Nothing much to say today, but it's the last day of my weekend (yes, my weekend from work is now Sunday and Monday), I'm online, and figured I'd drop by, post some quick thoughts before continuing on and logging off.
One thing I'll be doing after leaving here is updating the comic book Web site. If anyone has found their way here and might be looking for some cheap comics to buy, pop on over to my site at http://www.angelfire.com/comics/tsgnightwing It's full of hundreds of comics which are extras for me and which I hope to sell to someone cheaply, but making enough to continue buying new comics for myself. Check it out. You know you want to.
Another place I am thinking about going posting today is classmates.com. My wife recently reunited with an old high school friend that way and the two have gotten reacquainted quite nicely through the site. It got me wondering about some kids I went to school with -- or, I guess they probably aren't kids anymore, but you know what I mean. But anyway, I'm thinking about checking out a trial membership and seeing how many fellow students from Grand Valley Community School I might find there to catch up with.
Until next time, let's all be careful out there.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
The Cream of the Crop Sinks to the Lowest Depths
Finally made it back to fill you in on those seven movies I mentioned Wednesday. But first, a tad bit of set-up: We had planned a movie weekend get-away and rented seven flicks for the occasion. Some picked by my wife, some by me and some were joint agreement. In all honesty, everything we saw had at least some good qualities, none of the films truly sucked. But only one stood out as a really good show, and it was just awful. More on that one at the end.
The Constant Gardener
This one had a strong storyline that promised a great deal of intrique, but delivered a rather boring, overly drawn out plot. Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes do a good job. And I enjoy how the story unfolds through a combination of current time and flashbacks, especially how the viewer is given certain glimpses to support one point of view, then learns more as the main character comes to understand things differently. That helps engage the viewer in the film somewhat, but overall the plot advances very slowly.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Obviously, this one is a documentary. It included some interesting first-person accounts of how Wal-Mart moving into a community forces local, family-owned businesses out, and has some particularly funny faux commercials, but I really didn't find too much new information that isn't already available about the retail giant and how it conducts commerce.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This film surprised and disappointed. Rather than taking the typical horror route, director Scott Derrickson opted to combine elements of courtroom drama into the mix. The result is a very engaging story of a priest on trial for conducting an exorcism that ends badly which includes all of the best elements of the courtroom drama genre, but loses much of its horror sensibility. Demon possession is some pretty scary stuff, and this is supposed to be based on actual events from Italy, but the interplay between the lawyers and the legalities of the case take much of the scariness out of the flashbacks.
Bewitched
This was a fun trip down memory lane; tributes to the 1964-72 television show abound. The modern story in the movie is a has-been actor (Will Ferrell) is tapped to play Darrin in a re-make of the show and the producers unknowingly cast a real witch (Nicole Kidman) to play Samantha. While the movie is fun and doesn't overtax your brain very much, the plot is very simple, and some of the gags just aren't funny. Inexplicably, the real-life witch playing Samantha on the re-make has a lot of kooky relatives with the same names and personalities as the character did on the TV show. But then, toward the end of the film, Steve Carell shows up as Uncle Arthur and plays the role as if he really is actor Paul Lynde playing the character of Uncle Arthur as if he was a real person. And doing it rather badly.
Madagascar
This computer-animated movie didn't live up to expectations at all. The trailer for Over the Hedge looked funnier than the movie itself. Much of the humor seemed forced and just not all that funny. And while it is typical in an animated movie like this one to have the characters emulate personalities of the voice-actors giving them life, my wife pointed out how distracting it was everytime the giraffe, Melman, spoke to be visualizing Ross Gellar from Friends simply because the character was voiced by David Schwimmer.
Sky High
I did expect quite a bit from this movie; while not based on any specific comic book, let's face it, it's still a comic book movie. And it was a fun movie. But it also took some liberties that didn't make much sense to me. Why does everyone (OK, almost everyone, but I won't say more and ruin anything for anyone) with a super power have only one super power? Who made up that rule?
And finally, we come to the last one ...
Crash
Officer Ryan: [talking on the phone] I wanna speak to your supervisor...
Shaniqua: I am my supervisor!
