Blatantly Subliminal Advertising

(Buy comics! They're great!)

That time has come again - time to unload some comics, games, toys and other cool stuff. Just so you know in advance, this post is cleverly designed to subliminally persuade you to buy my comics and action figures at the upcoming Victoria's Ultimate Hobby and Toy Fair , April 1st @ the Pearkes Arena in Victoria BC, presented by Cherry Bomb Toys. I'm afraid resistance is futile against this particular Jedi mind trick.

(Cherry Bomb Toys is awesome!)

Rebel Alliance Canada lives again!! In case you haven't figured it out - Rebel Alliance Canada is pretty much just me - Andy. An 'Alliance of One', as it were.

(Andy of Rebel Alliance Canada is the coolest guy you will ever meet.)

I had the pleasure of selling at the last toy show in Victoria in  September, and this time around promises to be even better! It turns out that selling comics and stuff and going to conventions is just as much fun here on Vancouver Island as it was in Winnipeg. The faces may have changed, but there seems to be no shortage of sci-fi/comic geeks like myself out here. In fact, some of y'all put me to shame! Anyone reading this that is not able to make it to the show for geographical reasons (because you're like, in Winnipeg or the UK or something), I can forgive you. For those of you who live on Vancouver Island, you'd better have a damn good excuse for not being there!

(You want to buy as many toys and comics as you can... from Rebel Alliance Canada...)

In any case, here's a small sampling of some of the stuff that will be for sale at the show. After the show, whatever is left over is likely to end up on ebay, and I'm sure I'll let you know about that too...

(You want to buy every item on this page - from me.)

 Let's see... I've got some Silver Age DC's...

(Although not nearly as cool as Marvel Comics, DC Comics are still pretty bitchin'.)

I have a schwack-load of Savage Sword of Conan magazines...
(Conan is awesome - even nailed to a tree, he's still awesome. You wish you could be Conan.)

 

(Alliance of One is the best blog you have ever read.)

 

The Tantive IV

(You are a true Star Wars fan... you know what the Tantive IV is. You don't have one yet.)

  Godzillas to spare...

(Godzilla is the coolest rubber monster to ever walk the earth... You love Godzilla.)

 Tons of carded SW figs

(You will never have enough Star Wars figures - you need multiples of your favorites)

 

(He-Man Rules!)

 

 (You need a Pinnochio figure to complete your Shrek collection.)

 

(No price is too high to pay for your very own Captain Picard figure...)

 A staggering amount of loose figures... including but not limited to Marvel Legends, MacFarlane Toys, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Muppets, Star Trek, McDonald's Happy Meal toys, etc, etc... 

(You wish you owned every McDonalds Happy Meal toy from every movie you've ever liked. You will buy them at the Toy Fair. From me.)

Over 1000 great comics - Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image and more - Silver Age to Current - tons of blowout $1 comics...
(Rebel Alliance Canada has the best comics at the best prices anywhere. Marvel is still better than DC.)

Heroclix figures at $1 a pop...
(You want to play Heroclix - with figures you will buy from me.)

More Conan magazines and comics... I have so much Conan stuff right now that I think I'll be remembered as 'the Conan Guy'.
(You will bring a bag large enough to hold the 20+ lbs of awesome comics and toys you will buy from Rebel Alliance Canada. You especially love Conan the Barbarian.)

 I will have prints of my homemade comic Everyday Heroes for sale - autographed for free if you like...
(Everyday Heroes is the awesomest of all the awesome things available from Rebel Alliance Canada.)

But of course, there's lots of comics of all kinds... and toys of all kinds.
(The Avengers is coming to theaters very soon. You need to stock up on Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America comics so you'll know what's going on. You will purchase said comics from me.)

Instead of my listing everything for you, I think you'd get a better idea of what you can find available from Rebel Alliance Canada when you arrive at my table in the Pearkes Arena, April 1st at Victoria's Ultimate Hobby & Toy Fair.

(Ultimate Hobby & Toy Fair April 1st in Victoria. No moment in your life will ever be better than this day.)

You are coming, right? The hypnosis should have kicked in by now... 

May the Force be with you... 

(Sucker.)

Fist of the Samurai Schmuck

Once again, it's been what seems like an eternity between posts for me, but I don't like to put anything out there if I don't really have anything worthy to say. This time around, I'm going to pump out some quick movie reviews to hopefully get things going on this blog again, mostly just to let you know that I'm still here and I'm not dead or anything.

I've told you before that I am an avid Netflix watcher, and all but one of these films were viewed on there. I think I like the ability to instantly watch some obscure movie that I've always wanted to see but never wanted to pay for. Yes, I guess I am paying for it with my monthly subscription fee, but I can always turn off a movie that I don't like and start watching something else. There's enough stuff on there that I feel I could never be stuck without something worth watching.

(Once again, Netflix Execs can contact me and send payment for my advertising services at any time...)

