According to Slice-of-Sci-Fi…

The weekend closed out the books for the summer season and while ticket sales were up to $4.35 billion, the highest total ever for a summer season, overall attendance was down. Attendance this . . . → Read More: Throwing spaghetti on the wall]]> This post is going to be like throwing spaghetti on the wall: I’m just gonna toss a lot of stuff up here and see what sticks. It worked for Oscar Madison (okay, that was linguini – work with me).

Movie prices

According to Slice-of-Sci-Fi…

The weekend closed out the books for the summer season and while ticket sales were up to $4.35 billion, the highest total ever for a summer season, overall attendance was down. Attendance this summer was 552 million, the lowest total since 1997.

So basically, they’ve raised movie ticket prices to the point where they’re not just making up for low attendance in an effort to stay afloat like the rest of us, they’re gouging us to the level that they’re breaking income records, despite the fact that almost no one is showing up! And they’re still producing mostly crap. That’s just rude.

Websites

Dan, one of the fellow contributors to the Coalition of Awesomeness, has started a new blog called Kids Telly. The blog is meant to provide a perspective on pop culture aimed at kids, including movies, books, TV, music, and kids’ websites. The first website he’s reviewed is a real winner, I think, for the young crowd (Preschool/Early Elementary). Poisson Rouge is a site that kids can use without adult intervention, for the most part, and it’s educational and fun. Here’s how Dan describes it:

The outstanding feature of Poisson Rouge (or Red Fish for any fellow francophonicphobes out there) is it’s simplicity. There are no unfriendly menus, no instructions to follow, and most importantly no need to be able to read to use it. The numerous games are varied, intuitive, and elegant; but above all the site is a great deal of fun.

Check it out if you’ve got young ones… and by ‘it’ here I mean both Poisson Rouge and Kids Telly.

And speaking of the Coalition of Awesomeness, there’s some good stuff going on there as well. For my part, I’ve talked about the failed Babylon 5 sequel, Crusade, plus five other shows cancelled too early, and posited Kermit the Frog as my answer for “who would you entrust the safety of the world?” Later this week (I think) you’ll get to read my defense of a Nicholas Cage film. Check out the site later in the week to find out which one. [Update: here it is.]

While I’m plugging sites, check this out. Amadio Artworks is a great find if you’re looking for unique handcrafted home and garden art. I can’t call myself an expert, but I’ve seen this stuff in person and it’s really, seriously, good. My aunt got this started and sucked in the rest of her family. She’s been in some pretty prestigious art and craft shows and always does very well. Give it a look.

Good comics and bad adaptations

Last night I watched the movie version of The Losers. I had read the comic book about a year ago, and absolutely loved it. Really well done action book that just screamed out to have a movie made of it. It’s one of those rare books that I’d actually read with a big geeky grin on my face like I’d just watched a really good Zorro or Jason Bourne film. The action was great, if a little over the top (though that was part of its charm), and the characters and plot were well drawn. The movie I watched last night was, sadly, a pale reflection of that story. I totally recognize that the length of a movie couldn’t cover all that happened in the books, but this film started at just about mediocre and then went downhill. It wasn’t horrible – it could be enjoyed as a brainless action flick – but it just never pulled it together enough to even be something I cared about. I’d put it right about the same level as Fantastic Four. Skip the movie. Read the comics.

These days I’m reading the The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I’m on book 4 at the moment, and I’m just now starting to enjoy it. I actually kind of disliked the first book but kept going due to it’s reputation. Books two and three were noticeably better, but I was mostly reading it as mildly entertaining. Book four now is starting to feel more cohesive and worth my time. It’s the first hint I’ve gotten that it might live up to its reputation. I’ve also just read that Warner Brothers is in negotiations to make a TV series of the story. That’s the kind of news that has fans hopeful, but with a huge – almost overwhelming – fear that they’ll screw it up. Honestly, I can’t see network TV doing it justice, even though I’m only about halfway through the story. Maybe something like HBO (who are also mentioned as pursuing the idea) could pull it off, but not a network. They’d have to go too mainstream.

