BEGGARS CAN'T BE BLOGGERS

Movies and Comics

MOVIES:

A SEPARATION – 2011 – Grade: A+directed by Asghar Farhadi, starring Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat, and Sarina Farhadi



HUGE mistake not seeng this film in the theater because it could easily be my favorite film from 2011.  My wife pleaded for it, yet I kept casting my vote for flicks (like “The Artist”) that would involve less screaming.  A misconception thinking this was the Iranian “Kramer Vs. Kramer”, after my reading a review on how it detailed the collateral damage of a modern Iranian divorce.  But the bickering couple featured in the promotional material only sets the table for a rather sophisticated story of have’s & have nots.  There are toxic relationships on display, and screaming, but there are quiet, intimate moments as well.  To sell this as a “divorce story” is a disservice for the TWO court cases; and it’s the OTHER case which acts as pressure cooker for two familes, one fairly affluent and the other poor.
NO SPOILERS.  And after viewing, I can understand why A SEPARATION is so hard to promote.  There’s a conversation which takes place early on in the film between a family and a caretaker.  It’s not in anyway telegraphed how critical it will be in the course of the film, yet later I found myself wanting to rewind again to monitor the reactions of the players involved.  Was a specific character within earshot when a piece of information was exchanged?  We remember the conversation as it ‘s discussed in court, and all of the sudden the audience becomes the eyewitness; Did he/she know something beforehand then lie about it open court?
What a rewarding film.  I can’t remember the last time I watched a film set in the Middle East that didn’t have a rocket launcher.  It’s a story that could have been set in Nebraska, but thank goodness it wasn’t.  It’s backdrop and how religion drives good men & good women to the most impractical solutions is what sets it apart from most Hollywood dramas.  And don’t make my mistake in assuming it’s depressing;   You will be so interested in these richly performed non-stereotypes, and the compromises make in their journey to be bummed about anything.

 TV:

LUTHER –Season One & Two – BBC America - starring Idris Elba – created by Neil Cross  Grade A-



My wife and I joke about how LUTHER is “jump the shark proof” because LUTHER jumps one in the very first episode, with Idris Elba’s detective forging a bond with a psychopath, who later assists him in his cases. 
If you accept that premise, you’re fine.  Because the sharks lurking about weekly are shorter leaps of faith.
Like Breaking Bad and other recent cat/mouse crime dramas, if one stops to ponder the astounding coincidences which keep the heroes afloat the show will unravel.  But such incredible plots are hoisted on the backs of very capable actors.  Elba is vulnerable, intelligent, and so intense.  There’s no doubt he will be an international film star, as soon as movies discover how to harness what makes him such a special talent.

We finished Season One per the BBC America repeats this weekend then discovered all of Season Two is on demand, via the BBC America HD outlet (I’m so thrilled Verizon finally upgraded BBC America to include HD.  DOCTOR WHO’s first rate cinematography, as well as LUTHER’s, should be enjoyed in HD). 

LUTHER is part of what BBC America calls “Dramaville” in it’s Wednesday night line-up.  And it was recently announced that Elba will come back for Season 3.  I’m a fan of BBC’s short run series, Season 1 being six shows followed up by the four of Season 2.  It allows great actors like Elba, Kenneth Brannaugh, Benedict Cumberbatch and others to pursue movie projects and yet return to play detectives on the small screen.

- Dale Beggars

BEGGARS CAN’T BE BLOGGERS

Movies and Comics – I Will Try To Fix You With Comics Edition

BATMAN: SON OF THE DEMON  by Mike W Barr and Jerry Bingham DC Graphic Novel  Grade: B

Mark Hamill delivering the introduction to a book published in 1987 amuses me as it was 5 years later before he would become an integral part of Batman, voicing Joker in the classic animated series.  I think I read this 10 years ago and didn’t care for it.  But since then, two things happened which inspired me to give it another shot:

·         Batman’s child was reworked back into continuity (despite Grant Morrison stating he didn’t read SOTD before writing the origin of Damian Wayne).

·         I saw the last installment of the Dark Knight Trilogy and was underwhelmed.

