I really like Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. They are both extremely likable and engaging actors. Unfortunately, their new movie on Apple + does not measure up to their charisma.
Ghosted is a romantic action/adventure spy movie that finds farmer Cole (Chris Evans) thrown into the world of CIA operative Sadie (Ana de Armas) in search of a passcode to open a case that contained a dangerous weapon that arms dealer Leveque (Adrien Brody) is trying to sell.
This film gets by strictly on the two leads and their screen presence. Fact is that the story itself is so dumb that Evans and de Armas cannot elevate this material past the inane plot and silly dialogue.
There is a ton of stars making cameo appearances in this film. Sebastian Stan, John Cho, Anthony Mackie, Tate Donovan, Amy Sedaris, Ryan Reynolds, Tim Blake Nelson, and Anna Deavere Smith all make appearances in minor, or even wasted, roles.
This feels like one of those dumb Netflix movies that drop on the streamer to fill space. The only difference is that this film is on Apple TV +. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are extremely attractive and enjoyable usually, but their work cannot save this one.
Yes, it was this time of the year when the comic companies put out several collectibles that serve as a way to promote their upcoming books or their characters. It has turned into a celebration of the comic book shop and the hobby.
I have not been able to attend a Free Comic Book Day at my comic shop, Comic World in Dubuque because I am usually spending the weekend at the movie theater. However, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 being the main film out this weekend, and since I had already seen it on the XD screen at Cinemark on Thursday, I was able to rearrange things so I could go to Free Comic Book Day.
I did start the morning at Phoenix Theaters to watch GotG Vol. 3, but after that, I went to spend some time at Comic World. I knew I had several of the free comics pulled in my box by Todd and so I was excited to see what else I could find.
I hope that all of you out there that went to Free Comic Book Day at your favorite local comic book shop were not just cheap losers who went and picked up the free books and left. This opportunity to help support these shops by picking up some back issues or some supplies is too good to pass. Comic World was even giving discounts on certain things.
I wanted to pick up some kind of complete set, a short series, but there were not very many choices. I did wind up picking on up, but it was one that I never would have thought I would buy. I got some comic bags and boards and a Brzrkr comic box. I appreciate Comic World and I happily will give them my money.
Plus, I was finally able to get a certain ‘white whale’ book that I have been trying to get for the last month or so.
It was a great Free Comic Book Day.
Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1. This gave us some hints at future Spider-Man stories (including Kraven), a bizarre creature Called Flexo in Venom and a hint at Jonathan Hickman’s upcoming Ultimate Invasion.
Free Comic Book Day: I Am Stan #1. The comic was released by a company called Ten Speed Press and featured the work of Stan Lee and his time at Marvel. There was a lot of dialogue in this book, and it was an intriguing look at Stan and how the Marvel method changed comics. This saga continues in September and I think I may be picking it up. FCBD promotion worked for this one.
Free Comic Book Day: Uncanny Avengers #1. This one was quite compelling. Who is Captain Krakoa? How about those giant Iron Man Sentinels? And another Jonathan Hickman tease for a book called GODS. I am looking forward to both of these and I have not been excited for an X-Men related book much recently.
Free Comic Book Day: Dawn of DC- Knight Terrors Special Edition #1. So there is a giant company wide event in DC during July and August that takes the DC line into a horror themed storyline. I do not buy very many DC Comics, but I have to say that this promo is tempting. There was a massive list of comics over those two months, a bunch of two issue mini series. Hm. Do I dare?
Free Comic Book Day: Archie Horror Presents The Cursed Library #0. Grabbed this one off the table. It had not been pulled for me, but I do like the horror comic books. But this was Archie Comics (I’ll come back to that later). This was weird, but okay.
Free Comic Book Day: Spidey and his Amazing Friends#1. This would be a fun book for a young reader, who loved the characters from the Disney Junior TV show. I found this something that I was not interested in, even as a huge Spider-Man fan.
Free Comic Book Day: Marvel Voices #1. The Voices anthology books are fine. I have never been too engaged with these anthologies. This book had some good parts. The Ironheart part was decent and it was great to see Ms. Marvel again.
Marvel Spider-Man 2 #1. Not exactly a “Free Comic Book Day” comic, but it was also a promotional book. I was also not a fan of this book even though I love Spider-Man. It did not feel like the character of Spider-Man felt like Spider-Man. It is hard to explain, but it felt very flat. I will not be reading this Gameverse book moving forward.
Local Man #3. Written by and with art by Tony Fleecs and Tim Seeley. One of the recent books that was in my box today. I have enjoyed the first couple of issues of Local Man. This book has been setting a great new world and we continue with the life of Jack, our one time disgraced super hero Crossjack.
And then there was the comic set that I bought today…
Archie vs. Predator #1-4 (no, I’m not kidding). Written by Alex de Campi and pencils by Fernando Ruiz. This was so dumb… and, for some reason, I loved it. It was brutal. All of these Archie characters were having their heads decapitated with their spines pulled out and I was here for it. This was complete camp and total silliness in the very best way. I did not expect this and I was pleased at the results.
