Select online fans of A&E’s Psycho prequel Bates Motel received an interesting package in the mail today. As a thank you to the fans of the show, followers of the shows tumblr page were sent a reproduction of the Bates Motel guest book.
Lionsgate had an opportunity to take advantage of the crass commercial stunt of splitting Mockingjay into two films and enrich the world and characters. Somehow, though, they squandered the opportunity and turned out a leaden adventure that did little more than spin its wheels as we are forced to wait for the final chapter. Given the content of Suzanne Collins’ final installment in her Hunger Games trilogy, this could have been a done-in-one, albeit lengthy, final film. However, it was decided to split it into two and here, we should have gotten to know everyone a little better.
After being available for online viewing, Mockingjay – Part 1 arrives on disc Tuesday in the standard combo pack, giving you Blu-ray, DVD, and a digital copy.
Katniss Everdeen’s journey from Tribute to Icon showed us a petulant, reluctant hero in the making and with Jennifer Lawrence wonderfully assaying the part, her growth should have been stronger on screen then the print version. She remains resistant and reluctant, finally willing to trade being used as a stalking horse in exchange for help freeing Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson and the other Tributes held by the Capitol. She clearly sucks at being anything than what she is as seen in the amusing public service ad filming scene but finally reveals her inner fire when District 8 is bombed.
The game being played against President Snow (Donald Sutherland, the second best bit of casting in the series) is a tricky one, especially considering his decades of advantage. His moves are cold and calculating, yet his clearly is over-confident and misfires when he bans the Mockingjay symbol from being displayed. As he tightens his grip on the districts, more and more rebellion is sparked. That he and Katniss exchange moves for as long as they have shows he has underestimated her. But not before outfoxing her on more than one occasion, including the brainwashing of Peeta, surreptitiously releasing him so he would become his secret weapon, which is more or less where this half ends.
The first set of missed opportunities are close to home. Mom and Prim have survived the devastation of District 12 and they are seen here and there and yet neither one is given much to say or do and their relationship with Katniss is at arm’s length, which goes against everything established in the first book. Then we have the introduction of President Coin (Julianne Moore). In the BTS material, she is said to have had a strong take on the character but it doesn’t come through on screen. Her growing relationship with Katniss would have been nice to see much as more could have been done with Plutarch (the dearly missed Philip Seymour Hoffman) and even Hamish (Woody Harrelson).
Instead, we go from District 13 to visit District 12, rescue a cat; visit District 8 and narrowly avoid being blown up, and back to District 13 as others try to free the Tributes. Katniss broods a lot and seems so obsessed with Peeta’s freedom she barely has time for Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), whose love for her has forged him into a hero, not that you can really tell given how little he’s given to do.
The movie is incredibly faithful to the book but screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong made one significant change: Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) has survived and has been brought to District 13 where she bonds with Katniss in a nice way. Given their skills, it’s sad that this was a brief highlight and so much of the film is a series of action set pieces and missed opportunities. Director Francis Lawrence did a far stronger job with Catching Fire and while he handles the scope and action nicely, the human touches feel thin. One hopes the final act redeems all concerned and ends the series on a high note.
The film’s transfer to High Definition is splendid with sharp colors and little lost to the shadows. The audio is just fine, too.
The Blu-ray comes with an assortment of special features built around the eight-part, two and a quarter hour “The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of Mockingjay – Part 1“: 8-part feature-length documentary which covers everything from the story to the special effects, costuming, and casting. The BTS footage demonstrates just how much fun they had shooting the film, which is good considering how dour the story is. What’s frustrating is that the director, producers, and cast all have strong ideas about the characters and story but so little of it made it on screen. There is also a commentary from Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson. “Straight From the Heart: A Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman” is a nice ten minute tribute specific to his involvement in the last three films in the set. Songs of Rebellion: Lorde on Curating the Soundtrack” features Lorde detailing all the choices she made in assembling the soundtrack album and we have her “Yellow Flicker Beat” music video. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, only one of which I think should have been restored to the film.