Officer Ryan: All right well, what's your name?
Shaniqua: Shaniqua Johnson.
Officer Ryan: Shaniqua. Big fucking surprise that is!
Shaniqua: Oh!
[Shaniqua hangs up]
In the credit where credit is due department, this was my wife's pick. I don't remember even hearing of it before. The tag line for the film was: "You think you know who you are. You have no idea." Between the quotes above and that tag line, you can probably guess that the movie deals with prejudice and discrimination and bigotry and the uglier side of life. Racism is a big part of it, but there is also sexism, elitism, ageism, anything that can separate two people and make them feel different from each other.
The characters are not one-dimensional either. They all have their faults, but most also have some redeeming qualities. Take Officer Ryan, played by Matt Dillon. Obviously he's a racist bigot. You get that much from the quote above. But the phone call that quote comes from is Ryan trying to cut through the bureaucracy and get his ailing father some medical treatment. Ryan, a character who commits a truly heinous act against another person in the film, is taking care of his father with genuine compassion and patience. Ryan even performs one of the most self-sacrificing acts depicted in the movie, making him the most despicable and the most heroic figure in the drama.
This was by far the best film we rented in terms of acting, portraying life, prompting one to think. But for those very same reasons, it is not a very happy movie which makes a person look at himself a little more critically than most of us usually care to look. I recommend it very highly.
The Constant Gardener
This one had a strong storyline that promised a great deal of intrique, but delivered a rather boring, overly drawn out plot. Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes do a good job. And I enjoy how the story unfolds through a combination of current time and flashbacks, especially how the viewer is given certain glimpses to support one point of view, then learns more as the main character comes to understand things differently. That helps engage the viewer in the film somewhat, but overall the plot advances very slowly.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Obviously, this one is a documentary. It included some interesting first-person accounts of how Wal-Mart moving into a community forces local, family-owned businesses out, and has some particularly funny faux commercials, but I really didn't find too much new information that isn't already available about the retail giant and how it conducts commerce.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This film surprised and disappointed. Rather than taking the typical horror route, director Scott Derrickson opted to combine elements of courtroom drama into the mix. The result is a very engaging story of a priest on trial for conducting an exorcism that ends badly which includes all of the best elements of the courtroom drama genre, but loses much of its horror sensibility. Demon possession is some pretty scary stuff, and this is supposed to be based on actual events from Italy, but the interplay between the lawyers and the legalities of the case take much of the scariness out of the flashbacks.
Bewitched
This was a fun trip down memory lane; tributes to the 1964-72 television show abound. The modern story in the movie is a has-been actor (Will Ferrell) is tapped to play Darrin in a re-make of the show and the producers unknowingly cast a real witch (Nicole Kidman) to play Samantha. While the movie is fun and doesn't overtax your brain very much, the plot is very simple, and some of the gags just aren't funny. Inexplicably, the real-life witch playing Samantha on the re-make has a lot of kooky relatives with the same names and personalities as the character did on the TV show. But then, toward the end of the film, Steve Carell shows up as Uncle Arthur and plays the role as if he really is actor Paul Lynde playing the character of Uncle Arthur as if he was a real person. And doing it rather badly.
Madagascar
This computer-animated movie didn't live up to expectations at all. The trailer for Over the Hedge looked funnier than the movie itself. Much of the humor seemed forced and just not all that funny. And while it is typical in an animated movie like this one to have the characters emulate personalities of the voice-actors giving them life, my wife pointed out how distracting it was everytime the giraffe, Melman, spoke to be visualizing Ross Gellar from Friends simply because the character was voiced by David Schwimmer.
Sky High
I did expect quite a bit from this movie; while not based on any specific comic book, let's face it, it's still a comic book movie. And it was a fun movie. But it also took some liberties that didn't make much sense to me. Why does everyone (OK, almost everyone, but I won't say more and ruin anything for anyone) with a super power have only one super power? Who made up that rule?
And finally, we come to the last one ...
Crash
Officer Ryan: [talking on the phone] I wanna speak to your supervisor...
Shaniqua: I am my supervisor!
Officer Ryan: All right well, what's your name?
Shaniqua: Shaniqua Johnson.