White Savior #1-4. FINALLY!!! Written by Eric Nguyen and Scott Burman. Art was provided by Eric Nguyen. As I talked about last Comic Cavalcade, I had been going through a lot of problems trying to get White Savior #4 and I was waiting to read all four issues together. Boy, was the wait worth it! This was fantastic! I loved this book. It was irreverent, funny, shockingly unpredictable. It broke the fourth wall throughout. I was totally captivated by this series and I am so pleased that I finally finished it.
I have been reading more independent comics right now than I ever have before. Some my friend Todd from Comic World call weird. One of these is White Savior, although to say that I am reading this would be inaccurate.
I purchased White Savior #1-3 on Ebay, but I decided to wait on reading the first three issues until I could get my hands on #4, which would complete the series. So I contacted Todd and asked him to order #4 for me, to which he did.
That was at the beginning of April.
I never gave it another thought until I happened to look at the ‘to read’ pile and found White Savior #1-3 and I thought, ‘hey, what happened to #4?’ I investigated and it was released the week before. I inquired again and a second order was placed.
Guess what happened this time.
I asked again, this time in person, and the book had arrived, but still did not find its way into my box. Drew, who had seen it on my list, had his copy… yet mine was nowhere to be seen. I believe that it might just be in my box right now (I’ve seen a photo, but I’ll believe it when I am holding it in may hands).
Perhaps it is finally going to be time to read.
Meanwhile, here are some of the other weird books I have read…
The Great British Bump Off #1. Written by John Allison and drawn by Max Sarin. Who among the new bakers poisoned the unlikable Neal? Shauna believes that she will be able to solve this mystery before anything worse happens. This was funny and I am interested in seeing where their weird Dark Horse comic goes.
Star Signs #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Megan Levens. The stars of the Zodiac were destroyed. And strangely enough, Rana Fawaaz has gained a power to freeze time. How does that all relate? Who knows. This was an interesting start and I did like the art (although some of the character’s heads seemed too large).
Scarlet Witch #5. Written by Steve Orlando and with art by Russell Dauterman. Wanda and Scythia battle over Darcy Lewis. And Wanda gets to show off just how powerful she can be. And that last page…whoa!
Moon Knight #23. “Panic Room.” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Alessandro Cappuccio. The cover art is from Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg. The new Venom, Dylan Brock, comes to the Midnight Mission looking for help from Moon Knight. I love this Moon Knight series and I did enjoy the inclusion of Dylan Brock, even though I do not read the Venom books.
Spider-Man #8. “Maxed Out: Part One-Clear and Present Danger.” Spidey is frustrated by an inability to save everyone in a fire and it it weighing heavily on his mind. So he approached Norman Osborn to help him adjust his Spider-Sense so it did not just reveal danger that he is in, but also danger to everyone around him. And Electro was here too.
Love Everlasting #7. “Too Hip for Love.” Written by Tom King and illustrated by Elsa Charretier. Joan Peterson is married, a mother and she is losing her grip. She doesn’t understand why things are happening the way they are and she winds up in a hospital.
Groot #1. Written by Dan Abnett and drawn by Damian Couceiro. Lee Garbett was the cover artist. I have always liked Groot, but this book just did not do anything for me. It included a story with Mar-vell and I was not invested in it at all. It was also one of the books set at a different time in the past. I won’t be picking the rest of this up.
Hairball #2. Written by Matt Kindi and drawn by Tyler Jenkins. Matt Kindi also did the cover art. Things are getting worse for everyone. The black cat, Bestie, is finally appearing to Anna to be a danger. Anna talking to her therapist about this cat and how she actually tried to drown the cat, only to see it come back to life. This is an easy read and full of weirdness.
Carnage Reigns Alpha #1. Written by Alex Paknadel and Cody Ziglar featuring art by Julius Ohta. Carnage battling against Miles Morales for one of the first times. Scorpion was here too as the young Spider-Man was taking quite the beating.
When talking about the best trilogies inside the MCU franchise, the argument had always centered around the Captain America movies and the Spider-Man movies. After this weekend, there is another three movie trilogy that needs to be in the conversation and just may be the trilogy to take the mantel.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the wrap up of the James Gunn directed trilogy, arrived in theaters and brought so much emotions, so much great action, so much laugh out loud comedic beats that an argument can be made that this is the best film in the Guardians trilogy, which is saying a lot because I really loved Guardians 1 (and 2 I always thought got a bad rap from some).
Gunn brings to an end this variation of the Guardians of the Galaxy by providing each character in the ensemble their moment in the sun, bringing some outstanding character moments for practically everyone, while penning a film with the emotional core being Rocket (Bradley Cooper)
When something happens, the Guardians are forced to look into the background of Rocket which brings them into conflict with Rocket’s original creator, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).
I’m keeping most of the plot synopsis short and broad to avoid spoilers, because there are so many awesome beats for every character that I do not want to tip off anything for any viewer. Go into this with the expectation that this is going to be a rocking good time, that it is going to be dark, that Rocket’s past is heartbreaking and that the cast brings it.
