Category: News

Prepare for Spidey-3

  • News
  • March 27, 2007

If, while waiting for the release of Spider-Man 3 in about five weeks, you feel you need a recap of the first two movies but you just don’t have the time,you might want to check out 30 Second Bunnies Theatre.

This Starz / Anrgy Alien animated production is a nice, convenient way to remind yourself of the complete cinema saga to date. Like virtually all Marvel-related productions, it even has a Stan Lee cameo.

Oh, yeah. And all the parts are played by cute li’l bunny rabbits.

http://www.starz.com/features/bunnyclub/spiderman/index.html

MATT RAUB loves being a Turtle

  • News
  • March 26, 2007

Cowabunga, Dudes! Matt Raub here, back once again for my review of my pick for “Best Flick of 2007” – TMNT!

Now, before I do my business, a little history. I’m a 100% freak when it comes to anything and everything 80’s. From the music to the wacky neon fashion to the movies, and most important, the TV shows. From The Real Ghostbusters to M.A.S.K., I knew just about everything that needed to be known about cartoons in the 80’s. With that said, I was going into TMNT with roughly 50% excitement and 50% skepticism that we would get a repeat of the first three Turtles movies, which included (in no particular order): Vanilla Ice, time travel, and freckles.

With that said, I was nothing short of blown away by this flick. I caught myself jumping with excitement during the actions scenes and cackling obnoxiously at Michelangelo’s quips. Now, there aren’t a whole lot of CGI films that take my breath away, the exception being The Incredibles of course, mostly due to the need to dumb down the script to appeal to the legion of drooling nine-year-olds. But that wasn’t the case with TMNT. Instead of being a comedy with some action, this flick was all action with some comedy, and I loved it. While it did have some slapstick comedy to keep the toddlers at bay, there were so many more serious elements that I know had to have gone over the heads of the younger audience.

For those of you who aren’t sure where this film stands in comparison to the previous three, I’ll spell it out. This movie pulls a Superman Returns formula, but does it right. The story takes place about a year after the second film, erasing the Turtles in Time escapade completely from continuity (thanks!). With this continuity, we still get Casey Jones, April O’Neil, and a dead Shredder, but the characters all get a revamp, some for better and some not so much: April O’Neil is no longer a reporter, but a glorified Indiana Jones-archeologist type. What?? But like I said, this took the Superman formula and made it work. And no, April doesn’t end up having a half-turtle baby with Leonardo.

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MIKE GOLD: The secret Luddite?

  • News
  • March 26, 2007

mikegold100-6701130Yesterday, I turned on my cell phone for the first time in about two weeks. I was at I-Con in Long Island New York and was waiting to meet up with some friends. I only turn on my cell when I’m out of town or at a convention, and the fact that I didn’t have to have it on in two weeks had made me happy.

First among my 19 voicemails was a message from Harlan Ellison, admonishing me for misspelling Edgar Allan Poe’s name in a ComicMix news story back when. He’s right, and I should have caught it. I’ve been a fan of Poe’s longer than anybody except maybe Jack Kirby. The problem is, when I’m under deadline pressure (and with the Internet that’s 24/7) I over rely upon my spellchecker. Sadly, those suckers ignore words that are misspelled into other real words. I let it do my thinking for me; my bad.

Mr. Ellison often refers to himself as a Luddite, disparaging our computer-communications society. I sympathize. Coincidentally, the very night before my wife and I had watched the first half of a Doctor Who serial, “The Mark of the Rani”, which was set in 1811 at the birthplace of the British Luddite movement. They did a good job of disclosing the reasons behind the movement, except that I don’t think a pair of Gallefreyan Time Lords encouraged the Luddite movement.

For the history-challenged out there, the Luddites were members of a movement of English workers at the dawn of the Industrial Age who destroyed the machinery that they thought was taking their jobs. It is believed the media named the participants after Ned Lud, one of their ilk, although that might be apocryphal.

You can hardly blame them. The ruling classes always instill such fears in their workers as a means of keeping wages low and discipline high. There are always all sorts of odd ramifications to this philosophy – for example, our marijuana laws were imposed under the belief that they would deter Mexican immigration and take jobs away from the “common man.” If this sounds like our current immigration attitudes, well, that’s no coincidence. (more…)

Zombies with good attitude

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Zombie movies are nothing new. Nor are zombie movies with attitude. But there’s been a preview making the rounds of a movie about a bunch of zombie "eliminators" called Z•E•R•O, or Zombie Emergeny Response Operations for long. Possible another section of the Department of Homeland Security that isn’t being talked about.

Unlike most such pre-distribution movie previews, War of the Dead: Z•E•R•O is very character-based. We know there’s a lot of icky monsters around, but the preview focuses on Z•E•R•O and its team-members: a group of ick-fighters that are probably slightly too good for Reno 911 and certainly too good for their patronizing shrink.

