Author: Robert Greenberger

Gotham arrived amidst a ton of hoopla and promised to be a fresh look at the intervening years between the deaths of Martha and Thomas Wayne and their son Bruce’s debut as Batman. Rich, fertile territory to explore, ripe for drama. What we were offered instead, was a hodge-podge of warmed over cop retreads and overstuffed with criminals who have no business operating in Gotham during this period. You can see this for yourself on the just-released Gotham: The Complete First Season from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.

It became fairly quickly after the promising pilot episode that the series was going to pay no attention whatsoever to the canonical material published by DC Comics. At best, they borrowed names and places and affixed them to characters they wanted to use, ignoring what made them work for the last 75 years.

Gotham is a dark, depressing place, rife with corruption, an ineffectual police department and too few citizens willing to fight to save their city. It appears the lone exception is James W. Gordon (Ben McKenzie), the only good cop on the GCPD. Everyone else apparently is in the pocket of Carmine Falcone (John Doman), Sal Maroni (David Zayas), or their underbosses. Over the course of the 22 episodes, we see little variation in this so when even heinous crimes are committed, Gordon stands in police HQ, doing his best to rally the troops and gets stared at.

His captain, Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara), has given up and his partner, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), is slowly climbing out of the criminal pocket, shaking his head in disbelief that he is actually coming over to see things Gordon’s way.

Gordon doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself. When he’s forced to kill Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), he fakes the man’s death (which we all see coming back to bite him, and fast) the word is out that he’s now one of “them”. Rather than use it to his advantage, he lets it gnaw at him. He refuses to share with his fiancée, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) and here, the producers appear to have added one supporting player too many. It took most of the season to conclude the producers had no idea what to do with her other than give her a former affair with Renee Montoya (Victoria Cartagena). She’s now in the looney bin which is shame since she winds up marrying Gordon in the comics.

Meantime, young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) is being raised solely by Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee) and the withdrawn, sullen 12 year old is trying train his body in fits and starts, using his already-keen mind to figure out who may have killed his parents, a trail that leads him to the deadly board of directors at Wayne Enterprises. He is also on the cusp of adulthood and can’t figure out his feelings for the fascinating street urchin and thief Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova).

In the first season alone, producers Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon have given us Catwoman, Penguin, Mr. Szasz (Anthony Carrigan), Poison Ivy (Clare Foley), Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), Tommy Elliot (Cole Vallis), the Electrocutioner (Christopher Heyerdahl), the Scarecrow (Charlie Tahan), the Dollmaker (Colm Feore), the Ogre (Milo Ventimiglia), and maybe even the Joker. And we’re promised even more villains in the second season starting September 21.

The addition of Fish Mooney, a little too on the nose of a name, improves the male/female ratio but she is also a stock character without much to differentiate her although it is interesting to see Jada Pinkett Smith play against type. Her story arc was destined to end up short-lived but she was also given some of the most interesting material to work with.

So, Gordon remains the seemingly lone voice of reason in a city spiraling around the drain. He tells young Bruce that there is always hope and their budding relationship will inevitably lead the detective to figure out who the new dark knight is 13 years from now. The series, to be successful, has to tread that delicate line between utter defeat making Batman a necessity and Gordon a failure.

As a result, the show is a mess. Oddly, though, it’s a compelling mess that you keep coming back to check in and see if they’ve figured things out yet. The acting goes from square-jawed and wooden to outlandishly bad and caricatured. The writing is tedious and melodramatic, robbing interesting characters from saying interesting things. We’re told in the pilot that Thomas Wayne and Falcone both loved Gotham and were fighting, in their own ways, to preserve it. A great premise that went absolutely nowhere all season.

For a moody and atmospheric show, it has a dull color palette which transfers nicely to high definition disc. The combo pack comes with just four Blu-ray discs and a Digital HD code. The 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video presentation makes a bad show lovely to look at. Coupled with a fine DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track you can hear it all.

The set comes with handful of average Special Features, starting with Gotham Invented (32:00), a three-part (“Building Our Gotham,” “Paving the Way for the Caped Crusader” and “Fractured Villains.”) behind-the-scenes look at how to study then ignore the source material; Designing the Fiction (20:00), a look at the process of making the city unique and timeless; The Game of Cobblepot (26:00), a profile on Robin Lord Taylor, one of the most arresting things about the series; The Legend Reborn (22:00), looking at the pilot’s shoot; DC Comics Night: Comic-Con 2014 (30:00): Gotham, Arrow and The Flash; Character Profiles (14:00), examining Jim Gordon, Oswald Cobblepot, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Harvey Bullock, Fish Mooney, Dr. Leslie Thompkins and Killer Characters; Unaired Scenes (7:00); and finally, the Gag Reel (5:00).