Even though all the cast gets excellent moments, Rocket is the center of this film. Bradley Cooper once again brings this CGI creature to life and provides the raccoon with so much heart and soul. Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, Dave Bautista’s Drax the Destroyer, and Zoe Saldana’s Gamora all receive some of the best performances of the trilogy in this film and they all get amazing story arcs that pay off huge, without falling into predictability or cliché.
Then, Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary is one of the best “worst” villains in any Marvel film. He is so easy to hate. Unlike a lot of Marvel villains who become popular characters and whose plan are even potentially understandable (Loki, Thanos, Killmonger to name a few), The High Evolutionary is just someone that is an evil villain and his cruelty is showed in spades. Iwuji brings this monster to life in a remarkable way, and was consistently chilling.
I heard some critics complaining about the animal cruelty in the film, and there is no doubt that there are some horrendous examples shown, but it all pays into the character of the High Evolutionary and I think those people are just looking for something to complain about.
There are so many laugh out loud moments in the movie and it blends beautifully in with the melancholy aspects of the script. It seamlessly bounces between sad scene and humor effortlessly.
The music, of course, is always a highlight of a Guardians of the Galaxy movie as we receive a bunch of wonderful songs from the playlist of James Gunn. There are a couple of call backs too that make this feel like a perfect close to the trilogy.
That is the clear truth. This film closes the door on this iteration of the Guardians perfectly like few movies can, and it does it in ways that could not be expected.
There are so many emotionally powerful and satisfying scenes that I had tears in my eyes throughout. There were tears of sadness and tear of joy. I legitimately found myself feeling as emotional within the third act of this movie as I did with the third act of Endgame.
I have also seen a lot of complaints about the use of Will Poulter as Adam Warlock. I disagree with this analysis as well. I found Adam Warlock to be used exceptionally well in this film and he received a arc of his own. I can understand how someone who was a big fan of Adam Warlock from the comics might feel disappointed, but, to me, this is just the beginning for this character. The film version is different than the comic version and that is okay. If you bring your own expectations into a character, you can’t complain if they do things in a way that you did not anticipate. The character of Adam Warlock, as written here, works very well and allows the character a ton of potential for growth.
The design and the special effects are amazing. The film is full of color and spectacle.
I haven’t even mentioned Pom Klementieff as Mantis. This is easily the best she has been in any appearance so far. Nathan Fillion’s cameo that was so cheesy and fun. Sylvester Stallone making a return cameo. Groot (Vin Diesel) and his continued growth to tree adulthood. Kraglin (Sean Gunn) is trying to work through his own issues while having a funny running joke with Cosmo (Maria Bakalova). Linda Cardellini provided the voice for Lylla during Rocket’s flashbacks and that character becomes a favorite with really limited number of scenes.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a masterful end to one of the best (if not the best) trilogies in the MCU. I need to see this again, but I think the Guardians of the Galaxy may just be my favorite trilogy of the MCU and that this movie may be my favorite movie of this franchise, placing very high in the overall MCU list of films. It surpassed my very hefty expectations. Congratulations to James Gunn and all the actors of this franchise. I certainly wish Gunn all the success over at DC.
What happens when you take a character similar to John Wick, set him in the ending days of World War II, and give him even less dialogue? You get a Finnish film called Sisu.
Sisu is a Finnish word that cannot be fully translated, but it can be roughly translated into English as “strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity.”
Aatami (Jorma Tommila) was a former soldier who had left the military and began prospecting for gold in the Lapland wilderness. When he struck the motherload, he began to travel to the city to cash in the nuggets. However, he crossed paths with a troop of Nazis who was being forced to leave and were scorching the land on their way out.
Finding out that Aatami had gold, the Nazi troops decided to pursue him, not knowing the legend that this man was.
Jorma Tommila, who was nearly silent when comes to dialogue, gave an amazing performance with his facial expressions and his body language. He was a great protagonist that was easy to cheer for even though he seemed to be more powerful of a character than any super hero.
This movie was remarkably brutal and gory. Some of the kills from Aatami were painful and had me gasping. There were shocks that I just was not ready for as they happened. This absolutely reminded me of the John Wick series as Keanu Reeves had the same type of brutal fight and kill scenes as this was. However, the character of Aatami was injured and survived so many situations that should have killed him. There had to be some suspension of disbelief to not roll your eyes. The film does pull off most of the weird situations that did not pull me out of the film.
Violent and gory, Sisu was a lot of fun and you can never go wrong with killing some World War II Nazis. Aatami is treated like a myth and he pulls that off.
It is May already as the year is flying by. It is just a few days away until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is released and I am very excited about that. The school year is down to about a month remaining before summer break. And the weather outside is improving.
Overall, lots of great things to look forward to and the Comic Cavalcade is filled with those as well.
Here we go…
No/One #2. Written by Kyle Higgins & Brian Buccellato with art by Geraldo Borges. Two issues in and I love this book. The mystery of who is the new No/One is rich and layered and the pathway for Ben Kern is completely engaging. I’m getting the vibe that something is heading for a twist in this story and I am totally here for it. This has just been completely entertaining and I can’t wait for the next issue.
