Category: Reviews

REVIEW: Slappy’s Tales of Horror

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

Slappy's Tales of HorrorOriginally 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.

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Belated Comics Reviews (August 19th, 2015)

Happy to say that my comics have made it to the correct shop, and then out of the shop and to my home, where I have read them and ranked them from worst to best of what I was foolish enough to pay for. (Though strangely, Loki didn’t make it home, and I don’t think I saw it in the shops. Will follow up and review it next week one way or another.)

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #4

A great issue #2.

Guardians of Knowhere #3

For most of this, it runs along without any of Bendis’s most infuriating writing tics. The Angela/Gamora confrontation is excellent character work with added punching. The plot moves off of Yotat and towards things recognizable as characters we care about. Mike Deodato draws gorgeous lightning. It’s a solid comic. And then it does a cliffhanger that amounts to “a person appears.” No explanation of this person. Maybe she is identifiable, but she’s not identifiable in a way that I can identify, and I’m nearing a quarter-century of reading Marvel comics. It’s not a cliffhanger in any useful sense; there’s no excitement. There’s a question, sure, namely “who is that,” but there’s no reason for me to be invested in the answer to it.

Doctor Who: Four Doctors #2

It’s a bit longer on action sequences than plot, in a way that’s not entirely satisfying, but that’s probably going to come out in the wash given that it’s a weekly event. All the same, this is mostly reapers chasing people as opposed to actually moving forward. But there’s enough charming and funny bits to make it an enjoyable trip.

Secret Wars: Secret Love #1

A fun anthology one-shot. The Daredevil story’s a bit off the boil for me, but the others are varying shades of delightful, with the Ms. Marvel/Ghost Rider story probably being the highlight from any serious perspective, and the Squirrel Girl/Thor story being the highlight from any moral one. Nice way to get some oddball talent into Marvel, and it’s always nice to see an odd genre like the romance comic get a revival.

Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders #2

The only possible complaint to have about this book is that it deserved more than two issues to tell its story. Still, it’s an enormously compelling case for Faiza Hussain as a character. Really, she needs an ongoing role in the Marvel Universe. Preferably as Captain Britain.

Trees #12

Admittedly, I found time to reread #1-11 since the last issue came out, so I’m actually in the position to understand this. That said, this seems to continue the beautiful clarity of this second arc; the stripped down setting to two stories does this book favors, and this is flat out a better run than the first arc was. Here it kicks into gear, with some real and gripping tension, especially with the cliffhanger. Ellis remains one of the few writers to consistently turn out comics worth their cover price.

Originally published on PhilipSandifer.com.

REVIEW: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom

lego-jl-doom-tryouts-e1439585137730-1826816I 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.

lego-jl-flash-ww-gl-e1439585185123-7389176The 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”.

REVIEW: The Creeps: Night of the Frankenfrogs

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

The Creeps 1After 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.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: Great Spy Movie, Lousy U.N.C.L.E. Movie

manfromuncleposterlarge-7143242We all know how it works. A movie company gets a hold of a classic property like a TV show or even another movie, and proceed to “improve” it for a new audience by largely removing almost everything that made the property good in the first place.  It takes a singular talent to perform such surgery on a concept and successfully replace the gaps with quality entertainment is a rare accomplishment.

Luckily, Guy Ritchie is a singular talent, and while there is effectively none of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement in the film, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a perfectly entertaining period spy movie, a fine film about two men named Napoleon and Illya, much in the same way his Sherlock Holmes films were about two clever fellows name Sherlock and Watson, just not the ones we’re acquainted with.

In this iteration, Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) is a former master burglar; captured but pardoned in exchange for working for the CIA, and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) is the KGB’s best man, but prone to fits of violent rage. So clearly this is not your father’s (or in my case, my) U.N.C.L.E. agents.  Cavill plays Solo with a smooth charm that works perfectly, and while he’s not the cool emotionless Russian that sent hearts aflutter in the 60s, Hammer plays Illya as a semi-traditional Russian brute with a soft side.

