The idea of adapting a book into a [good] movie has never been an intriguing one for me, as I have been disappointed with many screen adaptations, with just a few exceptions. Stieg Larsson’s highly popular novel, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo—the first book in his Millenium trilogy—is destined for a big screen adaptation with the trilogy selling over 15 million copies worldwide. The setting of the stories in Sweden help pique my curiosity as I don’t get to read many books with that country as the principal setting. Stieg Larsson was a journalist and an activist for civil and woman rights, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo touches the subjects of sexual abuse and sexual violence. And computer hacking. Stieg Larsson’s style (WARNING: Long, winding sentence ahead) of clinical writing to “report” the events and progression of the story using real locations described vividly along with his exposition and description of Sweden current history in politics, social and economy gives the story the investigative journalism feel that works well with the result that at present some tourism companies offer tour to Larsson’s fans to trace the steps the characters in the story take in the story. Now, the movie—a Swedish-German joint production tries to stay true to the story, yet, some changes are unavoidable, mayhap, to make the movie more simple (which makes me like reading better than watching movies). Some characters are missing, notably the lead character, Mikael Blomkvist’s daughter. In the book she gives her father an important cue that helps Mikael discover a very important piece of important. Mikael Blomkvist has been commissioned to investigate a locked-room murder mystery, and this becomes the center of the movie’s story, whereas in the book, other reasons and motivations spur him to tackle the mystery. The book’s Mikael Blomkvist the stud is replaced by a much tender one that may help the viewers to focus on the main storyline: murder mystery, and not when is the next time (in what pages) he jumps into bed with one woman or another—just like … this guy I know. And computer hacking. The book delves quite deeply into the world of hacking in which Lisbeth Salander (the character the title of the book and of the movie refers to) is an expert. The movie shows us Lisbeth tinkering with a program, hacking into some computers or others, having her notebook broken, feeling annoyed because of that, and that’s about it. We don’t get to feel her mastery in hacking, in how she obtains (read: steals) data, and hurts her enemies with this skill. We only get to see glimpses of her doing some hacking, and may need to use our imagination as to what effect what she does would do to her, or Mikael’s, enemies (And they say watching TV/films dulls your brain.) Yet, overall, the movie is quite interesting to watch. Those who have not read the book won’t feel robbed of some events appearing in the book. Those who have read the book can see the characters they have come to know on paper come to life on screen. The story progresses in an even pace, and the twists are there to keep us pretty much guessing all the way till near the end of the movie.Michael Nyqvist, the actor who plays Mikael Blomkvist does a decent job portraying Mikael as an all-round good guy, and Noomi Rapace’s playing Lisbeth manages to catch Salander’s antisocial attitudes and awkwardness around people (or, is that wooden acting? Oh, well, think positive, they say… And her dragon tattoo rrraaawks!) The topic of sexual abuse (The Swedish title Män som hatar kvinnor translates as Men Who Hate Women.) is present in many parts, and this helps me appreciate the late Larsson’s struggle for equality rights during his lifetime. Hollywood’s intention to remake the highly successful novel/film into their own movie (to be released in 2011) has somehow made me cringe fearing the worst, as even though David Fincher is directing it (and Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist, for that matter) the tweets I’ve been following about a month ago related to this movie are all about whether Rooney Mara (she is to play Lisbeth Salander) really has a nipple pierce for the role. Ouch! Computer Hacking Expertise: Keep your expectation very, very low.

