The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Marc Alan Fishman: Stand Up For Integrity

This past week, Marc Maron interviewed Mike Myers on his WTF Podcast. Myers, a consummate pro very much at peace with the world, had only one itch to scratch with Maron: His infamy in being known as hard to work with. His response was direct. If he was hard to work with, it was only because he was standing up for his creations. And if that in turn caused people to be irked by him, well, so be it. Had I not been driving at the time, I would have stood up an applauded. And to the couple on I-294 I accidentally cut off because I attempted it… I’m really sorry about that.

It got me thinking about creative endeavors, and how Myers’ ideology is the ideal that would make the world that much more of an amazing place to live. It’s a crazy notion that I’ll happily back with a litany of examples. If I may be so bold:

Louie, on FX, is an astoundingly brilliant, genre-challenging show that simply could not be made any other time than right now. Because Louis C.K. had the wherewithal to stick to his guns and demand complete creative control over his end-product, every episode is appointment-worthy TV. By comparison, IFC’s Maron is so tragically focus-grouped, it took two seasons to reach any worthy catharsis. And even then, it was a barely-there conceit that Maron should appreciate life more. To compare the two shows is perhaps a bit mean-spirited – Louis C.K. is a filmmaker, and Maron a podcaster – bit the reality remains the same. What makes Marc Maron an amazing figure is his ability to touch on the humanity within nearly any subject in front of him. IFC sought no gravitas with their adaptation of his life. They wanted a hip, edgy comic to bring some Louie-esque cred to their backlog of Portlandia repeats. And for the quasi-fame and cash, Maron went all in.

The silver screen aside, we need only look to the cinema for even better examples. While we know, no doubt, that it takes a village to raise a child – a child being a movie in this case – very few films are wholly a singular vision given their relative cost. But when a creative team that clearly anguishes over every minute detail together as a team and makes the movie they truly wish to make, the results represent art over commerce. Take folks I love like Quentin Tarantino, Stephen Chow, or the infamous Kevin Smith. Each man’s films are intrinsically connected to their source creator. That is to say nearly all of them. Let’s try to forget Cop Out, shall we? But in the best of cases, movies as diverse as the original Clerks, Pulp Fiction, or Kung Fu Hustle were built on houses of cards. No financier could look at any of those preliminary spec-scripts and say without falter that they’d be commercially viable. Even with each man’s pedigree in tow, it took integrity of self and one’s creation in order to complete their respective films. And because of it, I’d say in each of those cases the world was treated to amazing art. Yes, Clerks included.

And where would my op-ed be without touching on our medium of choice here at ComicMix. I’ll be frank: I just don’t know how to defend my point whole-heartedly here. Whereas in my examples above, the end-product – damning the man who would try to control it – ended up both a critical as well as a commercial darling. In contrast, comic books simply don’t sit at the same table. The most profitable comics seem to swirl around character regardless of how the fanboys are reviewing it that week. Per my recent columns, I’ve pontificated that in most cases as well the parent publishers must keep the rags on the racks for no better financial reason beyond being able to control the licenses that live between the pulp. With all that said, I’m still adamant in my original conceit. Removed from the external control of governing bodies that care more about latent data points, letting an artist make the art they want will always yield a better finished product in my mind. It’s the difference between Revival and whatever crossover-of-the-month is raging on. And lest we not find a silver lining to this all, we need look only to The Walking Dead – a book built and maintained by a singular vision, not a corporate marketing report. And certainly that turned out pretty well, all things considered… no?

Ultimately Mike Myers’ feeling that his vision was best, gave the world the rebirth of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in lieu of a Guns N’ Roses single. And because of it, Queen hit the top of the charts again, nearly two decades later. More importantly, you can’t hear the song at 4:07 and not bang your head accordingly. As artists we are often pawns to the masters of the finances. In order to see our visions given birth, we are challenged by those not in the know to concede to another opinion. Beyond simple collaboration, there exists a conflict of interest when those who can pull the trigger choose to question the viability of a given creation.