Before post-apocalyptic fiction became in vogue, there was always a work or two that captured the imagination. From Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale there have been stories to challenge society. But few packed the visceral punch of the visuals Australian director George Miller brought to his bleak world in 1979’s Mad Max. It set a standard rarely surpassed and introduced us to the talent of Mel Gibson. The modest film found an international audience so Miller was able to revisit the world on a somewhat larger scale in 1982’s The Road Warrior. And that found an even more eager audience so Hollywood threw money at him and we got the somewhat over-the-top Beyond Thunderdome.

Miller has wanted to look back at that society and has spent the last three decades attempting to mount such a production but fate was unkind to him. Meanwhile, contemporary fiction and filmed entertainment caught up to him so dystopia is as common as the soap opera. Audiences were therefore a little cautious when they settled into their seats to see Mad Max: Fury Road. As you may have seen for yourself or heard, he was more than up for the challenge, as was Thomas Hardy, the new Max.

Max has lost everything and like many a good protagonist, he wanders the wasteland, a restless spirit. His chance encounters ignite the stories much as the orphaned children took him to Thunderdome, here his capture by a savage society led him to Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). For all the heroics Max display here, this is truly Furiosa’s film and she has made an indelible impression on audiences around the world.

The film, out now on Digital HD and coming to disc Tuesday from Warner Home Entertainment, is well worth a look. While there isn’t an overly complex story don’t think there isn’t a story or a message in this high-octane chase. By the time Max finds her, she has stolen five women known as the Breeders, from Immortal Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who has kept them in sexual bondage, seeking to generate male heirs to inherit his brutal control over the masses. She has The Splendid Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Toast the Knowing (Zoë Kravitz), Capable (Riley Keough), Cheedo the Fragile (Courtney Eaton) and The Dag (Abbey Lee) aboard an amazing machine and is taking them to the only safe place she knows, the land where she was raised.

While it’s her story, we see it from Max’s point of view, and are privy only to his thoughts. Still, Furiosa ignites the story and is active rather than reactive, something that has been debated online since the film opened in June. She has been savaged and has lost an arm, but has not lost her wits and when the opportunity presented itself, she took the women, robbing Joe of his destiny. He wants them back and the chase is on as one truck is followed by dozens of the most imaginative motor vehicles captured onscreen.

Max has been taken by Nux (Nicholas Hoult), one of the white-painted war boys, the Citadel’s armed forces. He’s strapped to the front of Nux’s vehicle and over the course of the story, once Max gets free, he exerts a quiet influence over Nux, who finds his soul, and first love, while risking his life to eventually protect the Breeders.

Miller co-wrote the film with Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris and touch on many aspects of heroes, villains, sacrifice, and the greater good. Although little of their writing is found in the finished film, you can learn from the extras how every character and vehicle had a name and distinctive background. Miller can tell you more about Immortal Joe or Coma Doof Warrior (the flame throwing guitar guy) than you can infer from onscreen, but it certainly helped inform the performances. And it clearly helped Margaret Sixel (Miller’s wife) edit the reported 450 hours of footage into an entertaining story.

Furiosa wants the women safe in The Green Place, even if it costs her her life. Max and Furiosa find themselves reluctant allies and little personal is shared between them, but there are volumes said between glances from Hardy and Theron. As they come to trust their lives and their precious cargo with one another, we get new glimpses of how harsh life on Earth has become, with rival factions, fragile alliances, and few places that can be considered safe refuges. There’s little hope here, but you find yourself rooting for their success regardless.

The action rarely slips out of third gear and the visuals are an unending array of imaginative devices, big explosions, loud thrumming noise from the Doof mobile, and Max’s careworn gaze. The cast makes the most of their meager lines, letting their physicality convey much of the story.

The flawless 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer means you can enjoy the visuals from home and study the machinery or terrain with ease. Matched with the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 surround sound, the film sounds strong and you hear everything from the whisper wind-swept sand to the revving of an engine in the distance.

The combo pack comes with the Blu-ray, DVD<,and Digital HD along with a handful of extras that elaborate on the amazing world Miller has successfully revisited and we hope will bring us back for another look. The special features start with  Maximum Fury: Filming Fury Road (29:00); Fury on Four Wheels (23:00), a detailed look at the incredible war machines; The Road Warriors: Max and Furiosa (11:00), Hardy and Theron discuss their alter egos;  The Tools of the Wasteland (14:00), a look at the props and more on the production design; The Five Wives: So Shiny, So Chrome (11:00), Huntington-Whiteley, Keough, Kravitz, Lee, and Eaton fill us in on their characters, filming in the chill of Namibia, and how the rehearsal and skimpy outfits led to  a sisterly bond; Deleted Scenes (4:00), a mere three scenes; Crash & Smash (4:00), a selection of pre-production tests before CGI, which shows you how much was real.

