Public domain pulp character The Black Bat gets the micro-budget treatment in this flawed – but not unwatchable – modern updating from director Scott Patrick.
Tony Quinn (Jody Haucke) is a respected district attorney who turns into a pistol-packing vigilante after he’s blinded by an acid splashing gangster named Oliver Snate (though my wife got really tired of me asking “did he say ‘Snake’ or ‘Snape’?” whenever they said his name. In my defense it’s really not clear a good 80% of the time).
And, yes, if all of this sounds like some sort of weird (Daredevil + Batman)/Harvey Dent = Black Bat mashup you’re not far off. The Black Bat and Batman debuted around the same time and lawsuits were threatened by both sides until a deal was brokered that allowed the two characters to peacefully co-exist... though one did it much more successfully than the other. Black Bat even sports an Alfred-esque sidekick named Silk (Richard Groen) who wants to pay the DA back for saving him from a life of crime.
Though blinded by the acid, Quinn has surgery that gives him night vision (hence the “bat” reference in his name). Armed with this ability he sets about dismantling Snake/Snape/Snate’s empire and bringing justice to his city.
RISE OF THE BLACK BAT’s budget constraints are visible throughout, most notably in the found sets, dinner theater level acting and world’s worst T&A bikini contest (I’ve never been so happy to hear the words “you can’t get nude”). Add in the 15 minutes of credits, regurgitated footage and comic extras and it’s basically 65 minutes masquerading as a feature.
You’ll never confuse RISE OF THE BLACK with the big budget Marvel or DC output, and it’s not as inspired as ALL SUPERHEROES MUST DIE, but it’s certainly not the worst superhero flick you’ll ever see. – Dan Taylor
Not every comic book movie needs to be a dark, dreary affair – sometimes they can just be fun and remind us why we ever gravitated to that 7-11 spinner rack in the first place. Like Andy Sirkis’ VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE which finds down-on-his-luck reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) looking to get back on top by getting a scoop on serial killer Cletus Kasaday (Woody Harrelson in a succession of bad hairpieces).
After an encounter between Kasaday, Brock and Venom (Brock’s sentient alien symbiote) leads to the creation of an evil, red symbiote named Carnage, it’s up to the bickering Brock and Venom to take him down. Better than the original, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE is freed up from the weight of any dull origin story and treats the viewer to lots of big, dumb, loud fun. GRADE: B+.
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE is available from Redbox and via Amazon. – Dan Taylor
"It's the movie business... and life is not fair." – Oley Sassone, THE FANTASTIC FOUR Director
I still remember where and when I first saw the Roger Corman-produced version of THE FANTASTIC FOUR that had been splashed across the cover of the slick, glossy version of Film Threat like it was a real, big-screen movie coming to one of the 327 screens that surrounded my suburban NJ home. It was the July 4th holiday in the summer of 1995 and I was in personal limbo. Relationships seemed to be hanging by tenuous threads, I hated my job, I hated my life, and I was teaching myself something called HTML so I could start a website. Whatever that was.
But on that summer afternoon I was content to kick back with some old friends, knock back some cheap beers, and watch, well, I'm not sure what. The flick – starring Jay Underwood from the cherished, hysterical afterschool special THE DAY MY KID WENT PUNK – had snuck onto the collector/grey market after the finished product had been shelved. As the story went, the film had never been intended for release and had only been rushed through production (a Corman specialty) in order to maintain the rights for a bigger payday with a major studio.
What's hard to remember – and, perhaps, harder to believe given their recent success – is that in the early 1990s when THE FANTASTIC FOUR went in front of the cameras with director Oley Sassone at the helm, is that live action Marvel adaptations were pretty much considered a joke. Oh, sure, I might have loved Rex Smith as Daredevil in the Incredible Hulk TV movie, but not everybody felt the same. And, yes, that's the dad from Disney's long-running 'Good Luck Charlie' as Thor (or some weird SoCal surfer approximation thereof) in a subsequent, and excruciating, Hulkflick.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR, on the surface, was a different story. There was a recognizable name or two behind the project (the aforementioned Corman, the Concorde/New Horizon video label) and even some familiar faces in front of the camera (Underwood [The Human Torch] plus Hollywood sons Joseph Culp [Dr. Doom] and Alex Hyde-White [Reed Richards]). Sure, it had one-thirty-fifth the budget of Tim Burton's BATMAN (1989), but wouldn't all involved have been happy with one-thirty-fifth of that flick's $250 million gross?
