THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN – 2012 – AMAZINGLY, MY SPIDER-MAN!

“This version of Spider-man offers enough new insights into the character’s past that the first film didn't,  that I think it will keep you interested enough to get to the good stuff.”

Superhero, Fantasy and Action

Starring - Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard, Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, Martin Sheen as Ben Parker, Sally Field as May Parker, Irrfan Khan as Dr. Rajit Ratha and Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson

Director - Marc Webb

Writer(s) - James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence

Runtime: 136 min.

I bought my first issue of The Amazing Spider-man from the magazine rack of my local drug store in the summer of 1971 at the age of thirteen. I had been buying and reading several different comics sporadically before then (most notably JLA, The Flash and a few others I’ve forgotten), but the cover of The Amazing Spider-man #100 with the John Romita drawn image of Spider-man wall-crawling over a chalkboard-like background of the portraits of all the supporting characters from the past just set my young imaginative mind afire! Most of all, in typical Marvel fashion, the cover blurb announced “At last! The long-awaited 100^th anniversary issue! With the wildest shock-ending of all time!” I had to read this comic! I never missed an issue of The Amazing Spider-man after that for many years to come and even when I was a Marvel Maniac throughout the ‘70s – buying almost every Marvel superhero title - Spidy was always my favorite Marvel character!

I bring up my historical relationship with Spider-man, because I think it helps to explain why I was not a fan of the three previous Sam Raimi directed films and why I enjoyed the latest Marc Webb directed film so much. I don’t want to waste time comparing Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). I’ll just say that I never liked Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and I didn’t like the many stylistic changes to the character that director Sam Raimi and writer David Koepp made; the worst being making Spider-man’s webs biologically shoot out of his hands (yuck!).

So what is it about The Amazing Spider-man that made me think it was the best film version of the character yet? The most important part of Spider-man’s characterization is that he is a high-school geek, a loner, a quietly angry teenager who has never gotten over the loss of his parents. When he is bitten by the radioactive spider and acquires the proportional strength and agility of a spider, Peter is elated and revels in his new found powers. The Amazing Spider-man establishes all this characterization in the first forty minutes of the film. We see Peter riding his skate board in school, belligerent to school rules. We see Peter being bored in Physics class, because it’s obvious that he already knows more than the teacher. We see Peter watching Gwen Stacy from afar, wishing for a way to meet this beautiful girl. We see Peter being beaten by Flash, despite his best efforts to try and avoid the confrontation. We see Peter’s warm relationship with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May in the form of quiet moment between he and Ben, when Peter attempts to hide the beating from his Aunt.

The performance of Andrew Garfield is amazing – especially when you consider he is a 29-year old, who grew up in England – is playing a 17/18-year old Manhattan high-schooler. Before and after he becomes Spider-man, Garfield plays Parker with just the right balance of darkness and inner strength. He plays Peter as the awkward geek and Spidy as the quippy jerk; making both likeable and identifiable. I can’t say enough good things about Emma Stone’s portrayal of Gwen Stacy. She plays her as a beautiful and smart teenage girl, who still is self-conscious and quiet around Peter, who she clearly likes before he becomes Spider-man. This relationship between Peter and Gwen is very important in making Peter and Spidy the man he needs to become.

I haven’t even mentioned the special effects, because at this point, I expect high quality digital effects in a film of this enormous budget (estimated at $230 million!). There are wonderful scenes of Spidy web-slinging through downtown Manhattan and I really loved how much Spider-man uses his webbing as both a defensive and offensive weapon. One of my favorite scenes is where Spidy is hunting down The Lizard in the massive sewer system of NYC and he sits in a web sling at a central hub after shooting web strands down all the adjoining tunnels. The design of the Lizard is not completely faithful to the comic book version; especially in the area of his facial structure. The Lizard was never one of my favorite Spidy villains, as I always thought he just looked like a giant lizard in a lab coat – and don’t get me started on those magenta pants! So, the redesign of The Lizard didn't bother me and as a CGI-only character, I thought he was fairly effective.