What happens to War of the Dead: Z•E•R•O is up to the usual Hollywood forces, but the preview is fun and worth checking out. Kudos to creator / Executive producer Joe Sena and writer / director Michael Disario for jumping into the shark pool; we wish them the best of luck.

Check ’em out at warofthedead.com.

Comic books still rule the movies

  • News
  • March 25, 2007

Comic books continue to lead Hollywood box office business as TMNT, based upon the comics books of the same letters beat out 300 $25,400,000 to a mere $20,500,000 in estimated weekend North American box office receipts.

It was the first weekend for the Turtles’ latest movie venture, and the third for the Frank Miller property. Thus far, 300 has earned nearly a quarter-billion dollars worldwide. Then again, box office totals in Iran are expected to be rather low.

Whereas both movies were released by Warner Bros., neither one is based upon a DC Comics property. DC is a unit of Warner Bros.

Next up: Spider-Man 3, in just a few weeks. ComicMix carried the link to the final movie trailer; scroll down and you’ll find it.

Carmine Infantino talks!

Jimmy Gimli gives us a first look for Free Comic Day, Carmine Infantino says there’s too much sex in comics, and the Isley Brothers riff on Bruce Willis — all this, plus validated parking in this edition of the ComicMix podcast.

Click here to listen:

GLENN HAUMAN: A personal plea from I-Con way

  • News
  • March 24, 2007

gamersforpersonalhygiene-3668430Okay, it says that this is theoretically an opinion column, but really, this is all fact.

Friday night, while I was escorting a number of actresses from the annual Destinies Mystery Guest show at I-Con, we were forced to go through a crowd of LARPers to exit the building.

The smell was, shall we say, pungent. And that’s being polite. I’ve smelled better rotten meat and curdled milk. The comments between us after we could breathe again were savage.

Guys, I hate to have to say this, but clearly I must because some of you aren’t getting the message:

ATTRACTIVE WOMEN ARE LAUGHING AT YOU BECAUSE OF THE WAY YOU SMELL. FOR GOD’S SAKE, BATHE REGULARLY AND WASH YOUR LEOTARDS.

Feel free to support the cause by buying one of John Kovalic’s t-shirts here.

There will be longer posts about I-Con when we get a few more minutes. It’s a madhouse here.

Oh, and before I forget: ComicMix‘s Robert Greenberger will have a film preview panel tomorrow (Sunday) in Javitz at 1. It’s not on the program, but get there early anyway.

MATT RAUB: The Last Mimzy

  • News
  • March 23, 2007

Greetings, movie geeks! Last we spoke, you were all on the receiving end of my 300 bash, and after a handful of death threats from the “Frank Miller is God Fan Club,” I’ve digressed. We’re moving on this week to a flick that I can relate to, in Robert Shaye’s The Last Mimzy.

Now for those of you who aren’t in the know on this latest adolescent epic, the premise is that a brother and sister come across a mysterious box on the beach. It’s explained to us that the box is from the future and is filled with all kinds of equally mysterious sci-fi gadgets, or as the kids so affectionately called them “toys.” Once they start to play with these toys, both the boy and girl begin to gain special powers. Now fans of the USA show The 4400 may be saying “hey, this sounds a little familiar.” And I agree with you. The concept of the future sending technology back in time to save the human existence does sound a bit familiar, but this is done entirely through the perspective of the two kids.

By doing the entire film through the point of view of our two tiny heroes, this flick brought me back to what it was like to be a geeky kid with superpowers given to me from the future… or something. The perspective stayed so far on course that we (the audience) begin to hate the parents of the main characters when they become frightened and angry with these new found “toys” and what they are doing to their children. This can best be described by remembering the point of view from a little movie from the 80s called E.T. Much like that film, we all felt like we were keeping the secret from kids’ parents as much as they were, and that was exciting.

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Videogames sharpen eyesight

  • News
  • March 23, 2007

p-computer-play-5038992I’ve long considered myself on the 20th century side of the technology gap.  I’m geared for slower entertainment, like reading.  Even the shifting camerawork on most TV dramas makes my eyes hurt.

So I have no idea what to make of the new study indicating that "playing action video games for an hour or so daily actually helps sharpen visual acuity."  The study’s lead author, Daphne Bavelier (a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester) notes that "action-video-game play changes the way our brains process visual information.

"After just 30 hours of training, people who didn’t normally play video games showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see small, closely packed letters, like those on an eye chart, more clearly, even when other symbols crowded in."

As a person who doesn’t normally play video games, and really resents my bifocals, I view this as potentially good news, and await instruction from WomenGamers on how best to go about improving my vision.

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