The Ambassadors #3. Written by Mark Millar and drawn by Travis Charest. So far, this has been an okay read. It is not as gripping as No/One has been, but it is a novel premise and an intriguing follow through. This issue we are introduced to Codename France and her sidekick (and son) Paris. However, there were some minor hints in the book that something more than just the intro of the new characters is going to be happening soon. I am interested enough to keep progressing with this.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Bane of Blastaar #1. “The World at my Fingertips” Written by Ralph Macchio and drawn by Davide Tinto. Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg did the art on the cover. This one-shot is another Marvel story that is set back in continuity, and, honestly, I found this one boring. I like all these characters, but I just did not have any feelings for the situation and Blastaar has never been one of my favorite villains.
Middlewest #11-13. Written by Skottie Young with art by Jorge Corona. Everything has started to pick up in this story since Abel met his grandfather and discovered that he had the same curse as he and his father had. Abel had become angry and mean, sending Fox off and heading in his own direction. He wound up captured and forced to be a child slave, and the troupes are on their way to help him. I am continuing to work my way through this fantasy-feeling book and I have started to really enjoy it.
Thor #33. “Blood of the Fathers Part Three.” Written by Torunn Grønbekk and drawn by Juan Gedeon. Nic Klein was the cover artist on this book. This arc of Thor has not been one of my favorites even though it includes Thanos and Dr. Doom. I mean.. it’s fine, but I am not desperately waiting for the next book to see where the story is heading.
Deadpool #6. “Valentine’s Day.” The relationship between Deadpool and Valentine has been a lot of fun, a was watching them on their date. This issue was very clever and used these characters in excellent ways. The use of Lady Deathstrike as a person Wade could bounce romantic ideas off was just inspired. Deadpool has always been up and down for me, but this current series has most definitely been an up.
Grim #10. “Chapter Ten: Life.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Flaviano. Jessica continues with her struggles to become the new Grim Reaper and trying to find and save her friend who had been taken to Hell. Grim is consistently entertaining and has some creative ideas behind it.
Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #5-6. Written by Josh Trujillo and drawn by Adrian Gutierrez. I really enjoyed the conclusion to this mini series. The book took a different way than most comics wrap up and I really appreciated the choice. Jaime took some huge steps forward and seeing the big guns of DC deciding to back the Blue Beetle instead of battle him was an awesome way to go. I’m not sure how I felt about the other Beetles introduced here, but the ending was still fun and something you do not see that much. I also loved the variant cover (cover B) that I picked up. This cover was drawn by Bruno Redondo. This series also made me curious to pick up the next Blue Beetle series in September.
Welcome to another special edition of the EYG Comic Cavalcade where I focus on Image Comics series Nocterra. I read issues #3-13 today, along with the Nocterra: Blacktop Bill Special #1.
I have no idea why I had been buying Nocterra. It was on my pull list and I had been buying them and putting them in the piles around the house. When I started off with the Comic Catch-Ups, I sorted through a bunch of the books, finding the issues of Nocterra. I assume that I saw it advertised in Previews and asked for it to be pulled. I do not remember doing it, but that is the only reason it could be happening. I certainly wasn’t picking it up off the stands every month. I hardly knew anything about it.
Then, as I started reading these back issues, I read issue #1 and I loved it. I was so engaged with the new world that they had introduced and intrigued by the originality of the setting. A lot of independent books these days have some kind of post-apocalyptic world as a setting and a lot of those get repetitive. The world of Nocterra, an the other hand, is creative and one of a kind.
Issue #2 was just as great and I was hooked. That was when I decided that I would hold off on reading any more of the issues until I could sit down with the remaining 11 issues (+the special one) and do a full series read.
That time was this afternoon.
I love the characters in this book. Val and her brother Em are top notch protagonists and Val’s sacrifice that lead to her physical transformation in issue #11 was a cool twist. The remainder of the members of the Sundogs balance things out. Admittedly, the secondary members are not major players at this point, outside of Bailey.
Blacktop Bill. Maybe the best villain introduced in comic in years. The design of the character is just exceptional, creating such an awesome looking bad guy. He reminded me a lot of Spike from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, especially while he was ‘working with’ the Sundogs.
Blacktop Bill was so great of a character, they even gave him a special issue of his own, as they looked at the background of the character. I did enjoy the way they displayed the characters, keeping his face in the shadows, even before he was covered with the Nano coating.
Scott Snyder has written the entire series so far. Snyder has been fairly well known for his work on DC Comics, in particular Batman. Admittedly, he did write the Dark Nights: Metal stuff which I did not like at all, but the Batman Who Laughs is a fun character who probably inspired or was inspired by Blacktop Bill.
The art has been handled by Tony S. Daniel, who also did a lot of work for DC. His art has been extraordinary in Nocterra so far. The themes of light and dark are used extremely well in the art. Technically, Denys Cowan was the credited artist for the Blacktop Bill Special.
