Michael Hutchison: April 2007 Archives

I decided last weekend to finally see Grindhouse. Unfortunately, I couldn't. It was already gone from both multiplexes in Rochester. And it sounds like my experience wasn't unique.

The movie has bombed, and it may be that the movie wasn't able to reach the right audience. Actual grindhouse theaters and even the Grindhouse Film Festival were unable to get the movie "Grindhouse" screened to their eager audiences! Meanwhile, the people catching it at their googleplexes didn't get it; many such theaters had ushers or managers bring up the house lights before the movie to tell the audience that the film was supposed to look shoddy!

Would finding the right audience have saved it? Uncertain. a review by an actual Grindhouse patron and enthusiast, though another grindhouse fan felt that Tarantino's portion is something that grindhouse films never were: talky and boring.

Guess I'm waiting for the DVD. Perhaps many people are in the same boat. Or maybe they just want to have a pause button. Sorry, but when a movie is over three hours, you shouldn't put in an intermission as a joke...you should have a real intermission!

The Will Ferrell Movie Generator

You just know it has actually been used by Hollywood a couple times.

Theater Hopper will now come out only on Wednesdays, as Tom Brazleton devotes more time to his new son.

Not that I'd try to stop a Man of Steel with it.

J.S.A. Classified #25.

Written by Tony Bedard.

It's an honest-to-God "Done In One" story!

No continued next month, no part one of an overwrought six part story arc designed for a trade paperback. It's 22 pages long, a complete story...and it's GREAT! It's more satisfying than many long storylines are.

Thank you, Tony.

This Sunday, I'll be appearing at Micro-Con at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. Running from 10-4PM, it's your chance to meet dozens and dozens of comic book pros and indy creators, including special guest of honor Herb Trimpe.

As always, I get to say hi to Tom Nguyen and Doug Mahnke, then check out Bob Lipski's table and see how the Uptown Girl animated series is coming along. But one thing will be very different this convention:

I'm looking for an artist for Metro Med, so I'll be doing (gasp!) portfolio reviews.

When Scott McCullar announced at a convention that he was doing portfolio reviews, we never saw him again. Granted, that was WizardWorld Chicago, but MicroCon is only six hours long and it gets enough of a crowd that I may not get a chance to breath until the end of the day.

Or maybe I won't see any portfolios because no one wants to do it, and I'll come home a broken and miserable man.

Oh, the trepidation!

Then again, it's MicroCon. It's always fun, and what I love about it is that the day is six hours long. Enough time to do all your shopping and meet everyone, but short enough that the guests' buttocks don't begin melding with the chair. When you do a con that's eight hours long, you begin to realize you're putting in a full work day.

CGI robot battle

Frankly, I'm not a big Giant Robot fan, but this is pretty cool. Actually, I'm more stunned at the quality of the everyday stuff like walking "extras" and water effects.

You owe me $2.50.

Oh, not that I want my money back or anything. Not at all! That was an awesome payoff and I couldn't have figured it out in a million years even though in retrospect it makes total sense.

But I barfed all over the page and had to get a replacement copy.

Actually, I haven't opened my new copy yet. Let's take a look...

Starz Bunny Club: Pirates Of The Caribbean

This 3-year-old girl has a plan for coping with monsters in her room.

I previously posted that Phil and Sherry Meadows were on their way to China to finish their long adoption process. Today I received word that they are now back in the U.S.A. with their daughter, Julianna!

Congrats, Phil and Sherry! Let's see some pictures!

This week has seen a number of people having fun with the Easter treat, Peeps.

Mary Katherine Ham tells the news via confectionary:
The Week In Peeps!

The St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press ran its Fourth Annual Peeps Diorama Contest, with the winner "Run Silent, Run Peep". They have a slideshow of the entrants.

A Peeps diorama contest was also held for the first time by the Washington Post. One of the entries is Batman and Robin as peeps. However, the best one is "Soylent Green Is Peeps!" (See the Gallery.)

It's certainly better than eating those awful things. Now if only people could do contests with those inedible orange circus peanuts.

LIBERTAS Review: The Reaping includes 10 complaints about the movie. I have to show you one of the best ones:

The Yee-Haw: As two dozen white Southern Christian bigots drove off in their shotgun filled pick-up trucks to kill an innocent child due to their white Southern Christian bigoted need to kill all things they don’t understand, one of them actually yelled, “Yee-Haw!”

I lived in the south for ten years. I’ve seen white Southern Christian bigots grab their shotguns and jump in pick-up trucks to kill something they didn’t understand. But no one ever yelled “Yee-Haw.”