It is up to us, the creators, to then hold steadfast. It is far better to be proud to put your name on something because it truly represents your vision, then to compromise for the sake of a paycheck.

 

The Point Radio: INTO THE STORM Reveals Monster Nature

Warner Brothers’ new disaster flick, INTO THE STORM, features some pretty real weather scenes rather than CGI effects and actress Sarah Wayne Callies tells us how long it took her to finally get dry. Plus more with the Immortal Hulk Hogan including his cut on today’s pro wrestling scene.

THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE on ANY mobile device (Apple or Android). Just  get the free app, iNet Radio in The  iTunes App store – and it’s FREE!  The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE  – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Law Is A Ass

THE LAW IS A ASS #323: Insane in the Bat Brain

df742dcc8d326a4aea7b20db3459ee50Insanity, they say, is hereditary; you get it from your kids. Not me. My insanity comes from comic book stories. Comic book stories like Batman: The Dark Knight # 29. 

This story featured as its bad guy one Abraham Langstrom. Unlike Tevya, Langstrom was a rich man. Not just the one percent rich, he was in the one percent of the one percent. He was so rich, he used 50 dollar bills to light 100 dollar bills then used them to light his cigars. He was also a self-styled corporate raider of such ferocity that even William Quantrill would have thought Langstrom gave raiders a bad name.

Langstrom considered himself an overlord, one of the ones who had to make tough choices to “ensure that the system runs smoothly for those who matter.” To Langstrom a poor or homeless man was, “a bum who bloodsucks valuable resources from contributing citizens, straining Gotham’s social services cashing another welfare check.” I’m guessing Langstrom wasn’t one of those “compassionate conservatives” you hear about.

Because Langstrom considered himself to be an overlord who had to make the tough choices, it shouldn’t surprise you that he made several. And because he’s a man named Langstrom in a Batman story, it shouldn’t surprise you that Abe’s son, Kirk, was the man who invented the Man-Bat serum. Nor should it surprise you that Not-So-Honest Abe’s tough choice involved said Man-Bat serum.

The tough choice that Abe made was to drink the Man-Bat serum and become a Man-Bat. Then he hunted down the homeless who took from his city without contributing to it, killed them, and sucked their blood. Yes, vampire imagery in a story about a ruthless one-percenter. The subtlety boggles the mind.

Because this is a Batman story, it should also not surprise you that Batman got on Abe’s trail. I mean, what kind of Batman story would it be if he never went after the bad guy? What might be a surprise to you, however, is that…

SPOILER WARNING!

Batman caught him. Hey, nowadays so many of the comic book bad guys get away at the end of the story, telling you that Batman actually caught one is something of a spoiler. But Batman catching the villain wasn’t the end of the story. The ending was…

SPOILER WARNING! 

when the jury found Abraham Langstrom not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Which is where my own insanity came into play. As in these things drive me crazy.

The doctor who taught my law school Law and Psychiatry course told us that there isn’t any such thing as temporary insanity. Temporary insanity argues that the defendant was insane at the time of the criminal act, but the insanity didn’t last and the defendant is feeling much better now. It’s argued in an attempt to have the defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity but avoid having him committed to an asylum afterward. The regular insanity verdict does the exact same thing. So, like landing gear on an ocean liner, a temporary insanity verdict isn’t necessary.

In the United States a defendant is found to be not guilty by reason of insanity – or NGRI, because only a crazy person wants to keep typing “not guilty by reason of insanity” over and over – when he commits a crime and, at the time of the criminal act, he had a mental defect or illness that so affected him that he did not know the wrongfulness of his act. (Yes, I know I’m using the dreaded universal masculine here. Are there any women out there who want to complain because I’m not calling them insane?) Anyway, insanity only concerns itself with the defendant’s mental condition at the time of the criminal act. It doesn’t concern itself with the defendant’s mental condition either before or after the crime.

