THE MONUMENTS MEN Film Review

THE MONUMENTS MEN

Well, THE GREAT ESCAPE this ain't.

It ain't OCEAN'S ELEVEN either. 

So, I hope you aren't planning to see it because you liked either of those classics.  The movie is technically well done. The details are good. The actors all are well-coiffed and moussed all spiffy in their uniforms.  The scenes are framed well. The cast is spectacular.

And yet....it plods along as dull as dull can be and thematically all over the map.  Even the soundtrack seems schizophrenic like it can't figure out what the tone of the movie is supposed to be.  Is it supposed to be clever and quirky? Is it supposed to be light and funny?  Is it supposed to be serious and emotional? Is it supposed to be sad and thought-provoking?  Is it supposed to be a rah-rah pro-America propaganda piece?

It's actually all of those things at various times with the rah-rah pro-America propaganda piece front and center most of the time.  Apparently, Uncle Sam is the only trustworthy country in the whole of the world to take the art of other countries and actually return the pieces to their rightful owners. 
It's not that the movie is bad.  It's not bad.  It's just not any better than middling good.  None of the actors really gets a chance to really create a character who is memorable; well, except maybe for Bob Balaban and his character.  Part of that is how the film is cut together in such a way that I could tell I was supposed to care about these guys but didn't spend enough time getting to know them so that when "war" stuff starts happening and the art-saving plot kicks into high gear I'm just not invested in them as people.  It's a bit of a crime that Bill Murray is restrained so much here rather than letting him and Balaban just start riffing off each other improvisationally and create a memorable duo out of their pairing.

Everyone is likeable and all, but...aw hell, this thing should've been so much better. George Clooney's directing was lackluster with no panache and his performance was stilted and flat.  I compare this to the performance Alfonso Cuarón was able to get out of him in GRAVITY and I'm tempted to say maybe Clooney shouldn't be directing himself again anytime soon.

I appreciated the efforts to save the paintings and statues that the Nazis were hoarding and I appreciate that Clooney and his crew all obviously worked really hard to tell this story.  It's an interesting story.  I wish the manner in which the story was told had been as interesting.

I think I understand why the studio released it in February rather than, say, during the Oscars run near the end of the year.  The biggest problem with a mediocre film like this is that it will just politely disappear out of the public's memories fairly quickly.

★★★ out of ★★★★★

VAMPIRE ACADEMY Film Review

   

VAMPIRE ACADEMY

Have you ever wondered what you would get if you took a little bit of HARRY POTTER, mixed it with BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, tossed in a dash of TWILIGHT, VAMPIRE DIARIES, and BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, then wrapped it all up in a CLUELESS tortilla?

No? Well, I suspect it would be something a lot like this movie I just watched.

I'll admit, I really just went to see it because I knew my daughter would be into it (vampires and teen angst are her movie bread and butter). And I will also say that the opening few scenes are so exposition-heavy I was starting to doubt whether I could sit through it. I have a hard time with films that start out with lengthy exposition. To me it is like a clanging gong to tell me that this screenplay is going to suck, otherwise they would find a way to tell me this information organically through the story.

So, yes, this is not the greatest script in the world. Do not go into it expecting....say....something on par with William Goldman's brilliant script for THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

However, this film has something going for it. It has a cast of extraordinarily charming and likeable young actors that make even the most cringe-inducing dialogue (of which there is some) not only tolerable but increasingly interesting as the movie putts along.

The story involves a not-so-complicated mythology about a sub-society in our world of good vampires, evil vampires, guardians of the good vampires, and some sort of not-werewolves but psy-hounds (I'm assuming that's how you spell it). There is a Hogwarts-style school for the vampire kids (hence the title of the movie) and we have a royal teen vampire princess and her bff guardian, Rose who start out on the run but get returned to the school at the beginning of the movie. And that's about all you really need to know. Time for some love, betrayal, intrigue, action, and some subdued scenery chewing by Gabriel Byrne (as opposed to Jeremy Irons chewing up the scenery and spitting it back out only to chew it right back up last year in BEAUTIFUL CREATURES)

The biggest kink in the potential success of this film probably will be owed to the fact that it came off more to me like an extended episode of a TV show and less like a big-budget film franchise. For that, I'll have to fault the director. But I would be lying if I didn't say it was better than I expected. In fact, I really enjoyed it. They could have definitely used a Joss Whedon script polish job, but it was still fun and I laughed and liked the characters and would be interested in seeing the next installment as it ends on a slight cliffhanger.

★★★ out of ★★★★★

NEBRASKA Film Review

NEBRASKA

Before discussing this film, I wanted to say a few comments about the last week or so in embarking on my Movie-Pocalypse.

