SAVAGE
From creator Jeff Frank comes a new horror saga in called SAVAGE. Frank co-plotted this story with Steve Niles (one of the creators behind the phenomenal hit 30 Days of Night) and co-wrote this story with Dan Wickline. SAVAGE concerns Sam, a man with a deep urge and secret that compells him to kill people he deems “evil.” You see, Sam is a hunted of all manner of monsters that prey on the human species. In the beginning of the story we see Sam savagely kill a banshee by cutting off her head (he then carries the head around with him throughout the rest of the series). Once completely that mission Sam then heads towards Arcana, a place he has visited in the past but is now here on a recruitment mission.
Sam is in the town no longer then ten minutes before he begins to once agin sense evil and the urge to kill begins to surface. Sam has come to Arcana to inlist Peter, a family man with a wife and kid, to help him fight the evil of the world. You see, Sam is a shapeshifter who can change into a “bigfoot-like” creature and the evil he senses in Arcana is of the werewolf kind, which have taken up residence in town and kill whenever the moon is at its fullest. As Sam waits for the moon to be full and the werewolves to reveal their true nature, he tries to hold off his killer urges by selectively killing off the werewolves one by one until the killings raise the suspicions of the covert military group Sam is working for. Now time is running out as Sam realizes he has very little time to show Peter his true nature and how to use his own shapeshifting abilities to not only hunt down evil but to protect his family from those who would see them harmed.
Although not one of my favorite graphic novels as the story is very simple and direct and leaves much to be desired since this would be the first chapter of a much larger story, SAVAGE isn’t terrible bad as the werewolves verses bigfoot idea is very interesting. I do like the fact that the story spends a lot of time developing the Sam and peter characters but the werewolves come off a cliched characters with very little interest. It will be interesting to see where this story goes in subsequent chapters.
CITY GARDEN - "The Old Woman & The Park"
On the set of the short film "A Gift"
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Graphic Novel review: EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
Creator Steve Niles has a new vision of vampires different from the ones he created in the 30 Days of Night series in this graphic novel EPILOGUE, with art by Kyle Hotz. There is a new vigilante on the streets of the city and he cannot be killed as he so boldly demonstrates when he gathers all the crime lords of the city in one place. When the crime lords try to blow him to pieces they realize that all of his wounds heal automatically and he is more vicious then them as he feasts on their blood. This vigilante has plans to clean up the city at all costs. He is a vampire and he feeds off the blood of the guilty
The story as written by Niles and illustrated by Hotz is at first cryptic with the revealing of who the vigilante is but through fashbacks we learn that he was a family man on a camping trip who watched his two kids and wife be slaughtered by a gang of vampires . He was bitten in the struggle and left for dead and barely found a way to survive in the wild. When he returns to the city he vows to find the ones responsible for the death of his family and for making him into a creature of the night. In the meanwhile, he will protect the innocent and kill anyone who gets in his way.
One of the most unique aspects of the book is that you never really know what this guy’s name is but you get a glimpse into who he was and what he has become through the flashbacks and by the end of the story it’s not important what his name is but what he stands for. Like many of Niles’ previous work this is but an opening chapter to a bigger story should he choose to go further with the material. This being a story about vampires there are buckets of blood and gutts all over the place and will make all of Niles’ fans happen who enjoyed his 30 Days of Night.
Creator Steve Niles has a new vision of vampires different from the ones he created in the 30 Days of Night series in this graphic novel EPILOGUE, with art by Kyle Hotz. There is a new vigilante on the streets of the city and he cannot be killed as he so boldly demonstrates when he gathers all the crime lords of the city in one place. When the crime lords try to blow him to pieces they realize that all of his wounds heal automatically and he is more vicious then them as he feasts on their blood. This vigilante has plans to clean up the city at all costs. He is a vampire and he feeds off the blood of the guilty
The story as written by Niles and illustrated by Hotz is at first cryptic with the revealing of who the vigilante is but through fashbacks we learn that he was a family man on a camping trip who watched his two kids and wife be slaughtered by a gang of vampires . He was bitten in the struggle and left for dead and barely found a way to survive in the wild. When he returns to the city he vows to find the ones responsible for the death of his family and for making him into a creature of the night. In the meanwhile, he will protect the innocent and kill anyone who gets in his way.
