Hack Master...

(Yes, it is time, once again, to comment on my favorite writing/directing/producing hack)

Joss Whedon-ites live in a bubble.  They feed off of each other and have built up his body of work, in their social circles, to be some of the best entertainment ever created.  Relying solely on the success of “Buffy”, Mr. Whedon has somehow networked with the right people in Hollywood to keep himself in business. 

 I recently read an article about what Sci-Fi sequels should be made and, sure enough, Firefly/Serenity was listed near the top.  One person posting in the comments added that it was one of the few on the list that had a fan base to support a movie sequel.  This comment is so inaccurate that it’s laughable.  Let’s look at the facts:

The television series, Firefly, did not pull the ratings in for Fox to even run all 13 produced episodes.  The show was CANCELED due to lack of viewership.  Yes, it may have had 3 million viewers, but that doesn’t cut it on network TV.  Then, somehow, Whedon was given a budget to make a motion picture, Serenity.  $39 million is getting off cheap for a feature and yet it failed to make its money back over its WORLDWIDE theatrical run, making it a box office flop.  My question, where is this fan base?  They’re probably at home watching "Xena" reruns.  It is a niche franchise and is not sustainable in the mass media.

Whedon’s follow up TV series, Dollhouse, suffered the same ratings fate and could not stay afloat on network television, despite all of the eye candy.  Again, fan base anyone?

The Avengers is poised to be the make or break moment in Whedon’s career.  He has taken on writing and directing duties that Marvel execs have graciously bestowed upon him based almost solely on his fan boy appeal.  They should take note of "Scott Pilgrim’s" failure to perform at the box office.  Its small but vocal audience just couldn’t fill up the theaters.  If The Avengers does not make some major cash, Mr. Whedon may have to go back to riding his brothers’ coat tails as he did on "Dr. Horrible" (the songs, by his brothers, and acting made that good, not the writing).  To its advantage, The Avengers has star power and character recognition, plus lead-in movies to help get it off the ground.  My fear is that the movie WILL be a box office success and help perpetuate the career of one of Hollywood's all-time hacks (Ronald Moore not withstanding, but that's another story)!

Quick Review: "Death at a Funeral"

Just expanding briefly on the Twitter post:

Most of the funny scenes were shown in the movie trailers.  James Marsden was a surprise comedic addition.  The cast was good and there were a few extra funny moments.  Okay for a rental and I'm glad they kept it to 90 minutes.  I haven't seen the 2007 version directed by Frank Oz.  May have to check it out sometime to compare....

Four Hours at Gen Con

(The following is best read in the voice of a 40's film noir detective)


I picked up my passengers and grabbed a donut at 8AM.  Traffic was light on Interstate 74 to Indianapolis.  A wrong exit put me 15 minutes behind schedule and I had to park somewhere just shy of the center of the Earth.  A short hike later, we were badged and ready for the exhibit hall by 10:20.  I thought I might catch the presentation “I’m Wil Wheaton, and I’m a Gamer” but the line was crazy long.  Sorry, Wil, maybe next time.

Back at the exhibit hall things were starting to pick up.  The costumed attendees sporting the standard backpack survival gear with bags of dice, rulebooks and the smuggled-in Mountain Dews were gathering around the various vendor booths.  You could smell the money smoldering in their pockets.

That’s when I spotted Matt.  He’d ditched the others and was ready to do a sweep of the room when he decided to bring me along for photo support.  We talked to vendors, drank orange root beer, took pictures and drank more orange root beer, Root Jack I think it was. With Vitamin C.  Sold by Pirates who claimed it would “fight scurvy”.

Stopping by Exile Game Studio’s Hollow Earth Expedition booth, I asked about the long delayed Mars book.  “Not Yet, but soon” was the response.  They directed me to check out All For One by Triple Ace Games.  It uses their Ubiquity rules system and it’s Musketeers vs. Monsters in 17^th Century France.  I didn’t know what to say to that, except “Thanks”.

Next, we came upon the Nexus Games booth.  Typically distributed by Fantasy Flight, they had 3 soon-to-be-released board games with demonstrations going on.  Magestorm, Dakota and Letters From Whitechapel all look excellent.  I’ll keep an eye out for them this fall.