This is a story of Batman’s partnership with Ra’s al Ghul and his daughter Talia.  Basically they form an unsteady alliance to take down a terrorist and his weather machine.  It’s as silly as it sounds, but I’ll admit, I’ve never read a Batman story where so much happens in just 78 pages.  It’s a lot to swallow that Batman would give up crime fighting upon learning his wife is pregnant, and then ditches her after she fakes a miscarriage.  If anyone takes a backseat, it’s Ra’s al Ghul.  Ra’s seems way too forgiving here, and he nearly gets his butt kicked before Batman bails him out.  No one wants to see Ra’s be anything else other than a complete bad ass.

If there’s a reason to recommend the book, it’s the art.  Bingham penciled, inked, and colored this story and it’s fantastic.   I‘ll have to remember Bingham because other than some Superman stories, I’m not too familiar with the guy.
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ALAN MOORE: WILD WORLDS DC/WILDSTORM by Alan Moore - TPB Grade: B

DC released this collection shortly after Moore completed his strong ABC run and walked away from their Wildstorm imprint.  Surely no one who purchases this trade is expecting the quality of Top 10 or Promethea.   Moore created the ABC sandboxes from scratch (except League of Extraordinary Gentlemen???), worked with better artists at ABC, and "Wild Worlds" is certainly not up to such hight standards.  But I disagree with anyone who says Moore "mails this in". Are these more mainstream adventures than what we expect from Moore?  Absolutely.  But there is still great wickedness on display here.

 In his WildC.A.T.S./Spawn crossover the main characters meet, fight each other, then fight the bad guy.  That’s pretty standard, and if Moore had pitched anything else in doing a WildC.A.T.S./Spawn crossover the book would’ve never seen print.  And I certainly disagree with the Goodreads' reviewer who typed in the single word critique of "retarded".  I'm curious why someone with such an active vocabulary would waste any time not posting comments on You Tube.

The WildC.A.T.S./Spawn adventure feels much like a 90's era Age of Apocalypse tale.  Paradox alert:  Spawn is both the main villain AND a member of the invasion party, so there are some trippy time travel elements at play here. And I forgot the obvious rule that if a new character conceals their identity, there will be a earth shattering reveal in the last act. 

He’s not reinventing comics with this one, folks.  Moore is throwing a smackdown, and anybody expecting otherwise should cool their expectations a bit.  I thought the crossover was a lot of fun, however.

The Voodoo story is challenging initially.   At first it plays like an exploitation picture, with the casual use of the N-word and several women being referred to as "bitches" And then that tone is shattered by beautiful interruptions of crackerjack prose when Moore introduces his godlings.  To top if off is a stripper, who was superhero in a former life, and there’s never any attempt to explain her motivation for going X-rated.  Obviously there are misogynist elements but nothing as offensive as a typical Garth Ennis comic.

This is about an empowered, sexy woman, who cuts loose and faces down the devil in a wild finale.  There’s no real scorekeeping as our entire cast transform into magic-washed marionettes, and parade through a battleground that is literally half church/half strip club.

This is what happens when Moore produces a drive-in movie comic, Roger Corman by way of Anne Rice.  I'm more than okay with that.

The chapter dedicated to Deathblow is perhaps the wildest read in the collection.  The title character awakens as a woman in a barely inhabited world.  She soon discovers she is only one version of Deathblow, and the surrounding world is a deathmatch arena with the "Deathblow" identity on the line. 

The Mister Majestic one shot didn't do much for me, but I will confess I'm not too familiar with the character.  Majestic is winding down and saying his goodbyes as the universe snuffs out.  The WildC.A.T.S.stand alone that closes the book is saved entirely by the artist but I had trouble remembering exactly what happened one day later.  Minor complaints for two stories which take up very little space in the book.  DC could have omitted them entirely and shaved a buck off of the price.
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THE CAPE by Joe Hill (story),Jason Ciaramella (writer) ,Zach Howard (penciler)   TPB   -Grade A+

This is a horror story which I initially balked at and dismissed as just another supes’ origin story.  Also the fact that NBC produced a miniseries with the title didn't do it any favors.  But there’s nothing ready for network primetime here.  It’s not safe, and the protagonist who wears the magic cape just happens to be a sociopath. 

The story’s inspiration seems to unfold from the urban myth of the hoodrat who ties a beach towel around his neck and takes a fatal leap from his two story rooftop.  One such child survives his brush with death but never matures into a responsible adult.  This is the “what if” story of “what if” Superman was a major jerk and took what he wanted all the time.  And didn’t care about anyone.