I cannot recommend the film enough, whether you’ve seen the first three or not because there’s a lot to enjoy and think about.

Space Dumplins
By Craig Thompson
320 pages, Scholastic Graphix, $14.99

Craig Thompson’s versatility is to be admired as he goes from Coming of Age romance with his Harvey award-winning Blankets, and then his more adult and fanciful Habibi. Now he is taking aim at the young adult market with his first offering for Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. Space Dumplins is an imaginative work about a plucky young girl and a band of misfit alien lifeforms trying to survive in a sector of space plagued by whale poop.

You see, there are creatures that exist in the vacuum of space, the largest of which are the space whales with their energy-rich excrement. The problem is that too much in a concentrated portion of space messes up the traffic, communications, and their hermetically sealed way of life. The economy is a rough one. We may have achieved the stars and found other races out there, coexisting to one degree or another, but people still struggle to keep jobs, do right by their families, and eke out an existence.

This is where we meet the Marlockes. Dad’s a lumberjack, plying the spaceways, collecting the poop, cutting it down to size, and transporting it. Mom is a talented fashion designer who is fortunate to be selected to work with the premier designer Adam Arnold on Shell-Tarr, the main space station in the region. They are fighting over money and the time apart. When a space whale attack destroys her school, Violet tries to transfer to the school on the station but is rejected because of her dad’s criminal past. More stress.

Then dad goes missing and things get murky. Thompson implies more than he ever reveals about the space station and the governing body of the region. Still, we get the sense the job dad went on is extralegal and they disavow knowledge of him and restrain mom from going in search. (And yes, if there’s a space whale, we will have our Jonah, not Jo-Nah, moment.) Of course, Violet is overlooked and she flies off to rescue him, accompanied by Elliot, a brilliant, sentient chicken suffering from abandonment issues and the amorphous, comic relief Zacchaeus. Each deal with issues of rejection and loss but clearly, we’re rooting for them to succeed.

Thompson switches tones often and sometimes propels the story at such a breakneck pace that keep track of who, what, where and why is a little obscured. But he makes up for that with humor and heart. Visually, the book is stunning thanks to filling every square inch of the page with details, reminiscent of Wally Wood’s EC SF stories. Dave Stewart’s color is a wonderful match for the visuals making this one of the most satisfying titles coming from the Graphix imprint in a long time.

Aimed at all ages, this book is a treat and well worth your time and attention.

Goosebumps Graphix: Slappy’s Tales of Horror
By R.L. Stine
176 pages, Scholastic Graphix, $12.99

Originally released in black and white nearly a decade ago, the resurrection of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps franchise has prompted Scholastic Graphix to collect the stories once more at Goosebumps Graphix. The first of these, Slappy’s Tales of Horror, are comic book adaptations of YA novels written in the early 1990s.

Dave Roman, the most cartoony of the quartet of artists, provides the interstitial pages as Slappy, the living dummy, acts as host because every horror anthology needs a host (thank you Bill Gaines). The stories offer up a variety of terrors from the possessed dummy to the werewolf but in keeping with Stine’s template, each comes with a few twists to keep people guessing.

There is some genuine terror hidden within each story but being a graphic adaptation of prose, and given a more limited page count, things fall to the wayside, notably any semblance of characterization.

Vertigo veteran Jamie Tolagson kicks things off with “A  Shocker on Shock Street”, that mixes amusement park thrills with filmed entertainment as two kids experience an unforgettable evening.

Gabriel Hernandez follows with “The Werewolf of Fever Swamp”, a family tale where man and beast are examined. His art is sketchy but works to set the mood, notably in the woods.

“Ghost Beach” comes courtesy of Ted Naifeh and deals with ghosts and ancestors and ghastly doings.

Finally, Roman offers up “Night of the Living Dummy” which is about rivalry, sibling and wooden alike. His style feels out of place compared with the others but he does an admirable job with the hoary material.

All four come freshly colored by Jose Garibaldi who uses a rich palette without getting garish.

If you like the series and can’t wait for the film, this should help.

I remember when Lego wouldn’t dream of sullying their blocks with licensed characters. Oh how times have changed. Next to Pixar films, there are few funnier takes the super-hero realm than the animated Lego-style adventures of familiar heroes and villains.