Music

A few nights ago on Facebook someone posted a video of “Birdhouse in your Soul” by They Might Be Giants. I really like that song, and it managed to pull me into a YouTube session for a couple of hours. The last time that happened, I ended up revisiting some of my favorite Homestarrunner.com bits. This time I ended up going a different direction and exploring some of the kid-focused music of TMBG and Barenaked Ladies… and a little Animaniacs. Here are a couple of the highlights:

Here Come the Geese – Barenaked Ladies (I couldn’t find the album version)

Meet the Elements – TMBG

The Alphabet of Nations – TMBG (love the piano)

Nations of the world – Animaniacs (a classic)

There were a lot more in that session, but that’s a decent representation. Fun and educational!

Well, I think that’s enough for now. This turned out to be a little longer than I thought, and didn’t even get to the frustrating Doctor Who news (they’re splitting the next season in half – dumb, dumb, dumb!).

I gotta go clean up the spaghetti I used as the inspiration for this post. In the meantime… what’s on your mind?

Mostly this is evident in the movies – Iron Man, Spider-man, Watchmen, X-men, The Spirit, Green Lantern, Superman, and many, many more examples have been trotted . . . → Read More: Graphic novels are all the rage – Tuesday TubeWatch]]> Okay, that may be overstating it slightly, but comic book properties are getting a lot more attention in the last few years. The encouraging thing is that they are usually not being given a campy treatment, but rather are presented in a manner more consistent with the source material.

Mostly this is evident in the movies – Iron Man, Spider-man, Watchmen, X-men, The Spirit, Green Lantern, Superman, and many, many more examples have been trotted out in recent years, many of them very successfully. There have been others that are sourced from graphic novels but aren’t super-heroes. Usually those go out without most people realizing they are watching an adaptation.

I’m sure it’s happened before, but now TV is getting into the act. In the fall, Fox will be airing the show Human Target, which is based on a graphic novel. I don’t know anything about the graphic novel itself, but this trailer makes me want to see the show.

That really looks like a good show, to me (and it’s got Six in the premier, so it’s got that goin’ for it). I’d love to see some other non-super-hero graphic novels come to TV. The Losers, or 100 Bullets, for instance, would make exciting episodic TV. They’ve got great arc stories behind them, but could be mostly broken down into individual episodes, with a bit of embellishment here and there. (In fact, they would both need to be toned down for TV.) To do either of those as movies would likely do harm to the overall story as it have to be compacted too much.

What graphic novels would you like to see translated to live action? Do you think it would be better served as a TV show or a movie?

Going in to this film, I thought, “I hope they don’t stray too far from the book.” They didn’t. There were things removed for the sake of time, but for the most part everything that was in the movie came from the book. It was probably the most faithful retelling of . . . → Read More: Review: Watchmen]]> Watchmen broke ground as a comic book/graphic novel. The movie was extremely faithful, with few exceptions, to the book. Is that a good thing?

Going in to this film, I thought, “I hope they don’t stray too far from the book.” They didn’t. There were things removed for the sake of time, but for the most part everything that was in the movie came from the book. It was probably the most faithful retelling of a story as I’ve seen. And that’s why it failed.

I’m willing to devote a lot more time to a book’s attention to side stories. They’ve got time to develop them, and even to bring the side story into the central plot. In a film, you gotta stick to the core story with almost laser focus. Move the action forward at all times. It’s a rare film that can successfully explore the ancillary without losing itself.

A lot was cut from the book to make this movie. But it wasn’t cut nearly enough.

Also, there was a lot more graphic gore in this movie than was in the book. And that’s saying something.

For the most part, this film lost my wife by the end of the opening credits montage over “The Times They Are  a’Changing” by Bob Dylan. That whole piece was in there mostly for the fans. While it had some use in setting us in the bleak, depressive world of the film, it just went on too long and was too disjointed for the uninitiated.

The sex scenes were just boring, not to mention unnecessary. At least 2 couples walked out of the showing during these scenes and never returned. Whether they left because they were offended or simply bored, I’m not sure, but I don’t blame them.

I could probably go on for hours about the little successes and downfalls that combined to make this overall not worth the time, but also not patently terrible … more forgettable than anything. But there are two things that I want to say in direct comparison to the graphic novel.

First, as I feared, they made the superheros a little more “super” than is conveyed in the book. In my previous post I talked about that a bit. The most obvious example of it is in many of the fight scenes where people are being thrown around rather cavalierly by punches and kicks or making leaps that humans just can’t make. Nite Owl slides a little into Batman territory with his ‘cape gliding’ ability. Kind of annoying.

On the positive side, however, I think the mechanism by which the ending is brought about  – the villain’s end-game – is better in the movie than in the book. I really think the movie made a good improvement in that category. Good job there.