Directed by Marty Langford, DOOMED does an excellent job of tracking the story of the aborted/shelved THE FANTASTIC FOUR from its nascent days as a Marvel Comics adaptation straight through to the revelation that corporate entities have pretty much played everyone involved - including the sweet, grandfatherly Corman - for suckers. There's the initial sniffing around (when Troma honcho Lloyd Kauffman smells something fishy you're probably better off walking away, too), the rushed casting (that somehow lands a group of passionate actors), and the even more rushed shooting schedule (cast members contend they never rehearsed or met until the set).
Everyone involved with the film's production seems to genuinely believe in the flick, if not as a passion project, at least as a feather in their cap on the path to future Hollywood employment. Unfortunately, it appears more sinister forces are at work as the project gets delayed and, eventually, bought out and shelved. It's telling that neither Stan Lee nor Avi Arad agreed to be interviewed, despite what the filmmakers say were repeated attempts to get them on camera, not to mention footage of Marvel tastemaker Lee belittling the flick before a comic loving crowd of nerds.
Kudos to Langford and Co. for shedding more light onto one of Hollywood's urban legends, especially since the original THE FANTASTIC FOUR – myriad flaws aside – has way more comic book heart than the cold, corporate reboots that have followed in its wake. – Dan Taylor
The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media returns with a super-sized 30th anniversary issue clocking in at 130 pages!
This time out the ER Crew looks at the world of horror anthology films with a special review section featuring SLAUGHTER TALES (2012), TORTURE GARDEN (1967), THE UNCANNY (1977), TOMB OF TERROR (2004), HOLIDAYS (2016), GRIM PRAIRIE TALES (1990), ASYLUM (1972), THE BURNING MOON (1992), CRADLE OF FEAR (2007), SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT (1979) and many more. Plus, we look inside the world of 21st century anthology flicks with filmmaker Scarlet Fry.
We remember THE DESTROYER co-creator Warren Murphy with an interview by The Paperback Fanatic and examine the legacy of Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan (THE EXECUTIONER) and other men's action heroes via reviews, articles and an interview with author Mike Newton.
Obscure horror gets its due thanks to an interview with Gary Wallace (star of video store oddity THE JAR) while Evan Romero waxes nostalgic about Joe D'Amato's PORNO HOLOCAUST and breaks down the films of Jorg Buttgereit.
Longing for the sights, sounds and smells of old movie theaters? Take a trip through Kris Gilpin's theatrical scrapbook while Chris Poggiali examines the history of hot pants cinema.
And what would an issue of Exploitation Retrospect be without a bulging review section? Join Douglas Waltz, Mitch Lovell, John Grace, Devin Kelly, David Zuzelo, Jim Ivers, Evan Romero, Eric Miller, Neil Vokes, Robert Segedy, Mike Hauss and Dan Taylor as they dive deep into a video vortex of horror, action, exploitation and sleaze.
With all the attention being lavished upon the recent spate of DC Universe animated films – and rightly so as a number of them kick ass – I thought I'd circle back to an underrated favorite that's celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Plus, Halloween is right around the corner so the timing couldn't be better.
Spun off from the Saturday morning animated series THE BATMAN (2004-2008), the feature-length THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA finds The Caped Crusader not only matching wits with re-designed but familiar foes like The Penguin and The Joker, but the titular King of the Undead (voiced by Peter Stormare) as well.
Fresh off an escape from Arkham Asylum, Joker and Penguin head for a cache of loot supposedly buried in Gotham Cemetery. While Bats engages Joker, Penguin inadvertently stumbles upon and re-animates Dracula, whose coffin was plopped on a boat and ended up in Gotham after the events depicted in Stoker's novel.
Brought back to "life" by Penguin's blood, Dracula becomes intrigued by tales of The Batman and the influence his legacy has had on the vigilante. (I'm not sure how but Dracula even has cable and a big-screen tv in his crypt.) With eyewitness reports flowing in of a bat-like creature kidnapping citizens, The Batman falls under suspicion for the disappearances and must deal with the Gotham PD in addition to his undead foe, whom The World's Greatest Detective has deduced is Dracula by writing down the alias ALUCARD and looking at it in the mirror.