Moving on, we came across a booth that I recognized by the merchandise as Margaret Weis Productions and I said as much to Matt.  Then I looked up.  Margaret Weis was standing there smiling at me.  We asked for a picture, which she graciously allowed us to take, and she asked Matt if he was part of the preferred retailer program.  She directed us to her business manager and we proceeded to get more information.

After this encounter we picked up the pace.  We went past the White Wolf booth but something was wrong.  No merchandise or demonstrations.  Their booth could only be described as a “Goth Lounge”.  The only sign of a game tie-in was a banner with the words The Grand Masquerade, September 23-26.  We puzzled over this but kept going.

We visited the booths for Mayfair Games, Fantasy Flight, Privateer Press, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo among many others.  Matt greeted several acquaintances along the way and introduced me.  I just kept smiling and taking pictures.

Finally, we reached the end.  Independent game developers, authors and artists inhabited this area.  From what we could see, there is potential for many good things on the horizon.  Suddenly, a growl sounded nearby.  We looked around but could not find its source.  Then I realized it was my stomach.  It was 2PM and I hadn’t had anything but that single donut and orange root beer all day.  We rallied the troops and made our way to a local diner where we swapped stories of our encounters.  Once we were finished, we launched the expedition to find my car and head back.  It was 3PM and I had a 5:30 deadline to meet.

See you next year Gen Con.

Quick Review Roundup

I've been lazy... For the past couple of months I have been firing off "Quick Reviews" on Twitter.  Sooo, here is a compilation of the unedited (mostly) reviews in 140 characters or less...

Cadillac Records -A bit disjointed trying to cover 30 years of Blues recording at Chess Records.  Acting and cast good.

Inception -Intelligent story that is remarkably complex for so little detail.  Many things are "assumed".  Cast is excellent.

 Regarding The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, "a script clearly written on 50 index cards and shuffled at random", via Scifi Wire (now blastr).  Website

Max Payne not too payneful.  A-List actors meet B-List story and Director.  Small shades of Punisher and Blade Runner mixed.

 



Devils Due is hands-down THE best 80's "Big Hair" cover band in Cincinnati.  The look, the sound, the attitude! Website


  Shutter Island -Psychological Thriller that's about 45 minutes too long.  Story OK, acting good, editing VERY ANNOYING.  Zzzzzz.

Shutter Island (continued) Predictable!  Crappy editing draws you into the "psychosis" or Scorsese full of crap?  You decide.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief  -More fun than the last 2 'Potter' movies but similar in theme.  Good cast.  Story pacing seemed rushed.

Land of the Lost -Better than I thought it would be.  Laughed out loud a few times.  Effects are decent.  Anna Friel is purdy.




The Book of Eli - Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman are great as usual in this post-apocalyptic, thinking-man's Mad Max.

Alice in Wonderland - Visually striking with interesting angle on the story.  Great cast and voices.  Burton's best in a while.

Whiteout ,with Kate Beckinsale, defies logic and is too long.  Story is weak and good acting can't save bad dialogue.

There you have it.  More to come my minions....

Wonder Woman Changes.... Her Clothes

June 30th 2010: A day that will live in infamy.... At least it seems that way if you check out the initial responses to the "new" Wonder Woman.  J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Spider-Man, Thor) takes over writing duties with issue #600 and is making several changes, most notably to the Amazon's look.  A change in costume and story shrouded in a mystery doesn't really sound that bad.  The character has been around since her first official appearance in All Star Comics in December of 1941.  That's a long time for a lady to be wearing a one-piece bathing suit!  But, let's be honest, after 68 years she needed a face lift.Of course, the controversy has fueled interest in a struggling comic and first run printings of issue #600 sold out easily.  Wonder Woman comics haven't even been on the charts lately (which is why it is strange that she is considered one of DC's big three, alongside Superman and Batman) and the publisher saw a need to shake things up a bit.  Enter Straczynski.  Love him or hate him, he certainly generated sales when working on Spider-Man and Thor.  Those also had their share of story line, costume and dare I say it, gender changes ( Loki as a woman).  Straczynski is a talented writer and his work generally makes you think a bit.  He's also working on Superman as well, though I don't think Supes will be trading in his tights just yet.

I say give it a try and always keep in mind that NOTHING is ever permanent in comics.  It could have been worse, they could have kept the 60's Wonder Woman....

Feeling LOST....