Clearly, Lego and Warner Home Entertainment know when something’s working because next week they’re unleashing the direct-to-home-video animated movie Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom. The Digital HD can be streamed now and the DVD will be out next Tuesday.

This is the fourth such outing — Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite, Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered and Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League — with several actors reprising their vocal roles, forming a Lego Universe continuity. Back for another go round are Mark Hamill as The Trickster, Nolan North as Superman, Khary Payton as Cyborg, John DiMaggio as The Joker, Josh Keaton as Green Lantern, Kevin Michael Richardson as Black Manta, Grey Griffin as Lois Lane and Tom Kenny as The Penguin.

The combo pack comes complete with a Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD copy along with a collectible minifigure of the Trickster (as is only appropriate given Hamill’s resurgence this year, first in Kingsman, then Flash and later in Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

We open with the JLA being a fairly new concept, one embraced by the residents of Metropolis but leaving Lex Luthor less than thrilled.  The only way to stop a force of good is with an even stronger force of evil so Luthor begins a recruitment drive (the process is quite entertaining). And so is born the Legion of Doom. Their first goal is to attack the top-secret government site, Area 52, but they know this will bring out the Justice League and Luthor is prepared.

It’s hard to take Lego heroes and villains fighting seriously, but there is plenty of nice action that will delight the 6 and up gang. Jim Krieg’s script keeps things moving along and juggles the large cast without confusing the younger segment. Rick Morales’ direction is also a plus as things never bog down.

The digital transfer is crisp and clean with good sound so the audience will be enchanted. In addition to the 72-minute fun escapade, there is the Blu-ray bonus feature “Click, Zap, Boom! Creating the Sound Design”.

The Creeps:  Night of the Frankenfrogs
By Chris Schweizer
Amulet, 122 pages, $9.95

After being nominated for his historic graphic novel series The Crogan Adventures, creator Chris Schweizer is back with a brand new young adult’s adventure series. The Creeps are a motley collection of middle school students in Pumpkins County. As Amulet describes their new heroes: Carol, a big-city girl new to Pumpkins County, who finds kindred spirits in Mitchell (monster expert), Jarvis (military brat with logistics know-how), and Rosario (girly girl on the outside, muscle underneath).

We meet them after their reputation is clearly established in the school so we avoid originitis and move right into their latest case. Principal Garish hates their antics, regardless of their effectiveness mostly because it means the mess is left to custodian Pinto to clean up, which somehow requires half the school budget. Here’s the first of a series of exaggerations that disrupt the flow of the story as you scratch your head and wonder how that works.

The kids are divided over the forthcoming biology lesson involving dissecting frogs leading several to circulate a petition, angering their teacher, Miss Yamamoto. They ten sadden her when they claim not to care about their science education, a fairly typical comment from immature students so her reaction feels unrealistic (can you tell a teacher is reviewing this?).

When the collection of frogs go missing, the students, in trouble for their comments, are on the case and the mystery begins. There are several threads to trace throughout, including the real nature of dreamy new student Tom Rigby. Their investigation takes them below ground to the secret lab of kid genius Perry Milburn, with an ego the size of Montana and gadgets worth of Doc Ock.

When the kids do find the frogs, they discover they have been enhanced, turning them into, well, Frankenfrogs, using brain matter from several of their peers. And again, here’s where the story reaches a point where you wonder how on earth can this happen, especially in less than sterile circumstances. The physical and mental well-being of these altered students is barely addressed as the action moves at a frenetic pace.

The dialogue is interesting but his characters feel not fully realized and it could be Schweizer’s working with too large a cast and too big a story for a first offering.  He also crams each page with lots of small panels, lots of dialogue and that makes for some tough reading. His use of color is interesting as he uses a variety of flat palettes to shift mood and setting.

Younger readers may find this engaging but for me, this introductory story doesn’t entirely rise to the occasion.

There’s a lot of action and running and fighting and things blowing up in Insurgent, the second installment of the films based on Veronica Roth’s Divergent book series. It has an attractive, well-pedigreed cast. It looks slick with top-notch CGI effects. It should be a major crowd pleaser.

Instead, it’s heartless and heartless, emphasizing but the characters and their emotions. The film opened this spring and did well enough and the Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital copy) is out now from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The film itself earned $295.2 million worldwide, just enough to greenlight the by now mandatory two-part finale, Allegiant, coming March 18 an, 2016 and March 24, 2017.

