Michael Hutchison: September 2005 Archives
Roger Ebert's review gives it three stars. I guess it doesn't matter that I watched a bit of Firefly before my review; Ebert is blissfully unaware of most TV shows (a point of pride with him, though it leaves him ill-fit to review Bewitched, Dukes of Hazzard and the like) so you now have your "uninformed Joe" review.
If you want to see a typical Firefly tambourine-beater review, emoting more than Cindy Sheehan watching Beaches, check out the Flick Filosopher.
Rotten Tomatoes gives it, at this moment with 59 reviews in, an 80%. (47 love it, 12 hate it.) A few days ago there were 9 reviews and 3 of them hated it. That means that in two days' time 41 more critics have chimed in loving it and only 9 more dislike it. I think the rating will keep increasing.
UPDATE: Tell us what you thought of the movie in our new POLL!
The Grumpy Gamer was also invited to the screening, though he had to go through a great deal of rigamarole to do so. His post is funny (with a few brief expletives). Some money quotes, emphasis mine:
Apparently, me getting into the screening is dependent on my regurgitating a much of marketing hype on my website. Once I've done this and notified them, they will let me know if I've gotten in.It seems to me that the these marketing people just don't understand bloggers, or at least not the bloggers I read and know.
...
Why do they feel they need to do this? Why did this need to turn into a loyalty contest? It's not like this is some J-Lo movie that they are trying to save, this is frigg'n Joss frigg'n Whedon and Firefly.
His whole post is worth reading. Especially the part about camera phones.
This is a SPOILER-FREE review of Serenity! Read it without fear of corruption.
Let me tell you a story. The creator of a hugely popular genre TV show was invited to do a new sci-fi show about a disparate group of loners wandering the spaceways in a starship. Unfortunately, despite a proven track record for his genius if simply allowed to do what he does best, the network felt inclined to meddle. Not happy with the perfectly-acceptable pilot that would get the audience up to speed, they demanded a new, more exciting first episode, and then broadcast the show out of order. Lacking network support and not garnering overwhelming ratings, and despite a devoted fan base, the show was canceled after half a season's worth of episodes.
But enough about "The Crusade", the sequel series to "Babylon 5."
Let's talk about how history repeated itself with "Firefly".
I have this friend who, having never seen or heard of Firefly, went to one of those "working print" screenings of Serenity back in June and has ever since been hanging out at the airport banging this tambourine with a picture of Joss Whedon on it. I mean, he ordered the Firefly box set the very next day, scrounged for advance tickets to the new movie (that's how I got in last night) and even drove over to my house to drop off the DVDs (though not all of them, for that would leave nothing running on a loop at his own house) so that I could check out the show.
I was torn as to whether I should watch the DVDs. Do I want to review the movie for Monitor Duty as a newcomer to the show would, so as to experience it and rate it as a newbie? In the end, I watched the first four episodes on Disk 1 the night before seeing the movie, and yet I didn't learn much that isn't set up in the movie. Clearly, how easily the non-fans can pick up on the situations and characters is a good indication of how accessible the film is. In cases where the movie is based on a pre-existing universe, the writer must navigate between over-familiarity and the assumption of familiarity.
For example: the title of the movie. Due to legal reasons, they couldn't use Firefly in the title, so they had to come up with something else. They picked "Serenity". For the longest time, I wasn't able to make the connection that this was the movie spinoff of Firefly. I mean, "Serenity" is the kind of title you give to a chick flick with Annabeth Gish and Glenn Close as divorced friends who move to a beach house. It doesn't come across to the average American as "space cowboy opera". Sure, to the Firefly viewer, Serenity is the name of the spaceship flown by the main characters, as well as the location of a military defeat...but to most people, it's meaningless. Hopefully the title won't be a hindrance to this movie's success.
Now that I've seen the movie, I have to say...
As I mentioned yesterday, Typekey is now configured (properly) to work with our site. Anyone with a Typekey account can now log into Typekey and post comments to our system without the need for approval.
Typekey accounts are free and very easy to get.
I have been invited to an advance showing of Serenity. Watch for my review!
Showgirls with Sock Puppets sounds like it would be far more watchable than the actual movie.