Officer Ryan: Shaniqua. Big fucking surprise that is!
Shaniqua: Oh!
[Shaniqua hangs up]
In the credit where credit is due department, this was my wife's pick. I don't remember even hearing of it before. The tag line for the film was: "You think you know who you are. You have no idea." Between the quotes above and that tag line, you can probably guess that the movie deals with prejudice and discrimination and bigotry and the uglier side of life. Racism is a big part of it, but there is also sexism, elitism, ageism, anything that can separate two people and make them feel different from each other.
The characters are not one-dimensional either. They all have their faults, but most also have some redeeming qualities. Take Officer Ryan, played by Matt Dillon. Obviously he's a racist bigot. You get that much from the quote above. But the phone call that quote comes from is Ryan trying to cut through the bureaucracy and get his ailing father some medical treatment. Ryan, a character who commits a truly heinous act against another person in the film, is taking care of his father with genuine compassion and patience. Ryan even performs one of the most self-sacrificing acts depicted in the movie, making him the most despicable and the most heroic figure in the drama.
This was by far the best film we rented in terms of acting, portraying life, prompting one to think. But for those very same reasons, it is not a very happy movie which makes a person look at himself a little more critically than most of us usually care to look. I recommend it very highly.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
T is for transmission
No time to say much today, just checking in really. This is proving to be a bad, busy week due to vehicle woes. If I have more time tomorrow, I'll try to pop in and we'll do some DVD reviews. My wife and I rented seven movies this past weekend, and most of them were found lacking. How sad is that?
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Checking In
Nothing really much to say today, but wanted to check in before too much time had passed. Just got done updating the comics Web site a few minutes ago. Nothing added this week, but managed to sell a couple comics and removed them. Dunno how much I'll post this week. Thursday is my wife's and my anniversary. Going out of town for a few days. Likely will be Internet free most of the time. So, if I don't talk to you again, have a good weekend.
Friday, February 03, 2006
The Invasion Surfaces at the Threshold
I said this wouldn't always be about comics. Today I keep my word as we shift gears to television. Specifically, the almost completed 2005-06 sci-fi offerings by the three big networks. At the beginning of the fall 2005, each of the three had its own sci-fi "aliens are among us" series for public consumption. I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but I imagine most anyone reading this has already watched at least some of these programs.
CBS gave us Threshold -- my early favorite of the bunch. The premise was an alien object appeared in the sky over the ocean and "infected" those within sight and hearing range. Most people, being "incompatible" with the alien signal quickly died rather gruesome deaths, but a few were changed into alien agents whose main objective now became to infect others. The title refers to one of many government-sanctioned contingency plans. The government taps the author of the Threshold protocols -- Molly Caffrey, if memory serves -- and she assembles a small team of experts to covertly track down the "infectees" and stop the before they can spread the alien virus.
Threshold had a number of things going for it. Not least of which was a premise that lends itself well to continuing episodic television. We don't know the exact agenda, or even the true nature, of the aliens involved; that's the longer running mystery that keeps audiences coming back week after week as secrets are slowly revealed over two or three seasons. Meanwhile, each week, our heroes on the Threshold team track the infectees, stop massive plots to spread the alien virus through videos, the Internet or television, bicker and squabble among themselves, etc. The show had some very intelligent writing, some thought-provoking ideas, a good cast of actors, and a sustainable, TV-friendly premise. naturally, it died very quickly, first suffering from a floating schedule, then being absent for almost a month, and then finally, just never coming back.
NBC's take doesn't actually deal with aliens at all, although viewers couldn't be sure of that when Surface premiered. I wasn't sure about this series initially, but it has grown on me quite rapidly. This one involves the "discovery" of a new amphibious, vertebrate animal, living mostly under the sea. But these creatures can be very deadly. And very quickly after stumbling upon them, Laura Daughtrey, a young marine biologist and single mother has her life turned upside down by mysterious men trying to keep her quiet. Daughtrey is joined by Ridge, a good-ol' boy from down south, who has lost his brother to the creatures in a diving accident. And there's also Miles, a teenager who finds one of the creatures and takes it as a pet.