Debuting about a decade after the conclusion of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1992-1995), I always feel like THE BATMAN series gets overlooked. While nowhere near as dark, influential or artsy as its predecessor, THE BATMAN gets points for exploring the early days of the character – he's 26 in the first episode – and for bringing foes and supporting characters to life with a redesign that employs sharp angles and a more vibrant palette, courtesy of the folks behind THE JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES (which I may or may not have watched on a regular basis in the early part of this millennium).
Despite debuting on The Cartoon Network and sharing lineage with the Saturday morning show, the flick isn't for little kids. Animation screenwriting vet/JACKIE CHAN co-creator Duane Capizzi piles on the hoary old Dracula cliches (Vicki Vale resembles Drac's bride Carmilla for instance) but also tosses in shades of BATMAN: YEAR ONE and Tobe Hooper's LIFEFORCE to create a never dull mix of action and horror that keeps things moving at a nice clip. – Dan Taylor Dan Taylor is the editor and publisher of Exploitation Retrospect and The Hungover Gourmet. For more reviews check out our website and be sure to follow ER on Facebook and Twitter.
Nothing like getting the cinematic year off to a good start. Watched 16 flicks during the month including two rewatches (BATMAN BEGINS and KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK) and not one flick that made me question my sanity as a movie lover.
There were more than a few pleasant surprises including the low-budget customed caper ALL SUPERHEROES MUST DIE, Arnold's comeback vehicle THE LAST STAND and AFTERSHOCK (with Eli Roth as an American tourist in Chile who must survive the aftermath of an earthquake... and worse) plus a couple flicks that totally lived up to their reps (Duke Mitchell's jaw-dropping MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE, the Linda Blair revenge-a-thon SAVAGE STREETS and REWIND THIS!, the first of several VHS-related documentaries I hope to catch this year).
The most pleasant surprise of all may have been 2013's HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, which I had dismissed as an uninspired VAN HELSING rip-off, if such a thing is even possible. Turns out it was actually gory fun as the titular characters and their monster-fighting pals stomped heads and, well, hunted witches with glee.
Here's the running list for January... and the new year so far...
The recently-relaunched Exploitation Retrospect: The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media is currently accepting submissions for our Fall 2013 issue (#52).
We are especially looking for:
reviews of horror, sci-fi, exploitation and low-budget cinema available via DVD, Blu-Ray, VHS and streaming formats;
interviews with non-mainstream actors, actresses, directors, producers;
articles in the 1200-2500 word range (can be career overviews, genre explorations, etc.);
comic, magazine, zine and book reviews.
In addition to our usual lineup of horror, sci-fi and exploitation cinema the issue will also feature the debut of our new ASSIGNMENT: ACTION! section featuring reviews of men's adventure novels of the 70s/80s and beyond, action cinema, remembrances of memorable action series and characters and so on. If you dig Remo Williams, The Chameleon, The Penetrator, ABLE Team, The Executioner and their ilk we are definitely seeking contributions from you!
Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2013 with an anticipated publication date of mid-October. All contributors will receive a complimentary copy of the issue. (Please note... this is a hard deadline in order to make our print date and any submissions received after this date may not be included in the issue.)
If you have ideas for interviews, articles or other contributions please contact me via e-mail before embarking on anything.
Not sure contributing to ER is right for you? Feel free to explore this blog, check out our long-running website or order a copy of ER #51 (still available from our website... now in its second printing).
Ahhhh, April. The grass is green and thick, the weather is warm enough for shorts and flip-flops, and the Stanley Cup playoffs are right around the corner.
But these days, April brings an added bonus: our now annual (?) trek down to Asheville, NC for ActionFest. As much as I enjoy spending time with like-minded pals at horror conventions and shows there's something about ActionFest that I find supremely appealing.
Maybe it's the setting. Asheville is a quaint, laid-back college town filled with independent restaurants, cool shops, cigar stores and a bustling brew culture.
Maybe it's the location. Did I mention that the Carolina Theater, home base to the festival, features a bar complete with draft beer (including a special ActionFest-inspired brew), comfy seats and a staff that will bring your grub right to your seat.