The arcs so far have all been awesome. I will say that I hope the comic keeps moving forward. I do hope that they are not just going to be always trying to save the world from the darkness with Bailey and the formula that she memorized, created by her grandfather, Augustus. That feels like something that needs to eventually be paid off or it would feel as if the book is just keeping the goal post moving.
I am also totally engaged in the current flashbacks involving Em and what his birth parents did to him. His backstory of traveling to see his birth parents in #13 left me yelling for more as it ended with a cliffhanger.
This is a book that I do not know why I started buying, but I am so glad that I did. It is currently one of my favorite non-Marvel books that I am purchasing, right up there with the James Tynion IV books and No/One.
It had been quite a while since the first season of Sweet Tooth on Netflix dropped. It was so long ago that I simply hadn’t remembered a second season was coming, and I was shocked when I saw that season two of Sweet Tooth, the show based on a comic from writer Jeff Lemire, showed up on the streamer service.
Christian Convery played Gus, aka Sweet Tooth, after appearing in the big screen movie Cocaine Bear (as one of the biggest scene stealers in the show). Convery does a fantastic job as the titular character in this series and he brings such a solid emotional feel for the character and a more mature and powerful presence.
I was a little disappointed that the show kept Gus and “Big Man” Jepp, as played by Nonso Anozie, apart for such a length of time this season. It made me think of the old days back when LOST would go out of their way to keep Jin and Sun away from each other. However, this show picked up dramatically when Gus and Jepp reunited. The interaction between the two is one of the most vital parts of Sweet Tooth.
The villains of this season were very compelling and menacing. General Abbot, played by Neil Sandilands, easily advanced this character into a horrible person with selfish plans. But even worse is Dr. Aditya Singh, played by Adeel Akhtar, whose scientific research into a potential ‘cure’ for the Sick took him to some dark places and, even if his motives are pure, his actions are much like many of the mad scientists we have seen before. He has lost plenty this season and he seems to be even more obsessed in Gus and the other hybrids.
The secondary hybrid characters were cute and had their moments during the season, but they were definitely in the background. There were some shockingly cringy special effects during the season, especially with the arrival of an alligator-hybrid child named Peter. Some of these effects were a drawback to the story and pulled me out of it.
The show effectively used flashbacks to further the story, especially the origin of Gus and what had happened to his mother Birdie (Amy Seimetz)
The finale for this season did have a cruel misdirect that I did not appreciate much. When they made it look as if Gus had been shot and killed by Abbot, only to reveal that the funeral they were having was for Aimee (Dania Ramirez), who had contracted the Sick, was a cruel trick.
Season three is clearly set up as the group is headed off to Alaska to try and find Birdie. Hopefully, it won’t be as long of a wait between seasons this time.
There have been many variations of the story of Peter Pan in cinema, some okay, some terrible and a few really good ones. No matter how many times this story has been told, it seems as if they insist on trying it again. There is a new film on Disney + telling the story of Neverland, Peter Pan & Wendy.
This film does take some distinct liberties with the story, and I really liked that. Without spoilers, this movie does define the relationship and background between Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) and Captain Hook (Jude Law) in a way that I have never seen before and I found it an excellent twist.
We also get Wendy (Ever Anderson) being much more of a kick ass character than I had seen before. There were also some female characters in the Lost Boys, which have sent the Internet woke mob into a frenzy. The Rotten Tomatoes Audience score was 20% meaning that there were plenty of those complainers review-bombing the show because there is no way this was that low of a score. The critic rating was in the upper 60%, making it fresh. I just do not understand why people get in such a tizzy over something that make so little difference.
Anyway, Alexander Molony’s work as Peter Pan was fine, but I was not blown away by him. His work was passable, and was stronger at the very end, but I have seen better Pan performances. However, Jude Law’s Captain Hook was outstanding. Law embedded Hook with more character depth than we have seen in almost any other version and you could understand why Hook was the way that he was. I really dug that about this movie.
I will say that the tone of the film had some inconsistency throughout. It would go from dead serious to almost too lighthearted/campy. Jim Gaffigan as Smee was one of the biggest perpetrators of this.
This version played up the tragic nature of Peter Pan and his refusal to grow up, making it a figurative albatross around his neck. This Peter Pan was much more of a darker character with less of a heroic nature, even if in the end he was an adventure-hound. I found the new take on these characters one of the best parts of this movie.
Overall, there were a lot of goodness in this movie and I enjoyed the original takes on Peter, Hook and Wendy. The film looked great, even if the portrayal of Neverland was darker than we’ve seen it before. The scenes with the crocodile were fun and exciting and the swordplay between characters, especially Peter and Hook, was top notch.
Definitely a worhtwhile film to watch on Disney +. Would I have thought differently if I had paid money to see it in a theater? Hard to say, but as a streaming film, Peter Pan & Wendy was a worthy watch.
I enjoyed Judy Bloom as a young reader, but, honestly, I do not think that I ever read Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret (at least I do not remember reading it.) I was aware of it, but I was more of a Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing kind of guy. Still, I was curious to see the film adaptation of the classic book.
Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) was a pre-teen during 1970 when her parents Barbara and Herb (Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie) moved her out of New York City and to New Jersey, away from her beloved grandma Sylvia (Kathy Bates). Having to start at a new school, Margaret has to face questions about religion, adolescence and the arrival of her period.
I liked most of this movie. Abby Ryder Fortson was extremely charming and likable as Margaret and you can never go wrong with Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates.
In my opinion, there was a standout child actor here too. Her name was Elle Graham and she played Margaret’s friend Nancy. I’ll talk about her later.
The film was unafraid to broach subjects such as menstruation, relationships and religion honestly and with amazing forthrightness. I would absolutely recommend that any young teen or pre-teen girl watch this movie with their parents because I can only imagine that it would not fail to spark some conversations that would be vital for them.
There were many humorous moments, but the film never felt the need to take it too over-the-top with the comedy like many of these genre of films do. It mines humor from such topics like buying sanitary pads for the first time at a drug store or playing Spin the Bottle with your classmates. These all feel very real and relatable.
Kelly Fremon Craig directed this movie. She had an outstanding film already in this coming of age genre on her resume in Edge of Seventeen. She clearly has a strength in displaying this type of film.
However, I had a huge problem with the ending of the movie. It may be the same in the book, but I do not know. There were several plot lines that felt dropped or rushed or that just did not pay off in the end. Specifically, one that involved Nancy.
As I mentioned earlier, I was impressed with Elle Graham’s performance as the somewhat snooty leader of the secret club that she formed with Margaret and two other friend (Amari Alexis Price as Janie and Katherine Mallen Kupferer as Gretchen). Nancy had some negative traits, but after a sensational scene in the bathroom, we got to see her raw and vulnerable, but the film completely dropped this part of the story. Margaret was mad at her because of a lie, but I felt so sorry for Nancy that it felt cruel to just never give them any sort of resolution.
That was not the only point that felt like it was either dropped or rushed wither. There was a whole ending bit with Margaret’s teacher (Echo Kellum) that seemed to flip quickly because of the time of the movie.
These third act decisions may be straight out of the book, but, either way, these choices, for me, tainted a movie that I was really enjoying up to this point.
Yet, I do believe that this is a film that would be enjoyed by most, and might be a valuable watch to young girls. The positives of Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret outweigh the weakness of the story elements in the third act.
Once again, yesterday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and I got a bunch of new books. I also had a personal day from school so I was able to spend a couple of hours sitting and doing some reading at Comic World. It had a feel of the summer, when every Wednesday finds me at the table with my newly purchased books and the plethora of customers, some I know and other I don’t.
I did miss Todd yesterday as he was substitute teaching. While I do enjoy the company of the others at the store, there is just something about the back-and-forth between Todd and me.
Wednesday was a wonderfully relaxing day. I got to go out for breakfast and lunch, saw Evil Dead Rise at Phoenix Theaters (where I was the only audience member… one of my favorite things) and finished the evening off helping the school fundraise at our local pizza joint. Overall a really good day.
Kicking off…
Phantom Road #1-2. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Gabriel H. Walta. Jeff Lemire has become one of my favorite writers in comics today. The new Phantom Road series seems to fit right in with some of his other awesome books. There is a fun set-up that blends The Walking Dead with a Stephen King book. This started out with some definite questions that are piquing my curiosity.
Strange Academy Finals #6. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Humberto Ramos. This series comes to an end with the big final conflict between Emily Bright and the Strange Academy students, led by Doyle. This was a great conclusion that brought us some exciting moments and one major shock of a death. Strange Academy has become one of my favorite Marvel books and I sure hope that it will return sooner than later.
Daredevil #10. “The Red Fist Saga Part 10.” Written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Marco Checchetto. Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil has been just epic and this continues that trend. Daredevil and Elektra facing down with members of the Avengers is just awesome. Of course, I loved the interactions between Daredevil and Spider-Man that happen in this book. It feels as if Zdarsky has a really solid grasp on Spider-Man as well. I’d love to see him get a chance to write that book too. This has an amazing last couple of pages and I have no idea where it is heading next. What great storytelling.
Deep Cuts #1. Written by Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark while the pencils are done by Danilo Beyruth. This is a cool new book. It is an anthology series (I Believe) and this issue focuses on New Orleans in 1917. It is the story of a young black boy looking to be able to join a local musician and play his clarinet. We follow the story through several moments and it is a deep look at jazz and the power of music. I am excited to see what comes next.
Wasp #4. Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Kasia Nie & Carola Borelli. Tom Reilly did the cover art. Janet Van Dyne and Nadia break free from the strange alternate world and are able to bring down the Creature from Kosmos. I have to say the whole alternate world came and went really quickly and felt like it could have been explored a little longer. I guess they had to get the story to fit inside the four issues they had. A fifth one might have helped the flow of the book. It was still an enjoyable read as both Wasps are fun characters that I like a great deal.