Well, about this movie I saw just last night? So there is this island, y’see, … nope, not an island, a planet, yeah, a planet. Papua is the name—Planet Papua (darn nice name, if I do say so mesself, got them nice ring to it, so to speak). Now, this Planet Pandora. … Did I say, Pandora? Papua? America? Nah, that’s entirely different film, that one is. Iraq? Aw, no. Whoever heard of Planet Iraq… Mmm, Afghanistan? Heck, no, that was Rambo 3 movie, that was (damn fine one, at that). Okay, let’s just call the damn place Planet Pandora. Howzzat? Now, this planet is here is sooo … beautiful. And I don’t use this word lightly, you mark my word. It’s got all these purdy flowers and such. Darn purdy flowers… The darnest purdiest flowers you ever did see, you mark my words. This planet here—look like that island, Papua—also has got all them strange-lookin’ plants, and them big, big trees. And they glow. Boy, how they glow. They glow when you touch ‘em, y’see. Just poke ‘em a little and see them glow. So, at nights, why, you won’t need no torch or fire or nuthin’. You won’t need none of them, no sirree. Nope. Uh-uh. So if you guys wanna see where you wanna plant your feet in them forest, why, just touch one of ‘em flowers, or leaves, or whatever please ya, thank you very much, and you get your light, and you can just walk in that forest clear as day. And if you touch enough of ‘em leaves, flowers, whatever, why, you can have your disco night right there in the forest. Woo-hoo, yeah, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh…ehm, so anyways, the animals in this planet also look damn great and alive. Boy, the way they move, as if they ain’t got no bones or joint, so graceful, if I do say so myself, unlike the way you or me move, no way. When they land on their six feet, my, as if there ain’t no impact between them feet and the hard soil. Damn graceful. And, this planet has this thing called, don’t laugh now, coz it’s a darn hard name to say, this one, un-ob-taain-niuium. That’s what that is: Unobtainiuium. Now, this Planet, Pandora, has got this Unobtainiuium aplenty, down in the eart— …err, soil. And this Unobtainiuium will fetch you mighty fine price here on Earth. Why it’s damn pricey, they have this gazillion dollars equipment sent from Earth to dig out this unobtainiuium, yessiree, that they do. So, even tho’ they have all these gazillion, gazillion dollars pricey equipments, why, with them price that high, they’ll get more gazillion, gazillion dollars more from selling them unobtainiuium, so that’s okay—sending them pricey equipments. Now, the problem with Halliburt—er, the company doin’ all them diggin’ is that, why, this planet has its people living on it, y’see. Not just some animals, small and big, no sir, uh-uh. The people there, why they have their own tails, yes, they do. And, they look kinda cute, as a matter of fact. But, they’re tall… Man, ain’t they tall… And they speak, and they sing, dance as you please… Damn fine lookin’ people they are, damn fine…whooeee… Now, this company, Freeport-Halliburton-McMorran Ltd., had this, whaddayacallthat…charge de affair, sumthin’. This young charge de affair looks damn young he shouldn’t be in the movie, y’know what I’m sayin’? He’s damn too young. That director what directed the movie oughta get someone else playin’. Someone older. Now, I’m not against them younger actors, nosirree. But that guy, Ribisi, I think his name was, is just damn too young playing this Palmer guy. He got all worried about them Pandora people not liking one bit their diggin’ in their land, no sir, no ma’am. So Freeport here … wait, wait, did I say Freeport? Damn, that’s just plain wrong…There ain’t no Freeport up there on Pandora. No way. … What? I said Halliburton also? What’s Halliburton? I know nothin’ ‘bout no Halliburton, no way, uh-uh. So, anyways, this company then hire these ex-soldiers, y’see. Toughest lookin’ sonsofbitches you ever did see. Hell, yeah. This Blackrock Company—they’ve got all these cool equipments, heavy artillery, crazy weapons, grrrrreat lookin’ choppers, and they have this leader, Colonel Miles Quaritch, with none-of-your-BS attitude. He’s all military and stuff, he’s all busy-like, barking orders, checking up all them fancy electronic computer equipments with them flashy lights and monitors—he forgets wearing shirt, this fine colonel. Heck, this colonel is also damn smart, he could operate some of them fancy electronic computer equipments. He’s that smart. And this guy is one tough mutha, tough as nails, only even tougher than the toughest nail you can get down in them buildin’ material