Yearly Archive: 2008

Review: ‘Fringe’ Episode #105

Note: Click here for the last mystery!

Autopsy Report: “Power Hungry”
From Fox: “When it’s discovered that a rather simple man has the ability to harness electricity, dangerous and deadly occurrences follow, and our unlikely trio investigates this super-charged oddity. Meanwhile, Olivia has a high-voltage encounter of a different kind when she is rocked by a blast from her past, and Dr. Bishop turns to his feathered friends and enlists homing pigeons to help him break the case.”

Doctor’s Notes
Hot off the heels of Fringe‘s best episode to date comes its worst. “Power Hungry” is a boring, by-the-numbers procedural that weakly nods its head to the previous installment. Just as [[[Fringe]]] proved its merit as innovating and captivating in “The Arrival,” this episode displays just how boring the high concept show can get.

In the episode, the Fringe crew pursues Joseph Meegar, a man who can discharge high amounts of electricity due to the experiments enacted on him by a scientist named Jacob Fischer. Meanwhile, Olivia deals with the ramifications of her strange visions of former lover John Scott, who is thought to be dead. By episode’s end, Walter reveals that part of John’s consciousness is actually stuck in Olivia’s brain as a result of their mind-melding in the series pilot. Mystery solved.

We’ll save you the trouble by answering the obvious question: Yes, that’s really all that happens this episode in terms of any plot movement. It’s true that John literally being inside of Liv’s head is fairly unique, but the whole figment-of-the-imagination thing has been beaten to death before. The fact that “The Arrival” concludes with John Scott showing up at Olivia’s home is resolved by him being a mental projection is very boring. Maybe it would’ve more exciting if the previous episode’s ending didn’t hinge on the reveal, but it did. As a result, the answer is wholly unsatisfying, as the mystery behind why Massive Dynamic has Scott’s body ends up being a completely separate entity.

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Fox Defends ‘Dollhouse’

  • News
  • October 15, 2008

There isn’t even an airdate as yet, but Fox’s Dollhouse, due in January, has stirred up some controversy.  Fans are worried because Fox has a reputation for being ham-fisted with genre programming and is as likely to cancel a show as it is to support it.  Creator Joss Whedon has defended the current regime at Fox and is comfortable with them although he did stop production for two weeks to retool the storylines.  At present the series has a mere eight episode order, short even for a midseason replacement.

Twentieth Century Fox Television Co-Chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden spoke with TV Week recently and during their wide-ranging discussion, Dollhouse inevitably came up.

“Trying to tell stories that involve a genre mythology, while also telling close-ended episodic stories, while also developing characters that people are going to want to come back to week in and week out—it’s an enormous, Herculean effort. [But] there’s no one we have more faith in than Joss Whedon,” Walden explained.

“The midseason opportunity is a blessing and curse. It’s a blessing because you have more time. And it’s a curse because you have more time. There’s a greater level of scrutiny. There is a greater level of intrusion from executives. The bar just keeps being raised because there’s no urgency to put the show on the air, so at no point do you just let go of it and say, “You know what, now it’s time for this country to decide whether this is something that’s going to tap into the Zeitgeist and become culturally phenomenal or successful in general, or not.” Being stuck in that limbo with a lot of well-intentioned executives is very difficult for a creator like Joss. (more…)

On False Equivalency, by Elayne Riggs

  • News
  • October 15, 2008

goddamn-batman-2-7699744I was but a wee babe in the ‘60s, and I don’t really remember JFK’s assassination, or his brother’s, or King’s. I don’t think we had separate drinking fountains for black and white kids in New Jersey. But I remember racism. Anti-Semitism affected me directly (we were the only Jewish family in a heavily Catholic neighborhood) but, as our suburb became integrated and I was best buddies with a black boy, the jeers of racists were never far behind. Prejudice is kinda hard to forget, too, since it never went away.

Granted, everyone may be a little bit racist or sexist or homophobic. But there’s a difference, to my mind, between folks who need to work a bit more on their white or male or hetero privilege and people who wallow in it, who wear their ignorance proudly like a badge of honor. It’s like the difference between what superhero comics fans used to understand as the good guys and the bad guys. We read how the bad guys could fool some of the sheeple some of the time, but at heart they were just plain rotten because they had no moral core. And it was understood that they were not to be emulated nor aspired to and that there was a clear delineation between them and the “do-gooders.” This was in the days before do-gooders apparently became boring and passé.