One of the most unique aspects of the book is that you never really know what this guy’s name is but you get a glimpse into who he was and what he has become through the flashbacks and by the end of the story it’s not important what his name is but what he stands for. Like many of Niles’ previous work this is but an opening chapter to a bigger story should he choose to go further with the material. This being a story about vampires there are buckets of blood and gutts all over the place and will make all of Niles’ fans happen who enjoyed his 30 Days of Night.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Opinions Do Mater
It's amazing to me how much we as a film & television culture have an opinion about everything and believe that our opinion is somehow morevalid then everyone else's. Before the immersion of film into our culture opinions were religated to the elite few who had studied such works of arts as music, art, and architecture, to name a few. Sure the general public had a "public opinion" but it was never really taken that serious by the upper echilon of society. In fact, there are few instances in history where public opinion ever really mattered when it came to the creative arts.
Then came film. In it's earliest form it was crude and looked down upon by the upper class yet found a home in the poor lower class of vaudville and carnivals as a novelty act. The first few films were experiements that lasted no longer then a few seconds long yet captured the imagination of those who had never been subject to such great spectacle. When filmmaking techniques were honed and perfected (by then times) films became longer and instead of relyng mainly on real life events for entertainment sinereos and stories and plots were crafted and films became longer and the lower classes came in the bus loads to see the amazing moving pictures. The upper class still looked down upon the "novelty act" yet in the privacy of their own homes they became enamored with the "moving picture" as it became one of the newest and fastest speading forms of entertainment in the world.
The funny thing about the moving image is that it was not confined to only one area but people all across the world were developing their own version of the film camera, some successful while others still needed a little tweaking, but nevertheless the "moving picture" was here to stay and it would continue to amass a great following not only in the lower and middle class but soon in the upper class as well and that's when theaters began to pop up. There needed to be a place where all people of all classes could go to watch these moving pictures and the moving pictures thus needed to be longer then just 2-3 minutes. They soon began to be feature length films (at the time) ranging in length up to an hour in many cases.
With the wide spread epidemic that moving pictures became so to did the opinions come to rise. There were (and still are) many publications about films (because films had to travel from town to town at the time instead of being screened via day and date like today) to get the word out when a particular film would be in any given state and with this mass production and distribution of films so rose the "star" and the "star system."
Although I could go into details about this I will only briefly mention the fact that the star system was created through audiences' reaction to certain characters and actors that they liked to see on the screen. This helped early filmmakers decide not only who to put in their films but what type of films to make (in order to get the most buck out of the bang), so, public opinion has always determined the general evolution of the moving pictures (aka motion picture).
Taking this into account you can now see how modern day audiences' opinions matter more then any pofessionally school educated critic. Real critiques don't get people's buns in seats but public opinion does. When a film has good word of mouth it can do extremely well at the Box Office (i.e. THE HANGOVER, UP, or TAKEN) whereas all the great praise in the world can't make people go see a film (i.e. DOUBT, DUPLICITY, or THE READER). We live in a world where everyone (at least in terms of film) has an opinion and their opinion counts for something if not at least can translate into big Box Office grosses.
We may not like it but that's the reality of the world. Long gone is our reliance and dependence on the arthouse critic who has spent a lifetime dedicating oneself to the "art" for art's sake. We, as an audience, know what we want and know what we like whether it be Rob Zombie's HALLOWWEN remake, THE HANGOVER, MONSTERS Vs. ALIENS, or the latest film with Ashton Kurcher.