Hulk #14. “Hulk Planet Finale” Written and penciled by Ryan Ottley. The saga of Planet Hulk comes to an ending here. I have not been much of a fan of this run of the Hulk, but the conclusion was fine. Titan caused some problems and Banner was able to reconnect with the real green goliath and bring down the rotten side of his mind. Of course, at the end of the book, everything was fixed and back to normal for Banner. I am not sure anything that happened during this series mattered in the long run. I am looking forward to the new direction for Hulk, though.
Money Shot: Comes Again #1. Written by Tim Seeley and drawn by Gisele Lagace. Not sure how to describe this. It might be considered a satire. It could also be considered a sci-fi dark comedy with plenty of sexual innuendo (and actually not a ton of innuendo). The biggest problem I had was that Todd did not get me the dirty cover (ha ha).
Mary Jane & Black Cat #5. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Vincenzo Carratù. Paul Siqueira & Erick Arciniega did the cover art. MJ and Felicia have their final confrontation with Belasco in Limbo. This has been an odd series and what saves it is the interactions between MJ and Felicia. They are a pair of wonderfully likable characters that the audience just want to read about.
Monica Rambeau: Photon #5. Written by Eve L. Ewing and penciled by Luca Maresca. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. This is yet another of the Marvel series that came to an end this week. Monica had the help from a Starfox from a different universe to straighten everything out. This series did help get me excited for the MCU film The Marvels that will include Monica Rambeau later this year.
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #12. Written by Tochi Onyebuchi and with art by R.B. Silva. Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are together again and trying to prevent the machinations of Bucky Barnes, hoping to keep him from slipping into full fledged villainy. There is more with Ian and with Dimension Z as well as this is the continuation of the Cold War storyline.
Doctor Strange #2. “Dream Evil” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross did the cover art. Moon Knight guest stars as Strange and Clea try to help a young boy by confronting Nightmare. It is great to have Stephen Strange back and working together with his wife Clea. Things look to really pick up starting next issue as the death of Aggamon will come into play.
The Neighbors #2. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and featuring art by Letizia Cadonici. Variant cover by Stephanie Hans & Zu Orzu. I do have one of the variant covers (cover B -21) and it is absolutely stunning. Things are continuing to build in the story as our main characters have more interactions with their neighbors and the problems that they are going to cause.
Avengers Beyond #2. Written by Derek Landy and penciled by Greg Land. Avengers are in trouble all over the place and the Lost One is on its way to Earth to hunt down the Beyonder. Can the Avengers prevent this major danger? Not too much to this series so far, but I like all of the heroes involved so I hope it will pick up.
The Invincible Iron Man #5. “The Autobiography of Tony Stark: Conclusion.” Feilong has taken over Stark Unlimited and left Tony with almost nothing. So Tony goes to learn what he can about the mutant-hater. Big things are happening though as Feilong has constructed the Stark Sentinel!
The classic horror franchise, Evil Dead, has returned with a new face and some old scares. Evil Dead Rise takes the franchise in a little different path while still paying tribute to the iconic history of the franchise.
According to IMDB, “‘Evil Dead Rise’ tells a twisted tale of two estranged sisters, played by Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan, whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.”
There were some really scary moments in the new film, with a ton of blood too. While it is not as campy as the original films, Evil Dead Rise still finds a lot of ways to honor Sam Raimi’s vision.
Lee Cronin does a solid job of introducing these new characters, placing them into situations where they are clearly making poor choices and creating frightful moments of horror as they face their potential fate. I did find myself both yelling at the characters for their choices and hoping beyond hope that they were going to escape from it.
I found this film to be far better than the reimagined film from 2013. I hated that film because all it felt like was an excuse to bring the gore. While there was plenty of blood and gore in this now Evil Dead movie, I never felt as if it was here just to gross out the audience.
I especially found myself rooting for the kids in this story. I thought they all did a sensational job with what they had to deliver. Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies and Nell Fisher did some excellent work building their characters and providing the depth of emotion for each sibling.
There may not have been much more to the horror than just the terror that it created, but that does not mean this is not a worthwhile movie. Evil Dead Rise knows what it is and it does what it needs to do to deliver some scary moments and a film full of tension and suspense. I am very pleased that this franchise went in this direction, able to still provide the nostalgia of the original films while carving out a place for itself among the horror films of today.
Day off tomorrow. I’m excited of being able to go to Comic World just as it opens on NEW COMICS DAY! Taking a Wednesday off in the middle of the week is a different feeling than having the day off on a Friday or Monday.
Anyway, jumping right in…
No/One #1. Written by Kyle Higgins & Brian Buccellato with art by Geraldo Borges. This new Image series was really a fascinating kick-off issue. There is a killer running around that the media and everyone else calls No/One, but there is a bunch f a back story to this book. This No/One is apparently a copycat killer and trying to discover his true identity seems to be the direction of the book. There is a ton of cool info at the end of the book too including a timeline and a Wikipedia-type entry called Knowpedia. This feels pretty dense, but it is just the type of mystery that I love. Excited to see where this 10-issue series goes.
The Silver Coin #10. “Covenant: Abomination.” Written and drawn by Michael Walsh. Witchcraft and the cursed inside the silver coin. Honestly, I thought this was a good read, but I do not remember much about it. So how good of a read could it have been?