It’s a quick read and avoids familiarity by strapping us to the back of such a demented wild card.    And the art by Zach Howard is delish.  Take a look at this:

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BLUE ESTATE VOLUME 1 -  By Viktor Kalvachev and various - TPB -  Image Comics - Grade B+ Yes, the quotes on the back cover compare it to Tarantino, and maybe one day we'll stop doing that for every new crime comedy.  But it's appropriate here because it suffers from some of  Quentin's faults;  the zingy pop culture references and an overpopulation of hip, seedy characters.  Introducing this many colorful junkies & thieves within a modest four issue framework is, of course,  overwhelming, and the writer never gets around to an actual story before his camera swings around to another crew,  as we bob & sway through the surf guitar tracklist, and we transition from penciler to penciler.

But I am recommending it without reservation because I WAS entertained and BLUE ESTATE is unlike most current books, even the indies.  It's perverse and Kalvachev's creative design is a punked out tribute to pulp fiction (the genre, not the movie- though Hell, it's pretty much that too.  There's a Travolta stand-in who's suggested to have intercourse with a Samuel L. Jackson stand-in).  It's very similar to 100 BULLETS without the conspiratorial nervous system, or STRAY BULLETS minus the blender narrative (though we do flash back then forward a few times).
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BATMAN: EARTH ONE - By Geoff Johns & Gary Frank - Graphic Novel - DC - Grade B+ First I want to recognize what an improvement I thought this was over SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, a book where the revamping of an origin mostly felt uninspired.  It was rumored that these books (and the ALL STAR books prior) would be DC's version of Marvel's "Ultimate" brand, a streamlining of a universe to make franchise characters more "newbie" friendly and uncluttered from continuity.  For the most part DC succeeds here, with Alfred Pennyworth landing the biggest transformation.  Taking a queue from the recent Bat-Movies and the brilliant characterization by Michael Caine; Alfred is no one's manservant but rather a scarred veteran owing a debt to Bruce Wayne's father.  It's suggested at the end that everything young Bruce knows about tracking & dismantling monsters is honed from the skills Pennyworth brought back from his war.

Is EARTH ONE needed?  Probably not.  It borrows too heavily from Batman: Year One yet misfires in remaking Jim Gordon a whelp to Gotham's corruption.  And I initially hated John's new narcissistic, celebrity cop Harvey Dent, but must admit I'm intrigued by Dent's final scene.  Also Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepott is completely wasted as Gotham's Mayor (the offscreen mayor is an evildoer we learn at the beginning but it's disclosed he's Cobblepott in the climax, right before his demise.  So what's the point burning an A-list villain?).

Gary Frank's art is solid as ever.  Wonderful facial expressions and actions scenes throughout.  I have no problem recommending such a nice looking book.


- Dale Beggars

Evil Ernie Returns (!!!!) In "Origin of Evil"

Oh my.  My, my, my... Where to begin?  I can scarcely put into keystrokes how excited this makes me.  I was an Ernest Fairchild fan as a boy back in the early 90s, when CHAOS! was putting out EE books.  

Description, from CBR:

Ernest Fairchild was a kind and gentle soul...until one day something in him snapped, leading him to one of the most notorious killing sprees in American history. With 665 kills to his name, "Evil Ernie" requires ONE more murder to complete the ritual he started and seal his deal with the Devil. Problem is: he's just been EXECUTED! What led an ordinary boy to become a leather-clad angel of death? How does he wield such blasphemous power? And what is the secret behind his hideous smiley-face button? This October, you may hate the sin, but you'll LOVE the SINNER! Jesse Blaze Snider (HULK: LET THE BATTLE BEGIN) and JASON CRAIG (FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH) dive into the heart of darkness with Dynamite's bold, terrifying new relaunch of EVIL ERNIE!

Issue 1 comes out in October from Dynamite, who's been releasing some pretty cool-looking stuff lately.  Check out the CBR link above to glimpse a couple of variants, etc.

- Johnny Decibel



Kids Say the Darndest Things...