store. If this Colonel Quaritch looks at you wrong, why, you’d best crawl back into your mama’s belly, that’s what you gotta do. Yeah. Just crawl back in there you pansy, sissy pretty boy, you… Yeah, yeah, that’s right, don’t let me see your damn fine looking pansy face right there in front of me, you… …Okay… So these big boys (from Blackwood Company) with them big guns and big choppers, and cool looking robots—just like those in a movie I saw years ago, ALIENS, I think the movie was called, only here, them robots are all covered and closed up tight so as the people operating them can breathe mighty fine, ‘coz, y’see, here in Pandora, we cannot breathe as we’d like to, no sir, uh-uh, so we gotta wear them fancy oxygen mask—are hired to make sure them fine company boys can do their important diggin’ to dig all them unobtainiuium out happy and safe as can be. Whooee, that’s one long sentence, that one. Yeah. Anyways, so as them engineers can do them diggin’ and singin’ them happy songs, all at the same time, they can. Now, these Papuans—only they are called Na’vi here in this fine movie, I saw just last night, don’t take too kindly these white folks—with some blacks thrown in for good measure—diggin’, and fellin’ their precious shining trees. No way. So they fight with them cool, cool looking bows and arrows, only since these Papuans are so darn tall, their arrows are like spears to us. Now, you won’t want no spears run thru’ your chest, no sir, no ma’am, thank you very much. So this cunning people from this Freehalliburtonport-Blackearth Company get together, y’see, and talk about how they can solve this damn problem. So they decide to get someone into this Na’vi people. Damn, that was just brilliant, if I do say so mesself. You won’t see that kinda trick pulled here anywhere on Earth. No way. Not in Aceh, not in Afghanistan, not in America, not in Iraq, not in Palestine, not in Zulu, not in South Africa, not anywhere. Only in Hollywood, people, only in Hollywood. So this guy, this spy, this Jake Sully (that’s this guy’s name), get into the tribe, and pretend to wanna be one of ‘em Na’vi people, only at nights he’d, hush-hush, report to this tough-as-nail-only-tougher Colonel With No Shirt On. Then in the morning, why, this spy, this Liutenant Dunbar, Dances with Wolv—er… learns them Na’vi ways: Hunting, running and jumping from trees to trees like monkeys, catching them fine looking horses that look suspiciously like seahorse, and learn to ride them so damn fine lookin’ birdie with no feathers, y’see, so they look like them dinosaur birds in that Spielberg movie about them dinosaurs. Whooee… Only, of course, he still acts like white boys, debating everything, touching like they are already close, like, comparing with what they know, etc, etc. Now, the darnest thing is that this Dunbar guy, this spy guy, can’t keep his eyes off his mentor, this fine looking Na’vi lady, Stands With a Fist … that ain’t right. It should be shorter… … Damn, I was wrong. The name should be Pocahontas, yup, that’s it. Shorter. So, this John Smith guy, this spy guy, start to get all softie with this Indian princess. And, yup, you know it. They fall in love….. oooh, pooey…. Heh, heh, that Donald Duck, he’s damn funny, he is, heh heh… So, Pocaneitiri and John Sully-Smith, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, and them looking hardcase soldiers from Blackwater get bored waitin’ for them reports from this Sully guy, this spy guy, about them Indians, when are they gonna move? When are they gonna move? Huh? Huh? And this young manager, played by this Ribisi actor, is also like that: When are they gonna move? When are they gonna move? Huh? Huh? I want them diggin’ done in their village there. They’ve got this huge load of unobtainiuium there. The hugest load in the radius of 200 kilometers. Sure, this planet is big (we ain’t talking about island like Papua, here), and we can go look for other motherlodes anywhere in this planet, but if we do that, we won’t be able to kill them damn Na’vi then now, would we? Heck, no. There won’t be no damn cool looking battle then now, will there? No sir, no ma’am. So, we go to war. Whooee… and that was some battle, that was. And this Colonel Quaritch lead the damn invasion with a cup of coffee in hand… And a shirt. Well, well, whaddaya know… It’s that damn caffeine, I guess. And them arrows, whooee, in the beginning, them arrows can’t break them chopper glass windows, but finally…Yess… them arrows shot through them glass and kill them pilots, yeah, yeah… Whooee… that was a fine movie I saw just last night. Damn, fine. *Burp*