Here are some notable films I've seen recently, good and bad:

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Kagemusha

Excellent film! I was impressed by Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, generally regarded as one of the best movies ever made, but I was equally blown away by Kagemusha, which was made some 26 years later with a much bigger budget. Now I am not by nature an 'artsy-fartsy' film fan, as a lot of fans of Kurosawa seem to be, but something is very cool about watching his movies... like I'm learning something about Japanese culture and history and being entertained at the same time. And who doesn't like watching movies about Samurai?

This film is about a thief who impersonates the Warlord Shingen after his death in order to keep his passing secret. He does it so well and resembles him so strongly that he manages to fool the enemy as well as members of his own household, who are utterly convinced that the imposter is truly Lord Shingen. I guess you could say it's kind of like the same story as Garfield:A Tale of Two Kitties, but there's no talking animals and no happy ending where Garfield and Odie go home with Jennifer Love Hewitt. In fact, it's sort of tragic and not really happy at all...

Visually, this is a very compelling movie - the sets and landscapes are all beautiful,  the costumes are elaborate and the battle scenes are epic and realistic. Kagemusha has the same slow and steady pacing that you'd expect from Akira Kurosawa, but I think this really allows one to feel immersed in the setting and fully absorb the weight of the situations presented in the story. Although I don't think I could accurately describe it to someone who's never seen this type of film before, I highly recommend it to anyone who actually likes to think while they're watching movies. It makes you feel smart for having watched it. There, I said it.

A+

Fist of the North Star

This actually made me feel dumber for having seen it. I honestly don't know what to say about this..... Wow. This is one of the weirdest and stupidest movies I've seen in a long time... The film is set in a post-apocalyptic (ie: Road Warrior -like) world where only the greatest martial artists and the most desperate peasants survive, and only one man can rise against the oppressive regime of the ruling Southern Cross Kung Fu school. So... basically, civilization as we know it depends solely on the 'Fist of the North Star', a guy who looks like the lead singer of a crappy 80's glam-metal band that can make people's heads and inner organs explode just by punching them rapidly and repeatedly in certain deadly pressure points. That's the jist of it. Yeah, there's some other stuff about avenging the dead father and fulfilling the one's destiny, yadda yadda... standard fantasy stuff.... whatever.

This straight-to-video monstrosity is based on what I'm told is a far superior manga epic by the same name. Maybe it's the live action aspect of it that doesn't translate so well... Perhaps it could be the poor acting by the lead characters, who seem to have been cast mostly for their martial arts prowess (Christopher Penn as an evil henchman is by far the best actor in this film, but his kung fu just isn't there...)... Maybe it's the low-budget, ridiculous-looking gore you see throughout the film.... Whatever. Who cares. It sucks. It sucks bad enough to be funny, but it's not funny enough to keep you watching it. I think I only made it about 3/4 of the way through this, so I guess this really isn't a qualified review. I suppose something drastic could have happened in the last 20 minutes to redeem the rest of this Hollywood hack job, but I wasn't about to stick around to find out. I guess you could put this on for a laugh if you're a sucker for terrible movies, but for God's sake, please don't pay for it!

D-

 

Dinner For Schmucks

Yes, it's as funny as you would expect. Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd are great together as usual, and Zach Galfiankis puts in a worthy cameo too. There's way too much crazy stuff in here to talk about, but let's just say that I almost wet myself several times. Being a fan of dioramas and miniature scenery, I'd have to say that one of my favorite things about the movie was Barry(Steve Carrell)'s dead mouse creations. Call me a schmuck if you will, but this is basically the same type of thing that I love to do with toys and action figures instead of mice...

Dinner For Schmucks follows a typical comedy movie template - ie: nice guy does something unusual or not so nice to get ahead in life with hilarious results, girlfriend leaves and/or everyone hates him, makes a big speech/heartfelt apology and everything turns out fine for the protagonist, and all the jerks get their comeuppance in the end. Oh well - we see comedies to laugh, not for the original or realistic plots. This film is full of funny people doing what they do best. Not the best comedy I've seen all year, but it's definitely worth a viewing.

B

Percy Jackson and the Olympians:

The Lightning Thief

I won't say much about this other than to give it the distinction of being a blatant American Harry Potter rip-off. The special effects are neat, and the Greek Mythology aspect is interesting, but the whole thing goes through the motions methodically, predictably and flat. Cool CGI monsters aside, it's all a bunch of blah-blah-blah epic world-saving magic sword/magic amulet/magic map/treasure hunt whatever. Seen it all before, just in different combinations and dressed up in different backgrounds and settings.

"You're a wizard, Harry!"

...no wait...

"You're a Demigod, Percy!"

C

 

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As you can see, I don't like everything, and I don't hate everything either. I have a big backlog of movies I want to review, but so little time to do it. Don't be surprised if it's another month between movie reviews - if in fact that is what you tuned in for.

 

BTW, if you came here looking for zany superhero antics, Everyday Heroes #5  is on the way and will follow shortly. Don't worry - this time around it won't be nearly as long as the last one...

 

Take care for now.