The animation on the creatures is very good. Again, a very good cast and good, consistent writing are present on this series. Especially the scenes between Miles and his creature, Nimrod, can be very engaging. My biggest fear for this show is whether or not it can be sustained for multiple seasons. Throughout the course of the show, we have learned quite a bit about the creatures and their origins. There are still mysteries unsolved, but it almost seems as if a future season would have to explore other aspects of the company or group of scientists who have genetically engineered these creatures. To be sure, we have seen hints that other creations of this conglomerate exist. But the show might lose some cohesion by switching to a new creature, and possibly even new investigators, in a new season. The attachments viewers have for Miles, Ridge and Daughtrey would be lost that way. But I'm not sure there will be anywhere left to go with these amphibians' story once this season is over. Things right now seem aimed at coming to a very large impasse. And, in fact, the future of this show beyond this season is still up in the air according to NBC.
The last of these shows is ABC's Invasion. Twinkling lights from the sky descend on a Florida community during a hurricane, and quite a few of the townsfolk just aren't quite the same afterwards in this series written, directed, produced, etc. by Shaun Cassidy.
I admit I watch this show every week. Apparently a lot of people do as this one has the strongest ratings of the three, and is the only one, so far, to definitely make it to a season two. I am afraid, however, that Invasion's status is due more to the fact that it follows ABC's blockbuster Lost each week and enjoys a large carry-over audience than anything else.
When I first heard that Shaun Cassidy had such a large hand in creating this show, I wanted it to be good. I'm old enough to have grown up with Shaun Cassidy singing on the radio and playing Joe Hardy on the Hardy Boys Mysteries. Good for him. I hope his show does well. But the writing isn't good or consistent. I want to like the characters in this show, and the premise is sound, but every week the writing seems to flounder, giving the actors nothing to hold onto. One of the primaries is Larkin, a journalist and pregnant mother-to-be, who has been shown as a dedicated person who will do what is necessary to get a story out to the public. And when she starts to suspect something strange going on, and finds signs of a military cover-up, she is willing to risk her own life to snoop around. A few weeks later, she seems to have forgotten all about investigating, even going so far as to get upset with her husband when he is trying to dig around and find out what is going on. hey, anybody can change his or her mind, right? I can roll with that once, maybe. Until a couple weeks later, when she is willing to risk her marriage to dig some more and expose secrets she only half understands herself. That's just one example. The dialogue often seems unnatural. People who seem to know all about what is going on may suddenly be in the dark themselves.
Lost is a good example of a show that keeps a viewer guessing with twists and turns, but still maintains that sense that the writers know exactly where they are ultimately going with everything. Invasion is the opposite, meandering at times as if the creator is trying to figure it all out as much as we are. That's not good.
It may not look like it, but I welcome comments from anyone who cares to offer them. Just click on the "#" after each post to leave comments until I (or most likely my wife) can figure out why the word "comment" isn't showing.
CBS gave us Threshold -- my early favorite of the bunch. The premise was an alien object appeared in the sky over the ocean and "infected" those within sight and hearing range. Most people, being "incompatible" with the alien signal quickly died rather gruesome deaths, but a few were changed into alien agents whose main objective now became to infect others. The title refers to one of many government-sanctioned contingency plans. The government taps the author of the Threshold protocols -- Molly Caffrey, if memory serves -- and she assembles a small team of experts to covertly track down the "infectees" and stop the before they can spread the alien virus.
Threshold had a number of things going for it. Not least of which was a premise that lends itself well to continuing episodic television. We don't know the exact agenda, or even the true nature, of the aliens involved; that's the longer running mystery that keeps audiences coming back week after week as secrets are slowly revealed over two or three seasons. Meanwhile, each week, our heroes on the Threshold team track the infectees, stop massive plots to spread the alien virus through videos, the Internet or television, bicker and squabble among themselves, etc. The show had some very intelligent writing, some thought-provoking ideas, a good cast of actors, and a sustainable, TV-friendly premise. naturally, it died very quickly, first suffering from a floating schedule, then being absent for almost a month, and then finally, just never coming back.