Say a man has mental illness which gives him the delusion that another man is a Great White dropped out of the sky by a Sharknado, so kills him. He would be NGRI. He had a mental illness. His mental illness gave him a delusion and because of that delusion, he didn’t know the wrongfulness of his act. After all, it’s not against the law to defend oneself from a shark. It might also not be against the law to kill someone to prevent him from making Sharknado 3, but that’s another column for another time.

If the defendant was found NGRI, the judge can’t send the defendant to prison. Remember, the NG part of NGRI is “not guilty.” The defendant wasn’t convicted of the crime, so he can’t be sent to prison. That would violate the defendant’s Fourteenth Amendment not to be deprived of his liberty without due process of law. Instead, the judge will order that the defendant undergo treatment for his mental illness. And, because the defendant was not guilty, the treatment must be in the least restrictive environment consistent with the defendant’s treatment. Anything harsher would also violate the defendant’s aforementioned right to liberty.

So what happens after an NGRI verdict? The judge will order doctors to perform a mental evaluation of the defendant. If the doctors find he is still mentally ill, they will make a recommendation of what treatment is the least restrictive.

If the defendant is violent, the doctors will recommend the defendant be confined and treated in a high security asylum for the criminally insane such as Arkham. If the defendant is not violent, the doctors might recommend treatment in a less-restrictive mental health institution. And if the defendant’s mental illness can be controlled with treatment and medications so that he doesn’t manifest any further symptoms of the mental illness, the least restrictive environment would be supervised release with the condition that the defendant continue taking his medications.

Defendant’s who have been found NGRI are continually evaluated for their present mental condition. If the doctors ever determine that the defendant no longer has any mental illness, they will tell the judge that the least restrictive environment is outright release. If the judge agrees, the judge must order the defendant to be released. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, the defendant can only be confined in a mental health institution for as long as is required to restore his or her mental state. If he is cured, then he must be released.

So what would really have happened in Langstrom’s case is not a jury finding of temporary insanity. The jury would have found Langstrom NGRI. Doctors would have evaluated Langstrom. Those doctors would have determined that Langstrom had been insane because of the effects of the Man-Bat serum but now that it wasn’t in his system, he was no longer mentally ill. Then the judge would have ordered Langstrom released. See, the NGRI verdict does everything that a temporary insanity verdict could do. So the temporary insanity verdict is unnecessary.

On the other hand, maybe I should hope that there is such a thing as temporary insanity. After all, Batman wasn’t insane in his early days, but he sure acts like he is now. And the Batman fan in me has got to hope that the condition isn’t permanent.

Martha Thomases: What – Me Nerdy?

English is a living language, which means that the words evolve through usage. It’s the kind of thing that drives grammar nerds crazy, such as when a person uses the word “literally” to mean “figuratively,” e.g. “I literally could not be any hungrier,” when you’ve only missed one meal.

What drives this grammar nerd crazy is the vulgarization of the word, “nerd.”

I don’t mean that ner” is a vulgar word. Rather, I mean it no longer means what it used to be. In my day (by which I mean, all that is real and true forevermore), a nerd was someone who was socially awkward, maybe a little OCD, and with obsessive interests in matters seen as trivial by more well-adjusted members of society. There were comic book nerds and science fiction nerds, but also AV nerds and theater nerds and band nerds.

“Nerd” was the word the cool kids used to put down their social inferiors. Therefore, by definition, a “cool nerd” is an oxymoron.

Because of this, I remain amazed every day by the popularity of so-called “nerd culture,” such as the blockbuster movies based on science fiction and fantasy books and comics. I’m not used to a world where everyone knows who Tony Stark is.

And now, perhaps as a sign of the Apocalypse, we have people calling out nerds as bullies who exploit their position at the top of the social ladder.

I’m not going to refute the politics of this piece (which is done fairly well here, although, as a nerd myself, I have some disagreements). I’ve already been kicked off this site once for talking about politics too much.

The author, Charles Cooke, confuses many things, including what kind of people are actually nerds. Al Gore… really? Al Gore is a lot of things, but he is not socially awkward. Neither is Neil Degrasse Tyson. Both men can hold their own in an interview, without notes, without a teleprompter. Cooke also confuses knowledge for opinion – although, as Stephen Colbert has taught us, “reality has a liberal bias.”