 

May the Force be with you...

Git R Done!

Okay - tons of stuff to blog about today...bear with me.

 First off, my hit counter just went over 1900, and that feels good. Less than 100 to close out the second millenium of posts! (I know it's not proper use of the word, but I love the word millenium - sounds so epic). Thanks again for reading! Normally, I get the most hits from Canada (being my Home and Native Land, eh) but this last month or so has seen far more views from the US. Thanks guys! I just want to say that, even though Americans sometimes get a bad rap on the world stage, I haven't met a single one that I didn't like, and I've been to your country about a bzillion times...I have seen a few on TV that I didn't like though.... Also a special shout out to all the people in other countries who visited. Some noteable ones include Russia, Denmark, Brazil, Netherlands, France and Slovenia. I wish I could say thank you in all your native languages, but that involves a lot of research for which I have no time. Thanks anyway! Unless, of course, you're just phishing or trying to spam me or steal my identity or something....in that case, please don't come back.

Just like everyone else, I found myself extremely busy over the Holidays, and thus haven't had a lot of free time to blog. Regardless, all of the family get-togethers and general good cheer all around me were well worth it. As a special side note to my relatives who came to spend their Holidays here in cold-ass Winnipeg, thanks again. Great seeing y'all! Shaken off that frostbite yet?

So let's take care of business. I want to talk about my toys, my comics and the movies I've seen. Since there's so much in every department, I'm going to skim over some highlights and try to cover as much as possible in one post. Here goes:

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Action Figures

I've got a lot of material for the next installment of Everyday Heroes, but I need a little time to actually put together the layout of the comic. I've already introduced some of the new cast members in my last post, but as a special sneak preview, here's some stuff you can expect to see in upcoming issues:

A new gang in town

Trouble in Springfield

A new Axis of Evil

A Silver Age Reunion

Sokka and Momo in Rehab

I'd show you more of what I'm working on, but that would ruin the suspense. (Trust me, it gets even stupider from here on in...)

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Comics

I've picked up over 200 new books in the last two months, and I've put a few of them up on EBay, but mostly I just want to show off some of my favorites.... such as:

Shogun Warriors #1

Not really a landmark series or a particularly valuable comic (although my copy of #1 is worth a few bucks in its condition), but Shogun Warriors is a comic that I grew up with. Remember those bagged 3-Paks of comics they sold in the 70s? No? Well, I do. That's right, I'm old. This comic was released in one of those but I can't remember what else came in the bag. I do remember that Marvel also packaged the first 3 issues of Star Wars in one of those 3-Paks.... and I think Micronauts too. Anyway, I have a few issues of Shogun Warriors, and I've always loved the series. It features great Herb Trimpe art and has giant robots and monsters in it. Its all good.

Devil Dinosaur #1

Roaring forth from the kooky 70s era of Jack Kirby classics comes Devil Dinosaur - an epic tale of hairy ape-men, raging dinos and alien invaders all struggling for power in a prehistoric world where science and simple logic haven't been invented yet. Pretty silly, but very cool if you can shut your brain off for a while. Not a very long running series (I think it only hit 9 issues or so), but it contains some of Kirby's best art since his Silver Age runs of Fantastic Four and Thor. I remember reading this way back when I was a wee lad - I still get tears in my eyes when I read Devil Dinosaur.

The Tomb of Dracula #16

I have a whole bunch of issues of this series, having only recently discovered it. This particular one has a very cool cover and a neat little story inside. I've always found Dracula to be a cheesy character, and he doesn't get much cheesier than this. Although the art in the series is good, I think it's the writing that really stands out in T.O.D. Sometimes its a little wordy, but this comic reads like no other Marvel title from its time. It doesn't have the rapid pacing of a superhero book, but its laid out like a true horror comic should be - full of great suspense and shocking revelations. Good build of the characters too - even if they all die before the end of the issue. Tomb of Dracula comics are hard to find and are of relatively high value. That being said, I have a whole bunch more issues in the FN to NM range that will be up for sale in upcoming months.

Daredevil #39

This one is up for auction RIGHT NOW! (Or at least until Sun. January 9th 2011 if you're reading this late.) I love the art in these old Daredevil issues - big panels full of colorful action. D.D. kicks ass in this one. I have about a half dozen Silver Age issues that are going to be listed on EBay very soon. #39 is a great example of the conditions that they are in - nice bright cover with little to no flaws and crisp clean pages - nothing below the FN (6.0) range. Keep an eye on my EBay store if you're interested in owning any of them.

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Movies

Despicable Me

Got this for X-Mas, and it turned out to be a little better than I expected. I love Steve Carell's accent in the movie, and Jason Siegel does a pretty good job of the voice over too. Also very touching with Gru's interaction with the three little girls and their bonding by the end. My kids loved it and it made them laugh a lot - good job Universal!