The story of Spider-man is well told, even if we do get his “origin” story again only ten-years removed from Spider-man (2002). I liked the fact that the filmmakers didn't rush to get Peter out of high school, just so we could get to him shooting “pics” for The Daley Bugle and working for his public nemesis James Jonah Jameson. Captain Stacy filled in nicely as Spidy’s new public menace, without feeling too forced. The ending, which I won’t ruin here, did feel a little hokey, but of all the Marvel superhero characters, Spider-man is one character that can pull off hokey.

For anyone who didn't go to the theater to see The Amazing Spider-man because they didn't want to see another re-telling of his origin, I recommend giving it a rent. This version of Spider-man offers enough new insights into the character’s past that the first film didn't  that I think it will keep you interested enough to get to the good stuff. The good stuff, by-the-way, is very good indeed!

TECHNICAL: Acting – 10 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 9 Script – 9 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 9 Emotional – 10 Involvement – 10

TOTAL - 95

[WEB] COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK! 8/27/12 – BATTLEPUG

I read so many comics now, both on traditional paper and now digitally via ComiXology on my iPad (more on that in a future post); I don’t have time to keep up with all the fantastic web comics that have been cropping up the past several years. Thanks to the podcaster Stephanie Cooke at TALKING COMICS!, I relented to her continued support of Mike Norton’s web comic Battlepug and read the first few storylines. It was well worth the time it took to read it!

 

According to Mike, “Battlepug: The Web Comic was born out of desperate scramble to appease iFanboy. They contacted Mike to create a signature t-shirt for a new line of merch. However, Mike had been working exclusively with DC Comics for 4 years and had no original properties that he could reveal to the world yet. He drew the image you see above and had Allen color it. And lo, a BATTLEPUG was born!”

 

In case you’re like me and are unfamiliar with writer/artist Mike Norton, his web comic blub describes him thus:

Mike Norton has been working in comics for over 10 years now, gaining recognition for projects such as The Waiting Place and Jason and the Argobots. He’s made a name for himself working on books like Queen and Country, Gravity, Runaways, All-New Atom and Green Arrow/Black Canary, Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam, and Young Justice. He is currently drawing Marvel’s Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt, and his own weekly webcomic, Battlepug. He is also very, very tall.

 

Battlepug starts out with Moll and her dogs Mingo and Colfax, as she narrates the tale of "The Warrior and the Battlepug”. The saga is a tale of a fearless barbarian, his trusty and freakishly large pug, and his adventures as he battles a giant seal and many other assorted giant creatures! The story begins with the barbarian as a young child and his village is attacked, wiping out everyone. He is captured by the Kinmundy Northern Elves and forced to work as their slave until he grows into a man. The giant seal that killed his family years before attacks the Kinmundy and our hero is given his freedom after saving their village. To say more would spoil the surprises that await you on the web pages of Battlepug!

 

Read the preview pages below and you’ll see how Mike Norton’s cartoonish style is able to not only convey the unique humor of the story, but also the human drama and quirky pathos of the characters.

 

 

For more information – or to start reading Battlepug right away – go to: http://battlepug.com/

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK! 3/25/12 - SAGA #1

I’ve decided that I should try to share some of the many comics that I read each and every week. In my Comic Book of the Week feature, I’ll select my favorite comic from the week that I read it and not necessarily the week that the comic was released – although I will try to pick comics that are recent enough to be available at your local comics shop.

I have a small confession to make. Every Sunday morning – when most people are either going to church or nursing hangovers; or in some cases doing both – I am relaxing in bed with a cup of my favorite coffee and reading comic books. I buy on average twelve to eighteen comics every six weeks, which I pick up from my subscription service at New England Comics (Hi, Doreen and Tom!). I then read two or three of these comics every Sunday morning. Because I gave up reading superhero comics published by Marvel, DC or any other company, I read a lot of horror, science fiction and fantasy comics that have nothing to do with men-in-tights. I’m always looking for something new and exciting, so that means I buy a lot of new comics series. My latest new series that I’m trying out is Saga.