I should have told you about this sooner, I suppose, but I didn't want to participate in spoiling "Flight Plan." Last week, I got into a disagreement with the people who run Libertas over their intentional spoiling of "Flight Plan". (FAIR WARNING: Clicking on that will take you to the article with spoilers about the movie.)
The source of the disagreement is Deb Schlussel's article in which she aggressively ruins the movie for all of her readers so that they won't want to see "Flight Plan." This is because she doesn't like the message that the film is sending (either deliberately or as a side-effect of telling the story). Libertas then ran this article with a subject line which gave away the spoilers! I'd been planning to see the movie and had gone out of my way to avoid spoilers, and made my displeasure clear.
It's not like I even disagree with their politics or their displeasure with the message, though I'd have to see the movie to know whether it's really a major point or not. I simply don't believe in spoiling a movie for your own site's visitors. It's an abuse of trust.
I just wanted to make clear that you can always count on Monitor Duty to warn of spoilers and hide them. We'll never engage in these "BLUE BEETLE GETS SHOT IN HEAD! Don't read Countdown to Infinite Crisis!" kinds of games.
One more thing. Check out comment #8! Cool, eh?
Ebert & Roeper have already reviewed it and gave it two thumbs up.
Thanks to our new spam-weeding controls and new comment field options, you won't have to wait so long to see your comments appear.
Everyone who has posted here legitimately (i.e. no offers of barnyard sex or enlargement pills) has been granted the status of "approved commenter". Your next comments should be showing up without any delay.
Also, you can use the free Typekey pass system. Log into it once and it will remember you for two weeks. From then on, you can post on ANY WEBLOG which uses Typekey authentication. YES! Finally. How cool. The answer to my - oh, wait, I just tried it and it's not working.
Oooookay. I will work on this and get back to you.
Don Adams was a WWII vet who served at Guadalcanal and, after surviving a tropical fever, served back in the states as a drill instructor. That actually explains the delivery he used.
Years ago, I had a copy of an LP record from the library of Don Adams doing "Man on the Street" interviews. (I don't mind telling you I had a taped copy of that album; it was impossible to find.) I wish I still had that album. Don Adams was a hilarious comedian with terrific timing, and he was also well-known as the voice of Inspector Gadget and Tennessee Tuxedo...but let's face it, it's as the star of Mel Brooks' TV show "Get Smart" that Don will always be remembered. While some people like Gene "I don't want Star Trek on my gravestone" Roddenberry think that it's typecasting to only be remembered for one role, I think it speaks well that a star can do such an indelible character that they stay remembered long after the average person is forgotten. R.I.P.
(UPDATE: I like Cathy Seipp's memory of Don.)
After a few hours of problems, I have gotten the Monitor Duty's blogging system, Moveable Type, upgraded to version 3.2. It does look sweet and includes many new features, which I will be extending through the use of plugins.
Monitor Duty contributors, be sure to give it a test!
Also, anyone wanting to join the crew should contact me. I will give authorship to anyone who wants to post comic book-related links and commentary, provided they follow a few simple guidelines.
Monitor Duty Central is now on the air! I copied over all of the posts from our old messageboard last night, so it's ready to go.
You will need to set up a new membership for this board.
I will change links to the forum later tonight.
This week, I bought "Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #1" (online preview at that link) and it is an awesome read. I recommend it. However, I was borrowed by one minor, niggling detail from Geoff Johns (who usually nails stuff like this).
Salakk informs Guy Gardner that he's going to be training the new recruits. Guy says to Kyle Rayner, "I'm NOT a teacher!"
Um, yes he is.
Perhaps Geoff Johns has forgotten that part of Guy's history. Here now is my attempt at a nowhere-near-thorough recap of Guy Gardner's exploits.
And I'm leaving out the whole thing about him being an attorney. I don't get how a football player goes to law school for years to become an attorney and then suddenly switches to being a gym teacher.
Needle-in-a-haystack Sgt. Rock question...:
1971-1974? was the era...All I remember from this issue was, at the bottom of page two, there was a 2/3 page splash with a giant Kubert-drawn flak burst. It was caused by Rock grabbing a tossed enemy grenade and throwing it straight up just in time, narrowly saving Easy Company. The flak burst mesmerized me as a young'un, almost scary in it's realistic drawing.