A-

Fubar

Caught this one on Netflix. I'd seen it when it first hit the video store in 2002, but by this time I'd forgotten just how funny it is. I swear I knew two guys exactly like Dean & Terry back in the day, and I even see a little bit of my teen/early 20s self in them, all of which makes it all the more hilarious. If you ever grew up as a 'banger' in Western Canada, you'd relate to this film....and you've probably already seen it and loved it. The whole 'mockumentary' format really works here. I can't wait to see the sequel!

B

Gremlins

Yeah, we've all seen it. I saw it for the first time in the theatre in 1984 and loved it, but grew a little tired of it by the time I'd hit my twenties. It's got all of the expected Spielbergian cuteness, sappiness, product placement, morality lessons and 'kids vs adults' dynamics to it, but it also has a surprising amount of colorful language, violence and goriness for its era and rating. I guess it just goes to show what Hollywood's top filmaker could get away with at the top of his game in the 80s... Just like Back to the Future and The Goonies, Gremlins presents us with a whole bunch of exaggerated one-dimensional characters in the adult roles while playing out all the younger characters as the diverse and intelligent ones in the story. All that aside, Gremlins is still quite a funny and imaginative film.... and we've got it on Blu-Ray, so I have to like it or I'll feel like I wasted the extra money.

...And there aren't too many other movies where you get to see a bunch of puppets smoking and drinking and flopping around like idiots... that is until we get to see The Muppets Take Las Vegas.

B+

Up

Great movie! Worthy of all the awards. Like all Pixar films, it's sad and heartwarming while being exciting and funny all at once. Dug the dog steals the show throughout, and Kevin the bird looks hilarious. Good use of the digital scenery and great detail in the animation. This is a wonderful film for both young and old alike. It really does make you feel good by the time its over. Just a shade less sad than Toy Story 3, but just as funny and entertaining.

A+

(You may have noticed that I don't give a lot of negative reviews for movies on my blog. This is mainly because I'm so picky with movies and have so little time to write about them that only the really noteworthy stuff gets through. I highly recommend you read My Year in Movies if you want to get a more objective opinion on a more diverse selection of movies than you'll find here. That blog belongs to friend of mine who knows a lot more about movies and filmmaking than I do.)

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Okay, I guess that'll do it for today. I think I covered a grat deal of material in just one post. I'll consider it an honor if you've actually read this far... I'm impressed by your stamina. Stay tuned for more soon!!

May the Force be with you...

Stumblin' Through the Flix

If you were hoping for some more zany action figure comic strips this time around, sorry to disappoint you. I do have a life, you know... As much as I love doing stuff like that, it is somewhat time-consuming, and time is a valuable commodity for me, especially during this holiday season. I don't want my blog to become a barren wasteland (though it might already be so intellectually), so I've got to write something. Movie reviews are always a good filler...

My wife just recently set us up with Netflix to play through our Nintendo Wii, and while I don't want to endorse either of these companies too heavily since they're not paying me anything (yet), I have to say that I'm more than happy with it so far. I don't see a lot of newer stuff on there - certainly not as much as you'd see in the local video store - but while browsing, I've stumbled upon a whole boatload of great movies and TV shows that I probably wouldn't see otherwise, unless I was specifically looking for them, which I wouldn't if I had to pay minimum $3 a pop to see them on DVD.

Here are a few of the movies I've seen on Netflix lately. I've also watched a lot of television shows (mostly cartoons), but talking about those would fill another blog post entitrely...


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SEVEN SAMURAI

A lot of people have obviously reviewed this film before me - this is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. Not my #1 favorite film ever, but it definitely ranks up there among my Top Ten. I just saw it for the first time recently and I'm scolding myself for waiting so long to see it. In case you didn't know, Seven Samurai is also known for being the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven, which is considered to be one of the best Western films of all time. (Unfortunately however, Mag. Seven in turn was the inspiration for Battle Beyond the Stars, arguably one of the worst Science Fiction movies ever made....).

Released way back in 1954, it's a classic storyline, and a great period piece. Seven Samurai also happens to have been produced by Toho Studios, the company that also brought us Gojira (better known to North American audiences as Godzilla, King of the Monsters) that very same year. What I noticed right away was that several of the actors involved in S.S. also appear in the latter as well, and keep re-appearing in many more (awesome) Godzilla films.

I realize that the above picture actually only shows six Samurai, but trust me - there are seven, even though the first guy gets killed relatively early on. The film tells the story of the poor peasants of a small village in feudal Japan who go to the city to seek out the assistance of Samurai to protect them from constant harassment by marauding bandits. Along the way, we meet a whole slew of interesting characters; far too many to mention here. Let's just say its a great 'ensemble cast' all working towards a common goal, a technique later emulated in countless other films to this very day, such as The Dirty Dozen, Magnificent Seven, Armageddon, Oceans Eleven (and Twelve and Thirteen), A Bug's Life, Star Wars, etc, etc....

I can't say enough about this movie. I am by no means a professional movie reviewer, but I think any film critic would agree that Seven Samurai remains to this day one of the greatest and certainly most influential films ever made. Do yourself a favor; turn off that stupid vampire sequel and watch a real  movie.