January4, 2010

Following other DC’s A-list storyarcs getting celluloid treatment, Superman/Batman—Public Enemies the Movie finally hit the DVD with all the WHOMP!s and UUMPH!s that will send the fans banging on WB/DC Studios doors demanding the powers-that-be to animate more of their favorite stories, and that they’d better be quick about it, or else…

The film is based on Superman/Batman—Public Enemies storyarc that DC ran from October ‘03 until March ‘04, with the creative power house of Loeb, McGuiness and Vines delivering what I felt when I read the story to be a very refreshingly jubilant joyride of slugfest, though there is still much darkness scattered inside the colorful panels (The event in the story did lead to one of the biggest projects ever conceived by DC).

Yet, as the film needed to be a standalone, avoiding much muck that drag many serialized comics (and hurt this comic fan’s wallet), we see pretty big changes that fortunately won’t cause the viewers who might be unfamilliar with the source story or even with (horror…) the characters and the universe scratch their heads and, halfway through, decide to switch to America’s Got Talent instead. America was in the dumps (bet nobody saw that coming), the God-fearing weapon-loving Americans voted Lex Luthor POTUS. And, whaddayaknow—he seemed to be doing a pretty darn good job at it. But, as a big chunk of space rock the size of Brazil believed to be a part of Planet Krypton after its End Day (the planet exploded, not getting major shower, that’s what leads to the End of Days, sheesh…) was ready to hit Earth and wipe out all existence, President Luthor saw this as the ultimate opportunity to show the Americans how his xenophobia had all those times been nothing short than prophetic, i.e. Superman-being from-Krypton-somehow-attracting-that-big-BIG-meteorite-to-Earth. And as Luthor was a certified ex-evil genius, who were we to argue?

And so Superman became a fugitive and the hunt for the Last True Boyscout (accompanied by the ever-cunning Batman) began; hence, the title.

The actions in the film (and in the comics) were superb and the people working on the film did some terrific job translating the comic panels to animation: Superman-Batman vs. Metallo; Superman-Batman vs. the whole damn army of supervillains; Superman-Batman vs. President Luthor federal sanctioned superheroes; Superman-Batman vs. Captain Marvel-Hawkman—the fights went fast but with enough details that can make you appreciate seeing just about everybody get the chance to try to rearrange the Big Blue’s mug (sometimes I wonder if the people responsible for the story are also xenophobic. Those ba——ds!).

The biggest change made for the movie that I notice is taking away Captain Atom’s big role and having Batman (again) replace him, to do what needs to be done—in the comics we get to learn quite a lot about Captain Atom from this part of the story.

The film’s animation is done by Korean animators, and I like the way the characters move. Sometimes in the fights, fists flew pretty slow with the result that we can see that rearranging Superman’s mug-thingie pretty clearly, so I guess those were intentional.

Many dialogs, utterance, one-liners and jokes from the comics make their way to film, and that is nice. The character designs tried a bit too hard to translate the clear artworks of McGuiness and Vines, resulting in the bulbous upper arms, chests, thighs and much of everything else, including chins…or are they jaws??

And Power Girl did a great job providing an, uh, ogleful.

http://deadlineisoverrated.blogspot.com/ has it…

December 11, 2009

Our world is not perfect, anyone with half a mind will tell you this. And to make our insecure feeling (of living in a non-perfect world) become even more fraught comes Disney’s TRON: Legacy. It is the sequel of 1982’s TRON, also from Disney. The 1982 film was a groundbreaking, cinematic experience, introducing the world of computer game world that transcended beyond the frantic flicking of a joystick, and might have helped introduce Jean “Moëbius” Giraud to America. The film also showed the possibility of a world driven by a technology company.

TRON introduced us to Kevin Flynn—a laidback computer genius whose game designs were stolen by his one-time collaborator, Ed Dillinger, who profited from them.

(Er—this is NOT from TRON: Legacy. Kudos to http://inothernews.tumblr.com/ for this ^_^)

Now, if there are things I learn from TRON: Legacy, they are these:

- The world we’re living in is NOT perfect, thanks to that goddamn sun.

- Your motorcycles (whatever it is) suck, compared to The Light Cycle.

- The world we’re living in is NOT perfect as long as there are still people using light bulbs instead of neon (damn you, Edison).

- The Recognizers from TRON looks more fun than the Recognizers in TRON: Legacy.

