LIKED
– Detective Comics featuring Batwoman was as good as everybody says it is, and frankly, given that it’s stupid boring sucky Batwoman, this is nothing short of a miracle even though Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams are the ones doing it. (Let me put it this way: regardless of how good a filmmaker Steven Spielberg might be, I would stll be skeptical if he said he was going to make a children’s adventure film about Benito Mussolini.) The Question backup feature is the first one of these backups that has really genuinely impressed. (The Blue Beetle one in Booster Gold was inconsequential fun and little more; the Renee story has meat to it.)
– The Philanthropist shouldn’t work – I mean, come on, the adventures of a billionaire? – but it does. A friend of mine called it “kind of like Iron Man without the armor,” and that’s pretty accurate. James Purefoy is really good in it, too, combining that Stark-like mix of insouciance, hedonism, stubbornness and genuine idealism to create a genuinely engaging lead character. Dunno if it can keep it up, but the pilot was a lot of fun.
DIDN’T LIKE
– Gotham City Sirens is crap. You know, for all the flak Marvel is (rightly) taking over their horribly sexist, amazingly tone-deaf comics like Marvel Divas and Models Inc., it’s worth remembering that DC is really only marginally better in this regard and is just as willing to shove out blatant T&A like this book, which is little more than an excuse to draw Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Catwoman in a variety of anatomically impossible “sexy” poses. (Additional note: I am really, really sick of hack writers coming up with a stupid villain concept and then telling the reader “hey this guy is stupid” and having everybody in the book beat him with ease. Remember back in the day when Spider-Man would fight a new villain every issue? Sure, some of them were silly in retrospect, but the writers back then made sure Spidey took every one of them damn seriously. Actually, one of the good things about the new “He’s Single And A Loser So He’s Spider-Man Again Just Like When I Was Six!” run is that they treat their new villains, even the ridiculous ones, as genuine threats.)
– I probably should have known better than to go see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but what are you gonna do when your date says she wants to see big robots fighting one another? (Answer: you go see the movie. It is possible some of you might not have known this. This is a basic truth regardless of the gender of you or your date.) Anyway, yes, it is as shit-awful as you might think. Michael Bay still thinks the mere utterance of a profanity constitutes a punchline. Michael Bay still doesn’t know how to make a fight scene between giant robots – something which should practically direct itself – visually coherent or interesting. Michael Bay still doesn’t know how to set up plot elements effectively or indeed tell a story. And really, saying “still doesn’t” isn’t entirely accurate, because in the last five years Michael Bay has made at least one genuinely entertaining film (The Island, which didn’t do well because the public is essentially stupid), so we know that he has some understanding of story; it’s just that when he makes a Transformers movie, he knows he doesn’t have to bother being good because, as the opening weekend revenues demonstrate, people will eat that shit up regardless of how shit the shit is.
Top comment: I think the best point in RotF was when John Turturro was lecturing the old robot about structuring his stories. — enlight_bystand
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I really enjoyed The Philanthropist as well. Good writing, solid lead actor, and the willingness to actually use the outdoors as scenery, rather than having everything occur on some sound stage with brief snippets of the outdoors used as cutaway scenes. I think part of that we have to attribute to Purefoy having established previously that he’s not afraid of getting dirty and exposing himself to the elements to play a part (Rome, anyone?).
I hope it can keep it up, as the pilot has legs. I just wonder how much of this is being viewed by the upper echelons as a pseudo-replacement for the short-lived Crusoe and it’s intended audience…
I half-expected to see ‘rampant celebrity deaths’ listed. Not sure which list, though.
And LEAVE TRANSFORMERS ALONE! *mascara running*
Yes! The Island was awesome, I thought it was severely underrated. Sure, it was an action blockbuster, but it was a smart and entertaining one. The one thing that did piss me off to no end about the movie was the blatant ad placement in it.