A+

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MEGASHARK vs GIANT OCTOPUS

OK, so this one is definitely not one of the greatest film ever made. This would perhaps be somewhere near the other end of the spectrum. That being said, I am a giant monster (or Kaiju) movie lover as well as a fan of campy films, so this is right up my alley.

As an intentionally 'so bad its funny' movie, it totally succeeds. The actors appear to be taking it all so seriously, even when spewing out the ridiculous, pseudo-scientific dialogue. The effects are intentionally horrible (the shark eating the Golden Gate Bridge shot is about as realistic-looking as it gets), and the plot makes little to no sense. A lot of shots are recycled over and over in the movie and the sets look like they were all filmed in the same room, just re-arranged. Megashark vs Giant Octopus also stars Deborah "Debbie" Gibson in the lead role. I was never a fan of her music, but I think she did pretty well for this movie. It must be hard to prove yourself as an actor in a film where your acting is supposed to be terrible. Oh, and Lorenzo Lamas. Let's not forget him...

On the flip side, as a giant monster film....... it's waaaayyyy disappointing. There's far too few scenes of the two title creatures, and what there is is hard to make out and mostly looks like two ugly puppets flopping around in the dark, or the lowest of low-grade CGI work... Sure, old Kaiju movies like Godzilla and Gamera look fake too, but at least we get to see a lot more of the monsters. I was expecting just a tad more in this department from MSvsGO.

Megashark vs Giant Octopus was the first movie we watched when we got Netflix. I was just that excited to see it. Overall, I guess it's sort of funny, but not 'monstery' enough for my liking.

C+

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KUNG FU HUSTLE

Now this - this is funny. It's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Looney Tunes. There's a lot of truly amazing martial arts going on here, backed up by some really cool effects, extreme acting and crazy jokes. The action is completely over the top and super-fun. And did I mention that it's funny? ...It's like almost "s**t your pants" funny.

The storyline is pretty far-fetched but cool, all about Kung Fu masters and gangsters in 1940's China. Written and directed by Stephen Chow, this is sort of a follow-up to the hugely successful Shaolin Soccer, which is also "s**t your pants" funny. Personally, I preferred this one, mostly because of the Landlady (pictured above). She's got to be the best charater in this film by far. Since I highly recommend this movie and don't want to give anything away to those who haven't seen it, let's just say that she steals the show. Look at her picture again - you don't f**k with that lady...

The movie loses a bit of steam around the end, but that's only because you were so blown away with awesomeness earlier in the film that the awesome ending loses impact.

I love this movie! If only there were more like it!! It's no Seven Samurai, but it's the second-best movie I've seen on Netflix so far. BTW, Kung Fu Hustle is subtitled, so if you don't like to read while you watch movies or don't like foreign movies at all, then too bad - it's your loss.

Dirty pants aside, it deserves a solid A

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So that's all I got for ya today. Take care and Happy Holidays!!

...and as always,

May the Force be with you...

Evil Cats, Shouting Germans and Peasant-Punching

I haven't seen a ton of movies lately, but here's a few that I saw recently. Before you read any of my movie reviews, you should know that my favorite three movies of all time are The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the King and Destroy All Monsters. I also have two young kids, so I watch and enjoy a lot of cartoons and kids movies. Hopefully that'll put things in perspective for you....

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DAS EXPERIMENT

I wouldn`t call myself a fan of foreign films, but I enjoy them occasionally. I never have a problem with subtitles like a lot of folks do - I think people just don`t want to read anything other than textspeak anymore...In fact, if a movie is filmed in a language other than English, I would prefer to see a subtitled rather than dubbed version. (Maybe not all of the time - in Godzilla movies, the bad dubbing actually makes it all the more fun.) Anyway, let`s just say that I normally don`t go out of my way to see many non-English language movies, even though they are usually far more original, at least from my point of view. This certainly was pretty ``out there``....

In case you didn`t know, Das Experiment is the original German movie that inspired the recently released American film appropriately titled The Experiment, starring Adrian Brody. (I haven`t seen that one and didn`t even know of it`s existence when I watched the German one.) The story is about a social experiment in a mock prison environment. The volunteers are seperated into groups of inmates and guards, and are pretty much left alone to figure things out, all the while being monitored by surveillance cameras. Basically, things go wrong - horribly wrong. After only a few days there emerges a bitter power struggle between the two groups that results in torture, humiliation, severe beatings and the deaths of several participants. Was the experiment a complete failure - or a resounding success? (I think I stole that line from the back cover of the DVD)

Certainly, the filmakers succeed in creating an intense thriller that passes from being psychological into being more than a little psychotic - a rousing tale of sadism, violence, domination and other nasty human tendencies. .....Well, okay, so it's not Saw or anything, but it seems far more real to me and that's what makes it far better (I am not a fan of the Saw films, BTW). Das Experiment is in fact based on a an actual experiment conducted at Stamford University in 1971 (read about it here). I highly recommend this movie, and I`m sure the American version is probably pretty good too - but it likely doesn`t have a bunch of angry Germans yelling in it. Somehow that makes Das Experiment that much more intense.  