Overall, it was entertaining but disappointing but I will be there for the finale to see if they can trump the great wreck of a second half the novel itself was.
Writing a weekly column can be a funny thing at times, especially when you wait until the last moment to do it. Not only does it irritate your editor but the blamed thing can morph from its original topic. Such as this week. I started with one topic and then found two others that I wanted to comment on as well. I think I’ve found a connection within all three; let’s see if I can make it without stretching too much. Wish me luck.
We’ll start with the death of Leonard Nimoy, a.k.a. the original Mr. Spock in Star Trek. He was 83 and died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Spock was an iconic character not only on Trek or in science fiction but around the world. “Live long and prosper” was his signature phrase and his cool, logical, and scientific manner created an army of fans, me included.
My friend Lise Lee Morgan and I met Mr. Nimoy in person many years ago in a guest suite at a Star Trek convention. My friend Stuart Gordon had got us the opportunity and Mr. Nimoy was charming, engaging, and enthusiastic about Stuart. I liked him even more than I liked Spock.
How significant was Nimoy’s passing? He got a eulogy from Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the Moon. President Obama released a statement saying “Long before nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy, the center of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future … I loved Spock.” Come on. How cool is that? Any of us should wish to have a life with as much impact on the world.
On the other side of the coin there’s the report of author and blogger Avijit Roy being hacked to death with machetes by Islamic extremists. Roy was a native of Bangladesh although he lived in Atlanta and he was attacked as he left a book fair in the Bangladesh city of Dahka. He was there to promote his book The Virus of Faith. A fan of Bill Maher’s harsh view of Islam, he was critical of all religions and especially Islam and that made him the target of death threats by Moslem extremists. Ansar Bangla-7, an extremist group, has claimed responsibility for the death.
The third item catching my eye was the destruction of ancient artifacts in a Mosul museum by members of ISIS. The items dated back thousands of years, from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires. The vandals’ justification was that the statues were by polytheists and therefore an affront to their skewed notion of Allah. This ignores the fact that the art was part of the heritage of us all and they were only the current custodians. They did not have the right to destroy them. Sadly, such iconoclasm has a long and pernicious history.
So … what unites these three events? They underscore the importance of art, of literature and – yes – of pop culture. A writer is killed because of ideas that he espouses, artifacts are destroyed because of what they once represented, Nimoy’s death is remembered because of a part he played on TV and in films. All this underscores the importance of art, its power, and the threat it poses to the close-minded.
It makes us remember the past, question the present, and bring hope for the future. Pop culture, which we celebrate here, is a huge part of all that. It helps define who we are and tells us who we were and points to what we could be. It reflects our passions and our interests. It questions what we are told and that’s why extremists of all stripes want it destroyed or controlled or obliterated or killed. The violence, the extreme nature, of their actions tell us how real the threat is to them. That tells us how powerful it is. Art is dangerous. Pop culture is or can be or should be dangerous.
Leonard Nimoy, as Spock, exemplified all that. That’s part of the reason his passing affects so many. He made an indelible mark on the world. We should strive to do the same.
Live long and prosper, y’all.
Regional billboard company Adams Outdoor Advertising had this running on their electronic billboards Friday afternoon. Nicely done.
Legendary Digital Media and Fullscreen have partnered with YouTube phenoms Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart in an updated version of Sid & Marty Krofft‘s classic 70’s TV series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, bringing the property to a new generation of viewers. Fullscreen will debut and exhibit Electra Woman and Dyna Girl in the U.S. with Legendary Television Distribution overseeing global distribution. Sid & Marty Krofft will executive produce the project.
