Category: Reviews

Review: “The Curse of the Masking-Tape Mummy” by Scott Meyer

the-curse-of-the-masking-tape-mummy-by-scott-meyer-2162889The Platonic ideal of the comic is precisely balanced between art and words, each as exquisite and precise and lovely as the other. And there might actually be one or two comics that come within spitting distance of that, but not much more: it’s an ideal because it really doesn’t happen. Every comic, like every work of art in any medium, has its strengths and weaknesses, and what good cartoonists do is to work to their strengths.

Scott Meyer’s strength is his writing: he’s witty, writes great dialogue, and has a enviable eye for the situations in his own life that can be turned into comics. His art is serviceable but a bit bland: he rotoscopes (or “traces”) over photographs, reusing the same poses (and, one suspects, the same art) repeatedly, and this means his cast is inherently limited and their poses equally limited. (It’s not a coincidence that the primary characters of Myer’s strip, Basic Instructions, are the Meyer stand-in, his wife, and his best friend.)

Meyer clearly knows what he does well: Basic Instructions is a deeply wordy comic, a four-panel newspaper-style strip crammed full of captions, explanations, dialogue and repartee, with just enough art to hold it all together. And the third collection of Basic Instructions, The Curse of the Masking Tape Mummy, has just been published by the wonderfully named Don’t Eat Any Bugs Productions, bringing together 136 comics (just shy of a year’s worth at Meyer’s three-times-a-week posting schedule) between two dark-blue covers.

This year’s worth of strips does see Meyer extending the strip, moving out from his original office and home locations (it’s not coincidental that Basic Instructions got a big boost from a laudatory post from Dilbert‘s Scott Adams; Basic Instructions is one of the heirs of Dilbert in many ways, from that office focus to its snarky tone to the balance of art and writing) into superhero parody, with the introduction of Omnipresent Man, the Knifeketeer, and more to complement the original could-have-been-a-one-off-joke of Rocket Hat. That also gives Meyer a way to extend his cast without getting more models — he reuses himself and his friends (I assume that his models, whatever characters they turn into in the strip, are actually his friends, because otherwise it would be difficult to get them to do multiple poses) as those superheroes as well as “themselves.” (And even the names and powers of two of those heroes — Omnipresent Man and Mr. Everywhere — have a secondary joke in their re-use of the art for “Meyer” and “Rick”.)

Basic Instructions is a mature strip at this point; it has a solid cast with well-defined relationships, and Meyer is free to use that to just make his jokes and commentary — which range from the usual “my office-mates  have idiosyncrasies that horrify and disgust me” and “my spouse is vastly smarter and more in touch with the real world than I am” to the more particular nerdy complaints about Star Wars‘s AT-AT and to explorations of the odd psyche of “Rick.” Humor isn’t as universal as it should be — which is one way of saying that too many people don’t find the right things funny, the way I do and the universe intended — but Basic Instructions is nearly always quite funny, and always at least mildly funny. If you haven’t read it before, you should check it out — unless you’re some kind of un-American type who doesn’t like to laugh.

(My old review for the first collection, Help Is on the Way, is also still floating out there in the Internet ether.)

REVIEW: Sealab 2020

sealab2020-300x300-3451022“This is the year two thousand and twenty. The place is the Challenger Sea Mount, the top of an underwater mountain, a complex beneath the sea. Two hundred and fifty men, women and children live here. Each of them, a scientist pioneer. For this is our last frontier, a hostile environment which may hold the key to tomorrow. Each day, these oceanauts meet new challenges as they build their city beneath the sea. This is Sealab 2020.”

Hanna-Barbera had to change with the times and as the 1970s dawned, kids and adults alike were tuning into the difficulties planet Earth was facing. Ecology and Earth Day were on everyone’s lips. At the same time, parents’ groups were insisting Saturday morning cartoon shows do more than shill cereal and have characters hit one another.

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REVIEW: This Means War

tmw_dvd3d-300x400-1262292This Means War, out now from 20th Century Home Entertainment, had all the makings of a unique and fun romcom that instead turned out to be a dreadfully dull and predictable film that fell flat for audiences, critics and did dismally at the box office. The basic premise has Captain Kirk A and Shinzon as buddy spies vying to win the heart of Elle Woods, which meant they took the eye off their mission with horrible results.

McG is clearly a visually director who cares little about characterization or story structure which is a shame because with some effort, this could have risen above the obvious and been a modern day action romance along the lines of True Lies. In Los Angeles, CIA field operatives played by Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are the best of friends and have been for some time. But we’re shown how lonely they are and both coincidentally use the same online dating service at the same time.

Meantime, Product focus group facilitator Reese Witherspoon has also been out of the dating game for too long and is urged by her best friend Chelsea Handler to try online and guess which site she uses? Sure enough, she and Hardy, who is unhappily divorced from Abigail Spencer, agree to meet and find a spark. By sheer coincidence, she then meets Pine at the video store and there’s another unexpected connection. (more…)

REVIEW: Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture

[[[Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture]]]
By Rob Salkowitz
McGraw-Hill, 304 pages, $27.00

51f1xufe7ql-_sl500_aa300_-8370781Comic book fandom was a natural outgrowth of science fiction fandom, splintering off in 1961 as the revival of superhero comics was clearly here to stay. In that year, sci-fi fan and future author Richard Lupoff published Xero, the first comics-only fanzine. Just a few years later, in 1965, the first comic convention occurred in New York City, birthplace of the first science fiction con back in 1939. The success of the zine and the con inspired others to produce their own tributes to the comics of their youth and comics fandom spread rapidly, fueled by the nationwide furor ignited by ABC’s Batman in 1966.