NG Public Service Announcement

Misuse of Quotation Marks - avoid it at all costs and save the English language.

courtesy of Mike Sessa



Ring bell for "Meat Service"

BEGGARS CAN'T BE BLOGGERS - Movies and Comics

Dallas AnimeFest  9/3/2012

Displaced comic book fan observations on Animefest taking place at the Sheraton Hotel in Downtown Dallas this weekend:

What’s a comic book fan doing at an Anime convention anyway?  Because as my niece told me & my wife, comic culture and anime culture are two totally different beasts.  I volunteered my chaperone services months ago, when I figured there would be at least one vendor who trucked along some Marvel/DC long boxes to dig through while the other two shopped the floors for buttons and trinkets. 

Nope.  Not a traditional American mainstream comic or TPB in sight.  And the young lady was spot-on about the difference between the two.  Specially now that comic conventions are overrun with “speed passes”, and  with pricey celebrity autographs & photo ops.  Animefest is a bunch of teenagers/young adults throwing a geek coming out party.  It’s more about letting the freak flag fly via Cos Play, and making connections with fellow attendees and vendors than seizing this year’s STTNG scribble to add to one’s collection.  In fact, I say this with all due respect, Animefest is closer in kinship to Warhol/Bowie than it is to Lee/Kirby.

For starters, hardly any character I saw this afternoon wore a mask.  There were bizarre blouses & gowns, tight fitting leotards, and colorful make-up, and bright frizzy wigs…but hardly anyone tried to lose themselves within a mask, cowl, or hood.  Not even those few whose gloriously wide buttocks were exposed on the opposite side.  These were all proud kids who’d been waiting for this weekend to shine, dammit. 

But yet the event’s major discovery for me, though I’m sure this is just my lateness to the party, and everyone else is aware….most of these Anime/Manga characters are androgynous.  I people-watched for a good hour and would place my odds on correctly identifying gender of Cos Play participants at about 60%.  Such a magnificent boldness on display via their attire and a refreshing disregard to communicate their sexuality.

I did scratch my head on some other points, however.   Like I said, I’m brand new, but there was a vendor dressed like Gary Burghoff from M.A.S.H.  Perhaps there’s an adaptation of the classic sitcom (???),  because one guy looked just like a young version of a clipboard-toting Radar.  I also asked my niece about the teenagers portraying Nazi footsoldiers, but she was confused by that as well.  My guess is an Anime version of Sophie’s Choice.

- Dale Beggars



The First X-Men #1

Last week I stopped by Titan Comics here in Dallas and snagged a copy of The First X-Men #1.  The book is the first installment of a new mini that serves as a prequel to the founding of the mutant superteam known as the X-Men, written by Neal Adams and Christos Gage, and penciled by Adams. 

The book finds Sabretooth and Wolverine working together to find and recruit mutants in order to gain some strength in numbers and fight mutant persecution.  In the first issue, they find a powerful young man by the name of Anthony, and a woman named Holly Bright (aka Holo).  They also encounter a young Charles Xavier, currently attending university at Oxford and dating Moira Mactaggert.  Xavier is not (yet) the least bit interested in having his life's path dictated by his mutant gift.  It should be noted, this title takes place even before Xavier and Magneto meet.  

Okay, so here's my rundown:

The storyline is pretty cool, and serves to fill some gaps in the X-titles' continuity.  It's set about "thirty years ago" but not tied to any particular year.  As has been said, the writers aren't referencing cell phones or the internet, but they also aren't referencing disco, either.  

That said, honestly, I don't care for the art.  I know Neal Adams is a comic book legend, but frankly, I don't think the art on this book is up to par with what I've seen of his earlier work.  Also, the pacing of issue 1 felt really rushed.  It was as if they were trying to pack so many thing into the issue, parts of it felt rather glossed over.  I believe this has something like a 5 issue run, so it remains to be seen if this is merely to cover some standard "set-up" ground, or if the whole run will be this...quick.

Shortcomings in pacing and artwork notwithstanding, it should serve as a decent mini in the X-universe.  It wasn't the greatest, but again, is an interesting historical look at the beginnings of the modern mutant era.  The book is basically saved, in my opinion, by the sheer intrigue in the premise.  Flaws and all, I'll still probably pick up issue #2.

The cover alone looked interesting enough to warrant that:

- Johnny Decibel