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK! SAGA #1

Saga is a continuing series published by Image Comics that the company describes as a “Star Wars-style action collides with Game of Thrones-esque drama in this original sci-fi/fantasy epic for mature readers.” It is written by Brian K. Vaughan, whose best known for his sci-fi Vertigo series Y: The Last Man, a post-apocalyptic science fiction series about the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal on Earth. Saga is drawn by Fiona Staples, who previously worked on The Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor with writer Mike Costa for Wildstorm and Mystery Society with writer Steve Niles for IDW Publishing. I have never read any Vaugugh’s books, except for his four issue stint on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight for Dark Horse comics, so I had no idea what to expect stylistically from him. My only exposure to Fiona Staples’ artwork was her work on The Mystery Society for IDW that ran as a five issue miniseries, which I did thoroughly enjoy. The combination of the concept and the art was enough for me to give Saga a read.

Saga #1 is a real bargain, as it is forty-two pages of full-color comic story with no advertisements for just $2.99! It tells everything you need to know about the main characters and the galactic-wide world that they inhabit. The story centers on Marko and Alana, who are a man and woman that are on opposite sides of an interstellar war that find each other and end up having a child together. This causes them no end of trouble and they end up being chased by both warring factions. These factions are the supporters of the planet Landfall and its opposing side the supporters of its satellite Wreath. Now a mercenary has been hired after Marko and Alana’s initial escape, to hunt them down and kill them, but take their child back to the Wreath. Meanwhile, the Robot Kingdom’s King has sent a prince to find and kill Marko and Alana as well. In the midst of all this, Marko and Alana are given a map that discloses a location that may or may not lead to their freedom… or something more!

WARNING: Explicit language on this page of SAGA #1!

I absolutely loved Saga! Vaughan has done something incredibly difficult: he has merged the hardware of science fiction and the magical elements of fantasy and combined them into an epic space opera adventure series! In this first issue alone we see robot-head people, winged people, horned people, a giant “lying cat” and a vast assortment of other fantastical creatures and people. All these things are wonderfully realized by the art of Fiona Staples. Her work is somewhat reminiscent of the more realistic Manga artists, but her loose brushed line work and dynamic cell-style coloring make it very much her own unique style. A word of caution for people who assume comics are for readers of all ages: Saga is rated by Image M for Mature. If Saga was a movie, it would definitely be rated R. Saga uses explicit language, features graphic violence, complete nudity and even open sexual scenes. As an older reader, these elements did not bother me and in many ways contributed the reality of fantastic elements in the story. However, if you are sensitive to these adult depictions and situations, then Saga is probably not for you.

If you like something that combines the best qualities of science fiction and fantasy, give Saga #1 a read!

JOHN CARTER - 2012 - A MODERN MAKEOVER OF A SCIENCE-FANTASY ARCHETYPE

"John Carter sweeps you up in its epic story and never releases you until the very end!"

Science Fiction-Fantasy, Action and Adventure

Starring - Taylor Kitsch/John Carter, Lynn Collins/Dejah Thoris, Willem Dafoe/Tars Tarkas, Samantha Morton/Sola, Dominic West/Sab Than, Thomas Haden Church/Tal Hajus

Director - Andrew Stanton

Writer(s) - Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon

PG-13 - intense sequences of violence and action

1 hr., 58 min.

John Carter is based on the novel "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published under the title "In the Moons of Mars" and serialized in All-Story Magazine in 1912. The film does an excellent job of taking an old fashioned “planetary romance” and making it into a story with just enough pseudo-science to make it acceptable to a 21^st Century cinema fan. This fan was not only engaged by such a fanciful concept, I was fully captivated by it. John Carter succeeded on the most important level of all and that is it entertained me!

The film begins with the “death” of John Carter in 1886, who leaves instructions to his nephew – a fictionalized Edgar Rice Burroughs - to entomb him in a crypt. He also leaves Burroughs with a journal of his adventures on Mars, with instructions not to publish it for another 21 years. The rest of the film is the tale set down by Carter in the journal.

Carter, emotionally distraught by the death of his wife and child at the hands of the enemy at the tale end of the Civil War, sets off west to find his fortune in gold and start his life anew. Instead, he finds an ancient-looking relic that somehow transports him to Mars. Not understanding where he is, Carter is amazed that on this desert landscape that he finds himself, he can leap hundreds of feet at a time. Soon, Carter is found and captured by the local Green Martians known as Tharks, who are a tribal six-limbed race. After learning their language, Carter discovers that he is on Barsoom and has no way of returning to his own planet Jasoom.