Also missing is U.N.C.L.E.’s nemesis Thrush – here an unnamed “international criminal organization” is behind the plot, headed by Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki), a classic brilliant femme fatale, played to the hilt. The organization has obtained the means and the scientific expertise to manufacture nuclear weapons, still the hotly guarded secret in the sixties, forcing the US and USSR to team up and send in their best men, the aforementioned Napoleon and Illya, who have by now met once, before the were asked to play nice. Napoleon had just completed a tactical extraction, pursued by Illya, of one Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander), daughter of the scientist believed to be working for Victoria. She is recruited to make contact with her…um, father’s brother, who is believed to have been the one to facilitate the arrangement, in the hopes of revealing their treasonous scheme.

uncle-textless-empire-poster-by-henrycavillorg-6005431The film hits all the points you’d like a period spy movie to hit— fast-paced split-screen editing, the stealth incursion into the bad guy’s lair, some staggering costumes for the ladies (none of which were particularly revealing, but still a retro joy to behold) and the requisite turncoat moment or two (to say who did it to whom would be telling). The soundtrack is a delight, a combination of Ritchie’s traditional amazing skill for picking existing songs, and a score chock fill of pan flutes and hammer dulcimers, the source of much of the music found in spy films in the sixties. But the film rises and falls on the chemistry between the stars.  Cavill and Hammer plays against each other perfectly, and both work well with Vikander.

As mentioned at the beginning, the only complaint one could have for the film is exactly how little a role U.N.C.L.E. itself actually plays in the film. Hugh Grant arrives in the third act as Alexander Waverly, here a member of British Intelligence, and it’s only at the very last moment of the film that the eponymous acronym is ever used, and even then, it’s made to sound like it’s going to be nothing more than a code name for the pair, um…team. I pretty much knew going in that we were going to be saddled with a “When they first met” movie, and we would have to sit there and wait for them to become the team we know with the same impatient frustration of sitting through Popeye, and just waiting for Robin Williams to eat the gorram spinach.  We didn’t get cameos by Robert Vaughn or David McCallum, I didn’t even see the U.N.C.L.E. special Walthers I thought I’d spied in the trailer.  I sat through the credits, hoping against hope they’d give us ONE tip of the hat, that iconic title card that made sitting through the TV show’s credit worth it every week.

Throw me a frikkin' BONE, here!

Throw me a frikkin’ BONE, here!

Happily, this was one of the few cases where I was able to put my feeling about missing what we didn’t get aside and just enjoy what we did get, because what we got was cherce.

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Comics Reviews (August 12th, 2015)

Years of Future Past #4

Rough going. There’s some novel plot twists, but everyone is such a cardboard cutout here that I have trouble caring. An exemplar of the sort of comic I really need to stop spending $3.99 on.

A-Force #3

Effective superheroics, with little more to be said. Art felt a bit uneven between two different inkers, and the plot is starting to lose me, though I’m not sure if that’s an A-Force problem or a Secret Wars problem. Either way, at best adequate.
Mercury Heat #2
Still not sparking; the underlying concepts are interesting, and get moments of good play, but I suspect this is one where I’ll like the second arc, once the cards are on the table, more than the process of laying them there. Luiza’s hatred for her own skillset is by far the most compelling aspect, but the book is being slow in establishing that in favor of a lot of worldbuilding, which isn’t bad, but isn’t quite amazing either.
Secret Wars #5

On the original release schedule, this sort of exposition slab of an issue, excluding almost all of the cast in favor of a tight focus on Doom and Valeria, would probably have been a bold and interesting more. Under the increasingly glacial pace of Secret Wars, I’m well past just checking my watch and wondering if it’s October yet, not least because the odds seem certain that the All-New All-Different Marvel relaunch will start before Secret Wars #8 ships.
Grant Morrison’s 18 Days #2

Morrison is now one of three writers, so we’re pretty clearly transitioning from stuff he actually did to stuff he at best has notes for. We’re also pretty clearly moving from where his overly elaborate work resetting the myth into a Jack Kirby knockoff is the focus to a retelling of a classic of world mythology. On the whole, then, an improvement.

