspired and cheesecake and instead comes up with a three-dimensional villain (with a secret identity) that seeks to destroy Daredevil and rule the secret organization of the Hand. Brubaker has added a supporting cast of some of the coolest (and underused) characters at Marvel with Dakota North, The Black Tarantula, Iron Fist and the White Tiger backing Daredevil up in this arc and the coming issues. The only downside with the book (and it’s by no means a real negative) is that it leads into the next promising arc of the series instead of wrapping up a resolution. Again, I’m not complaining since I’m in this title for the long haul of Brubaker’s run (which is apparently winding down soon), but it should be clarified that there is more awesome to come.
Remakes are a tricky beast. No one really wants them to be made. If there was a large fanbase for a previously released film that could justify a cult following, there would an equally large enough demographic of people who were just fine with the old movie and didn’t need to see it recast, reshot, and re… somethinged. I’ve watched this happen dozens of times with dozens of movies and every time there’s some vocal section of fandom that are calling for the heads of those who have “raped our childhood” with their careless and butchering remake of a “heartfelt classic.” Personally, I don’t see the problem. If they ever made a remake of, say, Escape from New York, I’d just go watch it, roll my eyes, and then go home and watch my remastered DVD version. It’s the studio’s money. Let them blow it on whatever they want. No one is forcing you to watch their crap.
This brings me to a film that I kind of adore for its sheer disregard for all things logical, realistic, and well-crafted. We’re talking about Death Race. A very loose remake of the cult classic, Death Race 2000, the updated version stars Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson as prisoners of the Terminal Island Penitentiary that are forced to compete in the world’s highest-rated televised sports program, Death Race. The characters are paper-thin, the cast (which includes the actual talents of Joan Allen and Ian McShane) is forced to recite stilted and awkward dialogue, and the physics of the action scenes defies all known reason. This is, of course, Why I Like Bad Movies. We follow Statham’s character of Jensen Ames, framed for the murder of his wife and sentenced to life in prison, as the crooked warden of Terminal Island (Allen) offers him the role of Frankenstein, a fan favorite celebrity in the game, as a way out of jail. Ames begrudgingly accepts and gets wrapped up in the chaos and violence that is the Death Race with prisoners piloting suped up cars armed to the teeth with firepower and armor for the chance at freedom. There are no twists that are unpredictable and no action scenes that can be described as “subtle,” but this movie really does manage to satisfy all of the needs of a true action movie junkie. Director Paul W.S. Anderson has a ton of great “bad” movies under his belt with Soldier, Resident Evil, and Event Horizon topping the list and he adds Death Race with a childish fervor of action and sly wink at the standards of “quality.”
Whether it’s Statham spewing punchy one-liners with his unbelievably hot (and I mean that as, “she’s way too hot to be believable”) co-pilot, the action scenes that combine NASCAR and the Road Warrior, or completely throwaway character of Machine Gun Joe for Tyrese to play, Death Race fires on all cylinders (I had to use a pun) of truly great awful movie making. It’s another reason Why I Like Bad Movies.
I really never thought I’d see the day. Like, I seriously didn’t. What day? The day when an original show on a basic cable channel was declared a ratings success while network programming viewership shrank so vastly that Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC television, declared that the network he lorded over would never be #1 in primetime again. With almost every new program released in the last two seasons on major network television “on the bubble” (meaning it’s almost 50/50 if they’ll be renewed for another season), cable has swooped in to take the lead in original content. What started with a small healthy pedigree of shows on various cable networks (Nip/Tuck, Monk, The Dead Zone, The Shield, etc.) has now grown to such proportions that you’re not a major cable network if you’re not producing your own original programming. Battlestar Gallactica and Stargate: SG-1 both drew in fans to the Sci-Fi Channel. USA Network grew their stable from Monk and the Dead Zone to Psych, In Plain Sight, and Burn Notice. TNT’s experiment with the Closer paid off so well that they now have huge names headlining their shows including Saving Grace, Trust Me, and Leverage. Last, but surely not least, AMC, a channel no one really thought would try to enter into this arena, has not one but two sophomore success stories with Breaking Bad and Mad Men and both not only drew record ratings but awards for their cast and crews. All of this is occurring while NBC has canceled or is suspected to cancel almost all of its newest crop of shows. Life, Chuck, Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy, and Heroes all underperformed this season with Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy canceled, Life and Chuck on the bubble and Heroes, while renewed, will go under the knife for retooling for a third time in three seasons. CBS has had one break out hit in their drama catergory, the Mentalist, and successful new sitcom, the Big Bang Theory. ABC… well… Don’t ask. Fox is currently beating NBC in ratings even though Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, both relegated to the graveyard that is Friday nights, are both most likely doomed after this season. The networks breakout show this season, Fringe, scores well but cost a fortune to produce.