The reboot will start internet superstars Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart as the seventies icons (shut up, this is my article). The series, comes on the heels of Helbig’s crossover from YouTube fame to television as the host of a late night talk show for E! which premieres in April. Both Helbig and Hart have large social media followings with a combined total of over 10 million subscribers and followers over all of their YouTube and social media platforms. This series also follows Helbig’s and Hart’s recent digital feature film success, Camp Takota, which was executive produced by Helbig and Hart and produced by Fullscreen’s Chief Content Officer Michael Goldfine, and picked up by Netflix last year.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was one of the tentpole shows of The Krofft Supershow, which also featured Wonderbug, Magic Mongo and Dr. Shrinker. (and if you’ve got the theme for the last one in your head now, you’re welcome.) Deidre Hall (Days of our Lives) and Judy Strangis (Room 222) played the title characters as well as their secret identities as reporters for NewsMakers magazine. With the assistance of technical genius Professor Frank Heflin (Norman Alden) they fought “Electra-Villains” like Glitter Rock, The Pharaoh and the Spider-Lady.
Am I gonna insert the theme? Oh you KNOW I’m gonna insert the theme…
Of course, the synopsis of the new series certainly suggests that we may not see the same level of action and special effects as the original…
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl follows two superheroes as they move from Akron to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big in the crime fighting world, only to find competition with other vigilantes and infighting amongst themselves.
So there’s that.
Sid and Marty Krofft are responsible for some of the most memorable children’s entertainment of the seventies, and some of the most over the top variety programming in the years to follow. Starting off with classics like H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville and The Bugaloos, the Kroffts ruled the roost of Saturday mornings. Breaking into prime time programming, they produced the Donny and Marie variety show, as well as ones for the Brady Bunch, the Mandrell Sisters, and God help us, <a href=”
target=”_blank”>Pink Lady (and Jeff).
We’ve seen a number of remakes of their shows over the years – ABC presented a new version of the Land of the Lost, which Marty Krofft, in an interview with yours truly, suggested was indeed connected in some way to the land as seen in the original series. There was a <a href=”
target=”_blank”>pilot for a new version of Electra Woman in 2001 with Markie Post and Anne Stedman. Several years ago they announced that Dreamworks had obtained the right to Lidsville to produce an animated feature, a project still in development, if it hasn’t already fallen into the Shampoo River.
For more information on the new series, sign up for updates at www.ElectraWomanDynaGirl.com, follow their twitter, @ElectraDyna, or just follow me around, cause I’m not gonna stop talking about this, ever.
Back in November I lamented that Gotham was a train-wreck with glimmers of hope peaking out amongst the smoldering boxcars abandoned near Arkham Asylum. Well, here we are, a large smattering of episodes later, and I’m starting to change my outlook on Fox’s proto-Batman dramedy. Hear me out, skeptics.
My turn of opinion first peeked its tepid head out into the light when I came to the realization that the show was not, nor would it ever be, Gotham Central by way of Ed Brubaker. The fact is I’ve circled my wagons around the ideology that business and the boardroom will always help dictate the creative endeavors of the Big Two™’s creations. That means that as critically acclaimed a graphic novel may be, at the end of the day all Warner Bros is going to care about is ratings and the potential syndication of Gotham. Hence, the fact that producers are making a show that by-and-large is built to appeal to the widest audience possible by way of brazen continuity-shattering canon-damning characterizations was bound to happen. Or in lesser terms, we were never ever ever going to not get interpretations of Batman’s rogue gallery. So I got over it.
And when I did, the sky opened up, and the show instantly became more entertaining to me. Jim Gordon – the John Wayne of Gotham – and his trusty drunkish sidekick Harvey Bullock are the lone moral compass amidst a sea of corruption. Hell, Bullock up until the 8th or 9th time Gordon saved his ass was as much a part of the problem as anyone. But as the show settled into itself, there was a slight shift in the dynamic duo’s camaraderie.
After sticking his neck out on the line enough times, Bullock and the police chief both turned from broken records (“You’ll never beat this city, Jim!) into begrudging do-gooders. And it did the series a hell of a favor. Instead of one man against a city, there was a subtle cracking of a window, piercing the muck and mire with rays of hope.