Carter learns of a sacred area of caves; where ancient writings tell tales of technology that seem similar to that which transported Carter to Mars. Taken there by the disgraced Thark Sola, Carter discovers the secrets of Mars. But before he can implement a plan of escape, he is caught in the middle of a war between the Red Martians, who are in the midst of a civil war. Sab Than is a warrior who has gained the power of the mysterious priests of Mars that enable him to destroy entire flying ships with a single energy blast. He is using this power to take over all of Barsoom. One remaining city is fighting back, but is losing and Sab Than demands the hand of its Princess Dejah Thoris to stop him from destroying its inhabitants. Carter helps the Princess escape, then goes on to fight Than, with the help of his Thark alies and its leader Tars Tarkas.

John Carter sweeps you up in its epic story and never releases you until the very end! Carter as played by Taylor Kitsch is a taciturn but likeable man, who always does the right thing, even if reluctantly at first. Dejah Thoris as played by Lynn Collins is a strong and beautiful woman, who is equally at ease fighting with words or a sword. Tars Tarkas as voiced by Willem Dafoe is the loyal tribal leader, who respects Carter for his acts of courage and his respect for the customs of his people. The rest of the cast is filled out by fine character actors, who all respect the material, even when it calls for them to recite dialog that feels a trifle stilted. One of the standout Barsoomian characters is Carter’s faithful Calot, which is a dog-like creature that is able to outrun even a Thoat (a Barsoomian horse) and John Carter himself.

There are wonderful airship battles throughout John Carter, which are reminiscent of ancient Earth sea ship battles, as they inevitably end with one party boarding the other ship and fighting hand-to-hand and sword-to-sword. All the action in John Carter serves a purpose and is not just there to serve as eye candy.

Everything from the designs of the airships, to the costumes of the Red and Green Martians are done with wonderful attention to detail that really help to make Barsoom feel real. It is quite an accomplishment of the filmmakers to create such a fanciful world, yet make it feel tangible and lived in.

I can’t recommend John Carter highly enough! Such an ambitious cinematic undertaking deserves to be supported, so I recommend seeing it at the theater and not waiting to watch it on DVD/Blu-ray or other means. I personally would like to see a sequel to John Carter and the only way that can happen if people go to see it at the theater. If you like exhilarating science fiction and fantasy adventure, you will definitely love John Carter!

TECHNICAL: Acting – 9 Directing – 10 Cinematography – 10 Script – 9 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 10 Intellectual – 8 Emotional – 10 Involvement – 10

TOTAL RATING - 96

TRAILER TUESDAY! JOHN CARTER IN 2012 - A MEGA-BUCK MASTERPIECE OR BIG BUDGET BUST?

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for BIG BUDGET sci-fi and fantasy movies! Every year the huge Hollywood studios pump out several $100 – $200 million dollar special effects opuses for fanboys to drool over in anticipation every year. The first of these mega-buck epics for 2012 is John Carter!

John Carter is Walt Disney Pictures’ attempt at another tent-pole film for a new franchise on the order of their Pirates of the Caribbean films. After failing with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), which cost an estimated $200 million to make and only grossed a little over $90 million in the United States, they are rolling the big budget dice with John Carter. The budget for John Cater is being estimated at $250 million and if the trailer is any indication, most of that was spent on the vast special effects to create the fantastic setting for the fantasy-version of the planet Mars.

John Carter the film is based on the novel "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published under the title "In the Moons of Mars" and serialized in All-Story Magazine in 1912. In the novel, John Carter is a former Confederate soldier, who, while prospecting for gold in the Arizona desert of the 1870’s is somehow transported to the planet Mars. It looks as though the film John Carter has kept the time and character intact; which is the only possible way that the fantasy setting of Mars could work.

The director of the film is Andrew Stanton, who was the director and writer of the Pixar animated films A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo and WALL-E. This is his first live action feature, but his experience with the all CGI animated features should serve him well for the effects laden John Carter. Another former Pixar director, Brad Bird (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) has had great success with his first live action feature Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, so there is hope that Andrew Stanton might have similar luck with John Carter.