In fact, nerds are not all progressives. They are no more likely to base their political opinions on facts alone (as opposed to emotion) than anybody else. I remember one of my first arguments at the Marvel office in the 1980s, when several people said they would vote for Reagan instead of Mondale. I would describe the candidates stands on the issues, and that didn’t matter. They wouldn’t vote for a “wimp.”

I also am amused to see comments on message boards about Marvel and DC (and, to a lesser extent, Dark Horse) “forcing” writers to take political positions in stories, such as introducing an Hispanic Spider-Man. Marvel and DC have enough trouble getting the books written, drawn and printed on time. They want to get the talent that is most reliable and most sought after by fans. Politics is way, way down on the list.

I like to see science and math and history and economics valued in our culture. I enjoy having the opportunities to research the things that interest me, which is easier when having interests is considered to be cool. I like seeing scientists and comic book fans as television heroes … although the depictions are not necessarily any more real than those of TV cops, lawyers or doctors.

We could have worse heroes than scientists. If it’s good enough for Bruce Banner and Barry Allen, it’s good enough for me.

 

The Tweeks review “Guardians of the Galaxy”!

1376399043_rocket-raccoon-mvc3u-white-1803973Maddy saw Guardians of the Galaxy opening weekend and can’t wait to share her love of Rocket Raccoon and Groot with the whole world.  Anya, on the other hand was more enthusiastic about sleeping in, so the only thing she can share this week is what she knows about of infinity stones/gems.  There also may or may not be some sisterly labeling of which twin is more like Nebula and which, by default, is then Gamora.

Emily S. Whitten’s Grand San Diego Adventure, Part Two!

After reading my Twitter feed one night during SDCC weekend, my friend (and cool voiceover dude) Bob Joles joked that I was just at SDCC for the parties. And while that’s not entirely true, I do love a good party and folks at SDCC host some killer shindigs. I’m eternally sad that I can’t somehow clone myself and be at all of them at once, but I did manage to make it to a good handful this year, so here’s my SDCC Party Round-Up!

Gabe Eltaeb’s Comics Kickoff Fundraiser with Jinx Clothing

Wednesday night I didn’t actually expect to be at any parties, but I did meet some friends for a late dinner over at Basic Bar & Pizza, and it turned out that Jinx Clothing was co-sponsoring a comics party there with artist Gabe Eltaeb. It was pretty cool! For atmosphere they had the big ol’ Jinx skull up on the wall, and a fun comics-themed drinks menu. And along with artists Gabe Eltaeb, Carlos D’Anda, Doug Wheatley, Dave Wilkins, Eddie Nunez, and Todd Nauck doing live sketches, they also had some great art prints for sale (I coveted the Harley Quinn one, but by the time I got there they were all sold out), and a raffle going for some of the prints, with all funds going to benefit the important Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The atmosphere was fun and relaxed, and the pizza was good. All-in-all, it was a great chill little party with which to kick off the weekend! If they do something again next year, I’ll surely be there!

TNT and CraveOnline’s The Last Ship Party:

When I saw the notice for this Friday night party, I couldn’t resist, because, hello? Party on a ship! And the historic U.S.S. Midway Museum at that. How cool, yes? The party was put on to promote one of TNT’s new shows, The Last Ship, which airs Sundays at 9 (ET) and features Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra, Adam Baldwin, and more as the crew of a naval destroyer tasked with finding the cure for a global pandemic that’s killed eighty percent of the population.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see everything that was going on. Apparently there was a laser tag target practice game and a Science Lab, both of which I would have loved to review but missed due to a delay in press being let in to the party. But I did get to catch a few songs by MGMT on the flight deck of the ship, which had a great stage setup and ended with some pretty awesome fireworks. They also had some finger food and free drinks, which are always welcome. I chatted with a few partygoers, who were having a great time, and also saw The Last Ship cast member Travis Van Winkle, as well as celebs Nathan Fillion, Julie Benz, Keahu Kahuaniui, Jason Mewes, Charles Michael Davis, Maitland Ward, and others coming on board to hang out in the VIP area and watch the show. Regrettably I didn’t get a chance to see what was in the Loot Crates that were being given out as party swag, since I didn’t have time to wait in the line where they were being given out at the end of the party and press were not provided with them ahead of time, but if you’re going to give swag, I’d venture to say you probably can’t go wrong with Loot Crates, so hopefully attendees went home happy.