Interestingly, the first to write about comic conventions and its attendees was Fredric Wertham, the very man pilloried for almost single-handedly destroying the field with his poorly researched Seduction of the Innocent. Since then, fans and the ways they display their affection have been usually relegated to footnotes in other histories about the field or pop culture. One of those fans, Rob Salkowitz, has changed that with his new book, Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture. Coming from McGraw-Hill and billed as a glimpse into this world for the business reader, it breezily takes us through the 2011 Comic-Con International experience. (more…)

REVIEW: Chronicle

All too often, super-hero origin stories happen to one person and we follow their journey. On rare occasions, usually involving Jack Kirby creations, we have a handful of people gain extraordinary abilities and we see how that alters the dynamics. In film, the focus has tended to be on singular characters so it’s somewhat refreshing to see Chronicle attempt something different. Effectively a YA super-hero novel brought to film; director Josh Trank explores what it might mean if three teen boys suddenly gain telekinetic powers. He has merged this familiar coming of age tale with the film trope of “found footage” (see The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield) keeping things fresh and interesting. Thanks to Max Landis’ script, the film and its characters feel contemporary and relevant.

There’s little wholly original about the movie – now out on home video from 20th Century Home Entertainment — as you feel elements of other similar tales so it all comes down to the execution and here, the film succeeds. It tells its story, makes its point and ends, leaving the audience entertained and largely satisfied.

The footage comes mainly from Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), a high schooler trying to find meaning in life. He has a mother slowly dying from cancer and an alcoholic father, making him feel isolated, alone, and powerless. Some of life’s meaning is explained by his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), a philosopher quoting Jung and Schopenhauer, conveying the film’s message in a not-so-subtle manner. When they and class president candidate Steve (Michael B. Jordan) wind up underground, they are exposed to an unexplained red-glowing crystal, they all gain telekinetic powers. Being teen guys, they pull the expected pranks on one another from tossing balls to raising skirts (reminding us of the similar 1980s comedy Zapped!). (more…)

REVIEW: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible is one of those malleable concepts that can tackle any content and is only as good as the concept, cast, and director. As a result, the film version of the classic 1960s television series has had its hits and misses, but seems to be getting stronger with each film. J.J. Abrams reinvigorated the franchise with the third installment and then handed it off to Brad Bird, making his live action debut with Ghost Protocol.

It’s been far too long since Ethan Hunt and IMF team were handed a mission after that strong outing so it’s thrilling to see Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol be such a rousing success. The movie is out this week on Blu-ray and DVD and is a Must Have because there’s so much to like about it. Bird, best known for the underrated Iron Giant and The Incredibles, takes everything from those animated adventures and brings them to the real world. Bird brings his sense of pacing and timing to the mission along with a much needed dose of humor, leavening the drama.

Hunt (Tom Cruise) is in a Russian prison for unknown reasons but an IMF team breaks him out and only then does he get told of a nuclear prophet determined to set off an atomic war to bring about change. His mission: find the man and stop him. Of course, nothing goes easy, especially when it appears the IMF is accused of bombing the Kremlin, a clever feint on the part of the real villain: Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist). As a result, the Secretary is in Russia to tell Hunt the president has executed the Ghost Protocol, effectively dissolving the IMF but handing Hunt and his team one final clandestine mission to save the world.

The team? The only regular from previous films is Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), now promoted to field agent. He’s accompanied by Carter (Paula Patton), who lost her fellow agent and lover (Josh Holloway) to an assassin who is now connected to the new mission so she sees it as a chance for revenge. The fourth member is new to the IMF; Brant, a consultant to the secretary (Jeremy Renner) who it is learned was a former field operative who believes he was responsible for the death of Hunt’s wife, Julia Mead, (Michelle Monaghan).

The screenplay from André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum takes us throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East at a breakneck pace, but always pausing long enough to dole out character revelations and a chance for the characters to actually talk to one another, a rarity in these kind of action films. Bird clearly can handle the adventurous aspects and dramatic bits with an even hand. The cast works well together and the leads are well supported by a fresh cadre of international performers, including Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, keeping the film looking and feeling fresh.  There are two nice cameos towards the end which tie all four films together and for those who haven’t seen it, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Visually, the film is breathtaking, as we see the splendor of Mumbai and elsewhere but of course the set piece, Hunt’s magnetic climb up the world’s tallest tower, is stunning. Bird and the scriptwriters have hit upon a series of obstacles that feel like M:I but updated for today, which is a strength.