Beautiful. I also agree about the cat thing.

I dare you to not smile during this music video.

Best part is the Wonder Twin Powers scene.

It's been ages since iTunes has had a good Free Weekly Download, but "Beautiful Disaster" is the best free download since James Blunt's "High". It's a somber song about girls with poor self-esteem, and I have a feeling it's going to be a big hit.

Sorry to tell you this on Monday when it's only up til midnight. I was holding off on posting this because I was trying to somehow link to the song. But just pull up iTunes and go to the store site. Hurry, hurry!

Cartoonist Johnny Hart dies at his storyboard, age 76. He was the creator of B.C. and co-creator of Wizard of Id. R.I.P.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin has a reader who points out that Johnny Hart coined the phrase "kick-butt Saturday" as the nickname for the day before Easter...the day on which Hart would later pass away.

Hart had several controversies related to his strip's religious nature...probably none sillier than the outhouse strip.

Captain's Quarters: "Hart used his characters in both strips, set in the past, to skewer the foibles of modern people and governments. He especially liked to poke fun at the egotistical and self-important. His consistent theme was the primacy of the common man."

PvP's Scott Kurtz: "He was 76 and he died at his drawing table. That’s the way I want to go."

It's Superman Day, and Superman announces that he is going to retire...only to be met with resistance from a surprising new foe. Will he listen to Hawkman's counsel?

Lauren Shuler Donner (of X-Men movies) produces Metal Men movie.

What did you all think of Casino Royale? Is it an origin story which relaunches Bond in a new style more akin to what Ian Fleming intended? Or is it simply the tale of how this man started out before he became the confident, punning, smarmy, "shaken, not stirred," M-bothering, Q-foiling, gadget-laden bed-hopper in a tux whose stories all seem to be variations on the exact same plot?

While talking about Bond on another message board, I did a brief overview of the Bond movies which I've seen (or avoided). While it's hardly a doctoral thesis (or even a Kistler's Corner) in terms of thoroughness or analysis, I just thought I'd preserve it here and let you all ridicule me mercilessly.

Because I actually prefer Sean Connery in "The Untouchables" over watching him as James Bond. I think it may be something akin to "Doctor Who" where whoever was playing him when you started watching is the "real" one. (Pity anyone who started watching during the Roger Moore era!)

Dan DiDio: "Batman to die like a whiny bitch!"

DC Comics announced Saturday at Emerald City Comicon that Countdown is counting down to the moment when all of DC Comics' characters will have been killed off, which will lead into a new event beginning a new era. While killing off characters has been done before, the big difference will be the change in methodology. Past "death" events like Superman, Flash, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, Green Arrow, etc. have focused on the main character going out with a blaze of glory, defeating an enemy and saving the city/nation/world/universe in the process.

However, prompted by the massive, worldwide news coverage (and resulting stellar sales) that Marvel garnered by having Captain America gunned down while hand-cuffed and placed under arrest, DC's Editorial Staff and Countdown lead writer Paul Dini began making plans to put an end to many of the characters in the most pathetic way possible.

"'Degradation' is hot right now," DiDio said in a surprise appearance at the Seattle convention. "When Superboy sacrificed himself during Infinite Crisis, the readership replied with a yawn. We got more buzz from Black Adam pushing the Medusa Mask through Psycho Pirate's skull. The rape and death of Sue Dibny, the torture and death of Spoiler, the deaths of The Question and Osiris in 52, those are what people respond to...big time! And we're listening to what people want!"

The big surprise revealed at Emerald City was that Batman will be killed off early in the event rather than being one of the last to go. "Batman is going to go out, and not in some ultimate fight with the Joker, either. Bane proved that Batman can be broken, and now Batman's going to go out begging to be put out of his misery like a whiny bitch! The rest of the book will be about Nightwing and Robin trying to take up the mantle after witnessing the sad end." When questioned at the Q&A later about why Batman isn't going out as a hero, DiDio was uncharacteristically frank: "The 'blaze of glory' thing's been done. It's a cliche. If we did that, the world would barely notice and figure we'll resurrect him in a month. But killing off Batman in the most pathetic way possible will get us in the papers for months! It's the kind of thing that gets mentioned in Time Magazine's Year In Review."

As to what will happen to the DCU at the end of Countdown, DiDio said that that was a year away and it was too soon to reveal anything.

Hat tip to my buddy Rob at Comics Continuum which confirmed the story on the scene. Visit the link for the full story.

I can see from the comments on my earlier post that many of you have figured out what recent Marvel success story has inspired the coming story from DC.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the story now.

You're really not going to like it.