I think the McCain campaign is counting on the American public to forget that he and his boring, passé do-gooder opponent are vying for a position that will affect millions of real lives very deeply, and pretend instead that they’re voting for the American Idol who will best kick ass and take names (especially yours, which reminds the government that they’d like to thank our fine troops so much for all their wonderful phone sex conversations!). Perhaps they reason that, since the whole Wild West schtick worked so well for the caricature currently occupying the White House, the same script can be retooled for the “James Garner He’s Not” Maverick and Sancho Bimbo — no wait, that’s Bible Spice — no sorry, I meant to say Caribou Barbie. Frontierswoman with a gun! And a helicopter! And golly gee, she knows how ta use ‘em, winkety wink!

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New Lester Dent Novel Found

  • News
  • October 15, 2008

We adore Hard Case Crime and their line of hardboiled crime and mystery tales from new and famous authors.  Founder Charles Ardai just announced that he will publish, for the first time ever, a Lester Dent novel, Honey in his Mouth. The creator of Doc Savage had written the story intended for the Gold Medal line of books that are a direct ancestor to Hard Case.

Similarly, a previously unpublished Roger Zelazny mystery, Dead Man’s Brother, will finally see the light of day in February, the first new Zelazny novel in 15 years. Found more than 30 years after it was written, it’s the only new book by the author since his death a decade ago. The breathless back cover copy tells us: “Once an art smuggler, now a respectable art dealer, Ovid Wiley awoke to find his former partner stabbed to death on his gallery floor. That was strange enough—but when a CIA agent showed up to spring him from NYPD custody, things got a lot stranger.

“Now the CIA is offering to clear up the murder charge, but only in return for a favor: They want Ovid to fly to Vatican City and trace the trail of a renegade priest who has gone missing with millions in church funds. What’s the connection? The priest’s lover, a woman Ovid knew in his smuggling days… “Those who’ve read early copies have been effusive with their praise.

Now out, is The First Quarry, featuring Max Allan Collins’ early crime character. He wrote his first Quarry book in 1976 and has periodically revisited the character ever since, most recently in last year’s Hard Case release, The Last Quarry.  This book, the eighth, goes all the way back to the hitman’s beginning.
 

Fincher Declares ‘Rendezvous’ Dead

  • News
  • October 15, 2008

David Fincher, while promoting his next feature, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, told reporters that the film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama was likely dead. Despite the most recent draft of a script being delivered in April, financing proved difficult for the classic novel.

"It looks like it’s not going to happen,” the director was quoted as saying over at First Showing. “There’s no script and as you know, [Morgan Freeman’s] not in the best of health right now. We’ve been trying to do it but it’s probably not going to happen."

The actor was the person to begin developing the property for much of this decade with Fincher coming on soon after. Freeman, though, was badly injured in a car accident back in August.

Freeman told the website last year, that "it’s a very intellectual science fiction film, a very difficult book to translate cinematically." A 30-mile long cylinder is found in the solar system and a crew of astronauts is sent from Earth to explore the extraterrestrial object. Published in 1972, it went on to win the Nebula, Hugo and Jupiter Awards.

Revelations Entertainment, Freeman’s production outfit, holds the screen rights and they contracted with Fincher in 2001.  The most recent screenplay was written by Stel Pavlou, a writer perhaps best known for his prose stories in the Doctor Who Short Trips anthologies.
 

No ‘Warcraft’ in 2009

  • News
  • October 15, 2008

Shack News is reporting that Blizzard and Legendary Pictures’ adaptation of Warcraft won’t be ready for next year, as had been previously announced.

"I don’t know about the 2009 date," says Blizzard president Mike Morhaime about the film’s progress, "but it is still something we are very excited about."

"We do have a draft of a script, [but] it isn’t final," he continues. "I think we still need to do a lot of work."