Does anyone recognize that issue? If so, click on over and answer that for Drew.
This is the transcript of a conversation that Alan Kistler and I had today via AOL Instant Messenger:
[10:03] fanzinger: Oh, and reading your piece makes me aware of the real need for another continuity mess article.
[10:03] fanzinger: Supergirl.
[10:03] Alan Kistler: LOL
[10:03] fanzinger: You've got Matrix.
[10:03] fanzinger: You've got Kara in Argo City in Superman vs. Aliens.
[10:03] Alan Kistler: i just edited SUPERMAN VS. ALIENS out of continuity in my head
[10:03] fanzinger: You've got how many other new versions in the last few years.
[10:03] Alan Kistler: yeah, i hear ya
[10:04] Alan Kistler: i almost feel like my POWER GIRL article was very much a supergirl article. :-P
[10:04] Alan Kistler: maybe after I'm done with Aquaman.
[10:04] fanzinger: I always thought of Dark Horse crossovers as not continuity but then Green Lantern KILLED OFF SALAKK in a crossover!
[10:04] Alan Kistler: s#!t, that's right
[10:04] fanzinger: I hate that.
[10:04] Alan Kistler: totally forgot
[10:05] fanzinger: LOL!
[10:05] Alan Kistler: least it wasn't as bad as the WILDC.A.T.s / Aliens crossover where an entire team of super-heroes was murdered
[10:05] fanzinger: If I were writing Green Lantern, I'd just have him show up alive.
[10:05] fanzinger: Salakk, didn't you die?
[10:05] fanzinger: "Die? When? During that big event that never happened?"
[10:05] Alan Kistler: hehe
[10:06] Alan Kistler: "you must have been dreaming."
[10:06] fanzinger: Hey, if potato Green Lantern can get killed, and you even see his corpse in a coffin, and then he shows up alive in Starman, why not?
[10:07] Alan Kistler: i honestly didn't even remember he'd been killed till much later
[10:07] fanzinger: Yeah, blasted by a Khund battlecruiser in Invasion #1.
Seven hours later, I pick up Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #1 and there he is. Salakk, alive and well.
GLC: Recharge is a great comic; highly recommended.
Lost. Premieres tonight. Nuff said.
My wife asks, "How many weeks before the NBC announcer just calls it 'Earl'?"
I say three.
Good show. Starring Jason Lee, it's done on location without a laughtrack. The premise is that a total reprobate redneck loses his winning lottery ticket and realizes that his karma is screwed up. (He thinks Carson Daly invented the concept.) Doing good deeds for the first time in his life, he gets the ticket back, and he decides to rectify all of his lifetime of bad actions.
I've set up a new forum for our site. I just renewed the old one for another three months on Sunday; it couldn't be avoided.
I will have the site configured shortly.
Should I import all of the threads from our old EZBoard forum or should we just start anew? Is any of this conversation worth keeping? What do you think?
I am not certain, but it may be possible to transfer memberships and member settings. (Then again, it seems people have always forgotten their passwords.)
Check it out: http://www.monitorduty.com/forum/
You can also help me pick a style for the site.
Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal Dead at 96
Simon Wiesenthal...who helped find one-time SS leader Adolf Eichmann and the policeman who arrested Anne Frank, died in his sleep at his home in Vienna...A survivor of five Nazi death camps, Wiesenthal changed his life's mission after the war, dedicating himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught. He himself lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust.
Wiesenthal spent more than 50 years hunting Nazi war criminals, speaking out against neo-Nazism and racism, and remembering the Jewish experience as a lesson for humanity. Through his work, he said, some 1,100 Nazi war criminals were brought to justice.
If I tried writing this as the origin for a comic book character, people would tell me it was too unbelievable and I should tone it down. Peace be with you, Simon Wiesenthal.
A History of Violence is an adaptation of the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. From the movie site you can even download the first installment of the story in PDF format, though it may "spoil" the movie for you.
It looks like DC is going to re-release the graphic novel with a new movie cover.