Doctor Who: Four Doctors #1


An endearingly frothy summer event for Titan’s Doctor Who line. Cornell gets to business quickly and engineers a good cliffhanger, and the Keys of Marinus callback is a nice treat as well, but I’m less than convinced by his Tenth/Twelfth exchanges, which seem to capture neither Doctor particularly well. Still, fun. The “Clara is Slytherin” gag’s particularly nice. Edwards’s art is capable, though marred by occasionally excessive photoreference, which leads to a jarring difference between his everyday Tenth Doctor and the one who appears in a couple of close-ups. 
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #15

It feels like this comic has done a few climaxes more than is earned, but as the proper, final issue of Year One (and Ewing’s final bow on the title) it’s a good one that shows how well sketched this set of companions is. I don’t pretend to understand the Source anymore, but this was fun and moving, and really is one of the best runs of Doctor Who comics ever.
Stumptown #7
As is often the case with Stumptown, I suspect it will read better in trade, but this is a lovely and world-grounded PI yarn that hums along entertainingly before sparking with real charm at the end. I look forward to the inevitable double crosses and elaborate betrayals.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8

Very much what you’d expect from this comic, which is to say, hilarious brilliance. The bottom-of-page gags are such a small thing, but they really do add a sense of heft and size to the comic, and the sheer quantity of humor here really makes this a reliable treat. Glad it’s coming back in October.
Uber #27

Something between a final issue for the run of Uber that’s been going on so far and a #0 for the forthcoming second series, which features a major and intriguing change of focus. So far much of the book’s dark brilliance has come from its reworking of British war comics, but now there’s going to have to be a change in what sort of thing we talk about, and I’m interested in seeing how Gillen moves to a different comic tradition for the next arc. All very exciting stuff, in other words.
Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl #1

Gillen’s got a bit of an imperial phase going across the last two weeks, bringing Uber to a major break, kicking out a highly acclaimed one-shot of WicDiv, and now starting the last run of Phonogram, which is terribly beloved and terribly good as well. A bit outside of my wheelhouse; love the magic, but none of this is actually a musical touchstone for me, though it surely could have been for some alternate universe me. As a first issue, it’s in many ways a showpiece for McKelvie, who returns to old stomping grounds with new skill. Breaking from WicDiv for an arc to do this is shrewd as fuck. 
Providence #3

Moore casually and off-handedly reels out the sort of deft textual stunt that’s why he’s Alan Moore, suddenly bringing together strands of his own plot and Lovecraft’s original work in an unexpected and disturbing way. The issue’s a slow burn leading up to a scintillatingly good and ominous dream sequence. We’re ramping up to some real classics of Lovecraft, doing a one-two punch between this issue and next of “Shadow Over Innsmouth” and “The Dunwich Horror,” and the sense of scale is increasing nicely as well. One can only imagine where Moore intends to go over the next nine issues. 
Injection #4

Ellis finally kicks off here, which is consistent with the longform game he’s been playing with this phase of his career. I love the relationship between the past and history here, and the phrase “the speed of nature.” Shavley and Bellaire are doing phenomenal work here, capturing grandeur and weirdness in equal measures. The highlight of Ellis’s current batch of comics, this one. 

Originally published on PhilipSandifer.com.

REVIEW: True Story

True StoryThe old Broadway song goes, “Two lost souls on the highway of life“and that certainly describes Christian Longo (James Franco) and Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) in the thriller True Story. We open with Longo hiding in Mexico, wanted by police for the death of his wife and children, but avoiding arrest because he’s masquerading as Finkel, a reporter for The New York Times. Finkel, though, has issues of his own, having been accused of fabricating a story by writing about one character who was actually a composite of several sources.

When told of Longo’s eventual arrest, Finkel is curious as to why he chose him, of all people, to impersonate and so begins the meat of the fascinating narrative. Available on a Blu-ray combo pack from 20th Century Home Entertainment, the film is an interesting two man character study, leaving you wondering as to each person’s sincerity and even sanity.

The two men begin to meet and talk in Mexico, leading to a symbiotic relationship as Franco agrees to tell his story in exchange for writing lessons from the journalist. Their exchanges are taut, with a wide range of emotions on display, from suspicion to trust to friendship to apprehension.

For Finkel, he’s hoping for redemption while Longo is in for the fight of his life as he is extradited to America and stands trial for the horrendous crimes, leaving the viewer uncertain if he committed the crimes or not. The journalist takes their voluminous correspondence and gets a book deal, his road back to relevance. But everything is not as it seems and rather than spoil things, let me just suggest you rent or buy the video for your own edification.

The lead performances are strong and the two men are comfortable with one another so their exchanges ring especially true. While some of the dialogue by screenwriters David Kajganich and Rupert Goold, who also directed, isn’t the strongest, they make the most of their moments. For his first feature, Goold does a nice job with keeping a talky story visually interesting. Since this is clearly about two men, it was seemingly decided they needed some female presence so enter Finkel’s girlfriend Jill Barker (Felicity Jones), for a few scenes including one dramatic confrontation with Longo. But it all feels unnecessary.