Then came film. In it's earliest form it was crude and looked down upon by the upper class yet found a home in the poor lower class of vaudville and carnivals as a novelty act. The first few films were experiements that lasted no longer then a few seconds long yet captured the imagination of those who had never been subject to such great spectacle. When filmmaking techniques were honed and perfected (by then times) films became longer and instead of relyng mainly on real life events for entertainment sinereos and stories and plots were crafted and films became longer and the lower classes came in the bus loads to see the amazing moving pictures. The upper class still looked down upon the "novelty act" yet in the privacy of their own homes they became enamored with the "moving picture" as it became one of the newest and fastest speading forms of entertainment in the world.
The funny thing about the moving image is that it was not confined to only one area but people all across the world were developing their own version of the film camera, some successful while others still needed a little tweaking, but nevertheless the "moving picture" was here to stay and it would continue to amass a great following not only in the lower and middle class but soon in the upper class as well and that's when theaters began to pop up. There needed to be a place where all people of all classes could go to watch these moving pictures and the moving pictures thus needed to be longer then just 2-3 minutes. They soon began to be feature length films (at the time) ranging in length up to an hour in many cases.
With the wide spread epidemic that moving pictures became so to did the opinions come to rise. There were (and still are) many publications about films (because films had to travel from town to town at the time instead of being screened via day and date like today) to get the word out when a particular film would be in any given state and with this mass production and distribution of films so rose the "star" and the "star system."
Although I could go into details about this I will only briefly mention the fact that the star system was created through audiences' reaction to certain characters and actors that they liked to see on the screen. This helped early filmmakers decide not only who to put in their films but what type of films to make (in order to get the most buck out of the bang), so, public opinion has always determined the general evolution of the moving pictures (aka motion picture).
Taking this into account you can now see how modern day audiences' opinions matter more then any pofessionally school educated critic. Real critiques don't get people's buns in seats but public opinion does. When a film has good word of mouth it can do extremely well at the Box Office (i.e. THE HANGOVER, UP, or TAKEN) whereas all the great praise in the world can't make people go see a film (i.e. DOUBT, DUPLICITY, or THE READER). We live in a world where everyone (at least in terms of film) has an opinion and their opinion counts for something if not at least can translate into big Box Office grosses.
We may not like it but that's the reality of the world. Long gone is our reliance and dependence on the arthouse critic who has spent a lifetime dedicating oneself to the "art" for art's sake. We, as an audience, know what we want and know what we like whether it be Rob Zombie's HALLOWWEN remake, THE HANGOVER, MONSTERS Vs. ALIENS, or the latest film with Ashton Kurcher.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Indie Film Review: PAPER BOYS (2009)
Sometimes I dislike reviewing indie films because I tend to screen earlier versions prior to a released version which has had the luxury of a test screening that would then constitute re-shoots and/or extensive editing. I say this in good faith as many films that I’ve screened could do with some trimming of the fat in order to get to the heart of the story being told.
This could go with the Aware Production release of PAPER BOYS (formerly BOYS OF THE WRECKING CREW), which was filmed in Georgia and had its World Premiere at the famous Plaza Theater, 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave., Atlanta, GA on Saturday, June 20th, 2009. There are some good things to say about the film and some bad but I give indie films a little more leeway (from Hollywood films) because of their unique nature of sometimes reveling in more risqué and unconventional stories. This is such a film.
The film begins with a subtle bang as after a young couple appear to be in the throws of love the woman commits suicide and the young man Sean is left broken. Sean’s (Louis Lavdas) way of dealing with the situation is to return to his job as a paper boy solicitor who goes door-to-door selling newspaper subscriptions. He is just one of a crew of young men guided by Ray (Chris Whitley) who try to make a living at this day in and day out. Sean has more to deal with then just a lover who killed herself but he also is haunted by his estranged relationship with his abusive father, he’s addicted to just about every drug known to mankind, and he’s having a sexual identity crisis. That’s a lot for one person to deal with and therein lies the biggest problem with the film.
The film has many technical issues as in many shots that linger on the screen for far longer then they should – one scene in particular is a POV shot of Sean in a drug induced state walking through a house in which he just participated in an orgy, not to mention that several shots are handheld and pan from one actor to another with no finesse or control and sometimes it’s even on background characters who aren’t even participating in the conversation at hand. Many of these incidents could be fixed if they were trimmed or cut altogether.