Hope. It’s the biggest concept the show misplaced at the onset. But over time, the cases of the week gave way to those notions that yes, in fact, some people did want to fight against the rampant corruption. And to a degree even those who existed on the other side of the law started to show depth of character. Make no bones about it: Carmine Falcone is an evil and bad man. But he bleeds the same blood as we do, and through the plot line of Fish Moody’s planted girlfriend, we saw shades of grey in what was an otherwise black and white caricature of any gangster we’ve seen a million places elsewhere. OK, and let me not give too much credit here. The shtick of an Italian-American loving his mother is not exactly original storytelling. Again, lowest-common-denominator here. Take the small victories as big ones.
Because Gotham was given more than twenty shows to produce within the first season, the writing team has been very sneaky in utilizing slow-burn storytelling in-between the predictable ratings bait. While we’ve been treated to outright terrible iterations of the Scarecrow and the maybe-Joker to-be, we’ve been privy to the ebb and flow of several well-defined debauchees.
Oswald Cobblepot immediately comes to mind. Robin Lord Taylor steals nearly every scene he’s in. While his recent pyrrhic victory over Fish has left him her club, yes, it’s at the cost of anyone believing him ever again. His playing of Maroni and Falcone has no doubt left him as a pawn to more powerful men – until he figures out yet-another way to squawk out of harm.
Outside of The Penguin, the aforementioned Fish herself has been perhaps the only other critically acclaimed person on the show. And while I had not been fond of her personally, I see the appeal. A strong female lead who plays an elegant sexy versus the traditionally slutty alternative amongst Batty’s libertine ladies does leave a better taste in the mouth. Combine this with her more recent turn as a sympathetic heel and you have the makings of another breakout star. My hope though is when she makes an eventual return to Gotham City she does so to rebuild her empire independently. Let Ozzie keep the club for now. Heck, maybe he should turn it into a casino.
And then there’s Bruce. There was no way around the awkwardness of his origins. We’d seen them done dozens of times before. The pearls. The gun shots. The scream into the night. Followed of course by stoic angst amidst solid oak furniture and priceless bric-a-brac. But once Gotham got past the traditional beats, we’ve been granted a look into Bruce Wayne’s life that otherwise has not been better captured. As Alfred would denote several times since my last writing, the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne have granted their sire an unyielding independent streak. He’s been focused (even when gallivanting as the weakest looking punk ever depicted on TV, with Selina Kyle), keen-eyed, and bright. And he’s been all of this whilst figuring how to cope with the grief. The performance has been stilted now and again, but the storytelling has been solid as a rock. This is a Bruce Wayne about to enter adolescence. And it’s slowly become an enjoyable B story against the cases of the week.
While Gotham is still significantly flawed, it has leapt forward in its ability to put a smile on my face. When the show isn’t confined to redefining known properties, there’s an original mish-moshing of noir, black comedy, and a decent (if dumb) police procedural.
Combine this with an astoundingly nice production budget, and the backing of a major network and you have a show that I once thought would be unsalvageable, and over time has become a minor fleet-of-fancy. It’s not Flash or Arrow mind you… but for the time being it doesn’t have to be. It just needs to ultimately calm down and realize its best adventures are still yet to come.
Things have been better for Thing. Not to mention for Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch. Over the course of the past year in the “The Fall of the Fantastic Four” story line, the FF was forced to vacate their home and headquarters in the Baxter Building. The government took custody of Reed and Sue’s children Franklin and Valeria. Johnny lost his powers. Ben was accused of murdering the Puppet Master. Oh yeah, and they’re wearing these silly red costumes.
But even though “The Fall of the Fantastic Four” is a massive year-long epic, it still has some quiet moments. In Fantastic Four v 5 #12, we find one of those moments. Find it, in all places, on Ryker’s Island. I know what you’re saying, Ryker’s Island is the New York island prison that sits in the East River, what kind of quiet moment could we find there? This kind.