Maybe it's the Fryz.The Hungover Gourmet in me is already itching to head to French Fryz, a small burger and shake joint that became a habit for us during last year's trip. Great made-to-order burgers and coma-inducing shakes (like the chocolate and peanut butter) will surely be consumed again this year.
Maybe it's the flicks. Yeah, the flicks. This year's lineup hasn't been finalized (as far as I know) but I'm looking forward to checking out stuff like the hockey fight flick GOON, THE AGGRESSION SCALE, Bobcat Goldthwaite's buzzed-about GOD BLESS AMERICA, and the retro-sounding vigilante flick BADASS (which I hope is truly "badass" and not some cult wanna-be bs like MACHETE or HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN). I'm also crossing my fingers for a screening of guest of honor Gina Carano's HAYWIRE and other pleasant surprises.
Just to refresh your memory, here are capsules of everything we checked out on our visit last year...
I SAW THE DEVIL: Not for the faint of heart. When a secret service agent's wife is killed by a brutal serial killer he takes a leave of absence to hunt the bludgeon-crazy monster. To say too much more would spoil this riveting and at-times gruesome thriller. (This wasn't an ActionFest selection but fellow Man of Action Bruce Holecheck of Cinema Arcana and I checked it out at the theater upon our arrival.)
MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED: The latest doc from the NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD team focuses on the Fillipino-American action-adventure flicks from the likes of Roger Corman and Co. Definitely fun but not overly revelatory.
LITTLE BIG SOLDIER: If – like me – you started finding a lot of Jackie Chan's output to be juvenile and stupid (I'm looking at you FIRST STRIKE!), this period piece is a nice return to form, with an older Chan knowing his limitations and turning them into strengths. Chan plays a reluctant soldier who just wants to turn in the enemy general he's captured for some land to farm but it certainly won't be that easy.
SUPER: James Gunn's subversive, violent and funny spin on real-life superheroes showcases Rainn Wilson as a wrench-wielding vigilante who just wants his drug addict wife (Liv Tyler) back from the clutches of an evil drug dealer/strip club owner (Kevin Bacon). Definitely a roller coaster ride with a great performance from the usually-annoying Ellen Paige. Definitely superior to the too-slick KICK-ASS.
NEVER BACK DOWN 2 - THE BEAT DOWN: Action star Michael Jai White makes his directorial debut with this rousing dose of ass-kickery set in the world of MMA. White is an ex-con who helps train a bevy of college students for an upcoming underground card, only to be hassled by The Man.
BLACK DYNAMITE: Almost note-perfect homage to 70s blaxploitation features Jai White as a super pimp who springs into action after his brother gets killed. Dips its toe into broad parody on occasion but gut-bustingly funny.
BANGKOK KNOCKOUT: If you can make it through the fifteen minute "plot" set up you'll be richly rewarded with this loco blend of martial arts and HOSTEL. Once the pesky storyline gets pushed aside it's an eye-popping stunt show with lots of lives being endangered for your entertainment.
BAIL ENFORCERS: Funny and highly-entertaining low-budget actioner with former WWE starlet Trish Stratus starring as a strip club waitress who also happens to be a pistol-packing bail enforcement agent. A simple job forces Trish and her team (including the hysterical Boomer Phillips as a failed cop wannabe) into a confrontation with a mobster looking to do away with a snitch. (Retitled BOUNTY HUNTERS for its DVD release.)
A LONELY PLACE TO DIE: Definitely the best "movie" of ActionFest, though NEVER BACK DOWN 2 may have been the one that most entertained me. Melissa George (TRIANGLE) stars as a mountaineer who – along with a group of friends – stumbles into a kidnapping plot of international proportions. The flick zigs and zags in unexpected directions and is packed with breathtaking scenery and stunts. Though not in the same genre, director Julien Gilbey's exhilarating flick reminded me a bit of Neil Marshall's excellent DESCENT thanks to a great cast with believable chemistry.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN: Disappointing Troma wannabe that wastes a good premise. Rutger Hauer just wants to buy a lawn mower and start a landscaping business, but the rampant crime in his new town causes him to buy a shotgun and clean up the streets in other ways. Has all the broad humor and over-the-top attitude of the 80s Troma output but without any of the wit or intelligence that lurked behind the trash facade of films like CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH and THE TOXIC AVENGER.