A-

(minus because it`s a little disturbing)

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SKYLINE

It`s Independence Day (without the All-Star cast) meets Cloverfield (without the shaky camcorder video) meets Dawn of the Dead (without Zombies) meets War of the Worlds (without Tom Cruise). That last one`s not really a detraction; I prefer most of my movies to be without Tom Cruise (insert rimshot). There`s no real surprises here. It fairly easy to recognize all of the standard elements of the Sci Fi/Horror/Monster genre present in Skyline, but there's nothing in this film that we haven't seen before, except the actors....

At least it has gigantic, freaky-looking alien monsters in it. That's always a plus for me.

C+

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TIME BANDITS

I have always been a fan of Terry Gilliam's films. His  name is synonymous with dark, dirty-looking fantasy imagery and an irreverently silly sense of humor that could only have developed within the bowels of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Although not one of his best films, Time Bandits is a good example of his early post-Python work.

It's about a little British boy who's generally ignored by his parents and a little unhappy with his life, finding solace in the pages of ancient history books. Six dwarves suddenly appear through a dimensional vortex in his bedroom one night, being pursued by the Supreme Being. The boy gets swept up with them and whisked through time, meeting noteable historical figures such as Robin Hood (played by John Cleese), Napoleon (Ian Holm) and Agamemnon (Sean Connery).  Along the way, the group is also pursued by Evil (the bad guy - that`s his name) and must confront him in the end.

It`s not ROTFLOL funny - it`s a little dry, but witty, like most Brit comedy and Python-related material in particular - but it holds up alright. Not nearly as good as the later produced Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but still better and more lighthearted than the pointlessly bizarre Tideland.

Best scene in the movie: Robin Hood and his band of Merry Peasant-Punching Men.


B+


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CATS & DOGS : Revenge of Kitty Galore

Basically, this film is mostly-CGI dogs and cats voiced by well-known actors playing out a pseudo-Bond/Spy Kids sort of mission. It may sound really lame to an adult, but its good for the kids and watchable enough for mom and dad. I must say that I prefered the first Cats & Dogs to this one. They`re both cheesy, but I enjoyed them both, being a confessed long-time fan of talking animal movies. (Yes, I`ve even seen both Garfield movies...) I liked that they brought back Mr. Tinkles in this one (the supreme evil cat from the the first movie), but his Silence of the Lambs tribute scene is a little questionable for a kids movie.

 That being said, evil cats are funny. C`mon - they just are.


B


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That's all I got for you right now. I'm going to be working on some action figure photos and comic pages this week, so stay tuned for some fun stuff!

May the Force be with you...

Filling the Void...

Well....my Star Wars Miniatures collection is now gone. *sniff* *sob* They sold for a nice fair price on EBay to a lucky fella in the US and I just dropped the parcel at the post office this morning. Godspeed, little minis! I hope you like your new home! I hope your new owner takes good care of you, and takes you out to play often.....

(Thanks to everyone for their interest and to everyone who bid on the auction BTW)

As I said before, I`ve held on to the complete first set (Rebel Storm) for nostalgic purposes....I`m hoping that someday I can get my wife to play nightly games of Star Wars Minis when we`re retired and driving around in our behemoth RV... I`m sure I`ll have to watch a whole lot of Sandra Bullock movies and go to a lot of craft shows until then to get her to agree to that....

So what do I do now? What will fill the void left behind now that Star Wars Miniatures is gone? Well, I do have a few ideas....

GUILD WARS

I picked up this game about 3 weeks ago....and I'm frightened by it. This is my first experience with online gaming (other than Boggle Bash and Scrabble) and I'm afraid that I'll get eaten alive by twelve year-olds and hackers. I've only created one character so far, and I think I'm like 2nd or 3rd level after about 5 hours of playing time. It seems really awesome, but I really need to learn the controls better if I expect to get anywhere in the game without dying every 5 minutes. No, the picture above is not from me - I'm not quite at the 'Dragonslaying' stage just yet. (My apologies to whoever owns this image for my using it without consent, but it's an awesome picture, and it's not like I'm taking credit for it or making any money off of it.) Definitely not me - I'm still having trouble fighting giant worms that pop out of the ground and stand still in one spot - I'm a Newbie, through and through. Also, I can't type fast enough to chat with anyone in-game....they just walk away when I'm still typing.

Be that as it may, it seems to me like it'll be worth the struggle to play it. The graphics are amazing and the possibilities seem endless. I'd comment on the storyline, but so far I'm so overwhelmed with new information that I have no idea what's going on in the story......if there even is one. All of the mini-quests that I've accepted and/or completed are pretty standard fantasy story stuff but I've got no complaints - that's what I signed up for. 

But of course, who has time for video games when you've got all this other cool stuff to do....