- The world we’re living in is NOT perfect: There are them snotty kids.

- Your actions must follow the beat of Daft Punk’s music.

- The world we’re living in is NOT perfect : You don’t walk if you walk not accompanied by Daft Punk’s music.

- In a perfect world, there are still homeless people. Perfect!

- “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”  Anakin Skywalker said this in Star Wars-Attack of the Clones. A laughable quote which now has its competition (Check out the title)

- That doe-eyed Olivia Wilde is HOT!

- Why would people living in a perfect world invade our world?   

- Slightly-pouted lips remain obligatory for mysterious hot babes.

(Er—this is NOT from TRON: Legacy)

- When you are one of the Sirens on the Grid, your movement is robotic-like. Not so, when you are off the grid. (Occupational hazard, apparently)

- Your cars (whatever it is) suck, compared to Light Runner.

- Okay, okay. The Solar Sailer in TRON: Legacy looks cooler than the one in TRON.

- Read them Zen-books if you know what’s good for you.

- All your actions start with the cue from Daft Punk’s music.

- Learn to throw them discs.

- Learn to land on one hand, one knee, one foot, then look up slowly. You’ll be cool.

-I feel that I can safely venture into the next decade, having the quotation to get me through the years (Check out the title)

Oscar for Daft Punk.

I just finished watching Brooklyn’s Finest on DVD, a testosterone-fueled tour de force into New York’s shady side. Machismo rules throughout the film, with the women (and children) presented as the more reasons for the guys shown getting all tough and taking no sh*t. 

And that makes the sparse tender moments in the movie may feel out of place, even when it is Richard Gere who delivers it. The acting is solid throughout, although Don Cheadle character, Tango, may look a bit lame compared to other brotha he hangs out with. 

I’ve always liked Ethan Hawke ever since his performance in Gattaca, and I like him in Brooklyn’s Finest. His character’s story touches a nerve, whereas the story with Tango, although well presented, has been done countless of times in many Hong Kong gangster movies.

Anthony Fuqua, the director, seems to be in his comfort zone doing the movie. He also directed Training Day, another movie that takes the viewers into the inner working of (NY) police department and what the job does to the people who are doing it.

It’s a good solid adult movie, with strong characters performed by actors (and actresses) who know their craft, and the tragic ending, even though is bordering on formulaic, still sends chills up the spine. 

(That donut guy doesn’t stand a chance, in a staring contest against Officer Dugan)

(Macho, macho, maaan… I wanna be a macho maaan….)

(Our posters don’t hang on the walls of teenagers’ bedrooms any more. It hurts.)

I am just finished watching The Graves, a horror B-flick written, produced and directed by Brian Pulido of Chaos! Comic fame (the guy’s the reason I picked up this one in the first place)—a movie about two sisters, Megan Graves (the older more well-endowed one) and Abby Graves (the sweeter looking li’l sis) taking on an entire population of a (very small) town, ruled by an iron-fisted reverend with a penchant for some supernatural schtick.

It’s a bad movie, leaving me only to ogling the two sisters…

Following other DC’s A-list storyarcs getting celluloid treatment, Superman/Batman—Public Enemies the Movie finally hit the DVD with all the WHOMP!s and UUMPH!s that will send the fans banging on WB/DC Studios doors demanding the powers-that-be to animate more of their favorite stories, and that they’d better be quick about it, or else…
The film is based on Superman/Batman—Public Enemies storyarc that DC ran from October ‘03 until March ‘04, with the creative power house of Loeb, McGuiness and Vines delivering what I felt when I read the story to be a very refreshingly jubilant joyride of slugfest, though there is still much darkness scattered inside the colorful panels (The event in the story did lead to one of the biggest projects ever conceived by DC).
Yet, as the film needed to be a standalone, avoiding much mucks that drag many serialized comics (and hurt this comic fan’s wallet), we see pretty big changes that fortunately won’t cause the viewers who might be unfamilliar with the source story or even with (horror…) the characters and the universe scratch their heads and, halfway through, decide to switch to America’s Got Talent instead.
America was in the dumps (bet nobody saw that coming), the God-fearing weapon-loving Americans voted Lex Luthor POTUS. And, whaddayaknow—he seemed to be doing a pretty darn good job at it. But, as a big chunk of space rock the size of Brazil believed to be a part of Planet Krypton after its End Day (the planet exploded, not getting major shower, that’s what leads to the End of Days, sheesh…) was ready to hit Earth and wipe out all existence, President Luthor saw this as the ultimate opportunity to show the Americans how his xenophobia had all those times been nothing short than prophetic, i.e. Superman-being from-Krypton-somehow-attracting-that-big-BIG-meteorite-to-Earth. And as Luthor was a certified ex-evil genius, who were we to argue?