Portraying John Carter is 30 year old Taylor Kitsch, who is best known for his role as high school football star Tim Riggins on NBC's acclaimed television series "Friday Night Lights”, but will also be featured in another big budget film in 2012 Battleship. Playing the Princess Dejah Thoris is relative unknown Lynn Collins. Voicing (and motion capturing?) Tars Tarkas is veteran actor William Dafoe.

The special effects are headed by Steve Benelisha, who has worked recently on Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class.

I think Disney is taking a real chance on John Carter, because the source material is not nearly contemporary or classic enough to be recognizable to a large enough audience to sell it on name recognition alone. Also, by releasing it in March, instead of the summer months when most blockbusters are released, they are almost already admitting defeat. Perhaps they are hoping to score at least the meagerly profitable numbers that Clash of the Titans made, which was released in April of 2010.

Whatever the reasons for such an early release, I most certainly will be headed to my local cinema on the weekend of March 9^th to see the visual splendor of John Carter! Enjoy the latest trailer!

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING (2012) AWAKENING YOUR WORLD!

"Overall, Underworld: Awakening achieves what it set out to do, which is build on the story and world of the previous Underworld movies, while still creating an exciting and visually stimulating supernatural spectacle!"

Action, Horror and Fantasy

Starring – Kate Bekinsale/Selene, Steven Rea/Doctor Jacob Lane, Michael Ealy/Detective Sebastian, Theo James/David, India Eisley/Eve, Charles Dance, Kris Holden-Ried/Quint

Directors – Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein

Writers – Len Wiseman, John Hlavin, J. Michael Straczynski and Allison Burnett

Rated R – for strong violence, gore and language

1 hr., 28 min.

Thanks to a New England snowstorm last weekend, I had to wait a week before seeing Underworld: Awakening. For reasons I can’t fathom, my local theater did not have the film showing on any of its ten screens, so I was forced to trek to a slightly more distant cinema to see it. Worst of all, this theater has no stadium seating and they were only showing Underworld: Awakening in 3-D! I don’t hate 3-D, but of the four films I have now seen in 3-D, I can honestly say that the process added little to nothing to any of these films. Fortunately, despite all these seemingly opposing events, I still enjoyed Underworld: Awakening immensely – with one caveat, which I’ll get to at the end of this review.

Underworld: Awakening is a sequel to Underworld: Evolution (2006) and takes place twelve years after “The Purge”. A prologue to the movie tells us that six months after Selene gained the powers of the Vampire-Corvinus strain and she and her lover Michael Corvin killed the remaining elder vampires, the human race discovered the existence of Vampires and Lycans, which began a worldwide purge of their species. Selene and Michael are captured by a medical corporation Antigen and frozen in a cryogenic state for study.

Twelve years later, Selene escapes the medical facility, but soon after begins having visions, which lead her to a vampire David, the son of Thomas, a Vampire Elder who leads one of the few remaining vampire covens that remain hidden from humans. David helps Selene rescue a young girl from Antigen, who Selene sees in another vision. Selene and David fight a group of Lycans, who are also after the girl, but she is injured in the fight. The girl, who is another hybrid, is not healing, so David takes her and Selene back to his coven to be looked at by a vampire physician.

Thomas blames Selene for the human’s discovery and extermination of vampires, so he is anxious for her to leave his coven, but David wants Selene to train his coven to defend themselves against both the humans and the increasingly violent Lycan race. Dr. Jacob Lane, the director of Antigen, was using the hybrid girl to develop an "antidote" to make Lycans immune to the deadly effects of silver and enhance their physical abilities. The girl, dubbed by Lane “Subject 2”, needs the hybrid genetic code to achieve this, so Lane sends a super-Lycan Quint with other Lycans to the vampire coven to recapture her. A battle ensues and many of the vampires and werewolves are killed, but Quint dispatches and nearly kills David before leaving with the hybrid girl. Selene heals David with her “immortal” blood and they depart to confront Lanne, Quint and the minions of Antigen.