The first film introduced us to yet another impossible to believe dystopia where society has been enclosed in a walled city of Chicago and people are born into one of several classes. Those who defy categorization are called “divergents” and are hunted, ostracized or both. Our protagonist, Tris (Shailene Woodley), of course is one of those but she’s even more special: she’s 100% divergent, making a sought after gem. And much of the film focuses on the hunt to obtain her so she can obtain an object conveniently unearthed from her family home. Much as Katniss Everdeen struggles against being a symbol in The Hunger Games books and movies, Tris is a reluctant hero, forced by circumstances, manipulated by both the spectre of her dead mother (Ashley Judd) and the cool Jeanine Mathews (Kate Winslet).

She’s not alone, accompanied by Four (Theo James), who is forced to admit his love for her when both endure truth serum sessions, watched by the impassive Daniel Dae Kim.

Back to complicate matters here and there are her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and troublemaker Peter Hayes (Miles Teller).

Once Tris sacrifices her freedom to stop Jeanine from killing people, she confronts her worst nightmares which turn out to be herself and the sequences are visually interesting but also too reminiscent of The Matrix to be fresh enough to sustain watching. The lack of humanity given the cast makes the film flat and boring when it should be engrossing. There’s a reason this series of books was made into a film series: they sold a ton and the reason they sold a ton is because Roth made them passionate and interesting figures.

Woodley gives the best performance given the range of emotions she goes through but Teller makes his character feel the most alive of the ensemble. Watts, Kate Winslet, and Janet McTeer lend veteran talent but are given little chance to do more than emote.

Sadly, the screenplay feels cobbled and compromised which explains the trio of credited authors, Brian Duffield, Mark Bomback, and Akiva Goldsman, who should know better. There are no surprises here, and too many climactic moments occur with predictable results, so you wonder what happened? Maybe it’s the absence of director Neil Burger, who was replaced by Robert Schwentke who did a far superior job with Red. Unfortunately, he’ll be back for Allegiant, but there’s also a chance for redemption.

The digital transfer is excellent so everything is sharp, colorful, and fun to watch at home. It is paired with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack although on my soundbar it decoded as a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track but was just fine.

For a lackluster and disappointing film, it comes chock full of extras beginning with an Audio Commentary from Producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher, who offer little in the way of fresh insights. Next is Insurgent Unlocked: The Ultimate Behind-the-Scenes Access (1:56:32) letting you watch separately or as a picture in picture option. Every aspect of the production is covered, including Building a Bigger World, Creating the Big Screen Experience, Exploring the Factionless, From Factionless to Candor, A New Landscape of Weapons and Stunts, Composers and Simulators, and A Fight to the Finish. Additionally, you get From Divergent to Insurgent (5:09) as cast and crew talk about how the two connect; The Others: Cast and Characters (3:40); Anatomy of a Scene: The Train Fight (4:01); The Peter Hayes Story (2:40); and Divergent: Adapting Insurgent to the Screen (4:00).

If that’s not enough there’s the Marketing Gallery that features the HBO First Look and all five theatrical trailers. Then there are animated character portraits: Shailene Woodley (00:19); Theo James (00:19); Kate Winslet (00:19); Octavia Spencer (00:19); and, Naomi Watts (1080i; 00:17).

Sunny Side Up
By Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
216 pages, Scholastic Graphix, $12.99

Unlike so many of the offerings from the Scholastic Graphix line, this one requires paying attention to the structure as we jump around both time and place. The semiautobiographical memoir brings the timelines together as Sunny Lewin experiences her brother’s self-destructive nature and is packed off to Florida. There, her grumpy grandfather doesn’t seem to know what to do with her, at first. As a result, she goes wandering around the 55+ community and finally encounters Buzz.

Her developing friendship with Buzz not only gives her someone to hang out with, but also introduces her to comic books. It’s interesting to note which 1970s titles she gravitates to, starting with David Michelinie’s run on Swamp Thing before discovering Batman, Spider-Man, the Hulk and others. In time, they begin earning money finding missing cats and later missing objects and people as they glimpse what senior life holds for them.

The sunshine, swimming, comics, and odd neighbors are far more preferable than being home where her brother Teddy has chosen to enmesh himself with drugs, spiraling downward until he literally hits bottom. Also, she gets to crack through her grandfather’s tough façade and connects him better to his own community.

Interestingly, the Holm siblings explore their past with a certain level of fondness, keeping the storytelling simple without hiding the complex issues at play. They’ve previously partnered on two series: Babymouse and Squish. Here, Lark Pien provides a cheerful color palette in keeping with the title and location.

A satisfying read, the book addresses several strong issues without moralizing or dwelling on only the sad portions. Sunny’s maturity in the face of adverse conditions makes for a strong role model for the readers.