13 ASSASSINS: Takashi Miike's latest is a "let's assemble a team" mission flick set in the final days of the samurai era. In an effort to end the reign of an evil and heartless ruler, an aging samurai gathers a team of assassins to kill the sadistic ruler before he can command more power. No real surprises but it's always fun to watch the team come together and the last 45 minutes is a non-stop fightfest as the assassins and the lord's army meet.
I know a lot of people are excited for the SHARKTOPUS flick but a Bangalese Hulk flick with a rickshaw that transforms into a machine gun-sporting super-weapon? I'm there.
My love for all things Batman pretty much knows no bounds and cuts across all eras of The Caped Crusader's career. So it was with great interest that I started watching BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD over at The Cartoon Network on Friday nights. Based on the classic DC superhero team-up title, each week finds Batman teaming with another hero to take down a supervillain.
My first reaction to news of the show was faint skepticism. As a child of the 70s I suffered through lots of SUPERFRIENDS episodes and other lame Batman cartoons just to see The Caped Crusader in action. My patience was finally rewarded with the excellent BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, still my favorite adaptation of Batman on-screen (big or little), but it has been off the air since the 1990s and succeeding incarnations of an animated Dark Knight Detective have been hit-or-miss (namely BATMAN BEYOND, THE JUSTICE LEAGUE and the recent THE BATMAN).
The new show show walks a pretty fine line between THE ANIMATED SERIES and SUPER-FRIENDS, though it hews closer to the former most of the time. Yes, the dialogue can be a bit hokey, the depiction of Batman gives the character strength that often seems superhuman, and there's a fair amount of gadgetry. But the overall feel of the show is such that I don't feel like a complete and total dork settling in to watch it on a Friday night while my daughter sleeps and the wife works late.
If you haven't seen the show yourself, try and catch this week's episode "Dawn of the Dead Man". This one is easily my favorite episode yet of this new Bats cartoon, this time with a very horror bent as Bats, Dead Man, Green Arrow and Speedy team up in the UK to battle Gentleman Ghost as he tries to raise an army of undead villains.
Packed with great horror imagery including a skeletal ghost horse and a mountain of skulls under a graveyard, the episode has a serious 70s/horror Batman vibe including one of those iconic teaser cover images with a tombstone reading 'Here Lies Batman' with his utility belt draped over the corner.
Check out the network's schedule to see when it re-airs and give this new twist on an old Bat a try.
And while you're at it, point your browser to Bat-Blog, a great blog about Batman shows, comics, movies, toys, characters and collectibles.
IRON MAN 2 casting rumors continue to swirl, including Sam Rockwell (whose every role seems to get labeled his "breakthrough performance" only to see the film bomb), the hot again Mickey Rourke, and – according to a story at SlashFilm – Emily Blunt.
Blunt, memorable as the high-strung assistant in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, seems better suited as a non-superhero romantic interest but the story reports that she's being considered for the role of The Black Widow, a curvy, hot Soviet-spy-turned-assassin.
Don't get me wrong. Blunt seems like a nice gal and a fine actress. But The Black Widow she is not. Not to get all comic nerd geeky on you or anything.
I questioned the logic of a big-screen adaptation of Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT right off the bat. Whatever Eisner's cred with comic fans the character is largely unknown by the general public and I felt like producers were setting themselves up for a failure of epic proportions. Think THE PHANTOM and THE SHADOW.
Early teasers, clips and trailers did nothing to assuage those fears, with the flick coming off like a dumbed-down SIN CITY with Samuel L. Jackson in full-blown, scenery-chomping mode.
Well, the early reviews are starting to trickle in and even the fanboys over at Ain't It Cool News (whose views I usually take with a grain of salt) are pretty harsh in their assessment, calling it a "steaming pile of shit" that rivals John Travolta's BATTLEFIELD EARTH. Mainstream criticism is slightly more even-handed, though no less damning, with Variety labeling the flick as "Self-parody".