The Thing is imprisoned on Ryker’s Island, waiting trial after being framed for murdering the Puppet Master. Johnny Storm, the now-powerless, former Human Torch – who will, if the cover to the up-coming Silk # 4 is to be taken at face value, be the re-powered, present Human Torch before this story is over and does that surprise anyone? – went to Ryker’s to visit the Thing. Johnny told Thing that “Puppet Master’s body’s gone missing. Pre-autopsy, too.” Then he asks,” What’s that rule of law? Habeas corpus, right?”
Wrong.
The phrase Johnny meant was corpus delicti. But I’m not going to jump all over Johnny because he doesn’t know his habeas from a hole in the ground. He never studied law. How was he supposed to know one obscured-by-Latin legal phrase using the word “corpus” from another?
Other than asking me, that is.
Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase that means “that you have the body.” In and of itself, that doesn’t seem all that much. However, when you add “writ of” in front of habeas corpus, then you’ve got something.
The writ of habeas corpus, also known as the great writ, is one of the many writs that exist in our system of jurisprudence. Of course, saying that doesn’t help much unless one happens to know what a writ is. So let’s move one step back so that we can go forward; and I have it on no less an authority than Matthew McConaughey that sometimes you gotta go back to actually move forward.
A writ is not the thing from which the Moving Finger moves on. Rather a writ is a written order issued by a judge or magistrate or similar in-charge type authority. So writs are written. See, sometimes even Latin can’t obscure the meaning.
Petitions for a writ of habeas corpus are filed on behalf of people being detained, such as in a prison or a jail or a mental hospital. Usually it’s a lawyer but detainees may also file pro se petitions. The petitions allege that the detention is unlawful or without authority and ask that the judge release the prisoner.
Many such petitions – no, most such petitions – are denied out of hand. But sometimes the judge will order that whomever is the custodian of the detainee – like a prison warden – bring the detainee before the court for a hearing, so that the court can determine whether the detention is lawful. If the judge finds that the custodian has the legal authority to hold the detainee, said detainee is returned to detention and another Latin phrase comes into play; status quo. If the judge finds that the detention is unlawful, the judge will order that the detainee be released and another Latin phrase comes into play; etgay outyay ofyay ailjay eefray.
In the case of the Thing, a writ of habeas corpus would go about as far as a melodrama heroine tied to the railroad tracks. The judge would ask why was the Thing being held on Ryker’s Island. The warden would answer, because he’s been arrested and charged with murder. The judge would find Thing’s detention was lawful and would not issue the writ. That’s how I know Johnny erred when he said habeas corpus, because a writ in Things case wouldn’t be worth the paper it was writ on.
Johnny was talking about the fact that Puppet Master’s body had disappeared from the Medical Examiner’s office before an autopsy could be performed on it. The Latin phrase that would apply to this situation is not habeas corpus, it’s corpus delicti.
For those of you who slept through your foreign language class because it was scheduled Latin the afternoon, corpus delicti means the body of the crime. It doesn’t refer to the physical body in a murder case, such as Puppet Master’s missing corpse. It means body in a more metaphysical way, the elements of a crime. It means that in a criminal trial, the prosecution must prove the body of the crime; that is must be able to prove the essential elements of the crime exist.
In a murder case, the corpus delicti would be that the defendant unlawfully caused the death of another person. Here the corpus delicti would involve an actual corpse. (Unless the defendant were Hannibal Lecter, then the case would involve the corpus delectable.) In a theft prosecution, the corpus delicti would be that the defendant took the property of another person without the owner’s permission. It would involve no actual, physical dead body.
Johnny had a valid point, the corpus delicti rule probably does apply to Thing’s situation. If Puppet Master’s body disappeared before the autopsy, then no one has been able to determine the cause of Puppet Master’s death. Maybe he wasn’t murdered, maybe he died of a heart attack or a heart break or having literally left his heart in San Francisco. If no one knows how Puppet Master died, than no one knows whether someone killed him. More specifically, no knows whether Thing killed him. Without Puppet Master’s actual corpse and the necessary autopsy on said corpse, the prosecution might not be able to establish the corpus delicti in Thing’s case.