At BlizzCon 2007, Blizzard’s VP of Creative Development Chris Metzen and Thomas Tull, head of Legendary Pictures, provided insight into the progress of a Warcraft movie. They released the following tidbits of information:

– The film is set for 2009
– They have a $100 million budget
– It will be a mix of live action and computer animation
– No directors or actors are attached
– The story focuses on major events from a year before World of Warcraft and will principally focus on the Alliance’s perspective
– Run time will be about two to two and a half hours
– More of a Gladiator war epic than a Lord of the Rings journey of discovery
– Characters to be featured include Bolvar Fordragon, Thrall and Cairne Bloodhoof.

Two years later, there are only two items on that list we can speak to: the film will not be released in 2009, and there are still no actors or directors attached. Look how much can happen in two years!

It’s nice to see Blizzard being thoughtful with their property, but there is a difference between taking one’s time and being too reserved to jump into battle. A Warcraft film can wait for a while, but once the craze of World of Warcraft subsides a bit, those potential gold pouches are gonna disappear off the battlefield.

Ah, who are we kidding? World of Warcraft will always be awesome. Speaking of which, we got some orcs to hunt. Leeroooooooooy Jenkins!!

Guggenheim talks ‘Green Lantern’

  • News
  • October 14, 2008

There’s been a lot of talk about new, darker toned movies being made of DC Comics properties based on the success of The Dark Knight. That’s had one aisle of comic fans pretty psyched, as the more mature direction of Batman’s big screen adventures have definitely upped the gravitas factor. On the other hand, not every character lends itself to a "dark tone," such as the impending Superman relaunch.

Luckily, it sounds like Green Lantern is going to shine through the blackest night for a full on "respectful approach to the character [of Hal Jordan, and] a loving approach to the entire mythos."

That’s according to Marc Guggenheim, the writer of the upcoming Lantern feature. He spoke to Newsarama about the film’s progress, saying that "it’s pretty far along." The television producer and part-time comic book writer has worked on the script with Greg Berlanti and Michael Green.

"We’re reasonably deep into [Green Lantern]," he tells the website. "I’m never really comfortable publicly commenting on the movie because unlike the TV show, I’m just one of three writers and I’ve sworn a blood oath to secrecy. But we’re in the thick of it. We’re moving along at a pretty hefty clip."

And, according to Guggenheim, the alleged "revamp" of DC film properties hasn’t effected Hal Jordan in the slightest.

"I know a lot’s been made in newspapers and magazines about a revamping of DC’s approach," says Guggenheim. "That hasn’t been my sense. Maybe a focusing; maybe a ratcheting up of pace and energy. Whatever it’s been, it really hasn’t affected this project in the least. All the drafts have come in on schedule. All the notes have been the same kind of notes that we would have gotten in the absence of any ‘revamping.’"

Guggenheim tries not to pay attention the rumors and speculation about the project, but couldn’t avoid hearing the biggest rumor of ’em all: Ryan Gosling as Hal Jordan.

"I read that online," Guggenheim says. "As one of the writers, I’m not really involved in the day-to-day pre-production on it all. But I think it would be pretty amazing [casting.] I’ll go on record saying that."

Regardless of how the production aspect shakes out, there’s no question that it’s a wonderful time for comics on film.

"The kind of summer we just had, with movies like Iron Man and Dark Knight, makes a fertile marketplace for all comic book movies," Guggenheim says. "the timing could not have been better for us with [Green Lantern]."

Earlier this month, Latino Review scooped that Green Lantern was aiming for a 2010 release date. By all accounts, it looks like Hal Jordan will be on time for lift off.

Giggenheim and Berlanti’s Eli Stone has its second season debut on ABC tongiht.

Review: ‘French Milk’

  • Uncategorized
  • October 14, 2008

French Milk
Lucy Knisley
Touchstone Books, October 2008, $15

These days, people record their every inner thought and deed via Twitter, LiveJournal, Facebook and other social networking sites.  It’s a fast and easy way to tell the multitudes what you’re up to.  This is especially true for people who travel far from friends and family.

As a result, Lucy Knisley is a throwback.  The 23-year old grew up on comic books and has studied art in Chicago and New York, developing a distinctive style and voice that earned her a small but dedicated following. She recorded her six week sojourn in France by using pen and paper, recording a graphic diary of her trip to celebrate her 22nd birthday and her mother’s 50th.   Upon her return, she gathered up her dozens and dozens of pages and self-published through Monkfish Book Publishing.