Haven’t seen the Philanthropist, but I may do so now. In regards to the new Transformers movie, io9 have a good piece on it in the link below.
http://io9.com/5301898/michael-bay-finally-made-an-art-movie
Very funny
I read the preview Marvel put out for Divas, and ignoring the cover, it’s pretty much just as advertised, Superhero Sex in the City, and the art is surprisingly non-cheesecakey. It was light and fun.
Gotham City Syrens, however, I felt the art was overly pretentious for what is explicitly a cheesecake series. Just get an Adam Hughes clone and be done with it.
You should definitely check out “Virtuality” as well. Fox seems to be pulling their usual tricks and canceling good stuff before it gets a chance.
Totally. I seriously felt that it was Iron Man without the armor – redheaded assitant and black bodyguard as well as random sexual escapades! I liked it, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.
Wow. I strongly disagree with you about Gotham City Sirens.
I loved the characterization (Except, I do agree with you about the hack way of introducing new ‘villains’.) of the existing characters that was in here. The art, okay, I was a bit more meh. And the covers are embarassing (Then again, so were the covers to BoP during a good chunk of Simone’s Era)
I love Dini on Gotham things. And my bias may be showing. I could just be a Paul Dini fanboy. But I must say that I enjoyed this more than the first issue of Streets of Gotham.
I do have to say I am fond of the trope of the supervillain who has a really awesome toy but no idea how to use it. It’s sort of a one-issue thing by nature- you can’t drag out the threat very long- but that bit was okay.
There are people out there that think The Island was good?
Maybe the concept was ok, but that movie was terrible.
The Island’s concept was just a mishmash of Logan’s Run and the Clonus Terror or whatever that MST3K thing was called.
But I kinda enjoyed it.
The problem is that Michael Bay, despite shoveling absolute crap on film, still makes lots of money and as long as he can return an investment, studios will keep financing his films.
I can’t say The Island was smart to any extent, since it was truly simply a remake of another film. But hey, maybe it was better than the original. Not that that’s hard.
Transformers is really irritating because there is the skeleton of a good movie in there, but the execution was at best sorely lacking. Please don’t get me started about the Stepin Fetchbots.
Huh, guess I’ll have to check out Detective after all. I avoided it “given that it’s stupid boring sucky Batwoman” who also happens to wear a rip-off of the Batman Beyond costume.
Michael Bay can’t exctly take full credit for The Island. http://www.agonybooth.com/articles/The_Island_2005.aspx?Page=2
*sigh*
The theater erupted in applause at the end when I saw TF: ROTF. What is wrong with these people?
Things I didn’t need to see:
-A giant robot’s balls
-A tiny robot humping Megan Fox’s leg
-An old robot with a beard and a cane (um…?)
-Robots calling people “a bitch” and “a pussy”
-Inbred hillbilly robots (I know, everyone says that the ‘twins’ were black stereotypes, but when I heard them talk, all I heard was inbred hillbilly)
-Shia LeBeuf being tentacle-raped
Other complaints:
-If you’re going to have a bad guy who’s more evil and more powerful than Megatron, it might be advisable to actually have him DO something to demonstrate it.
-Despite the fact that the giant-robots-shooting-each-other scenes were nigh-incomprehensible and an assult on the senses, they were still easier to watch than any scene that contained both Shia LeBeuf and Megan Fox.
-The camera spun so much, I’m still dizzy. Even in the non-action scenes!
Things I liked:
-You know, John Turturro just makes me laugh.
Obviously, you’ve never heard of The Walrus.
Paul Dini is basically just as bad a writer as Jeph Loeb; without his credentials from the animated series and his ability to charm fanboys with their precious ‘Bat/Cat’ wank-pairing, he’d be recognised as such.
Because no one else has said it:
I dig giant robots.
You dig giant robots.
We dig giant robots.
Chicks dig giant robots.
Nice.
The island was an interesting movie? I have to disagree with you there. Other than the production design I didn’t think there was much worthwhile about it. Meh, I sort of like The Rock, mostly because it wears its silliness, military fetishism and rank stupidity proudly.
