And I'm back with a whole lot of randomness to throw your way. No big movie reviews or anything today ... I was going to see a free screening of Miami Vice on Saturday but it was sold out, so I'll probably catch a different showing tommorow. Other movies I still need to check out include Monster House, A Scanner Darkly, and Scoop, but most of the movies I'm really excited for are a ways down the line. The Fountain, Borat, Tenacious D, Balls of Fury, Hot Fuzz, Southland Tales, Grind House, TMNT, The Prestige, Spiderman 3, For Your Consideration, 300, and a few others are the ones currently big on my radar. Then there's a few lesser movies coming down the pipeline that I'm curious about - Black Dahlia, Ghost Rider, The Illusionist ... and then there's the stuff even further down the line, many of them dream movies like Watchmen, The Simpsons, Batman 2, and to a lesser extent Iron Man, Pirates 3, Sin City 2, Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer (just to see if/how they do Galactus), and of course Mike Judge's years-in-the-making sci-fi comedy, which is almost as much vaporware as Chinese Democracy by this point.
Anyways ...
A ton of RANDOM THOUGHTS:
- First of all, let me echo the many voices that have risen up to condemn Mel Gibson. This guy has been treading on thin ice for a while now as far as I've been concerned. The entire way that the Passion of the Christ was handled was very questionable, and now, this guy drinks and drives (bad enough in and of itself), and unleashes a torrent of bigoted, chauvenistic, and yes, antisemeitc comments upon his arrest. And it's one thing if this was just your average actor. But this this is a guy who has put himself on a plateau - who took great liberties in presenting an "accurate" depiction of the Jesus' life and death on screen, and did so in the name of a self-perpetuated image that painted Gibson as a man doing God's holy work via his movie. Gibson is a bigoted hypocrite, and Hollywood bigwigs, like super-agent Ari Emanuel, are right to condemn his words and actions. And to Disney studio head Oren Aviv - I think it's the proper thing to do to forgive someone after they've expressed regret for their actions. But to just outright issue a statement of forgiveness, without ever having issued one of condemnation, reeks of a studio head acting to protect his financial interest in Gibson's latest film. And you know, I was actually kind of excited for Apocalypto despite my dislike for Mel, just because I am really fascinated with Aztec culture and ancient civilizations. Now though, I pretty much don't care. Whatever - this guy doesn't deserve any of our money.
Ari Emanuel's condemnation of Mel.
The Anti-Defamation League's Condemnation.
ADL's FAQ regarding The Passion of the Christ.
- With regards to Israel, I think that there needs to be some compromises made both on Israel's part and on the part of the US and other nations who are quick to condemn in light of the tragic bombing in Lebanon that resulted in the loss of many civilian lives. On one hand, Israel needs to be more careful. Not that they dont usually act with the utmost care and regard for civilian life, but the Israeli army knows what kind of foe it's up against - one that hides its weapons installations right next to schools and churches for this very purpose - to deter the miliatry from use of force and to protect its facilities while damaging Israel's PR. But Israel knows this, and needs to come up with alternative means of damaging Hezbollah's infrastructure. But in presenting Israel's conditions for which a cease-fire could occur, Shimon Perez today made an excellent point in a quote filled with simple wisdom:
"In war, you have a lot of mistakes. The greatest mistake is the war itself. Anyone who wants to prevent mistakes must stop the war."
It is for this reason that the US, England, and the UN need to avoid losing sight of the bigger picture here. The bombings in Qana are bad PR for Israel in a war of ideals that has increasingly become a battle of PR, and first and foremost the bombings are a terrible tragedy, and an incentive to bring about peace quickly. But there are stil larger issues at stake here, and it doesn't make sense to act rashly because of a sense of guilt. The US should know - it's not as if the embarrassments of Abu Ghraib made us pull out of Iraq or anything.