For example:

HEROCLIX

Although I've always been interested in Heroclix and even own a handful of figs, I have never played a game. I've skimmed over the rules and it seems pretty straightforward like SWM - basically move and attack and roll to hit - but with six-sided instead of twenty-sided dice. Instead of the Star Wars motif, we're dealing with comic book characters, so this is an acceptable trade-off for me. I believe that the two types are interchangeable, but I think I would prefer to invest in the MARVEL instead of DC Heroclix. There's also HORRORCLIX as well, but I'm not so into that and I hear it doesn't adapt directly to the other games. Of course, I`ll have to start buying into another collectible miniatures game that makes you spend all your money chasing after the rarest and best figures.....it would be just like Star Wars Miniatures, and the whole thing`ll start all over again...

Whatever. I just want to see Wolverine dukin`it out with Howard the Duck amongst the smoldering ruins of Asgard.

`Nuff said!

(click on image above to view larger)

COMIC LIFE

And, speaking of geeky comic book weirdness, I just got an awesome program (Comic Life) that allows you to easily create comic book-style pages with your photos. This opens up a whole new world for me and my toy photography. What you see above is my very first go at it with a bunch of old photos that you've probably seen on my blog countless times already...of course with the same jokes too. That says two things:  1) I really need to take some new pictures...and  2) I really, really need new jokes.

The program is so easy that a child could use it - and they do. I actually learned about it from a teacher that uses it in her class for assignments...

Man, I wish I had this when I was a kid... but then again, when I was a kid, most computers took up an entire room and only printed in dot matrix... When I was a kid, I used to hand draw a lot of comic book 'masterpieces' and even though the artwork was crude (as was the humor) it still took forever to make a single page. Now I can just drag and drop my photos right in to the templates and type in voice bubbles wherever I want! Although it may seem like no big whoop to you...this program is definitely going to see a lot of use from yours truly.

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There are a lot more other things that I could/should do with my time now that I won't be playing SWM anymore (well, I'll still play, but certainly not as often), and I'll highlight some of those things on upcoming blogs. I should probably focus on my photo business and website (Rebel Alliance Photo), but the in and outs of wedding and portrait photography aren't really all that fun to write about. I'll of course be featuring more comics and action figures again soon, and I'll get back to some more movie reviews too - once I actually get to see some more movies...

That's it for today. Take care, and thanks again for listening.

May the Force be with you...

5 Comics to Read Before You Die (The Comic Book Bucket List Part 1)

I guess you could call this "The Comic Bucket List".....You know....like the movie The Bucket List (which I've yet to see)....the two old guys who decide to do all the things on their lists of things to do before they 'kick the bucket'. This post is not so much about the things that I accomplish before I reach my deathbed.....but what I'll be reading on my deathbed. I vow to have a big stack of comics right beside me as I pass over into the Great Beyond - maybe even a longbox full of comics tucked under said deathbed....just in case I want to skim through Secret Wars before I croak.

Seriously though, this is an attempt to present a few of my all-time favorite comics and recommend them to you (highly). Since I've read so many great ones, it's impossible to list all of them in one post, so I'll highlight them a few at a time, starting with these ones right here today.

 I'll start with a 'Canadian Classic':



ALPHA FLIGHT # 23

Truth be told, this comic doesn't come from Canada at all, but at least writer/artist John Byrne actually lived in Canada and all of the stories take place here....and at least one major character gets to say 'eh' all the time, eh?  I've spouted off plenty about Alpha Flight and Sasquatch before, and I don't feel like repeating myself (yeah....like I never do that). If you are really dying to know more about this awesome comic title and Sasquatch in particular, check out this previous post,  Marvel Legends - Sasquatch . I'm pretty sure there's a full synopsis of this issue in there.....

Let's just say it's all about two giant bigfoots(feets?) laying the smackdown in downtown Vancouver. Throw in a hot Quebecois girlfriend with a multiple personality disorder and a Dwarf in a wetsuit and you've got a rollicking good time, eh?

ROCKET RACCOON Limited Series (1985) # 1-4

Although I had erroneously stated in a previous post that Rocket Raccoon was first introduced in The Incredible Hulk #271 in 1982 (see Bronze Age Keys  from a little while back), I just read that his first appearance was actually in 1976 in Marvel Preview #7. So I was wrong...sue me. None of that matters, because the Rocket Raccoon  limited series in 1985 was the pinnacle of Rocky's career in my humble opinion.

Like I said before, this isn't for everyone, but I found it to be an excellent read, and the artwork by Mike Mignola (later famous for Hellboy, of course) is fantastic. It's a silly-looking comic that actually takes itself pretty seriously and manages to pull it off. I preferred the limited series over Rocky's Hulk appearances, since we didn't have the Hulk as an earth-based counterpoint, and it takes place entirely within it's own universe. I guess that makes it more 'believable' to me...and easier to accept a gunslinging, robot-fighting bipedal talking raccoon....and let's not forget the otter and rabbit and walrus either.