And so Superman became a fugitive and the hunt for the Last True Boyscout (accompanied by the ever-cunning Batman) began; hence, the title.

The actions in the film (and in the comics) were superb and the people working on the film did some terrific job translating the comic panels to animation: Superman-Batman vs. Metallo; Superman-Batman vs. the whole damn army of supervillains; Superman-Batman vs. President Luthor federal sanctioned superheroes; Superman-Batman vs. Captain Marvel-Hawkman—the fights went fast but with enough details that can make you appreciate seeing just about everybody get the chance to try to rearrange the Big Blue’s mug (sometimes I wonder if the people responsible for the story are also xenophobic. Those ba——ds!).

The biggest change made for the movie that I notice is taking away Captain Atom’s big role and having Batman (again) replace him, to do what needs to be done—in the comics we get to learn quite a lot about Captain Atom from this part of the story.

The film’s animation by Korean animators, and I like the way the characters move. Sometimes in the fights, fists flew pretty slow with the result that we can see that rearranging Superman’s mug-thingie pretty clearly, so I guess those were intentional.
Many dialogs, utterance, one-liners abd jokes from the comics make their way to film, and that is nice.
The character designs tried a bit too hard to translate the clear artworks of McGuiness and Vines, resulting in the bulbous upper arms, chests, thighs and much of everything else, including chins…or are they jaws??
And Power Girl did a great job providing an, uh, ogleful.

David Fincher’s The Social Network has caused quite a stir due to its subject. The movie, chronicles the rise of www.facebook.com into one of the most successful Internet companies at present. Sadly, the movie fails to really emotionally get me (for that matter) into the characters, and heck, the story itself.

The characters move and talk as if in the world of their own. Is this what David Fincher was trying to do? Distancing what is happening in the film with what should be in the real life? There are many, many films showing socially-challenged smart young people, but I can somehow enjoy them as movie characters, despite the comic and outrageous or fantastic situations they are in (“Hey, it’s a movie after all,” I can easily say)

Mark Zuckerberg in the movie is portrayed as a programming genius who under his seemingly nerdy resignation is manipulative, whose words his close friends (lesser genius) heed and take as command. Zuckerberg is a person who bears a grudge and has his mind all a-twirling scheming devious plots to avenge those whom he feels has wronged him, thus positioning himself as the actual bad guy in the movie.

Yet, Zuckerberg in The Social Network is also a person of longing, and his continuously refreshing the page of the girl he so much wants to befriend with (in real life, or at least, in facebook) after sending a friendship request is for me one of the most intense moment in the movie.

The other characters seem to just hover on the scenes . I didn’t get any sense of excitement, urgency, intensity or importance in their characters. Many people praise Justin Timberlake’s portrayal of Sean Parker (inventor of Napster) but how is his acting any different from, say, Andrew Garfield, who is portrayed as Mark’s best friend, and, at the same time, Mark’s biggest victim (he is the somewhat hero of the movie, I would say)?

David Fincher is one of the directors I like, but, The Social Network may seem like a little too easy for him (compared to, for example, his Se7en, Fight Club, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, or, yes, even Alien 3 and Panic Room). This sorta like Ang Lee’s directing Brokeback Mountain (meh) compared to his directing Crouching Tiger (simply beautiful). And as the story done in flashback in the end leave me hanging, as the problems seem to just resolve all by itself, I again wonder what the hell were those guys at Golden Globe thinking?? I mean, there is INCEPTION. Hello?