NBC's take doesn't actually deal with aliens at all, although viewers couldn't be sure of that when Surface premiered. I wasn't sure about this series initially, but it has grown on me quite rapidly. This one involves the "discovery" of a new amphibious, vertebrate animal, living mostly under the sea. But these creatures can be very deadly. And very quickly after stumbling upon them, Laura Daughtrey, a young marine biologist and single mother has her life turned upside down by mysterious men trying to keep her quiet. Daughtrey is joined by Ridge, a good-ol' boy from down south, who has lost his brother to the creatures in a diving accident. And there's also Miles, a teenager who finds one of the creatures and takes it as a pet.
The animation on the creatures is very good. Again, a very good cast and good, consistent writing are present on this series. Especially the scenes between Miles and his creature, Nimrod, can be very engaging. My biggest fear for this show is whether or not it can be sustained for multiple seasons. Throughout the course of the show, we have learned quite a bit about the creatures and their origins. There are still mysteries unsolved, but it almost seems as if a future season would have to explore other aspects of the company or group of scientists who have genetically engineered these creatures. To be sure, we have seen hints that other creations of this conglomerate exist. But the show might lose some cohesion by switching to a new creature, and possibly even new investigators, in a new season. The attachments viewers have for Miles, Ridge and Daughtrey would be lost that way. But I'm not sure there will be anywhere left to go with these amphibians' story once this season is over. Things right now seem aimed at coming to a very large impasse. And, in fact, the future of this show beyond this season is still up in the air according to NBC.
The last of these shows is ABC's Invasion. Twinkling lights from the sky descend on a Florida community during a hurricane, and quite a few of the townsfolk just aren't quite the same afterwards in this series written, directed, produced, etc. by Shaun Cassidy.
I admit I watch this show every week. Apparently a lot of people do as this one has the strongest ratings of the three, and is the only one, so far, to definitely make it to a season two. I am afraid, however, that Invasion's status is due more to the fact that it follows ABC's blockbuster Lost each week and enjoys a large carry-over audience than anything else.
When I first heard that Shaun Cassidy had such a large hand in creating this show, I wanted it to be good. I'm old enough to have grown up with Shaun Cassidy singing on the radio and playing Joe Hardy on the Hardy Boys Mysteries. Good for him. I hope his show does well. But the writing isn't good or consistent. I want to like the characters in this show, and the premise is sound, but every week the writing seems to flounder, giving the actors nothing to hold onto. One of the primaries is Larkin, a journalist and pregnant mother-to-be, who has been shown as a dedicated person who will do what is necessary to get a story out to the public. And when she starts to suspect something strange going on, and finds signs of a military cover-up, she is willing to risk her own life to snoop around. A few weeks later, she seems to have forgotten all about investigating, even going so far as to get upset with her husband when he is trying to dig around and find out what is going on. hey, anybody can change his or her mind, right? I can roll with that once, maybe. Until a couple weeks later, when she is willing to risk her marriage to dig some more and expose secrets she only half understands herself. That's just one example. The dialogue often seems unnatural. People who seem to know all about what is going on may suddenly be in the dark themselves.
Lost is a good example of a show that keeps a viewer guessing with twists and turns, but still maintains that sense that the writers know exactly where they are ultimately going with everything. Invasion is the opposite, meandering at times as if the creator is trying to figure it all out as much as we are. That's not good.
It may not look like it, but I welcome comments from anyone who cares to offer them. Just click on the "#" after each post to leave comments until I (or most likely my wife) can figure out why the word "comment" isn't showing.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
What the hell are 'kiddie cops'?
OK, while it's not officially a comment, my wife did ask that question (or one along those lines) after reading my most recent post. So, you get the answer, too.
"Kiddie cops" is one of those terms or phrases I use occasionally in my speech which comes from something I read, in this case a comic book. Specifically, The New Teen Titans annual 2 (1983), the comic which is directly responsible for my adult interest in comics.