Wow!  The highly anticipated series finale of LOST is over and the heated discussions have begun.  You have to expect a big division of opinion on something like this, though.  After the build up of six long seasons, there is no way that anyone could satisfy everybody with the resolutions.  Let me begin by stating that I realize this is a television show and that over-analyzing it is a bit silly.  I should also add that this post will contain spoilers.  Having said that, let's move on...

It began with a plane crash.  Survivors stranded on a strange island with little hope for rescue (according to the pilot, who didn't last long, they were nearly 1000 miles off course).  Everyone quickly turns to Jack Shephard, a doctor, for leadership and he does his best to get them home.  Through a series of flashbacks we learn about the main characters and what they were facing in their lives before the plane crash.  Some characters came and went, most notably Walt (a boy with some interesting abilities).

This is probably the first of the storylines that did not have a clear resolution.  The viewer got the impression that Walt was intended for something more, but for unknown reasons, the writers let him leave the island without much follow up (we see him in a couple of visions and a "flash forward" but that's it).  His father, Michael, however does show back up to try to atone for some of his mistakes.

Another character that was developed and let go was Mr. Echo.  A man with a violent past, he also attempts to make up for his past transgressions by helping the survivors, fighting The Others and facing down the Smoke Monster.  His character is killed off and almost never mentioned again.

Along the way we learn a little more about the mysterious island, The Others that inhabit it, the DHARMA initiative, Jacob and the Man In Black/Smoke Monster.  There is time-travel, the metaphysical, forces of good and evil, drama, action and mystery.

So how does this all come together?  Well some say, not very well.  Let's take a look.  The final season is the one where we really start to see some questions answered, in a fashion.  First, what is the island?  What is its purpose?  According to Jacob, the island is a stop-gap for a gateway to "hell".  He has been protecting the island for generations and keeping the "cork in the bottle" to use his analogy.  His brother is the Man In Black who we later learn is the Smoke Monster.

Which leads us to the next question.  What/who is the Smoke Monster?  Unfortunately, he is never given a name.  His motivation is to leave the island, no matter the method or consequences.  Jacob, through a momentary lack of judgement, is actually responsible for MIB's transformation into the Smoke Monster, after which MIB can take on the form of anyone who as died or is dead on the island.  This becomes very important to his plans toward the end.  This is because the two brothers, through a mysterious set of rules are not allowed to harm one another.  MIB vowes to find a loophole which will allow him to kill Jacob and leave the island.

Next, The Candidates.  Jacob is seen through flashbacks interacting with the main characters in earlier times of their lives.  He speaks to them and touches them in turn, which supposedly protects them and sets things in motion that will lead them to the island.  The purpose of this is so that one of them can replace Jacob as the protector of the island as he knows his time is almost up.  MIB is not allowed to kill any of The Candidates himself.  He finds his loophole when John Locke's dead body is returned to the island.  MIB can now take on the persona of Locke, a former candidate, thereby circumventing some of the rules.  He is able to manipulate the character of Benjamin Linus and the two of them kill Jacob (though Jacob is able to hang around a little longer in "spirit" form to pass the torch... more on this later).

At one point, Jack is able to leave the island with some of The Candidates.  They go back to their old lives for three years but come to realize, for various reasons, that they need to find a way to return to the island.  During this time the other survivors have been transported to 1974 and are forced to join the DHARMA initiative.  This is a group that have come to the island to study its unique properties and try to live in a "utopian" type of community.  For these characters, three years also pass.

When they are re-united, it is in 1977 and physics genius Daniel Faraday has an idea about how to change the timeline and effectively negate the plane crash and the hardships that followed for the survivors.  He wants to detonate a hydrogen bomb  near the source of the island's power in hopes of neutralizing it.  Evidently the island was a post World War II bomb test facility and they happen to have an un-detonated bomb at their disposal.  This plan appears not to succeed and we lose some characters in the process.

This is where we begin to see what appears to be a parallel timeline.  I think this may be the sticking point for a lot of people as it turns out to be something completely different.  In this reality, the island and Jacob never existed.  The characters land at LA X  safely but their lives appear to be just a little different.  Eventually the characters in this existence come together and realize that they know each other and "remember" their time together on the island.  More on this in a bit...