To start, Underworld: Awakening is even more reliant on action and violence to carry its plot than any of the other three films. I assume that the filmmakers knew that anyone going to see a forth film in a series is going to be familiar enough with the Underworld mythology to not need lengthy bits of narrative to understand the whos, whats and wheres of the story. Even after having just watched the previous three films a few months ago, I was still a bit dazed by how briskly the plot points of Underworld: Awakening are gone over. I was able to keep up with the basic reasons for why Selene was motivated to rescue “Subject 2”, but I would have liked a bit more space between the action sequences to add some depth to the motivations of Selene and the other characters in the film.

Still, the action sequences are the main draw of the Underworld films and Underworld: Awakening does not disappoint in this regard. The opening sequence of Selene’s escape from the high-rise medical center is amazing. Selene demonstrates her uber-vamp powers on numerous occasions, where she seems almost to defy the laws of gravity. The Lycans in this film are very impressive, but the super-Lycan Quint – who is easily nine feet tall – is an amazing creature to behold. If I have any complaints about the special effects at all is that at times they are moving so quickly that you have little time to admire their detailed effectiveness.

Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, who previously directed the supernatural thriller Shelter (2010), do a fine job recreating the dark-monochromatic look and feel of the previous Underworld movies. Len Wiseman, who previously directed the first two movies – Underworld and Underworld: Evolution – as well as having a hand in the story for all three Underworld films, wrote the initial screenplay for Underworld: Awakening. The three other writers, most notably J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame, stepped in for rewrites, but there is so little narrative that is carried by dialogue, that I have to wonder what, if any contributions he or the others made to the script.

Kate Beckinsale steps back into the role of Selene after six years effortlessly. Her cool, hard, but still quiet deadly passion fills the screen for most the film’s short 88 minute run time. I do miss her interaction with her Lycan lover Michael – who only makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the film – and the leading male role of the vampire David played by Theo James is little more than male eye-candy. Veteran actor Charles Dance as the Vampire Elder Thomas adds a nice bit of gravitas to the film and Stephen Rea as Dr. Jacob Lane is quietly sinister as the head of the medical corporation Antigen. If Kris Holden-Ried, who plays the super-Lycan Quint, looks familiar, it is because he plays a similar supernatural creature on the TV Series Lost Girl. Holden-Ried’s facial features and physicality certainly add weight to his role as the ferocious uber-Lycan, but I wonder if he is in danger of being typecast in a way similar to that of actor Ron Perlman.

Overall, Underworld: Awakening achieves what it set out to do, which is build on the story and world of the previous Underworld movies, while still creating an exciting and visually stimulating supernatural spectacle! The one caveat with the film that I hinted at at the outset of this review, is that the film has a tenuous conclusion that leaves me wondering if the writers had planned on a longer movie, but didn’t have the budget to film it. Underworld: Awakening is in definite need of a sequel to finish the many plot-threads that were left dangling at the end of the movie. While I’m glad that the film should be financially successful enough to warrant a sequel and I’m sure I’ll be attending it as well, it might have been nice if Underworld: Awakening could have had a stronger finish that would not necessarily required one.

Underworld: Awakening is a wild ride and a worthy addition to one of my favorite supernatural fantasy series! See it now or later, but don’t miss it.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 9 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 10 Script – 7 Special effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 7 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 10

TOTAL RATING: 87

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D (2011)

"This silly and childish plot is very appropriate, as it is aimed at children after all."

Spy-Satire, Action-Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

Starring - Jessica Alba/Marissa Cortez Wilson, Joel McHale/Wilbur Wilson, Jeremy Piven/Danger D'Amo-Tick Tock, Alexa Vega/Carmen Cortez, Daryl Sabara /Juni Cortez, Rowan Blanchard /Rebecca Wilson, Mason Cook/Cecil Wilson, Ricky Gervais/Argonaut

Director/writer – Robert Rodriguez

PG – for mild action and rude humor

1 hr. 29 min.

Let me start out by saying that I was a fan of the original Spy Kids trilogy: Spy Kids (2001), Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003). While the first film was clearly the freshest and most original, the two sequels still were entertaining.