Technical issues aside (since many indie films suffer from this) I do have to say that the post-sound is excellent for the most part. There are very few incidents where the volume and quality were not at top form. Since sound is one of the biggest problems with indie productions it’s good to hear that the filmmakers took care with the post-sound work on this film.
Getting back to the plot of the film, PAPER BOYS suffers from trying to say too much with so little. Sean’s plight as an abused kid with a dead-in job that only helps to fuel his drug habit because his girlfriend killed herself and he’s not sure whether he’s gay or straight just makes it seem like the entire world is against him and he should just go ahead and join his girlfriend in a suicide pact. The story is best when it focuses on Sean’s inability to cope with the childhood abuse done to him by his father heavily handled in many of the flashback sequences (some of which are the most compelling in the film). If the film had stuck with this as it’s background and conflict and then handled Sean’s inability to cope through either drug abuse of sexual identity then the film’s theme might have come off stronger but the issues are defused because no time is given to any one of Sean’s problems. He just seems to be a kid with too many problems. This inability in the film’s focus also contributes to its lackluster and unsatisfactory ending (which I won’t give away here) but needless to say the film’s climax is all too easily solved and there is no satisfying closure with Sean’s character in terms of any of the problems that the film presents that he has. They just all seem to nicely go away.
The film’s climax is the real let down as it opts for a “feel good” ending that is not warranted due to everything that came before it not to mention that it is 15 minutes too long. The film wants to say so many things about sexual identity, drug abuse, physical abuse, and even suicide yet never really says anything about any of them as the message is lost in translation amongst the film’s other problems and the “happy ending.”
The film does have some questionable performances amongst its huge cast of Georgia actors but there are some great moments with Joe (Justin Riddick), who steals many of the scenes in the film with his womanizing ways and picture-perfect life (not mention lifestyle) but Whitley as Sean’s crew leader of the paper boys and in a sense “older brother” also gives a noteworthy performance.
Writer, producer, and director Bryan E. Hall has a great many cast and location to contend with on this film, which is good for the film as he doesn’t rely on the single location film shoot that can plague many an indie film. There are many great comedic moments in the film that release some of the tension from the heavy-handed subject matter (and sometimes I wish there was more). Overall PAPER BOYS is a film that’s sometimes over convoluted with what its trying to say that needs a little trimming and cutting in some places but it’s not a film completely devoid of any redeeming value.
This could go with the Aware Production release of PAPER BOYS (formerly BOYS OF THE WRECKING CREW), which was filmed in Georgia and had its World Premiere at the famous Plaza Theater, 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave., Atlanta, GA on Saturday, June 20th, 2009. There are some good things to say about the film and some bad but I give indie films a little more leeway (from Hollywood films) because of their unique nature of sometimes reveling in more risqué and unconventional stories. This is such a film.
The film begins with a subtle bang as after a young couple appear to be in the throws of love the woman commits suicide and the young man Sean is left broken. Sean’s (Louis Lavdas) way of dealing with the situation is to return to his job as a paper boy solicitor who goes door-to-door selling newspaper subscriptions. He is just one of a crew of young men guided by Ray (Chris Whitley) who try to make a living at this day in and day out. Sean has more to deal with then just a lover who killed herself but he also is haunted by his estranged relationship with his abusive father, he’s addicted to just about every drug known to mankind, and he’s having a sexual identity crisis. That’s a lot for one person to deal with and therein lies the biggest problem with the film.
The film has many technical issues as in many shots that linger on the screen for far longer then they should – one scene in particular is a POV shot of Sean in a drug induced state walking through a house in which he just participated in an orgy, not to mention that several shots are handheld and pan from one actor to another with no finesse or control and sometimes it’s even on background characters who aren’t even participating in the conversation at hand. Many of these incidents could be fixed if they were trimmed or cut altogether.