Oh… one more thing. The use of music for this film was absolutely horrible. Seriously. Just bad, bad, song choices placed in entirely inappropriate scenes. Bad.

If they hadn’t felt compelled to stick so fanatically to the source material, I think this movie could have been made well and fit in approximately two hours – maybe a bit more – and not sacrificed the core story. Fanboys would have cried and wailed, but the movie would have been so much better.

Two and a half stars.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying this was the best superhero movie . . . → Read More: Review: Iron Man]]> Robert Downey Jr. has been touted as the perfect choice to play Tony Stark. When I first saw the trailer I was doubtful about that choice. I always pictured Stark as taller, and with a deeper voice. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I’m over that. He did a great job, and I really can’t think of any better choice. Excellent casting.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying this was the best superhero movie ever. Before I saw the movie, I doubted that would be true, though I figured it would make a good shot at the title. Turns out I was right on that one. This took a heck of a shot, but it doesn’t, in my opinion, take down the reigning king, Spiderman. Here’s why: I left both of the first two Spiderman films elated and breathless; Iron Man had me happy and pumped. Great reactions to both franchises, but it’s a matter of degrees — Spidey gave me the extra effort.

To be fair, going in to it I prefer Spidey over Iron Man. I’ve always been intrigued by Iron Man, but never captivated. So I guess I’m not impartial. I do think it’s possible to make an argument that the Spidey films are objectively superior, primarily on the strength of the story coming through on a more personal, rather than global level. But let’s get back to concentrating on the current movie for itself.

First of all, the eye-candy level is impressive. Lots and lots of nice shots. The suit looks and works great. But that’s not the focus of the movie. As with all the best special effects movies, the effects are there merely to support the story. It’s a very good story, too. The uncaring head of the world’s leading weapons manufacturer comes face-to-face with the reality of his own inventions and realizes that he has to undo the damage he has done. It’s a big task, on a global level. The movie keeps it manageable and the bad guys are terrorists, not governments, which ensures we’re rooting for the hero without damaging the movie’s marketability.

There are a lot of nods in there for comic fans, too, which is nice. Supporting character Rhodey gets to telegraph his eventual role as Iron Man’s partner, War Machine. S.H.I.E.L.D gets a huge nod (though I won’t comment on the rumored presence or absence of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury). There is a definite setup for an Avengers flick, and an obvious potential for a whole series of Iron Man movies.

My vote for best moment in the entire movie – the moment that made me actually loudly exclaim “Oh, Yeah!!” before the rest of the audience reacted, was actually a moment that was partially played for subtle comic effect, as well as dramatic. The way he took out the terrorists holding hostages in the town was just too cool, and I didn’t see it coming. Absolutely perfect.

But now I have to come back to something that didn’t work as well for me. And the problem I have is that I don’t know who to pin it on. This could be the way the character is in the comics (I really haven’t read much Iron Man), or it could be the way he is written for the movie, or it could be the director’s choices, or it could be on Downey Jr.’s shoulders: aside from early on, about midway through the cave sequence in the beginning, I don’t ever get much in the way of emotion or conflict – there were opportunities for that to come through, I think, but it didn’t – unless you count innuendo. Very little in the way of vulnerability. I do recognize that that was a conscious choice, I just think it could have been loosened up a bit – at least for a scene or two. It kept me from being as emotionally invested in the character as I could have been.

Maybe that’s always been present in the character. That could explain why I never got fully caught up in the series. I just don’t relate to him as well as to some other superhero characters (specifically, Spiderman, Superman, and Batman come to mind).

Anyway… despite the flaws I’ve seen, I still think this is easily in the top five best superhero/comic movies ever. It should prove to be a strong franchise, and is probably positioned better than any other comic book movie to spawn spin-offs and cross-overs. In the comics, Tony’s worked with just about everybody in the Marvel Universe at one time or another. I anticipate at least one sequel, probably more, and an Avengers spin-off, and I eagerly look forward to them.

And DO NOT LEAVE until after the credits. You’ll be glad you stayed.

So… 4 stars.

(1 down, 12 to go.)

see more crazy cat pics

There needs to be a Hitman Monkey comic book. A depressed monkey running around whacking people… what’s funnier than that?!

“Hitman Monkey: No Funny Business”

Oh, man… that would have been an awesome background character in a Tick episode. He could have been in the background in every scene quietly taking out the “extras”.