Now, ten years after the first Spy Kids hit the theaters, Robert Rodriguez has written and directed a new beginning to his Spy Kids franchise. Having been forewarned about the abundance of – for lack of a better word – potty humor in this latest Spy Kid flick, I passed (gas?) on seeing this one at the theater and watched from the relative safety of my own home theater.

Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba), a retired spy with a year-old baby, has managed to fool her husband Wilbur Wilson (Joel McHale) into believing she is an interior decorator and stay at home mom. Marissa is doing her best to win the affection of her twin step kids, but Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook) are still not accepting her as a replacement for their real mom. Just as TV producer and star Wilbur’s new reality spy-hunting show is taking off, a real villainous spy known only as The Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven) is threatening to end the world by terminating time itself. Marissa is called back into the spy biz to hunt down The Timekeeper. Marissa’s kids are attacked by the Timekeeper’s henchmen, so she leaves her kids at OSS headquarters for safekeeping. There, Rebecca and Cecil meet former Spy Kid division head Carmen Cortez (Alexa Vega). With a little help from her brother Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara), the kids join in the fight against the Timekeeper and bring back The Spy Kids!

This silly and childish plot is very appropriate, as it is aimed at children after all. Like the three other Spy Kids films, once the action commences, the kids are at the forefront of the story, pushing the adults to the side. Robert Rodriguez really takes full advantage of the freedom he’s allowed to do almost anything with the CGI technology and some of the chase scenes are genuinely exciting. The kids are both naturally energetic, if not great actors, but they play off each other particularly well. I did enjoy the robot dog Argonaut (voiced in a silly English accent by Ricky Gervais), although there was almost too much of him by film’s end.

My only real complaint with the film is the constant use of flatulence humor throughout the movie! Every time Spy Baby is on screen, she lets out vast gaseous clouds, which I’m assuming had the children in the theaters rolling in the aisles, but just left this former kid feeling… old. There is also one particularly nasty use of throw-up during a chase scene that made me feel a bit queasy. Mr. Rodriguez has kids of his own, so I’ll assume he knew that the children watching this film would love the “potty humor”, but I certainly could have done without it. Thank goodness I didn't see this in the theater in 4-D! I can only imagine how 3-D and "aroma-scope" would have added to these scenes!

If you have children, I’d recommend watching with them. I’m usually able to enjoy kid flicks, but as a middle-aged adult, I must honestly say that I was only mildly entertained.

TECHNICAL: Acting - 8 Directing -9 Cinematography - 9 Script – 7 Special Effects – 9

VISCERAL: Visual - 10 Auditory - 9 Intellectual – 5 Emotional - 8 Involvement -8

TOTAL RATING       82

CHILD OF FIRE: AN URBAN FANTASY NOVEL BY HARRY CONNELLY

Child of Fire is an Urban Fantasy novel that has been “on my radar” for some time now.  “Excellent reading…delicious tension and suspense”, Jim Butcher author of the Dresden Files Novels is prominently featured on the cover, and even though this is my current favorite author and series, I still did not purchase Child of Fire. What was my hesitation to read Child of Fire? The main protagonist Ray Lilly was clearly a former criminal and from my minimal research, did not seem like a particularly likeable character. I’m not a fan of the anti-hero; and yet Child of Fire still intrigued me.

Finally, after more than two years from its original publication date, I bought and read Child of Fire by Harry Connolly. I was right that Ray Lilly, Child of Fire’s main character was not your standard “hero”, but it turns out that he is fairly likeable.

The novel starts with Ray driving his “boss” Annalise Powliss on a mission to find the cause of children missing from the small town of Hammer Bay, Washington. Ray is a “wooden man” assigned to Annalise , who is an agent of the Twenty Palace Society – a group of sorcerers that hunt down and kill other users of magic. Ray, a former car thief, is released from prison by the Twenty Palace Society for the sole purpose of acting as a sort of body guard and servant to Annalise.  When they arrive at Hammer Bay, no one in town remembers the missing children and it quickly becomes apparent that magic is the key to their disappearance.