You know, I just realized something. Nick Cage’s girlfriend in the Rock was played by Vanessa Marcil, who had a child with Brian Austin Green. Transformers 1 & 2 star Megan Fox, who is engaged to Brian Austin Green. Maybe there’s some weird Wizard of Oz/Darkside of the Moon thing going on here (although I don’t know which one is which. And I don’t think I want to compare Michael Bay and Mr. David Silver to a classic film or Pink Floyd, but it’s early and I can’t come up with another weird cosmic coincidence.).
Anyway, Trans2 sounds like a feature length blipvert, and since the first one gave me a headache I’ll give this one a miss.
I still think The Island was pretty crappy.
Now for a “real” post.
I agree with you on Sirens. I had thought of picking it up, but while looking through it at the LCBS I thought, “You know the only good thing this book would be for is bad fap material; because I can find stuff online by armatures that would serve the purpose better and cheaper”.
I wish people would give Divas and Models a chance. I mean the books haven’t even fucking come out yet. Yes, the cover art doesn’t inspire hope that it will be good. Yes the ads don’t do anything to dissuade any of the negative comments. But given the title and a piece of cover art or two I wouldn’t have thought Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers or Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil would have been any good either and I would have been wrong. So, here’s to hoping that what Scavenger said is true.
I’m also calling bullshit on going to see TF2 because your date wanted to. I would sooner let some beefy guy kick me in the nuts, then ask for my number then get dragged to TF2. I would rather go see The Proposal then see another Michael Bay directed shittrain run roughshod over my childhood (and I hate that cliché). It should be im-fucking-possible to screw up “giant robots beat the metal shit out of each other”, but by God Michael Bay found a way. TWICE. I would have to assume my date was either brain dead or just hadn’t seen the first one.
Shit. That’s supposed to say ‘amateurs’ not “armatures”. Damn my spelling skills.
I still don’t know why people are talking about Transformers movies when all I’ve seen ia a substabdard Bay production of “Sam Whitwickey and his Robot Pals”. though apparently that deserved a sequal.
I don’t get why Bay didn’t take G.I. Joe instead given his crush on the military. Now he’s shitted on TF AND the Joe movie looks like total crap. The first movie was light entertainment.
The Island would have been good if Scarlet Johannson had been allowed to go topless by Bay.
The Island was good.
If Scarlett Johanson had been allowed to go topless? Then it would have been LEGENDARY
I think the best point in RotF was when John Turturro was lecturing the old Robot about structuring his stories.
ARE YOU LISTENING BAY!!!
I honestly didn’t know The Island was a remake. Certainly don’t remember reading it in any of the reviews I read. I guess I should check out the old version then.
Not so much a remake as a rip-off. Have Rifftrax done a commentary yet? It would be like a sequel for them.
Oh well Michael Bay has been whining some crap about how he’s giving up the action ‘genre’ – so be strong people, not long now.
The Island? Where the last bastion of humanity drinks Dasani (TM) water, plays Microsoft Virtual Arena (TM) and never leaves their room without first putting on their Puma (TM) sneakers?
On a completely different note, I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m the only one out there who thinks Greg Rucka is a mediocre writer at best.
Didn’t care for Detective, only good thing about it was Williams’ art. Batwoman just seems like DC decided to make a minority character and tie them in to one of their biggest franchises, and forgot to make her interesting in the process.
Maybe she’ll grow as the story progresses, but since it’s Rucka, I doubt it.
Yeah, Marvel Divas is by a very good writer and despite the cheesecakey cover art, the interior artist isn’t especially cheesecakey. I’m very much looking forward to it. I think the marketing smacks of Joe Q’s frat-boy attitude, but the actual book itself sounds very good.
Lister: I always speak the truth 🙂 (the preview is up at..Newsarama or CBR i think).
Kev: you only say that because she’s all lesbian with a menorah sitting out in her apartment for some reason.
The real reason I hated the Island had little to do with the movie.
I hated the Island because I knew the entire plot of the movie and had seen all the cool action shots before I entered the theater between a couple of trailers and late show guest appearances. All I got out of it was some shitty ad placement, and dialog.
I still don’t think it’s anything special though.