It seems almost insulting to call Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT a “superhero” or “comic book” movie. Such pigeonholing lumps it into a genre crowded with lame efforts like any Superman movie after SUPERMAN II, and the third installments of both the SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN franchises, not to mention such drivel as CAPTAIN AMERICA, GHOST RIDER, the FANTASTIC FOUR films (Corman and Alba varieties), THE PUNISHER and so on.
While Nolan’s BATMAN BEGINS successfully re-booted the franchise after the horror of the Schumacher years, it was definitely a comic book/superhero film. Nolan spun the tragic tale of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and gave it his own unique flair, playing fast and loose with some of the hero’s foes, allies and backstory while coming up with a highly entertaining and occasionally brooding look at how the Caped Crusader came to be.
The last third of BEGINS hinted at the darkness that was coming in KNIGHT and that film’s final rooftop meeting between Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Batman still brings a chill to my spine whenever I watch it. The veteran cop suggests that his new ally has shaken things up in Gotham City while escalating the crime and criminals they would both face. Audiences cheered when it became clear The Joker would play a role in any sequel, but none of us could have expected what we would see.
As portrayed by the late Heath Ledger, The Joker isn’t like any Batman villain we’ve seen before. There’s no flashback or origin, and even The Joker tells varying tales of how he got the jagged, sinister scars that recall the character’s original inspiration, THE MAN WHO LAUGHED. A master manipulator, Ledger’s Joker lurches, cackles and sputters through the film’s (too long) 152 minute running time using Batman, Gordon, new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and Wayne/Dent love interest Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhall) as marionettes in his own sick puppet show.
If BEGINS was about coming face-to-face with and conquering the fears within, KNIGHT is about the inevitable fall from grace despite your best efforts to do good (with a few nods to post-9/11 homeland security to boot). Though overly plotted the flick is action-packed from its opening bank robbery (featuring PRISON BREAK’s William Fincher in a small role as a mob bank manager) to its almost operatic conclusion, often paced at such breakneck, dizzying speed that you wish it would slow down and catch its breath so you could do the same.
THE DARK KNIGHT is an exhilarating experience and Ledger’s film-stealing performance is as good as advertised. I don’t know if an Oscar nod is really in the cards (no pun intended) but I certainly wouldn’t quibble. His sinister turn makes Nicholson’s two-bit hamminess in Tim Burton’s overrated BATMAN look as dated and laughable as Cesar Romero’s mustachioed take on the character circa 1966.
Not everybody else fares quite as well, though. Bale, so good as Bruce Wayne in BEGINS, spends most of his time here in the Batsuit, snarling in a rasp that’s at times indecipherable. Aaron Eckhart seems too pretty to be Harvey Dent but turns in an impressively rage-filled Two-Face when the time comes. Gyllenhall, replacing Katie Holmes in the Rachel Dawes role, is as bland and ineffective as her predecessor and it’s hard to believe this not-quite-raving beauty is the apple of the eye of such lady killers as Wayne and Dent. Oldman is his usual solid self, as are Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman returning as Batman’s butler and tech guru, respectively.
Quibbles aside, THE DARK KNIGHT is an impressive, often epic piece of modern pop culture filmmaking. Comparisons to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK – the best and darkest entry in the original STAR WARS trilogy are apt – and KNIGHT, too, feels like the second chapter in an epic saga. One can only hope that if Nolan, Bale and Co. regroup for a third act that they avoid the pitfalls of films like SPIDER-MAN 3, X-MEN 3 and RETURN OF THE JEDI.
I'm off to Seattle in the AM for the Emerald City Comicon and, more importantly, the annual gathering of my pals from the Eurotrash Paradise. Probably won't be posting much over the next couple days, though I'm guessing that Seattle does have an internet cafe or twenty. More next week...
Quick link to a lengthy interview with Brandon Routh in which he talks about the JUSTICE LEAGUE flick, his upcoming role as Dylan Dog in DEAD OF NIGHT, and what's on tap for MAN OF STEEL.
With each TV spot my anticipation for IRON MAN grows. Have you seen the one shot like test footage on a camcorder? The rockets shoot Stark up, flip him over and SLAM him into a wall.
The onslaught of ads has certainly increased the film's visibility and SlashFilm reports it's tracking big, with an anticipated $60 million+ opening weekend. BTW, the flick will open in some cities at 8 PM on Thursday, May 1.