So, if Thing is smart, he’ll just sit things out in his cell and wait for the charges to be dropped as they, inevitably, will. The last thing Thing should do is…
Exactly what he does in Fantastic Four v 5 #13.
What does Thing do? Well that would be telling. So come back next week, when I’ll be telling.
Season two of the Starz high seas drama, BLACK SAILS, is sailing along and series regulars Hannah New, Toby Stephens & more talk about where the trip will take them over the next few weeks. Plus Kevin Bigley and Kevin Daniels show us why the USA Network comedy SIRENS is scoring some pretty big laughs.
THE FOLLOWING returns to primetime TV in a few days, and Kevin Bacon joins us to talk about what makes the show’s third outing so drastically different.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
Leonard Nimoy, best know to the world for his role as Mr. Spock in Star Trek, died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 83.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family, friends, and fans.
If you haven’t read The Sculptor, stop reading this and go get yourself a copy immediately,
Need more persuasion? Okay, but you’re missing out on valuable time that could be spent reading this awesome book. I’ve been a fan of Scott’s since Zot because it was funny and human and had a villain named Art Deco. More people became fans when he published the brilliant Understanding Comics. There is no one who uses the graphic story medium to better effect than Scott McCloud.
The Sculptor showcases McCloud’s mastery of technique. His use of color is impeccable. The book is black and white with blue tones, giving the different scenes a variety of moods and weights. The way he uses overlapping word balloons reminds me of an Altman movie. The panel arrangements speed up time and slow it down, depending on the needs of the character.
All of this is in service to the story: David Smith is a frustrated artist trying to make it in New York. He makes a deal with Death (not the cute girl but an old Jewish man who reminds me of my mom’s Uncle Harry) to have 200 days when he create whatever art he wants, in exchange for dying at the end of the deal.
Then he falls in love.
Meg isn’t anyone’s dream girl. A struggling actress, she has serious emotional problems including, I think, a variation of bi-polar disorder (Note: I am not a doctor). Still, her energy and her compassion strike a chord with David. It’s not an easy relationship for either of them. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to believe it.
I’ve seen people compare the story to Faust, and I guess I get that analogy, but it doesn’t really hold up. David doesn’t ask for fame or power – he just wants to make his art the way he wants to make his art. He doesn’t even negotiate for a gallery show where people can see his work.
It’s all about the art.
A major character in this book is New York City. Not the New York of Friends or Sex and the City or even <a href=”
Parker, this is the New York of cheap rent, scummy landlords, tight money and brilliant, artistic friends. It’s the New York I wanted to live in when I came here nearly 40 years ago. So much so that I almost thought the story took place at that time, until I noticed everyone had cell phones.
I thought that New York was gone. Maybe I’m just too old for it. I’m grateful to The Sculptor for letting me live there again, for at least as long as it took to read.
And another thing! It’s bugged me lately that critics seem to think that superhero movies are the root of all evil. It’s a genre that gets sneers from everyone, even though it’s relatively new (I would say it started with Superman in 1978).
Okay, we can discuss whether or not Thor: The Dark World was as good a film as The Imitation Game. I don’t think it was. Still, it brought happiness to millions. I think that’s a good thing.
And it gives a lot of people a chance to make a living in a field they love. Or, as Marvel writer Gerry Duggan said on Twitter Sunday night after J. K. Simmons won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, “J Jonah Jameson beat two Hulks to win an Oscar, then Ra’s al Ghul said there are too many comic adaptations. #Oscars2015”
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
Stephen Colbert, we have your writer for “The Chronicles of Amber”!
January 20, 2023
The Law Is A Ass #460: Those “For Life” Sentences Are Nonsense
February 24, 2022