Meanwhile, back at the island, the characters have to deal with the aftermath of the failed bomb attempt.  After some more hardship and some soul searching by the survivors, "dead" Jacob brings the remaining Candidates together to explain his search for a replacement and what the island represents.  Jack volunteers and Jacob performs a short ritual which makes Jack "like him"(presumably immortal).  This is Jacob's swan song and the survivors agree that Locke/MIB/Smoke Monster needs to be stopped.

Everyone ends up at the "heart of the island" and it's main source of power.  Jack and Locke agree to extinguish its light as they both think it will serve their separate purposes.  They utilize the character of Desmond as he is evidently immune to the intense electromagnetic properties of the islands power.  Desmond succeeds in neutralizing the power but with disastrous effects.  Earthquakes begin to shake the island and Locke runs for his getaway ship.  We find that Locke/MIB/Smoke Monster and Jack are no longer immortal and they proceed to begin a fight to the death.  Locke loses and he is now no longer a threat to the island.  However, Jack is severly wounded and faced with the realization that he has to re-ignite the power source or the island will be destroyed and, possibly, the rest of the world.

In the mean time, the rest of the characters, minus Hurley and Benjamin Linus (who decide to stay with Jack), race to a downed plane that has been repaired and is ready to leave.  They all board the plane and manage to take off just as the runway crumbles beneath them.  Six people manage to escape on the plane.

Jack finds a way to save the island but he is critically wounded and does not expect to survive.  He passes the guardianship of the island to Hurley who asks Ben Linus for help.  Desmond also survives.
Jack wanders out to the spot where he first awoke on the island back when it all began.  He lays down and dies.

In the alternate reality we find that all of the characters have gathered in a church.  Jack is there as well as his father, who had passed away.  We find that this reality is a type of "pocket purgatory" (I came up with that myself) and that they have created this place themselves so that they could experience a life without the island and re-unite before they move on....

This in no way cancels out the experiences that were had on the island nor is it a "Dallas-type" dream sequence.  The events on the island happened in "reality" and Hurley moves forward as its' protector for who knows how many years.  The characters who were able to leave on the plane move forward with their lives from there, but that is all a different story...?

Are all of the questions answered?  No.  It would be impossible to address the specifics of all the storylines raised.  This was a big undertaking with an epic feel to it.  We do not know the answers to all of the metaphysical, quasi-religious themes.  But then, we do not know these in real-life either.  Whether you like the ending or not; whether you found it satisfying or it left you wanting more; it was smart, thought provoking television (something that is sorely lacking these days).  And, it was one hell of a ride....

Don't Mess With the Crazy Heart.....

I recently screened 2 movies on video.  The newly released Crazy Heart and the Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess With the Zohan.  As you can see, I don't necessarily watch movies in any particular order.... just whenever I get around to it.  Keeps people guessing.... Let's begin with the new, and much more respectable, Crazy Heart.
Starring Jeff Bridges (who won the Academy Award for his performance) and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart is the story of an all but washed-up country singer and his attempt to come back from the brink of obscurity and alcoholism.  Bridges as "Bad Blake" is perfect for the role and well deserving of the Oscar.  You really believe that he is the character.  He's kind of reminiscent of Kris Kristofferson's character in A Star is Born and looks quite a bit like modern day Kris in some scenes.  Coincidentally, Bridges and Kristofferson are good friends and they reportedly had a good laugh about the similarities.  Bridges performs all the original songs himself and does a pretty good job.  The story is solid and has great character development for the most part, but they were a little lite on Gyllenhaal's motivations (then again it wasn't about her).  The movie ran just a bit longer than it needed but, overall, the pacing was good.  I recommend this one for anyone seeking a lite drama.

Next, Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With The Zohan.  Sandler tends to do one of these stinkers every other film... One good mainstream movie, one silly, etc.  Zohan is not without merit.  It has some genuinely funny moments and his supporting cast that includes John Tuturro and, of course, Rob Schneider are good.  However, in the "it's so stupid it's funny" category, this one leaned a little bit more on the stupid side.  Sandler got all of his friends together to make another movie (under his own production company, Happy Madison) and they just wanted to poke a little fun at the terrorism paranoia and the racial stereotypes that go along with it.  I think he succeeded but you have to wade through all the sexual innuendo and crotch jokes first.  There are too many cameos to mention here, suffice it to say there seems to be one in about every scene!  All-in-all it's a fun way to waste about 90 minutes if you so choose...