While showing [[[French Milk]]] to people at a MoCCA event, she was discovered by Amanda Patten, senior editor at Fireside/Touchstone.  Now, the book is receiving a big PR push and is on sale as today and has already been receiving positive notices.

Knisley has a keen eye for atmosphere and detail, finding joy in the simplicity of a baguette or a rude American tourist. Her observations are sharp and we can share her delight in fresh, unadulterated whole milk, from which the book takes its name.  We follow mother and daughter as they sightsee, shop, dine and relax together.  She does a nice job recording the details to bring their flat to life along with shops, Laundromats and restaurants.

The book’s publicity tells us of the changing relationship between moth and daughter but the book barely scratches the topic.  There’s one sequence when mother tries to discuss financial planning to Lucy but that’s about it.  They share the flat and bed and seem to get along without any tension, quarrel or serious issue.  Lucy Knisley, it seems, missed having sex but remained faithful to her boyfriend, whom she stills has a relationship with. But she seemed content to be a homebody and never craved going out to experience Paris nightlife on her own with people her age. If anything, the relationship seemed very close and stable.

The pair had been to Paris before and her observations about seeing things after a few more years’ growth and maturity is interesting.  But her diary is all surface.  We did this, ate that and went to sleep.  There’s precious little about the culture or differences with her life back in the states.  Her observations are all micro with no attention paid to the larger issues facing a young woman on the cusp of adult independence.

The book benefitted from the occasional photograph so we can compare the real people with Knisley’s fun drawings.  It could have benefitted from some summing up beyond a one-pager at the end.

Knisley has great potential and she’s working hard to achieve her place in the comics field.  This is a terrific, albeit flawed, first major effort. Her current material at Knisley’s website show continued development.

ComicMix Radio: That’s A Wrap For Spider-Girl

  • News
  • October 14, 2008

It was the little comic They Couldn’t Kill – until now. Amazing Spider-Girl ends at issue #30, but there is still life left for May Parker, plus:

Stephen King’s Talisman comes to comics
A cool Aliens/Predator package on DVD this week
Something for everyone (really) in the comic shops tomorrow

And what three titles do we feel are this week’s Best Bets? They are NOT from DC or Marvel, but you can find out who publishes them when you Press the Button!
 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6039389 or RSS!

 

Donner says Gibson is Out of ‘Lethal Weapon 5’

  • Uncategorized
  • October 14, 2008

richard-donner-1-1940669Richard Donner has an impressive resume as a director but he seems forever linked to two franchises: Superman and Lethal Weapon.  While chatting with Geoff Boucher at the Los Angeles Times about the former, he let slip the news that Mel Gibson has refused to be in the fifth installment of the latter.

We recently reported that the project may be fast tracked but with Shane Black working on another film, people were concerned that Lethal Weapon 5 may be stalled.  Then we heard it was happening.  Now, Donner said, "Mel turned it down," Donner said. "I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn’t involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be." Gibson’s representatives refused to confirm this for the Times.

"Joel Silver tried to ace me out of it,” Donner explained. “He tried to put it together but made sure he didn’t do it until my contract was up. You know, it’s typical of the man. A guy who wasn’t even around at the beginning when we started on the first one. He came in late.

"Yes, the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."

Boucher got Donner to comment on Warner Bros.’ recent announcement that they envision the next Superman feature film to be a darker look at the Man of Steel. "I do think you could probably take Superman into some other areas today,” he commented. “I think maybe it’s ready to break the mold slightly and bring a little greater sense of reality into it. Not contemporizing it to like today. Just making the heavies — and the situation that is the tension piece — a little more broken away from the comic-book character. It would take some tricky writing, some good acting and some good directing."

As for who should be involved, he has one name. "I’d like to see Geoff Johns take a crack at the Superman…I think he would be startling. Did you read his comics? There it is. It’s there on paper." Johns began his career as Donner’s assistant on Conspiracy Theory and the two have collaborated on a run of Action Comics, which Johns now writes on his own.

"The studio hasn’t gone to him and said, ‘Give us a screenplay.’ That would be the smart thing to do, but that’s show biz. Right? Show biz, that’s our life."

The prolific director is more immediately looking forward to this week.” This Thursday my favorite producer in the world, Lauren Shuler Donner, and I are getting stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."
 

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