- On a different note .... I'm going to see TOM PETTY in concert for the second straight year! Yep, September is going to be a rockin' month - I'm set to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers, LIVE, in early September, and then as the month winds down (and the big 2-4 approaches! yikes!), it's Tom Petty and The Strokes~! live at the Hollywood Bowl. YES.
- So to prepare for this event, I purchased TOM PETTY's new, just-released album over the weekend and have since given it a few listen-throughs. The tunes are mostly pretty mellow, but they all fit nicely into the album's overall theme - the title of the CD - Highway Companion. Petty's meandering, atmospheric songs often sound Dylan-esque, evoking long dirt roads and lonely nights of traveling. Petty is in full storyteller mode, especially in songs like "Down South," one of my favorites from the new disc. There's not really any songs here that, on their own, have the pure catchiness or classic rock feel of Tom's big hits like "Mary Jane's Last Dance," but as an album this is a moody collection of songs tailor-made to play around a campfire, strum on a guitar, or let simmer in the background as you truck along a long, empty road. My grade: B+
- Finally saw SWINGERS this weekend. Yep, I had never actually seen this modern cult classic before. I found it on sale for like $5 a few weeks ago, picked it up, and had occasion to check it out this weekend. Good movie, but it was pretty hyped up to me beforehand so it couldn't really live up to the lofty expecations I had.
- Also, as a connesseuir (sp?) of the Sunday ads, I couldn't help but notice that Best Buy had a ton of DVD's on sale this weekend at ridiculously low, low prices. I picked up high school classics Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused for a mere $3.99 each, as well as seasons 2 and 3 of Futurama (the to with the highest episode counts) for a pretty low $19.99. Niiice.
- I've been slowly but surely making my way through God of War on the PS2. Damn this game is friggin' awesome - definitely up there with the classics of the action genre. I still have a few games on my backlist that I need to get to. I've had Devil May Cry 3 forever now, but have yet to dive in, and I somehow got away from Psychonauts even though I really enjoyed the little bits I had managed to play through. I just don't have time for these things lately! It doesn't help that every action game lately is seemingly like 50 + hours long. I think I was playing Resident Evil 4 for like 6 months on and off before I finally beat that one. Now I've got the new Nintendo DS Lite with New Super Mario Bros and Castlevania, which is yet another time-waster, but an awesome revival platform of sorts for classic 2-D gameplay. The behemoth that is Final Fantasy 12 is released in October I believe, so I've got to clear the deck for that baby, the first real FF game to be released since I graduated from college, meaning ... I have no freaking idea when or how I will ever have time to play it, let alone complete it.
- But speaking of games ... I was recently reading this whole Wired magazine special issue all about gaming, and it really is amazing -- the generation gap between gamers and non-gamers. I think that those of us who grew up gaming, as this one article reiterated, grow up learning a totally different skill set in terms of visual perception, understanding of rules and parameters, cognitive learning, etc, that those of the older generation don't quite understand. It's why the crusty execs in the entertainment industry still have almost zero understanding of videogames and what makes them so succesful. It's like they see Mario, how succesful those games are, and think it's because the character of this fat Italian plumber is somehow so beloved - as if they were dealing with an animated show. No! Mario could be anything - hell, in the original 8 bit games he was a barely tangible ensemble of square pixels. It's the gameplay, stupid! Everything else is secondary and/or supplemental. And yet most Hollywood types are clueless.
- On to one of my other geeky passions: comics. Here's some quick Hits and Misses of note in terms of recently-released comics:
MUST-READS:
Jack of Fables: Spinning out of the popular FABLES comic comes Jack of Fables, dealing with one of the more intriguing side-characters from Bill Willingham's Fables universe - Jack of Tales. Jack, now, is an arrogant Hollywood movie mogul - a fast-talking producer who would be right at home on Entourage. But for most of his thousands of years of life, Jack was the Jack of Tales - as in, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack and the Giant Killer, etc. As this issue opens, Jack is robbed of his riches and taken away to a mysterious prison for outlaw Fables - a fun, entertaining intro the this new series. I'm always wary of spinoffs, but this one looks to be good. Author Bill Willingham is great when writing his own creations, not so great when his disting stylistic tendencies are transplanted to prexisting characters. But here he is at his best, obviously having fun playing with the Fables world he has created.