Both my brother and I had read comics when we were much younger, but we didn't "collect" them. We'd get random issues of Spider-Man or Justice League of America or World's Finest Comics when Mom let us buy them from the grocery store, but they'd never last long enough to be collected. But in 1983, while on a youth group trip with friends, I spotted this comic book in the spinner rack convenience stores all used to have. To be honest, I didn't recognize most of the characters on the cover, but I was pretty sure the "floating head" on the lower right was Robin, the Boy Wonder. I picked up the issue and fell in love with the storytelling and intrigue, not to mention those stunning George Perez illustrations.
The story in the comic picks up in the middle of an investigation by the New Teen Titans (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Terra) and Manhattan district attorney Adrian Chase. The Titans believe that Chase and his family have just been killed by the organized crime family they are pursuing. In an audiotape left by Chase for the Titans, he refers to them as "kiddie cops." I thought it was clever at the time, and the phrase became part of my vocabulary.
This issue has much more to offer those interested in comics. Chase is, in fact, not dead and goes on to become the costuned vigilante ... Vigilante. Many others would use this moniker afterwards, but Adrian Chase was the first. This issue also features an appearance by a mysterious power broker for heroes and villains named the Monitor, a shadowy figure seen in various DC titles throughout the year. He would soon be revealed as an extra-terrestrial "monitoring" and testing various meta-humans for the upcoming blockbuster Crisis on Infinite Earths series. And at one point in the story, the Monitor is called upon to provide several assassins-for-hire to slay the Titans on behalf of that nasty organized crime family. Most of the villains make their one and only appearance in this issue, but one in particular, the Asian-American assassin Cheshire, would go on to be a major presence in the DC Universe.
Probably, I won't talk about comics every time I post, but this time I did, so it makes a nice transition into another quick topic. In a previous post, I had mentioned comics to sell which I had listed on a site called iOffer. That worked pretty well for a while, but I have so many comics to sell, I ended up creating my own site listing all of them. If you happened to find your way here and are interested, check out the site at http://www.angelfire.com/comics/tsgnightwing
And so long for now, kiddie cops.
"Kiddie cops" is one of those terms or phrases I use occasionally in my speech which comes from something I read, in this case a comic book. Specifically, The New Teen Titans annual 2 (1983), the comic which is directly responsible for my adult interest in comics.
Both my brother and I had read comics when we were much younger, but we didn't "collect" them. We'd get random issues of Spider-Man or Justice League of America or World's Finest Comics when Mom let us buy them from the grocery store, but they'd never last long enough to be collected. But in 1983, while on a youth group trip with friends, I spotted this comic book in the spinner rack convenience stores all used to have. To be honest, I didn't recognize most of the characters on the cover, but I was pretty sure the "floating head" on the lower right was Robin, the Boy Wonder. I picked up the issue and fell in love with the storytelling and intrigue, not to mention those stunning George Perez illustrations.
The story in the comic picks up in the middle of an investigation by the New Teen Titans (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Terra) and Manhattan district attorney Adrian Chase. The Titans believe that Chase and his family have just been killed by the organized crime family they are pursuing. In an audiotape left by Chase for the Titans, he refers to them as "kiddie cops." I thought it was clever at the time, and the phrase became part of my vocabulary.
This issue has much more to offer those interested in comics. Chase is, in fact, not dead and goes on to become the costuned vigilante ... Vigilante. Many others would use this moniker afterwards, but Adrian Chase was the first. This issue also features an appearance by a mysterious power broker for heroes and villains named the Monitor, a shadowy figure seen in various DC titles throughout the year. He would soon be revealed as an extra-terrestrial "monitoring" and testing various meta-humans for the upcoming blockbuster Crisis on Infinite Earths series. And at one point in the story, the Monitor is called upon to provide several assassins-for-hire to slay the Titans on behalf of that nasty organized crime family. Most of the villains make their one and only appearance in this issue, but one in particular, the Asian-American assassin Cheshire, would go on to be a major presence in the DC Universe.
Probably, I won't talk about comics every time I post, but this time I did, so it makes a nice transition into another quick topic. In a previous post, I had mentioned comics to sell which I had listed on a site called iOffer. That worked pretty well for a while, but I have so many comics to sell, I ended up creating my own site listing all of them. If you happened to find your way here and are interested, check out the site at http://www.angelfire.com/comics/tsgnightwing
And so long for now, kiddie cops.
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