So what is cable’s secret? Frankly, they’re following the British model for programming. The seasons of cable television programs are shorter than network shows with 12-13 episodes a season being much cheaper to produce and thus allowing the budget to be focussed on production values, quality casts, and even marketing. Also, these shorter seasons allow for faster production time where there’s less downtime between seasons to lose your audience. The concepts are also simpler for mainstream audiences. Leverage and Burn Notice both owe their simple premises to 80′s classics like the A-Team and MacGyver while Psych and Monk both hail from the classic detective model that was made popular by Magnum P.I. and Simon & Simon. For the fans of the Sopranos and Dexter, both Breaking Bad and Mad Men offer more stronger writing and more complex storylines while pushing the boundaries of standards and practices.
Suffice it to say, as network TV begins to lose the race for quality and successful programming, cable seems to be picking up the slack to record returns and quality hits. With NBC effectively eliminating 10pm primetime programming next season (and replacing it with a nightly Jay Leno show), cable is about to pick up even more viewers looking for an alternative.
I have no idea what this movie’s about. Frankly, I don’t think I need to. The “trailer” almost feels like a short film of Thomas Jane just being a bad ass private detective doing… something… involving detecting? No clue. The movie is directed by the (sometimes) great Russell Mullachy who is responsible for one of my favorite movies of childhood, Highlander. He’s also responsible for the craptacular sequel, so give him 50/50 on that talent scale. I’ve always had a weird theory that using George Thorogood’s, “Bad to the Bone” in your trailer was a guarenteed curse upon your picture, so we’ll see what ends up happening here. Anyway… trailer below. Fingers crossed.
Synopsis: A private eye named Malone attempts to retrieve a mysterious case. (See? Feels like a short film…)
Release date: April 1st, 2009 (probably a festival release date)
Every so often, I come across an actor that I think is way too talented for the work I’ve found them in. Jason Isaacs was someone I first saw in Armageddon way back when. He played the NASA scientist who figures out how to stop the asteroid and has one of the best lines in the whole movie: “I know the presidents’ chief scientific advisor, we were at MIT together. And, in a situation like this, you-you really don’t wanna take the advice from a man who got a C minus in astrophysics. The presidents’ advisors are… wrong. I’m right.” The man just oozed smarmy badass-ness. Slowly, I waited for him to pop up in better more meaty parts, but alas he wound up as villains in Harry Potter and The Patriot, never really getting a chance to show off how an intelligent, yet realistic, protagonist could be played well. You can imagine how happy I was to discover the BBC miniseries, The State Within.
The series follows Sir Mark Brydon, British Ambassador to the United States, during his last week in the position. As he is wrapping up the final duties of the office, a terrorist attack on a British airline on US soil sends the country into a panic. Brydon and British Counsellor External Affairs, Nicholas Brokelhurst, both begin to investigate the true purpose behind the attack and its connection to the Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner and her ties to former Haliburton-esque company, Armitage.
If you’re a fan of 24, then you’re already well-aware of construction of the plot of this series: a terrorist attack (or threat of terrorist attack) sets into motion a series of events involving multiple characters and conspiracies in the highest corridors of power with one man leading the charge to save the day. Now here’s the rub: The State Within takes this tired formula that could have been used for any countlessly pointless seasons of 24 and not only compresses it to 6 episodes (thus saving on needless plot threads), but also makes every character believable and interesting. I recommend this series to anyone that wants a little intelligence with their political action thrillers and some surprising twists on classic characters. Now if only we could have something like this produced in the US…
Platinum Grit. vol. 1: This is volume one of the online comic strip, Platinum Grit (http://www.platinumgrit.com/) following the misadventures of the well-meaning, but hapless Jeremy and his friend, secret love, and constant antagonist, Nils. In this first collection, Jeremy has inherited a Scottish castle from his not-quite-dead-yet aunt and must vanquish his Highlander-esque cousin Dougal to keep it. Also, aliens show up. Oh, and Jeremy must alter his destiny by partying with the 12 signs of the Zodiac. It’s as crazy as it sounds, though is also equally charming. Artist and co-writer, Trudy Cooper, renders the characters with a manic Disney-like style that makes both Nils and Jeremy come to life in simple black and white layouts. I personally can’t wait for volume two.