Technical issues aside (since many indie films suffer from this) I do have to say that the post-sound is excellent for the most part. There are very few incidents where the volume and quality were not at top form. Since sound is one of the biggest problems with indie productions it’s good to hear that the filmmakers took care with the post-sound work on this film.
Getting back to the plot of the film, PAPER BOYS suffers from trying to say too much with so little. Sean’s plight as an abused kid with a dead-in job that only helps to fuel his drug habit because his girlfriend killed herself and he’s not sure whether he’s gay or straight just makes it seem like the entire world is against him and he should just go ahead and join his girlfriend in a suicide pact. The story is best when it focuses on Sean’s inability to cope with the childhood abuse done to him by his father heavily handled in many of the flashback sequences (some of which are the most compelling in the film). If the film had stuck with this as it’s background and conflict and then handled Sean’s inability to cope through either drug abuse of sexual identity then the film’s theme might have come off stronger but the issues are defused because no time is given to any one of Sean’s problems. He just seems to be a kid with too many problems. This inability in the film’s focus also contributes to its lackluster and unsatisfactory ending (which I won’t give away here) but needless to say the film’s climax is all too easily solved and there is no satisfying closure with Sean’s character in terms of any of the problems that the film presents that he has. They just all seem to nicely go away.
The film’s climax is the real let down as it opts for a “feel good” ending that is not warranted due to everything that came before it not to mention that it is 15 minutes too long. The film wants to say so many things about sexual identity, drug abuse, physical abuse, and even suicide yet never really says anything about any of them as the message is lost in translation amongst the film’s other problems and the “happy ending.”
The film does have some questionable performances amongst its huge cast of Georgia actors but there are some great moments with Joe (Justin Riddick), who steals many of the scenes in the film with his womanizing ways and picture-perfect life (not mention lifestyle) but Whitley as Sean’s crew leader of the paper boys and in a sense “older brother” also gives a noteworthy performance.
Writer, producer, and director Bryan E. Hall has a great many cast and location to contend with on this film, which is good for the film as he doesn’t rely on the single location film shoot that can plague many an indie film. There are many great comedic moments in the film that release some of the tension from the heavy-handed subject matter (and sometimes I wish there was more). Overall PAPER BOYS is a film that’s sometimes over convoluted with what its trying to say that needs a little trimming and cutting in some places but it’s not a film completely devoid of any redeeming value.
Book Review: TALES FROM THE CRYPT: THE OFFICIAL ARCHIVES By Digby Diehl
Author Digby Diehl’s book Tales From the Crypt: The Official Archives is one of the most comprehensive books on the history of EC Comics and their downfall to the creation of the cult HBO television show Tales From the Crypt, which ran for seven seasons. Diehl’s book starts by giving the reader a background of the EC publishers and how their comics opened the world and the industry to a different kind of comic from the Famous Funnies and Popular Comics titles of the ‘30s and ‘40s to when William “Bill” Gaines inherited the company and started producing what would eventually become the infamous Tales From The Crypt, Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, and Weird Science titles (to name a few), in which Gaines and his company of dedicated artists produced some of the most strikingly original and grotesque comics and stories to ever be committed to page. With the popularity of these comics to pre-teens everywhere came the backlash of parents and religious groups all across America. The book traces this history and causes of what brought down the Gaines Empire and EC Comics eventually leading up to the creation of both the British feature films Tales From the Crypt (1972) and The Vault of Horror (1973) and eventually to the American television series Tales From the Crypt (1989-1996).
The book goes into great detail about the creation of the HBO produced television show and how close it honored the source material (all 93 episodes were based on a story from one of the EC comics titles). The book also gives a complete television guide to the series not to mention it highlights the inspiration for every episode. Diehl’s book not only is a library of information but he has extensive interviews with many of the artists involved with the original comics not to mention the people behind the television series giving the book everything a reader needs to know about history of EC Comics and the television series.
An added bonus to the book is the abundance of photos and artwork throughout not to mention that four complete stories from the comics are reprinted with the inclusion of a never before published story hidden away in the EC Vaults that never made it to the printed page. Diehl’s book is a book for any fan of the EC Comics world as well as those who just want to know a little bit of history about one of the greatest (and infamous) publishing companies in the business.