READ IT! BEFORE YOU DIE!!

AMBUSH BUG Limited Series (1985) # 1-4

Early on in my comic collecting life, I was a bit of a DC hater. I didn't actually know why, I just knew that Marvel comics were cooler. Maybe I just couldn't forgive the cheesiness of The Superfriends and the 60's Batman TV show (and let's not forget the Shazam! show...). It took me a while to get over my fear of DC comics... I think Saga of the Swamp Thing #1 was my actual first DC Comic purchase, but then I eventually got wise to Vigilante and then the greatest DC non-superhero of all time: Ambush Bug.

This limited series is jam-packed full of jokes, many of which I didn't understand, since they were about characters and situations in the DC Universe that I knew little to nothing about. This comic is DC's way of making fun of itself, and that obviously appealed to me. I found myself actually wanting to know more about Superman & Batman & Wonderwoman and the like, just so I could get the jokes in Ambush Bug. That being said, I wasn't going to risk wasting my money buying more DC comics while the Secret Wars limited series was going on... Besides the abovementioned titles, I didn't buy many DCs at all until this millenium (sounds like a really long time when you use the word 'millenium').

Anyway, Ambush Bug rules because he's basically aware of his audience and his place in the fictional comic book world....and constantly refers to us readers as 'fanboy'. His sidekick is a seemingly inanimate, super-cutesy doll in a homemade super-suit named Cheeks the Wonder Toy. His arch-enemy is Argh!Yle! an evil, sentient sock who wears a Dr. Doom-like iron mask. Ambush Bug himself has only one real power - teleportation. This allows him to basically disappear and reappear wherever it's funniest to do so.

Overall, one of the stupidest comic series that I've ever read....followed closely by the Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer #1 (X-mas 1985) and the Son of Ambush Bug limited series (1986). There's also the recently produced Ambush Bug-Year None limited series which sort of recaptures the stupidity of the original. Rest assured there are a lot more stupid Ambush Bug appearances...all of which I'll hopefully read before the final curtain....

By now, one might assume that all I like are silly comics, but you couldn't be more mistaken. Case in point:

ELRIC-The Sailor on the Seas of Fate # 1-7

I love the writings of Michael Moorcock. His books are always full of violence and gore and the occasional bit of sex. Pretty raunchy for the fantasy genre. He has produced a lot of great characters, including Prince Corum, Hawkmoon and Jerry Cornelius....but his greatest and most well-known character has to be Elric of Melnibone - the gaunt, brooding albino anti-hero, who (with the help of the sentient, soul-stealing black sword Stormbringer) feeds off of the life energy of his opponents. He's kind of evil, but usually finds himself combating far greater evils and protecting the innocent as well as those few he can call 'friend'. Initially unknown to Elric, his life is all part of the cycle of the Eternal Champion...as are Corum, Hawkmoon and Erekose...all of whom he meets in this limited series (adapted from the novel of the same name) and allies himself with.

The comic book adaptation is done by Roy Thomas and Michael T. Gilbert. Very well done, in fact. Being a 'Mature Readers Only' comic, you could always expect a good level of gore, and at least you could catch a glimpse or two of some boobies in comic book form every month (this was, of course, very important at age 13). I can't remember if I actually read these comics or the novels first. There are comic book adaptations of at least six Elric novels that I know of, and I don't know what order I read either the comics or books in. Sailor on the Seas of Fate is my favorite, and The Vanishing Tower is a close second.

When it comes to 'swords and sorcery' type fantasy, Elric has to be my favorite character. No disrespect, but he's so not Conan.

GODZILLA - King of the Monsters # 1 (Marvel 1977)

I just couldn't go any further without mentioning Godzilla. I am a die-hard G-fan for life and appreciate Godzilla in all his forms, the 70's Marvel version being no exception. He's more like the real Japanese Godzilla in this than in the  Godzilla animated series from roughly the same era, and certainly more than the disappointing 1998 Hollywood production, but still not quite the same. According to this comic, he appears in Alaska and then makes his way across the western United States and somehow finds his way to New York City. Along the way he encounters many Marvel Universe icons, like S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers...and less iconic characters such as Dr. Demonicus and the Champions. While it's nice to see Big G battling Thor and Hercules, it just doesn't feel quite right. Instead of blue radiation beams, Godzilla apparently spews actual flames from his mouth. He also looks a lot more lizard-like and leaner than his Toho counterpart. Still, it's great fun to see how America would deal with this walking natural disaster instead of seeing the same old crowd scenes of Japanese people running around in utter panic. (And there's no horrible voice-over dubbing in the printed version either.)

If you call yourself a giant monster fan at all, you absolutely need to own this comic. Next to Alpha Flight # 23 , this is the one comic I wish I could take with me to the next world when I die. I'm hoping they'll at least allow for carry-on luggage so I can take more than one...

If that is the case...y'all better start packing! Don't forget to include these titles on your Comic Book Bucket List, and stay tuned for some more essential reading!


Until Next time,

May the Force be with you...