Birds of Prey: With the latest issue, Gail Simone once again seems to be hitting her stride. Great characterization, lots of intriguing mysteries (who is the new Batgirl?), and some excellent art makes this one of the most consistent hero books around, and at the absolute top of the heap in terms of well-rounded depictions of strong female heroes.
JLA - NY Times best-selling novelist Brad Meltzer brings the same intelligence and sophistication that permeated Identity Crisis to his relaunch of the Justice League, with an excellent prelude issue in #0. While this one centers on the past, present, and future milestones in the friendship of DC's holy trinity (Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, for the unitiatiated), I can't wait to see what Meltzer does once he expands the roster in the series' formal beginning, August's #1.
Detective Comics - Paul Dini, the genious behind Batman: The Animated Series takes his first stab at writing Batman full-time, with excellent results, and kickass artwork thanks to JH Williams. Dini's creative vision of classically-told, self-contained stories is just what the doctor ordered. Any Batman fan must check out this sure-to-be great run.
Y: The Last Man - Probably my single favorite comic of the last 5 years, Y shows no signs of slowing down as it heads towards its final issue. The tale of Yorick Brown, the last Man on earth, is hilarious, smart, exciting, and unpredictable, and it's been one hell of a ride thus far. The latest issue, which detailed the tumultuous childhood and adolescence of Yorrick's traveling companion, Dr. Alison Mann, was an amazing issue filled with heart and humor.
Checkmate - Greg Rucka has a unique skill of transplanting the best aspects of TV drama into a slightly more fantastical setting. With Gotham Central, he and Ed Brubaker gave a montly does of hard-boild police drama with all the bite of NYPD Blue or The Shield in the setting of Gotham City. With Checkmate, Rucka delivers the political / espionage thrills of The West Wing or 24 in the larger setting of the DC Universe. The juxtapoisiton of morally grey characters like amanda Waller, rubbing elbows with former members of the Justice Society, in a tempestuous political climate that reflects the real world -- well, it's a lot of fun, and getting progressively better each month. Check it out.
LESS-THAN-SUPER:
Batman - I was hyped for uber-genious/madman Grant Morrison to take over writing duties on Batman, but Grant's first issue is kind of a mixed bag. There's plenty of potential in the set-up (Batman fights an army of ninja Man-Bats and may or may not have a long-lost son!), but the execution is too quirky and jumpy to really work. Morrison is approaching Batman with the kind of over-the-top, deliberately offbeat and light-hearted tone he's used in All-Star Superman, and the results are a little too weird to be taken seriously. Still, I'm curious to see where this goes ...
Nightwing - Until now, I thought Bruce Jones was an okay writer. Now, I am close to believing that he is just terrible. In one fell swoop Jones has all but ruined Nightwing, making him a male model (wtf?), creating a rivalry with a motive-less Jason Todd, introduced a lame supporting cast, and totally derivative villains (The Pierce Brothers = terrible!). Most assumed that this year would be when Nightwing was finally given his due as a top tier character - instead it's seen Dick Grayson, the original Robin, be put through possibly his worst modern storyline ever. Even DC seems to realize how crap this book has become - they will soon be hitting the rest button, canning Jones, and bringing in 'Wing's creator, Marv Wolfman, to set the former Boy Wonder on the right path. Can't happen soon enough.
- I love the articles on THE ONION's AV club. Check out this fascinating interview with Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman:
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/50982
- And, just since I love the Onion so much, here's a hilarious fake op-ed:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50903
- Alright, that's about all I've got for today. Until next time I'm pushing through the pop-culture barriers as always, blazing trails and taking names.
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