3BlackDot Launch and After the Eisner’s Party

My next party of Friday night was Milestone Comics co-founder and fellow ComicMix writer Michael Davis‘ After the Eisner’s Party which, this year, was also the launch party for 3BlackDot. If you’re lucky enough to swing an invite to Michael Davis’ yearly After the Eisner’s party, do not miss it, because it’s a total blast. This year’s was at BarleyMash, and featured several live performers, including amazing musician and DJ Lil Jon. It also featured a burger bar and tasty hors d’oeuvres, and a cool swag bag. The music, food, atmosphere, swag, and company were all top-notch.

While there I danced and chilled with the ComicMix family and with several members of this year’s SDCC Black Panel, including J. August Richards, Orlando Jones, and Tatiana EL-Khouri, and of course panel founder and host Michael Davis, along with other super-talented folks like Phil LaMarr, Deric Hughes, Denys Cowan, Georges Jeanty, and Damion Poitier. The party went until 2 a.m., and I enjoyed every minute of it. Good times!

The Robot Rendezvous Party

At SDCC this year, not only did Tweet House help organize the excellent I Know That Voice panel (which I will be covering in a separate column), but for Saturday they also put together a “Pop Culture and the Robot Reality” panel (which, alas, I missed, but it sounded super fun!), followed by the “Robot Rendezvous,” a chill gathering at Stone Brewing Tap Room from 5 to 7 PM, both sponsored by GM and Sphero.

The Rendezvous included appetizers and two drinks on the house, and featured several of the panelists with their robotics projects, including Jennifer Barry with a robot that poured you a beer on request, and Marty Linn with the Robo-Glove, which is designed to help people with weak grips (like those with MS or the elderly) be able to exert more pressure to lift and carry things. It was pretty darned cool (and super nerdy in the best way) to get to walk around and see and hear about these great robotics while having a drink and a snack. The party also featured special guest Brent Spiner, who graciously did photographs during the party and was a pure delight to talk with. I and the several friends I brought along had a fantastic time, and can’t wait to see what Tweet House decides to do next year.

And that was it for me and the party scene, y’all! Although I did get the invite to SlamCon (the casual, impromptu end-of-the-con party that can include everyone from regular attendees to celebs) via running into Deric Hughes on the street on the day of. I totally wanted to go, but was way too sleep-deprived to manage it. However, reports from friends said it was a great time, and Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins from Supernatural, among others, were spotted enjoying the vibe. I’m sad I missed it – but maybe next year! …If I get more sleep first.

Stay tuned for more of the news round-up from SDCC, and until next time, Servo Lectio!

 

Dennis O’Neil: Make Room, Make Room!

The room was large and dim, the food tasty, the entire evening pleasant. We were at this year’s Eisner Awards Banquet, held annually at the San Diego Comic Con International as a venue for presenting the Eisner Awards, named for the man who probably deserves to be called comic books’s greatest practitioner and used to honor people who have made outstanding contributions to Will Eisner’s chosen province. We saw and were glad to see some folk we hadn’t seen in years – decades? – and that was nice.

And I learned something about this quirky enterprise that has kept me fed and clothed for…what? – close to 50 years now?

I won’t keep you in suspense. What I learned was how diverse comic book publishing has become. Oh, back in my younger days I occasionally read what some termed underground comix and way back in 1995 I was honored to be mentioned in the thank-you section of Howard Cruse’s superb graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby. So yeah, I knew you didn’t have to wear a costume, have a double identity and devote your waking hours vanquishing evildoers to get your picture in a comic book.