Book Review: THE WILD TREES By Richard Preston
Few books make me want to spring into action after reading them like Richard Preston’s non-fiction book The Wild Trees, which is the account of several botanists and scientists who spend their lives studying the life of some of the tallest trees in the world. Although not exclusively about the tree climbing specialist who climb trees in excess of 350 feet tall to study the canopy of some of the tallest organisms on the planet which is the redwood tree (among many others featured in the book), Preston weaves the stories of several of these scientists whose worlds and lives collide through time and different locations all across the globe to give not only a comprehensive look at the lives of these dedicated (and sometimes under paid) scientists but the worlds that they discover that have never been seen by any human being. Preston presents these people as the true adventurers exploring the strange new worlds right in our own back yards.
As Preston’s own exploration of these dedicated individuals grows deeper, he becomes not just a chronicler of their stories but a willing participant who soon finds his way as one of the team members of tree climbers. This is a far cry from his previous non-fiction books The Hot Zone and The Demon in the Freezer (where he is far removed) revealing a more personal journey in the process. In addition to the wonderful stories of his subjects (especially the couple that get married 350 feet in the air in the canopy of one of the great redwoods) there are extensive drawings and sketches of what the world of some of these trees are really like (since the location to many of these greatest discoveries remain a guarded secret from the greater public who would destroy the natural habitat of such great organisms of nature).
The Wild Trees is one of Preston’s most personal works that not only gets into the lives of its subjects following them over years of discoveries and history but it also gives an inside look into the man whose life was forever changed by the experience especially when you consider that the joy of tree climbing has infected several of his children (although he makes great mention that the sport is not for his wife). This is an adventure that we all want to make after reading the book.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Book Review: SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY By Akira Kurosawa
Few books seem to be actually written by the author like this book does (because so many of them are ghost written). Akira Kurosawa is one of the most respected directors in cinema and his book Something Like an Autobiography is less about his techniques in filmmaking and more about what incidents shaped his life and helped him craft the stories that he’s told through film for so many years.
His stories (which is the best way to describe them because of the way in which he recollects his life) are told in such a way that they could be fables about how his decisions not only as a human being but as a filmmaker are discovered. Kurosawa has a very whimsical way of describing his life which is at times extremely funny and humorous but is also very moving and tragic especially in terms of how real life events shaped the way he saw the world and thus translated what he saw in film.
Many times he ventures away from filmmaking to describe his family life and childhood and these seem to be the more interesting aspects of the book as his recollections of his filmmaking experiences (especially in the later years) do not seem as fanciful. It’s a wonder he even got into filmmaking as it was by chance but Kurosawa has a way of telling the story of his life that reminds you of a film and that is where the heart of his book truly lies.
He is so vivid with details about people and experiences about his life and experiences that you feel like you’re in a dream world and everything is like in a movie that you just can’t help but to glue your eyes to. Kurosawa’s book is an excellent example of an autobiography that’s told by one of the greatest visionaries that cinema has ever known.
His stories (which is the best way to describe them because of the way in which he recollects his life) are told in such a way that they could be fables about how his decisions not only as a human being but as a filmmaker are discovered. Kurosawa has a very whimsical way of describing his life which is at times extremely funny and humorous but is also very moving and tragic especially in terms of how real life events shaped the way he saw the world and thus translated what he saw in film.
Many times he ventures away from filmmaking to describe his family life and childhood and these seem to be the more interesting aspects of the book as his recollections of his filmmaking experiences (especially in the later years) do not seem as fanciful. It’s a wonder he even got into filmmaking as it was by chance but Kurosawa has a way of telling the story of his life that reminds you of a film and that is where the heart of his book truly lies.
He is so vivid with details about people and experiences about his life and experiences that you feel like you’re in a dream world and everything is like in a movie that you just can’t help but to glue your eyes to. Kurosawa’s book is an excellent example of an autobiography that’s told by one of the greatest visionaries that cinema has ever known.
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