Not the same excitement for the ghastly looking SPEED RACER. Tracking firms are reporting that definite interest in the flick is only around 30% compared to 50% for IRON MAN.
I spent the better part of yesterday dealing with customer service issues that nearly caused my eyes and ears to rupture and over the past few days I've received a handful of completely different stories and run-arounds from my bank of ten years, not to mention having to deal with a bunch of work-related headaches.
So I was really looking forward to last night. Not only were the Flyers playing a pivotal game in their first-round series with the Caps, but my years of watching, defending and waiting – all in the name of SMALLVILLE – were about to be rewarded.
I'm no Superman fan. Let me get that out there right off the bat. I prefer my superheroes a bit darker, frequently with some sort of raging psychopathic revenge streak boiling in their blood. But I decided to give SMALLVILLE shot when it came on eight (!) years ago and liked this new take on the Boy Scout's backstory.
Frankly, the highlight of the show was regularly the Luthors: Michael Rosenbaum as Lex and John Glover as his father, Lionel. While Lionel was clearly a villainous, manipulative presence at first and Lex more a shade of grey than truly evil, the characters have progressed and flip-flopped over the course of eight seasons.
Most notably, in recent seasons Lionel has become a protector of Tom Welling's Clark Kent/Kal-El, an emissary of sorts for his Kryptonian father while Lex has been delving deeper and deeper into the dark side, deluded by his beliefs that he's interested in nothing more than protecting the people of Earth.
So, when promos began teasing last night's episode in which Lex killed Lionel – finally delivering on the statement that he is "the villain of this story" – I was quite pleased. Rosenbaum has always been the main reason to watch the show, delivering a layered, nuanced performance as the future super-villain that has been fun to watch. But, to be honest, the flashes of him in full-blown super bad-ass mode have been too few and far between of late and I was really looking forward to some homicidal villainy.
Which meant that it was only fitting that there was some sort of mysterious outage last night that affected DVR cable boxes only, meaning that I neither got to see the first 20 minutes of the show nor did my cable box record it! Argh!
Thanks to some comic-loving pals (stop by Comix That Witness Madness) – and increased chatter about some of the upcoming superhero film adaptations – I've been diving back into the world of comics and graphic novels. Here are some of my recent reads:
ESSENTIAL WEREWOLF BY NIGHT VOL 1 Hugely entertaining collection I probably would have never picked up without prodding by some pals who know my taste for groovy age horror fun. Kept wondering just how they'd get hero Jack Russell into situations that'd require his lycanthropic skill set each and every issue and damn if they didn't do it. Loved the overriding conspiracy that's at play, the history of Jack's family, the tension of whether or not his sister will also become a werewolf, and all the weirdo touches that were seen in the first 20 or so issues. Was very disappointed by the TOMB OF DRACULA/WEREWOLF crossover but the monster mash with the hijacking hunchback more than made up for it. VOL 2 is sitting on my nightstand just waiting for me to dive in. Buy Vol. 1 at Amazon
WATCHMEN A re-read for probably the third or fourth time spurred by the recent photos and news from the set of the film. After finishing the book last night I'm more curious than ever how they're going to weave the storylines, characters and Moore's techniques into a two hour flick. I still think the book bogs down around chapter ten, some of the writing is a bit stiff, and the mystery of who's behind it all has always seemed transparent, but the how and why is a stunner and the last chapter always leaves me staggered. Great stuff and it's easy to see why the creator of LOST is such a fan... you can see direct links to the show's sometimes bewildering mythos in the pages. Buy at amazon
BATMAN: YEAR ONE and THE KILLING JOKE Re-reads as well, courtesy of TOMB IT MAY CONCERN's Davey Z. Always loved YEAR ONE and read it faithfully during its initial run. As much as I love BATMAN BEGINS I've always wished they'd do this kind of take on the character without the high-tech suit, etc. KILLING JOKE's a fun one-shot, lots of exploration of The Joker's origins and psyche and an oddly satisfying last scene with Bats and the Joker sharing a laugh. Too bad BIRDS OF PREY didn't last longer as its opening sequence hinted at some of the elements of KILLING JOKE in its set-up. Buy Year One and The Killing Joke at amazon
Next up... NEW FRONTIERS Vol. 1 & 2, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT: Vol 2