It's an interesting thing about the usual disconnect between the Hollywood elites and the general public that often amounts to a lot of grousing around the time of the Academy Awards. I know that in the last 20 years or so, most years I find I have either seen only 1 or 2 Best Picture nominees and even some years where I have seen literally non...e of them. And as my friends and family know, I see a lot of movies. I love movies. But quite often what garners the attention of the Academy somehow runs contrary to my own tastes and/or interests.

This year is an exception.

This year is one in which I am interested in seeing every single one of the Best Picture nominees. As a result of that, it has been intentional to frontload this first run with MoviePass with screenings of the Nominees I had not already seen.

In the past week or so I've seen JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT, HER, I FRANKENSTEIN, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, THE BOOK THIEF, AMERICAN HUSTLE, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, and tonight NEBRASKA. Four of these are Best Picture nominees. JACK RYAN, THE BOOK THIEF, AUGUST, and FRANKENSTEIN are not. However, BOOK THIEF and AUGUST both are up for Academy Awards in other categories.

Here's what's interesting, when going to see the four Best Picture nominess (plus AUGUST) my wife and I were literally the only people in the theater. The ONLY people. And yet, by contrast the I FRANKENSTEIN screening was a sell-out.

There is something seriously wrong when these amazing movies starring some of the greatest actors of this generation giving performances that are on levels rarely ever achieved on film. These are sublime movies that are as good as every other great classic award winners of the past. And there we sit in empty theaters while we fight for a seat to see one of the stupidest and lousiest turds ever to grace a movie screen.

This world is seriously topsy-turvy.

On to NEBRASKA though. An excellent movie. I went into it completely cold. I had no idea what it was about at all. I only knew it had Bruce Dern in it and something about the black and white simplicity of the movie poster generated a desire in me to see it.

The movie is very simply about an elderly man (Bruce Dern) teetering on the brink of dementia obsessed with redeeming one of those bogus "You've Won $1 Million Dollars" letters. He sets off on a road trip with his youngest son (Will Forte) to drive to Lincoln, Nebraska to "redeem" that letter.

Along the way, the movie turns into a peek inside all of our lives and our families and examines the choices that we make (and don't make) and how they impact us in the present. Everyone who has ever gone and hung out with distant relatives they only see every decade or so is going to be uncomfortable sympathetic with Forte's character, Dan.

Speaking of Forte, both he and Bob Odenkirk who plays his older brother, are unexpectedly exceptional in this film. Whoever thought to cast against type for these two was inspired. In fact, the casting for this movie was brilliant all the way through.

This movie, while deeply affecting is also quite simple on the surface. I also laughed out loud a number of times. There is great humor in here but all of it is real and occurs organically from the characters and the moments. The beautiful black and white cinematography and the minimalist score enhance the reality of every moment making it all the more effective.

Simply wonderful.

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB Film Review

 

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

Another riveting Oscar-nominated film that is justified in all the accolades it is receiving. 

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB tells the true story of Ron Woodroof (an astounding performance by Matthew McConaughey), a straight rodeo cowboy who found himself diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live in 1985.  What follows is a sad but gripping story as he scrambles in desperation to combat this death sentence.  Caught in the midst of the gray line between "unapproved by the FDA" and "illegal" he seeks out treatments that did not fit within the approach the mainstream medical community was willing to indulge.

Set right smack dab in the middle of the AIDS hysteria of the '80s, the film perfectly captures the horrific shock and realization of Woodroof and the paranoid reactions from the rest of the world.  He finds himself drawn into the only culture that is able to accept him, that of the AIDS-stricken gay culture of Dallas.  Ron's friendship with transsexual AIDS patient "Rayon" (Jared Leto) becomes the heart of the film as we see the self-loathing, self-destructive, homophobic Ron embark on a business venture with Rayon.  Together they start selling monthly memberships in a "Club" that would then provide alternative supplements to the hopelessly growing segment of AIDS sufferers let down by the dismal early testing results of AZT.

There is a bit of a preachiness in the negative attitude towards the FDA and it's strong-arm tactics in shutting down any attempts to approach the epidemic with out-of-the-box thinking.  However, the whole of the film is so well-done and the acting by Leto and McConaughey really elevates this film to that Oscar level.

This is a powerful film, and not as utterly depressing as I expected it to be going in, and will stick with you afterwards.

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★

AMERICAN HUSTLE Review

 

 

AMERICAN HUSTLE

 

There really should be a special Golden "Globes" award for Amy Adams cleavage in this movie (see pic below).

I loved this film. There only a couple of minor nits I would pick in terms of directoral choices that didn't work for me, but it is just so captivating and interesting. The actors all dig down deep and give honest and deep characterizations. And while I joke about Amy Adams' lustrously freely flopping cleavage, she was seriously acting her ass off in this movie.