If anything doesn’t work, it’s the more tried and true elements such as an overlong chase through a bazaar (even with a sandstorm) and a climactic battle inside a car park. Everyone struggles to beat the countdown clock but it all drags out just a bit and the film could have been tighter with a few judicious edits, but they’re minor quibbles. Helping overcome that is Michael Giacchino’ s wonderful score which honors the original series and gives it a flavor all its own.

The movie is spectacular on Blu-ray and sounds swell. Now, if you loved the film, you should seek out the Best Buy exclusive edition which has an hour’s worth of bonus material you won’t find on the regular Blu-ray release. Whereas the regular Blu-ray stuffs the extras with the film on a single disc, the Best Buy edition requires a disc just for the extras.

“Mission Accepted” (47:35) is found on both versions of the Blu-ray release while “Impossible Missions” (51:37) contains most of the Best Buy bonus material. In both you get 15 minutes of deleted scenes which makes for interesting watching and it’s recommended to use the Bird commentary. The regular Blu-ray offers up “Heating Up in Dubai” (17:36), a pretty travelogue; “Vancouver Fisticuffs” (12:01), a look at the climax, which happened to be shot in Canada; “The Sandstorm “ (3:06), which took two weeks to shot in Canada and Dubai; and “Props” (3:07).

The Best Buy material includes “Suiting Up in Prague” (17:58), “The Russian Prison” (11:49), “Shooting in IMAX” (3:33), “Art Department”  (2:56), “A Roll of Film”  (2:33), “Life Masks” (1:40), “Stepping Into the Storm”  (2:02), “Dubai Car Crash” (8:15), “Lens on the Burj” (:57), and “Composer” (10:42).  The two original theatrical trailers are also included.

REVIEW: We Bought a Zoo

I’ll tell you right up front that I had a stronger emotional reaction to the film than most audience members, largely because of the theme of loss that permeates most of the story. As a result, I found myself loving the We Bought a Zoo and have been recommending it to families ever since. Now that it is out on DVD from 20th Century Home Entertainment, I’m here to recommend it as a purchase as well.

Since we’re all about to fall in love with Scarlet Johansson all over again when she kicks ass in The Avengers, it’s good to see her actually acting here, paired nicely with Matt Damon, the grieving patriarch who needs to change his life in some way and chooses to do so in a rather radical fashion. (more…)

REVIEW: The Muppets

When The Muppets opened in November, I wrote the following on my blog and it holds up now that the film is out this week on home video from Walt Disney.

There has been a tremendous amount of talk in our world about reboots, successful or not, and I just got back from experiencing the year’s single best relaunch of a tired property. Deb, Kate, her guy Mike, and I saw The Muppets and pretty much smiled all the way through, guffawing with pleasantly regularity and wiping away a tear every now and then.

Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention, because this is how it’s done.

It starts with understanding the property, what has worked in the past and what has not. More than that, though, it is loving the property and all it is about. No one at Disney had the first clue what to do with the property since buying the characters from Jim Henson’s heirs. Yes, Henson wanted the House of Mouse to take care of his people after he was gone, and they’ve held on to them without really having anyone loving them. (more…)

REVIEW: The Descendants

It used to be, Tom Hanks was the everyman who took us into one film after another, giving us a chance to experience the mundane to the fantastic. That role in many ways has been ceded to George Clooney, who displays in one film after another, a charismatic vulnerability that makes you root for him regardless of the circumstances. He brings that empathy to Matt King, the lead figure in The Descendants, out this week from 20th Century Home Entertainment.

Yeah, we all now he was nominated for Best Actor but if you haven’t seen the film; you can watch the video and see the actor lose himself in the character. King is married, with two teen children, and has his world rocked, first by the wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) getting sick and then learning she has been having an affair. While she lingers in the hospital, he goes in search of Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), his daughters — Alex (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller) — in tow.  Kaui Hart Hemmings’ acclaimed novel is well adapted by director Alexander Payne. (more…)

REVIEW: Immortals

immortals-dvd-7420285Considering director Tarsem Singh and screenwriters Vlas and Charley Parlapanides come from cultures steeped in mythology, you would think Immortals might have a touch of fidelity to the ancient source material. Instead, this incredibly generic looking film barely pays attention to even the most basic elements of the gods, goddesses, and creatures that interacted with man once upon a time. The film, out on home video now from 20th Century Home Entertainment, pays some lip-service to the stories once told to enthrall the masses and focuses on the handsome, well-oiled Theseus, our mortal hero. Played by the Man of Steel, Henry Cavill, he’s used to larger-than-life figures and gamely works his way through a bland script that pales in comparison with the best of Harryhausen and even the various myth-based films of the last few years.

The story in short involves the bad king Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), who wants to bring about the gods’ downfall by releasing their forbearers, the Titans, who languish in captivity within Mount Tartarus. His scheme begins by kidnapping the virgin oracle Phaedra (Frieda Pinto), so her powers can tell him how to bring his scheme to fruition. Along the way, Hyperion pillages a village, killing Theseus’ mother and dragging the peasant into the fray, setting him up to be the hero. While the gods come courtesy of Clash of the Titans, the film’s look owes royalties to 300 (which makes sense since it comes from the same producers without the vision of Zack Snyder) and Gladiator. (more…)

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