Hack/Slash vol. 5: If you’re not reading this comic, have never read this comic, or have never heard of this comic, then I feel extremely sorry for you. It’s a classic high concept style pitch that seems to just keep getting better and better with each issue: Cassie Hack is the daughter of the infamous slasher, the Lunch Lady and after the trauma of killing the undead creature that was once her mother, she sets off to hunt down and kill all slashers that roam the night. Aiding Cassie on this quest is her loyal partner, Vlad. Vlad is both fearsome and loveable depending on the situation and never leaves Cassie’s side. Slashers, in case you don’t know, are basically the bad guys in horror films such as Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhies, Michael Myers and Chucky the doll (who actually crosses pathes with Cassie and Vlad in volume 2). This particular volume has a sordid publishing history. Due to copyright issues (it features the classic horror character, the Re-Animator), the book had to be self-published and self-distributed by the comic company and thus the production quality of the book suffers. The content, however, is still a cut above most of the horror movies being released currently.
Samurai: Legend: Marvel Comics has partnered with European publisher Soleil to present a diverse line-up of imported and translated titles for American audience to enjoy. Samurai: Legend is one of those titles. I’m a true sucker for this genre of comics and besides having a complete set of Usagi Yojimbo, Dark Horse’s Samurai: Heaven and Earth vol. 1 and 2, and Sam Noir: Samurai Detective from Image, I can still never get enough of samurai-themed comics. Samurai: Legend is possessed of breath-taking layouts and line work while the compelling story of Takeo the newly anointed samurai and his journey of discovery. The book is well worth the price in hardcover format and I look forward to more collections involving this character.
I’m a huge fan of the romantic dramedy. Romantic comedies are all well and good, but the thing is that actual romance includes pain and confusion and a lot less slapstick than your average Sandra Bullock movie. The following is a teaser for the upcoming film, (500) Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in what a great many of film enthusiasts are dubbing, “the next favorite hipster romance movie.” Personally, I don’t think that label fits. The tagline says it best: This is not a love story. It’s a story about love. There’s also a full length trailer available that I’ll be posting later.
Synopsis: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t. This post modern love story is never what we expect it to be — It’s thorny yet exhilarating, funny and sad, a twisted journey of highs and lows that doesn’t quite go where we think it will. When Tom, a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic, is blindsided after his girlfriend summer dumps him, he shifts back and forth through various periods of their 500 days “together” to try to figure out where things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him to finally rediscover his true passions in life.
Release Date: July 17th, 2009
{The song in the teaser is “Sweet Disposition” by the Temper Trap}
There’s a movie filming right now that I’m more excited about than anything. This movie does not have giant transforming robots in it. It does not have costumed heroes and is not based on a graphic novel. It will not be an Oscar contender or a sleeper hit. It does not have a hot soundtrack or witty banter that makes me want to write. No, this movie… this amazing movie that has not even been completed yet… is The Expendables and it will rock you. Haven’t heard of it? Don’t worry. It’s understandable. This one is a little under the radar (but there’s no reason it should be). It happens to be the new movie from writer/director/actor/action god Sylvester Stallone. Yeah, yeah. I know what you’re thinking. ”Isn’t he dead?” Well, maybe that’s not what you’re thinking. What you’re thinking is probably something not too flattering. Me, personally? I’ve been a Stallone fan since I was a kid. Nighthawks, Cop Land, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, F.I.S.T., Tango & Cash… and oh yeah, Rocky and First Blood. So what’s so exciting about The Expendables? It’s Stallone writing and directing again after his last two moments of awesome, Rambo and Rocky Balboa. What else? The cast. The Expendables stars Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundren, Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts, and Terry Crews. We’re talking the best in the business and they’re given a simple, straight-forward action movie where they get to be badasses and take on bad guys and save the fuckin’ day. Let’s face it: This is a lost art of movie-making. We’ve become obsessed that our action movies have some sort of relevance. There must be wire-work and innovative gunfights and death-defying stunts that make us “oohhh” and “ahhh” and directors imported from Russia and China and plots ripped off of Japanese and Korean horror movies… The American action movie will hopefully still be alive and well come 2010 and I hope, nay, I pray that The Expendables meets my lofty expectations. I hope we get Stallone with outrunning fireballs and Jet Li moving faster than the camera and Jason Statham mouthing off pithy one-liners and Dolph Lundren telling someone, “I must break you.” Fingers crossed, rabbits feet in hand, four-leaf clover in my pocket… Here’s hoping.