The film features Ed Harris (of one of my favorite films, The Abyss) and orc-murdering peacenik Viggo Mortensen.
Justice League Unlimited debuted this weekend. Oh, don't bother going to that link. For some reason, Cartoon Network has kept the JLU site woefully un-updated. You wouldn't know the show's new season started if you relied on their site to tell you.
The big news is that, like Superfriends before them, they will spend the season fighting The Legion of Doom. Lex Luthor escaped to a swamp where a rather familiar-looking headquarters (slightly redesigned) appeared from behind a cloaking device. Gorilla Grodd has founded the Legion very much in keeping with the DCU's Secret Society of Supervillains as seen in "Villains United." It is an alliance against the superheroes to combat them directly.
The Justice League, meanwhile, has left their orbital headquarters to live in the MetroTower. And the MetroTower is really nothing more than a redesign of the Superfriends' Hall of Justice! Okay, you have to squint, and the first glimpse of it went by very fast, but if you widen the dome of the Hall of Justice and extend the center pillars into a tower, there it is.
(I'll try to get some screen captures but it was easier for me to get them from VHS. I recently bought a DVR which records to DVD, and I'm not sure how to get a screencap from a DVD.)
These first two episodes were strong. Just look at all that occurred in the space of an hour:
Luthor escapes to Legion of Doom HQ, overflowing with villains.
Chuck of the Blackhawks flies into action.
Flash finds a woman he can't hit on.
Agent King Faraday appears as the new JLU Liason to the Dep. of Justice.
Blackhawk Island appears, complete with dozens of continuity refs.
JLU vs. The Extremists.
Carter Hall (real name: Joe Gardner!) appears with a complicated Hawkman history that still makes more sense than the in-continuity version.
Quick cutaways to JLU adventures (including a cool fighting move from Elongated Man that wins the day). I couldn't place all the combatants.
Shadow Thief appears.
... and more!
DON'T STOP READING YET!!!!
Probably the coolest thing of the whole hour was an ad for the Teen Titans premiere next weekend. Why? Because it features THE DOOM PATROL! An animated Doom Patrol vs. The Brotherhood of Evil features next weekend and I hadn't heard about it. See a clip of Robotman in action!
Watch for it. Next weekend. Teen Titans.
Robert Wise, the director of 40 movies including The Sound of Music, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Haunting, The Andromeda Strain, Run Silent Run Deep and The Day the Earth Stood Still has passed away at the age of 91.
Hat tip to Libertas.
Gordon Purcell will be on a hit game show next month.
...look for me on WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE on Oct. 18-19th. The show is syndicated, so it could be on anytime in your market. I had a lot of fun, bumped into Charlie Sheen, saw THE PRODUCERS, LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN and the DC offices. The most exciting minivacation of my life. There'll be lots of comic talk on MILLIONAIRE--hopefully, I won't look too goofy (I only had 2 hours of sleep!)
Ah, the benefits of being a telegenic comic creator! In related, contrasting news, my favorite reality show (and really, the only good one) "The Biggest Loser: Season 2", started yesterday and I'm not on it. (I guess my constant posting over the last year didn't leave that in much doubt.)
KYLE BAKER SIGNS EXCLUSIVE WITH KYLE BAKER PUBLISHING - This has to be the most tongue in cheek press release I've ever read. I love it that Kyle doesn't take himself so seriously. Here's just a sample:
“Yes, it’s safe to say that Kyle Baker drawing Kyle Baker is the perfect fit between character and creator,” observes Kyle Baker Publishing president Elizabeth Glass. “Kyle Baker is the character Kyle Baker was born to draw.”While sources are hesitant to divulge specific dollar amounts, it has been verified that Baker’s new contract grants him one hundred percent of all profits.
These Star Trek mixes by James Lileks are always fun to listen to.
"Yeargh!" is good, too.
I need to buy some of these: The Cubes™
From the Washington Post article "President Makes His 3rd Visit to Gulf Coast" (emphasis mine):
Bush was scheduled to spend the night on the USS Iowa Jima, an amphibious assault ship that is the recovery command center.