What makes this all the more interesting is that it is based on Finkel’s book of the real world events that inspired the film. That’s right, this all happened.

The AVC encoded 1080p transfer to 1.85:1 is visually just fine along with the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix so watching this is a pleasure.

Since the movie did well at Sundance but not so well in general release, we get just some perfunctory special features. Goold offers up some enthusiastic Audio Commentary for the entire film as well as some interesting explanations accompanying the Deleted Scenes (16:44). Then there are an assortment of promo features: Mike Finkel (3:33), Who is Christian Longo? (3:56), The Truth Behind ‘True Story’ (4:03), and The Making of True Story (5:26).

Box Office Democracy: “Fantastic Four”

fantastic-four-2014-movie-poster-banner-3285749

Fantastic Four is a bad movie. Don’t go see it if you want an enjoyable 100 minutes in a theater and probably don’t see it for an ironic “so bad I want to make fun of it” kind of way either. It’s a lifeless bad, an entropic bad, a movie so bad it makes me question if there’s even a good movie based on this team to be made. Only the depths of history save Fantastic Four from being the worst superhero movie of all time (it might not even be the worst movie named Fantastic Four) but it’s certainly the worst superhero of this generation and is a top contender for worst film of the year.

Perhaps it isn’t possible to make a good Fantastic Four with the constraints that a non-Marvel studio would put on it. They need to make the principal characters young so they’re more relatable to young people, but then you have a team full of cut-rate Peter Parkers with none of the family-based charm that makes the FF work in the comics. You need to do an origin story but you also need to get Doctor Doom in there because he’s literally the only villain that anyone’s ever heard of so you end up shoehorning that character into a story that doesn’t involve him or he becomes some kind of vestigial Fantastic Fifth. There’s also an unwillingness to use the iconic costumes or codenames that aren’t The Thing, which takes a team with so much history and turns them in to a bunch of generic off-brand versions of themselves.

It’s become quite clear over the weekend that there were some serious behind the scenes squabbles over the making of this movie and it’s certainly apparent in the product given to us on the screen. After the four main characters get their super powers they are held as scientific experiments, a predicament from which Reed escapes and the remaining three are left behind. This creates a great deal of mistrust from Ben Grimm who feels abandoned but throws himself headfirst in to working as a secret weapon of the military. One such military operation is taking Reed back in to custody. When they bring Reed back Johnny is quick to embrace him, Sue feels guilty at being part of the operation that brought him back in and Ben still feels anger. Then Doctor Doom shows up and starts killing a lot of people and it feels like this is going to be the impetus for the four of them to put their differences aside and work together to stop this larger evil a few scenes later in the movie but instead this one confrontation is it. They fight Doom and at the end they seem to be the best of friends even though nothing really changed for all of them, they don’t talk, there aren’t even meaningful glances or anything. Reed goes from missing for an entire year to barking orders that everyone follows in what must have been hours. I bet there was a version of this movie that feels more complete but we’ll never see it and with the right NDAs we might never even know but this is the rare movie that’s boring at 100 minutes but might have been appreciably better at 120 minutes.

I don’t know where this property goes from here. There’s already word from Fox that their announced Fantastic Four sequel might get scrapped in favor of a Deadpool sequel. Oddly, not announcing sequels for movies that haven’t been released yet doesn’t seem to be an option at all. Perhaps this time Fox has finally stumbled so badly with the franchise that they’ll be willing to work out a deal that returns the characters to Marvel and we start seeing a slow rollout of Latverian mentions in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m not interested in seeing this version of these characters again and I’m sure as hell not excited to sit through another origin story in four years time. I want this to eventually be gotten right but maybe it doesn’t matter, there are enough super hero movies out there without another iteration of the FF taking up all of our time.

REVIEW: Justice League: Gods and Monsters

Justice League Gods and MonstersWarner Home Entertainment has seemingly acknowledged that mostly in-the-know fans watch their direct-to-video offerings because if you’re not a fan, the current release, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, won’t make as much sense as he previous videos. Essentially, this 77-minute animated film is an Imaginary Story but it has the benefit of being the product of Bruce Timm’s brilliant imagination.