But I didn’t realize, until the Eisners, how much comics had diversified. I’m guessing that because the direct sales market provided a place for interested parties to go and buy comics creators who saw the form as hospitable to much, much more than tales of fantasy-adventure realized that their work could be seen and even sold and sat down and did that work. And readers did see it and did buy it and all that helped comics to be recognized for what they had always been, a communications medium and – whisper this – an art form.

So there I sat, back to the dining table, looking at a stage flanked by two large screens on which were projected images of comic book covers. The fantasy-melodrama writers and artists were well-represented: no surprise and maybe cause for belief in a just universe – people should get what they deserve – but not the only game in town. All those storytellers with their pencils and inks and computers, not interested in derring-do as subject matter, but attracted to panel art as a narrative form, a means to do what has been done for tens of centuries by those with a need to shout and sing and scrawl and tell their stories,

For comics, it’s been a long climb from trash lit to respectability, from flimsy magazines a kid with a whiff of rebel bout him read behind geography books to the mainstream and – ye gods! – respectability. I’m not sure how I feel about that respectability, but my fellow celebrants at the Eisner Awards seemed to be handling it just fine.

 

Mike Gold: Marvel Does The Right Thing – And More!

I cribbed the information contained herein from the piece written by our pal Rich Johnston over at his Bleeding Cool website which, for what it’s worth, I endorse for its honesty and professionalism. But instead of simply posting the link and letting it speak for itself, I shall wax poetic.

It’s easy to blame all sorts of bad, evil things on corporations and, damn, the Supreme Court recently made that a whole lot easier. But in the interest of fairness we should endeavor to embrace the whole enchilada.

No doubt you were one of the 160.1 million dollars worth of humans worldwide (and counting) who have seen the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. If you haven’t, there are no spoilers here: I thought it was great fun, as did the other minions of the Lower Connecticut Comics Mafia that occupied the theater last Thursday. The fact that we all seemed to be in agreement was, in and of itself, the highest praise I can heap upon any movie. But unless you don’t have a television set, a comic book habit, and/or friends, you are probably aware that the movie stars a small sentient rodent-like creature named Rocket Raccoon.

Rocket was created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen. One of the true horrors of comics history is that in 1992 Bill was the victim of a hit-and-run driver while rollerblading, suffering irreparable brain damage and ending his career in both comics and in law as a public defender. After awakening from a coma, he has spent the ensuing 22 years in a health-care center.

When work on GOTG commenced, Marvel (part of Disney, which I might not refer to as “the evil empire” any longer) renegotiated Bill’s deal regarding Rocket Raccoon, providing some ongoing income to help offset his enormous ongoing medical expenses. This alone is, as we say on 47th Street, a mitsve. Last week, Marvel outdid themselves – big time.

As quoted by Rich, Bill’s brother Michael reported “Marvel hooked Bill up with a private viewing of Guardians of the Galaxy, and my wife Liz and my beloved cousin Jean assisted Bill throughout, enabling him to sit back, relax and relish in the awesomeness of what is going to be, in my humble opinion, Marvel’s greatest and most successful film ever! Bill thoroughly enjoyed it, giving it his highest compliment (the big “thumb’s up!”), and when the credits rolled, his face was locked into the hugest smile I have ever seen him wear (along with one or two tears of joy)! This was the greatest day of the last 22 years for me, our family, and most importantly, Bill Mantlo!” Marvel execs David Bogart and David Althoff arranged for the screening and joined Bill at the event.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: Marvel did not have to do this. Their only obligation here was moral and, even then, arranging for all of this goes beyond even that high standard. I am impressed, and as a person who has toiled in the four-color fields for almost 40 years, I am proud of how Marvel’s consideration reflects on the creative industry we all enjoy.

As for Bill – who we miss, and whose work we miss – his legacy is now assured.