Michael Kim offers his latest Hollywood Economics Report and offers stats on the performance of comic book movies. He also raises a good point about the future of Marvel properties in movies. Namely, can it really go on once the big names have been done? Captain America and Thor are the only recognizable characters not yet done:
Movies based on lesser known characters - for example The Punisher and Elektra - have been box office disappointments. Movies have already been made of the most popular characters, except for Captain America - who non-comic book fans may know through cartoons and live action TV shows. Marvel faces the problem of how many non-comic book fans will see a movie based on a character they are not familiar with in a marketplace already saturated with movies based on that genre.
In one sense, DC has a clear advantage here. Shazam!, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man, even Aquaman are very well-known name superheroes who have yet to hit the big screen. Added to that are any number of second-level characters who could conceivably head up a good movie; I've argued many times that Adam Strange is a concept just made for a good sci-fi movie. However, it seems like the last 20 years has seen little more than "development hell" for everything from Sgt. Rock (remember when Bruce Willis was going to play him?) to Deadman, and only Superman and Batman can make it to the screen. The only exceptions have been Catwoman and Steel, and while I was somewhat partial to Steel it certainly wasn't a success.
If Warner Brothers could ever find a way to shore up their comic book character-to-movie system, they could start getting a bigger share of the pie. I remember when Marvel used to be the hallmark of direct-to-video bombs, yet they've been getting the lion's share of good movie development for the last decade while DC movies (i.e. Batman) descended into autopilot blockbusters focused on toys and product placement.
I didn't know that a Sgt. Rock digest is going to be released tomorrow. I'm glad to see that non-kids titles will be released in this new format. Way to go, DC!
I spent my weekend cataloguing and filing all of the comics I bought at Wizard World (along with filing 2 long boxes' worth of comics that hadn't been filed in well over a year). It took three days but I finished! Now I just have to add 800 more listings from my old database, price the ones that aren't priced, find cover art, update the online listing and then I'm DONE and can get on with my 15 other projects!
I also read the entire run of Resurrection Man, and while it's a good read, the real attraction is the art by Butch Guice throughout.
Yesterday I finished reading "Rose and Thorn." I was waiting for the trade, but I managed to grab all six issues for a dollar each. (Not an opinion of the quality; I found EVERYTHING for a dollar at Wizard World, even 20 copies of "Who Is Donna Troy?")
A revised origin for the character(s), "Rose and Thorn" takes someone I never found appealing and adds a decent backstory to explain the split personality. It also makes Thorn such a psycho that you don't even see her as a heroine. You really DON'T want Thorn getting out. This is important because I never saw what the big deal was about Thorn. So this nice girl has an alter ego who puts on spandex and fights crime. How does that make her anything more than Black Canary with a personality disorder? (It also IS a break with the old continuity where Rose had no idea that she even had a Thorn personality. This is better, really.)
It's been 2 years. Is this thing coming out in a trade paperback soon? It should, since this is a wonderfully self-contained work that plays out like one big story. I mean, it's clearly MADE as a split-apart trade, in keeping with the comics market of the day. Yet, while Amazon already lists "Villains United" for sale (while we've still got two issues left to read), there aren't any listings for a "Rose and Thorn" trade. Makes me wonder if sales were too low to justify doing a trade. Yet, I think "Rose and Thorn" would do great in book form. It's just one more ridiculous thing about our hobby: it's up to the people who'd like to read the book to pay for the installments or they won't get to read the book, but if they pay for the installments they don't need the book.
Next up: Catwoman/Wildcat, which I found bundled as a set!
Simpsons director Jim Reardon did a student film at CalArts called Bring Me The Head of Charlie Brown. It was posted by AnimeHell in April and was so popular that the bandwidth immediately killed it.
UPDATE: I found a site that carries the file...at least, for the moment. Go HERE to view it in a browser, or save it to your hard drive by right-clicking HERE.
South Park's new AWESOM-O Screensaver generates movie ideas. It is based on the AWESOM-O episode where Cartman, disguised as a robot in a practical joke that spins out of his control, is taken to movie executives who want him to come up with story ideas.
Staffer 2: How can a robot come up with better ideas for movies than us?Producer: Watch this: AWESOM-O, given the current trends of the movie-going public can you come up with an idea for a movie that will break a hundred million box office?