Mount Tambora’s volcanic eruption in 1815 is considered the biggest in the recorded history (even bigger than that of Krakatau in 1883), causing yearlong winter reaching Northern hemisphere, and it’s said that this played a role in Bonaparte’s defeat in Waterloo.

There you go: Movie that teaches sumthin’

And it was a pretty fine movie, too: I laughed, I sighed (cute actress hyuk hyuk, beautiful settings (I need to get out of this city)), I cried a li’l (damn crybaby that’s me).

Good nite, y’all

XOX

thewildgunman:

Joe Johnston’s 1991 action adventure romp “The Rocketeer” held a special place in my heart. Along with films such as “The Phantom” and “The Shadow”, “The Rocketeer” harked back to a more innocent time of filmmaking. A time where good guys where good, bad guys got their comeuppance, and when 

adventure was everywhere. “The Rocketeer” is a joyous, exciting, genuinely brilliant film that despite being anachronistic feels incredibly vibrant and relevant today.

Based on Dave Stevens’ graphic novel of the same name, “The Rocketeer” tells the story of Cliff Secord, a racing pilot in 1930s Los Angeles, who stumbles upon a prototype rocket pack. Unbeknownst to him, this was created by Howard Hughes, was stolen by the mob, and is also being coveted by the FBI and the Nazis. Needless to say Cliff gets embroiled in a deadly plot and soon everything he cares about is in danger. In order to stop this evil he must don his custom design helmet and become the Rocketeer.

And it really is that fun!

Billy Campbell plays Secord with just the right amount of recklessness and honour, and had “The Rocketeer” been a success (it bombed at the box office), Campbell surely would have been propelled into the Hollywood elite. Alongside him as his faithful mechanic friend Peevy, Alan Arkin is particularly delightful. The gruff teacher with a heart of gold, his wily hair and tash make him instantly likeable and throughout the film he continues to impress. As Secord’s girl, the lovely Jennifer Connelly proves herself adapt in an action(ish) role. She’s full of Hollywood sass and looks as if she could have stepped straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. Finally, as the villain of the piece, Timothy Dalton is a delight. Chewing up the scenery like a rabid dog, he is a spectacle onscreen and as he channeled Dick Dastardly I was in heaven. Alongside those guys there are some great moments with Paul Sorvino and Terry O’Quinn, who just round off a superb cast.

Why “The Rocketeer” performed so abhorrently at the box office is beyond me. Some say that the original poster had something to do with it, however I feel it’s got to be one of the finest I’ve seen for a while. Others may claim that because this was a Disney picture, people were turned away thinking it was a kid’s film. The truth of the matter however, is that “The Rocketeer” is just brilliant fun. It’s not a pastiche of 1930s serials, rather a true re-envisioning of one. The actors and the script play the premise completely straight and that’s why it works. 

It was a joy to relive this highlight of my youth and discover that all these years on, it’s still wonderful

This guy knows some GOOD stuff.

Batwoman by J.H. Williams and W. Haden Blackman

Batwoman, who has no connection with Batman yet, aside from swiping his symbol, enters her own book on page 4 in a window-smashing flare of black and crimson, and the story’s pretty much non-stop from there. It’s not exactly a subtle book. Kate Kane is Batwoman, Kate Kane is a lesbian - see her asking out Detective Sawyer, Batwoman has issues with her daddy - see her fight with him about lying about her sister’s death. There, now you’re up to speed. But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Artist and co-writer J.H. Williams’ art is as gorgeous, stylized and unique as it was on Batwoman: Elegy, with the best layouts this side of Charles Vess, and Batwoman herself is a vivid, undeniable force of nature: strong, determined and totally adult, if not particularly experienced. While a starting place for a new reader, the book picks up where Batwoman: Elegy left off, virtually unchanged by the reboot. In fact, it’s only used once, and then as a convenient bit of retroactive continuity - Bette, Kate’s young cousin and new sidekick in training, is suddenly a former member of the Teen Titans. The actual plot itself is a bit slow so far, a spirit is stealing children and Batwoman has impulsively promised that she’ll bring them back to their families, but that’s Batwoman for you. It’s really just all about style and character, which this book somehow makes work. - KF