Timm has absented himself from the DC Universe for a while, recharging his batteries, and he’s back in an energetic and refreshing take on the concept of heroism. The film is chock-full of cameos and references to people scattered throughout the company’s 80 year history with many a creator deservedly getting their names in the end credits.  Timm has reteamed with producer Alan Burnett and the two share story credit with Burnett writing the final script.

jlgam-wonder-woman-e1439235394341-6409370Imagine if you will: General Zod sending his son (voiced by Benjamin Bratt) to Earth moments before Krypton exploded. In Gotham City, Kirk Langstrom’s (Michael C. Hall) experiments with bats has turned him into a power man-bat closer to a vampire than a hero. On Apokolips, Bekka (Tamara Taylor), Highfather’s granddaughter leaves her war-torn world to come to Earth. From their tower in Metropolis they have formed the Justice League where they serve and protect but on their terms.

While arrogant and far more violent than their traditional counterparts, they are not idiots so when scientists are killed in a series of accidents, they investigate. When giant robots, mimicking their abilities, are seen committing the crimes, the press blame the JLA and the hunt for the heroes begins in fervid earnest, led by Steve Trevor (Tahmoh Penikett) under orders from President Amanda Waller (Penny Johnson Jerald). And here’s where the story really impresses me, the motivations behind the villain. I won’t spoil it for you, but the story has heart where so many other offerings in the series have been cold, action-packed adventures.

jlgam-batman-e1439235439581-9159608This is a world with limited heroes and villains but many who have the potential are the scientists involved including Ray Palmer (Dee Bradley Baker), Ryan Choi (Stephen Shin), Emil Hamilton (Trevor Devall), Pat Dugan (Dan Gilvezan), Dr. Sivana (Daniel Hagen), Michael Holt (Arif S. Kinchen), Victor Fries (Jim Meskimen), Silas Stone (Carl Lumbly), and John Henry Irons (Khary Payton). Then there’s Dr. Will Magnus (C. Thomas Howell), served by his diminutive robot Tin, who seems a mentor to these brilliant minds.

Where’s Lex Luthor you wonder? He’s above it all. Literally. From his orbiting space station, he has been suffering with Lou Gehrig’s disease and is confined to a wheelchair, making him a cross between Stephen Hawking and Metron. It’s a really interesting interpretation of the man and his exchanges with Superman are refreshingly non-monomaniacal.

As Batman leads the investigation, we are treated to well-spaced out flashbacks to the trio’s origins which provides us with other glimpses of this almost familiar universe and timeline. Supporting players from Lois Lane (Paget Brewster) to Jean Loring Palmer (Andrea Romano) make appearances enriching the story.

jlgam-superman-e1439235468697-4620696The villain’s reveal and explanations bring the tight pacing to a grinding halt but then we burst into the final act and Sam Liu’s direction may be the culprit. Some things are prolonged, some reveals aren’t as surprising as you are led to be believed, but overall, once the credits roll, you’re left feeling fairly well satisfied. (And if you want more, DC Comics has offered up a ton of tie-in comics.)

This comes in a package containing the Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy along with a Bekka action figure. As one has come to expect, the 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video pairs nicely with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track so it looks and sounds just fine.

The extras this time around are a mixed bag. We start with Alternate Realities: Infinite Possibilities (19:00) led by DC Entertainment Creative Director of Animation Mike Carlin, DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, Timm, Burnett, writer Heath Corson and DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns go on at length about the joy of reading and then producing Imaginary Stories. The history could have been better explained but all the expected favorites get touched out without properly acknowledging the modern day version, Elseworlds, started with Gotham by Gaslight.

We have an extended look at the show’s production with Calculated Risk: The Making of Gods and Monsters (24:00), which acknowledges the risk of too much Inside Baseball seeping into the finished product.

Lifted from an earlier disc, you get some additional background on Bekka and her world via The New Gods (22:00) where Carlin, Paul Levitz, Walter Simonson and ComicMix contributor Alan Kistler review the brilliance of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World and its enduring impact on DC Comics.

As usual, the Blu-ray concludes with a preview of the next offering, Batman: Bad Blood (12:00) which will bring Batwoman to the animated universe.

Rounding out the bonus material are “Phantoms” from Legion of Super-Heroes and “Brave New Metropolis” from Superman: The Animated Series.

REVIEW: Insurgent

InsurgentThere’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).

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