The tone of Child of Fire is very “noir”, but the action and mystery elements keep the story from bogging down and becoming too morbid – despite the many deaths of both the innocent and guilty. The magic in Child of Fire is very different from most other Urban Fantasy novels, in that it involves the use of written spells, as opposed to the usual verbal ones. Not much time is spent on either explaining the magical rules or the origins of the Twenty Palace Society that Ray and Annalise work for. This causes a bit more work for the reader than I’m used to, but it works for Child of Fire in that it forces you to focus on the plot at hand and work out the magical rules for yourself.

The sequel to Child of Fire, Game of Cages was published last year, and I’ve already bought this – with plans to read it in the coming months. If I like that as much – and hopefully more – than the first novel, then I will more than likely buy and read the third novel, Circle of Enemies – published in August of 2011 – as well.

TECHNICAL: Plot – 9 Characters - 8 Style - 9 World building – 9 Big Finish - 9

VISCERAL: Imagery – 9 Creativity – 9 Intellectual – 8 Emotional – 9 Involvement -9

TOTAL RATING: 88

A fairly recent trend in publishing is to create "trailers" for novels. Here is the full trailer for the Twenty Palaces books, created by Wyrd Films.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)

"If you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves the theaters!"

Mystery, Suspense, Action, Adventure and Fantasy

Starring - Robert Downey Jr./Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law/Dr. John Watson, Noomi Rapace/Madam Simza Heron, Rachel McAdams/Irene Adler, Jared Harris/Professor James Moriarty, Stephen Fry/Mycroft Holmes & Kelly Reilly/Mrs. Mary Watson

Director - Guy Ritchie

Writers - Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney

PG-13 - for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material.

2hr., 8 min.

When I went to see Guy Ritchie’s first Sherlock Holmes film in 2009, I was as skeptical as any fan of the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, as to whether Ritchie’s “modern” approach to Holmes and his Victorian era London would work. However, when I left the theater, I was a convert and was as reenergized in my love for the iconic detective as much as I was upon my first viewing of Jeremy Brett’s first portrayal of Holmes in the 1984 British Granada Television’s adaptation of "A Scandal in Bohemia".

Two years later, Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has upped the ante of the first film, by pitting Holmes against his greatest foe, Professor James Moriarty! Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is about two things: The end of Holmes and Watson’s partnership and the beginning of Holmes and Moriarty’s moral antithesis and commensurate rivalry.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is based in part on "The Final Problem".  That story introduced Professor James Moriarty and also ended in Switzerland and the Reichenbach Falls. However, the film defers from the plot of the short story in many ways; adding many a complex plot thread that only adds to the fun and sophistication of the final problem.

Watson’s honeymoon to his new bride is interrupted by dozens of assassins, but a disguised Holmes is there to help save Mrs. Watson and dispatch the villains. Holmes informs Watson that Moriarty is threatening him and his wife, because Holmes has refused to cease his investigations into the plot of Moriarty to instigate war between France and Germany, by assassinating a key figure of the upcoming European Peace Conference. Holmes and Watson join forces one last time and head to France where Holmes believes the brother of a gypsy woman, Madam Simza Heron, has been coerced into Moriarty’s plot.

Guy Ritchie has taken a complex plot and integrated it with enough big action sequences and broad humor to keep the film steamrolling at an unrelenting pace! Yet, when the final scene occurs, it is Holmes’s trust in Watson and Holmes ability to outwit Moriarty that makes the finish of Game of Shadows so satisfying. If you were not a fan of the first film, than nothing I can say will convince you that Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is worth your time. However, if you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves the theaters.

My rating for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is 93 out of 100.

How I arrived at this grade is through a simple formula of criteria that I consider to be the basis of what is needed to evaluate a film. Every category is graded on a 5 to 10 scale, with 10 obviously being the highest and 5 the lowest. At some point in the future, I may go into detail on my system, but for now just know that the highest score I could give a film would be a 100 and the lowest being a 50.

TECHNICAL: Acting - 10 Directing -10 Cinematography - 9 Script - 9

Special Effects - 9  VISCERAL: Visual - 10 Auditory - 9 Intellectual - 8

Emotional - 9 Involvement -10 = TOTAL RATING       93