Cartman: Um... okay. How about this: [the staffers take pen to paper and anticipate the ideas] Adam Sandler is like, in love with some girl, but then it turns out that the girl is actually a ...golden retriever, or something.
Staffer 2: [thinking over this idea, then write it down] Oh, perfect!
Staffer 3: We'll call it "Puppy Love"!
Staffer 2: Give us another movie idea, AWESOM-O!
Mitch: Yeah yeah!
Staffer 3: Let's hear it!
Mitch: Yeah, we wanna hear it!
Staffer 3: Come on, come on!
Cartman: Okay, how about this: Adam Sandler... inherits like, a billion dollars, but first, he has to, like, become a ...boxer, or something.
Staffer 3: [the producers start writing again] ...Yes, it's flawless!
Mitch: Punch-Drunk Billionaire!
It's out! It's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out it's out!
Yayyyyyyyy!
Ahem.
Okay, for the few of you that haven't yet gotten into Lost yet, allow me to explain that it is one of the greatest TV shows in ages. And I almost missed it, because the story of survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island sounded stupid. Was it just going to be a dramatic Gilligan's Island? If not for my friends raving about it, I'd have missed it. We are all fortunate that ABC was willing to back this show up with repeats and double-showings so that latecomers could catch up. Now it's a powerhouse, and this DVD set has been released two weeks before the second season premier so that anyone late to the game can get up to speed.
Honestly, the last time I was this into a show, it was Babylon 5, a show with which it shares some resemblance (and one castmember). Indeed, given all the season-long dramas on TV these days, I think J. Michael Straczynski deserves some kickbacks for his pioneering back in the early 1990s.
Lost is essentially a puzzle. Every episode reveals aspects of a character and gives background clues as to what is happening on the island.
I hope you're all watching this show. And Babylon 5.
I recently purchased "The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch" on DVD. Long story short: not worth the money to buy, and might not even merit a rental, even if you're a Rutles fan like me.
Here's an interesting idea. To raise the profile of a comic which could use some more orders, Image Comics has authorized Newsarama to post the entire Godland issue #1 online!
And as I'm looking at it, I can't help thinking, "Who is artist Tom Scioli's influence in drawing this Silver Age-esque story? Who? Who? Dang it, I can't place it. Seems familiar, with all those dots and heavy lines... hmmmmm..."
(Yes, I'm kidding. I know who. Everyone knows who. It's quite intentional.)
You may choose to not visit this so that you can be surprised by the new season of JLU. Be warned.
The third season (really, fifth season of Justice League in all) starts on September 17th, with two episodes that night. Those episodes center on the Legion of Doom and Hawkgirl's new boyfriend.
Justice League Unlimited's episode summaries reveal that numerous DC characters will be appearing for the first time, INCLUDING:
Rebecca Pidgeon's Exclusive Music Download
"How must Lois Lane deal with Superman? Does she ever get a touch shirty about him going off to save the world all the time, and leaving their nice warm bed?"
That's what Rebecca Pidgeon ponders in the song "Tough on Crime" which you can download for free.
But she's also talking about converting her car to run on peanut oil. Uh-huh. I'm not saying that can't work, but I just bought peanut oil for the first time for use in frying (it's a lighter, healthier oil) and it was $5 for a little bottle. If you're powering your car with peanut oil, you'd have to be super-rich. Maybe she is super-rich, but it's hardly a sensible solution for everyone in America. Yes, even at $3 a gallon gas.
Oh, and my kitchen reeks of peanuts after cooking with a couple tablespoons of it. You think L.A. stinks now, just imagine being on that freeway if everyone's driving with peanut oil!
All right, enough picking on her silly idea. She's not going to do it, anyway.
The good news: the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang trailer is up!
Bad news: it's not an adaptation of the spy comic book from the late lamented CrossGen Comics.
What makes it tolerable: Larry Miller!
'Fats' Domino Missing in New Orleans
Fats Domino told his manager that he'd ride out the storm in his house...which is now underwater. His manager hasn't heard from him since...not that there's adequate phone service, of course, so that doesn't automatically mean he's come to harm.