The Point Radio: SyFy Rides High On The Winds Of SHARKNADO

It’s been a great week for the folks at SyFy with the combined audience for the second SHARKNADO film plus encores of the first hitting over 18 million viewers. We talk to director Anthony Ferrante about how big ratings don’t necessarily mean big budgets, plus Vivica Fox and Judiah Friedlander explain why they were thrilled to jump on board this franchise. Then we sit down with wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan to talk about how the landscape of the business has evolved light years in recent days, plus the real story behind his flub at Wrestlemania.

THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE on ANY mobile device (Apple or Android). Just  get the free app, iNet Radio in The  iTunes App store – and it’s FREE!  The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE  – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

REVIEW: Divergent

0612176BTr1With adolescence comes the question of identity with many a teenager thinking they are some freak of nature. As a result, the Young Adult fiction explosion of the last decade or so has amped that up, coupled with the Millennial generation’s worries about the future as seen in the preponderance of dystopias. As it is, the granddaddy of this genre, The Giver, was the only book my freshmen read, liked, and remembered from middle school. So, once Harry Potter proved box office gold, studios have been mining YA titles seeking similar profit. All too often, though, the adaptations have failed to capture the same themes and sense of wonder. Everyone wants to be the next Hunger Games and the Divergent series of books comes closest. When the first novel was adapted to screen this spring, I watched several of my fellow teachers and students reading or rereading the book in anticipation.

Tris and palDivergent, adapted from Veronica Roth’s best seller by screen writers Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor, does a nice job bringing the world to life. The film has come to home video today from Lionsgate Home Entertainment in Blu-ray Combo pack form along with store-specific collector’s editions. Here, the world is brighter and shinier than the 13 Districts of Suzanne Collins’ Earth but there remains a corrupt underbelly that threatens the government, which is tightening its grip. Here, as you enter puberty, you begin to manifest powers and abilities that society wants to harvest so one by one, people are tested to see if they can be assigned to Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (truth tellers), Dauntless (the brave) and Erudite (the brains). Her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) is Abnegation, but is allowed to reject the assignment in favor of Erudite during the Choosing Ceremony (minus sorting hat).

DIVERGENTMuch as in Lois Lowry’s books, those that do not fit in must be culled and Tris (Shailene Woodley) is one of those mutants, who possesses a mélange of abilities despite coming from two Abnegation parents (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn). According to Jeanine (Kate Winslet), she must be eliminated but her tester, Tori (Maggie Q), warns Tris. She then rejects Abnegation for Dauntless and so begins her Coming of Age. Tris leaves behind the world she knew and enters unknown waters, eventually coming upon other Divergents who have formed a mutual survival society and burgeoning underground.

divergent-movie-tris-buildingTris begins to train and train and train as the film slows down. Physically, she’s barely up to the demands of the Dauntless but thankfully the incredibly handsome mentor Four (Theo James), pushes her and makes her heart go pitter pat. She also gains a BFF in the bullied Christina (Zoë Kravitz). Once we get past this section, things pick up steam and we bring things to a somewhat satisfying conclusion, resolving some threads and laving others dangling for the sequels.

Director Neil Burger needs to work on his timing and editing since the film feels overly long but he does coax excellent performances from his cast which makes the entire film eminently watchable. Woodley’s Tris is a more decisive heroine than Katniss and she handles the action quite well. It’s not Burger’s fault that the film and the book its based on now feels derivative. We’ve been getting heavy doses of dystopia in print, on television, and in film so, like zombies, its feeling like pretty mined territory.

The high definition transfer is most satisfactory and is matched by the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix. Similarly, the extras are straightforward, informative, and useful if unspectacular. We have Audio Commentary with Director Neil Burger, who nicely credits his crew; Audio Commentary with Producers Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick, which delves more deeply into the pre-production and casting; Bringing Divergent To Life (47:17), four shorter pieces that examines the production, casting, and adaptation process; Faction Before Blood (14:51), looks at the structure of the walled in society; Deleted Scenes (4:27), nothing essential but good to see; Beating Heart Music Video (1080i; 3:48), trailers and poster gallery.

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