The Cryptidnals #1. “Chapter 1: Shadow Kingdom.” Written by Ray Ramos and illustrated by Darion Rodriguez. Cover art was by Darion Rodriguez and Red Garcia. Another new horror series, this one featuring several of the legendary creatures of myth and urban legends such as sasquatch, La Llorona, Man-Dog, Chupacabra among others. The black and white book creates an even eerier tone. It was interesting.
Sleeping Beauties #6. Based on the no9vel by Stephen King and Owen King, adapted by Rio Youers and art by Alison Sampson. The sleeping sickness story continues as the mysterious woman Eve Black remains as a vital component of the story. We start to get something different though as it seems as if there is a different reality where these women are existing. Things are heating up.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #7-8. Written by Tom King and drawn by Bilquis Evely. The series wraps up as Supergirl battles in space and Ruthye confronts Krem. Overall, this series was up and down for me and the conclusion was okay at best. I did find the very last page to be fairly shocking, but it did not do enough for me to find this anything more than meh.
Captain America: Unforgiven. “A Few Good Monsters.” The end of the arc with the Forgiven, a group of vampires fighting to prevent their bloodlust. We have seen them with several other Marvel characters including Spider-Man and the X-Men. Now it is Captain America’s turn. I will say that I have had a hard time getting any connections with these characters so, even though there were some interesting moments in the series, I can’t say that i loved it.
Newburn #7-8. Written by Chip Zdarsky an drawn by Jacob Phillips. The first arc of Newburn comes to a close with Newburn helping bring his assistant’s past out of the shadows and saving her from the forces looking to gain revenge. I have enjoyed Newburn, even though it felt as if I shouldn’t have been rooting for him during these comics.
There have been several adaptations of Victor Hugo’s classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
This is another one.
The comedy troupe called Broken Lizard reunited to make the newest adaptation, Quasi, a Hulu comedy set in the middle ages of France. Broken Lizard consisted of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske and were the creative force behind Super Troopers and Club Dread.
In Quasi, the hunchback (Steve Lemme) finds himself in trouble as both the King of France Guy (Jay Chandrasekhar) and the Pope (Paul Soter) tried to order Quasimodo to assassinate the other. Guy was set to marry an English queen, Catharine (Adrianne Palicki) to increase his army, but the old rivalry with the pope threatened to get in the way.
Sadly, this was not a very good film. There were a few moments of humor, but there was nothing here that we hadn’t seen before and that wasn’t done better in Monty Python skits, the Galavant TV show or the Princess Bride, among others.
Most of the jokes do not land or feel forced. There are a few funny moments, but not enough to sustain the runtime of the movie.
Adrienne Palicki is great though. I loved her back in her days as Bobbi Morse on Agents of SHIELD, and she does her best to work her way through this script as Queen Catharine. She has a presence that can not be denied.
Quasi is found on Hulu and is not the worst way to spend an hour and a half, but it is not something that you need to go out of your way to see.
Ari Aster, director of such mind-bending horror films as Hereditary and Midsommar, takes mind-bending to a whole new level of insanity in the new, three-hour film Beau is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
I’m not sure how to review this. Literally, two hours since I walked out of the theater and I still have not been able to formulate my complete thoughts about what I saw. It felt like scenes from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, but viewed through the kaleidoscope of a David Lynch movie (or the weirdest parts of Twin Peaks) all with the uncertain POV of a nightmare. I know that all of those things sound like something that I would love, but when they are all tossed together, I just am not sure how to process.
Without a doubt, Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as Beau Wassermann. He is as confused and unbalanced as we are as audience members. Phoenix absolutely goes for it all in this movie.
How to describe the plot? I am not sure I can. IMDB describes it as “Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.” That is probably as best as it could be described.
There was so much going on in every frame of this film that I do not know if anyone could figure it all out. Then, there are some images that defy explanation or comprehension. I do not think I will ever be able to forget the image of Beau going into the attic and what he finds in there. No spoilers but HOLY CRAP.
What is real? What is imaginary? What is delusion? I have no idea.
It is three hours long, but, to be fair, I was engaged enough that it did not feel long to me. However, sitting through the credits was a somber and empty feeling. And my entire theater was dead silent and no one left until they stopped playing.
I’m just not sure what to do about a recommendation. I mean, I am not unhappy that I went to the movie, and I was not angered by the film, by any stretch. However, it has been a long while now that I have left a theater feeling as hollow as I did at the end of this film. Was it in a good way? I don’t know. It certainly elicited emotions from me, but were they the type of emotions that are effective?
In the end, I am going to pull a real cheat on this one. I have no idea if this is a movie that I would recommend. I do not think that I ever want to see it again, but there have been great films that fell into that category too. I guess the only way I am going to put this is, you need to go and decide for yourself. It is absolutely a HUGE swing and it is a movie the type of which I have never seen before. However, I am not sure if that HUGE swing was a swing-and-miss.
So my score is a big time cheat. Sorry. Got to do it for the first time ever, my star rating is…
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 