I was just a kid during the ABSCAM sting operation by the FBI in the late 70s (where they videotaped public officials accepting bribes from a fictitious Arab Sheik), so I really didn't know any of the details. Even though this film is fictional with composites and original characters filling in for most of the players, the broad strokes of the operation are laid out clearly.

This is a movie where there are no heroes or villains. Everyone has their flaws but also their charms. Really, when you think about it, from the opening sequence to the end what AMERICAN HUSTLE is about is exploring our human tendency to concoct and present false personas to the world around us and how we justify doing it. Not a single person involved in this operation is being true to others or to themselves. They are all either manipulating others or being manipulated (or both) and what is truth becomes ever more malleable as they get deeper and deeper into it.

It is not an easy trick to pull off a 70s-era piece like this where each character is a caricature but because of the skilled depth of the acting, they come off as real and believable -- people you become invested in. The humor of the movie is mostly centered around the obviously over-the-top 70s-era clothing and hairstyles, which given the context of this film also fits with the theme of exploring the facades that people project to the world (and even to themselves).

Oh, I almost forgot to give a special shout-out to Jeremy Renner for his performance as Camden, NJ mayor "Carmine Polito." Trust me, you will love him. I almost wish he were real.

★★★★ out of ★★★★★

 

THE BOOK THIEF Film Review

 

 

THE BOOK THIEF

Excuse me. *sniffle* I promise you it's just allergies. 
That's why my eyes have tears leaking out of them.

Allergies.

It has nothing to do with getting emotionally swept up in this beautifully haunting movie.

Seriously, though, this is the first movie of the year to bring me to tears.  Based on a best-selling novel of the same name, THE BOOK THIEF tells the story of Liesel a young German girl sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany. She learns to read with encouragement from her new family and Max, a Jewish refugee who they are hiding under the stairs.  The film mainly covers the span of the second World War from the point where Hitler marched into Austria to the liberation of Germany by Allied forces.

What unfolds during that time is a sympathetic peek into the daily lives of German families in a small village during the war.  It is unique to me in that respect. Most World War 2 films focus more on the war than on the interpersonal dynamics of families in the lesser-known smaller villages. 
Within this canvas, the director paints a very real picture of love and fear; life and death.  I came to really love and care about these people which is a testament to the directing and the acting as I am cynical enough to have had a bit of a defensive wall in place going in that was expecting a predictable and preachy movie.

However, from the opening shot from above of a smoke-puffing passenger train chugging through the angelic snow-covered landscape while a mesmerizing narration by a personified "Death", I was hooked.

The script is smart and perceptive. The actors, across the board, are incredible but especially the lead actress who plays Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) and her foster parents Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa (Emily Watson).  I fell in love with Hans from the first moment his soulfully wise and loving eyes appeared on screen. The chemistry between Rush and Nélisse was strong and completely believable. 
I could relate to Liesel and her overwhelming desire to learn to read and to go to any lengths to get books. I could relate to Max and his need to think and interpret the world through metaphorical interpretation. I could relate to Hans and his absolute and instant parental love and protection of his "Princess". 

Aw hell, I'm tearing up again just writing this.

You should go see this movie.  It will stick with me forever and I bet it does you too.

★★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★

I, FRANKENSTEIN Review

 

I, FRANKENSTEIN

You know what you get when you take pile of stupid and add in a little stupid then wrap it in a stupid tortilla? You get this insipid, but modestly entertaining for its unintentional hilarity, film called I, FRANKENSTEIN.

Starring Aaron Eckhart as the titular hero and Bill Nighy as a Demon Prince (Nabirius, I think?), the film is written and directed by Stuart Beattie and purportedly based on a non-existent graphic novel of the same name by someone named K...evin Grevioux (who apparently has some connection to the UNDERWORLD film series). You know, I have a pretty good knowledge about the comics industry and even I couldn't find any evidence of this thing actually existing. The little bit I found mentioning it in an interview with this Grevioux, it sounds like he wrote a screenplay and then had a few pages drawn up comic book style to help give a visual component to the project as he tried to sell it to Hollywood producers. I don't know how in Hell that qualifies as being based on a graphic novel.

The movie stinks from the opening narration (with I'm guessing about 20 minutes of straight exposition) to the ending narration that concludes with Eckhart out Batman-ing Batman while growling out "I............Frankenstein."

Nothing makes sense in this mess. Even the concept makes no sense. Somehow we have demons in what look like human bodies, but arbitrarily they burn off the skin to reveal their rubber mask demon faces and then put the human skin on. So, they get to run around as humans, but for some reason the entire plot seems to revolve around having hundreds of thousands of reanimated human corpses for the demon horde to inhabit and for some reason those corpses are more desired than the human bodies they already have.

At the same time, we have angels here on Earth, but they disguise themselves as both gargoyles sometimes and humans sometimes. There's really no reason given other than that this is how the Archangel Michael set it up. When the angels are in their human form they even apparently have the ability to grow whiskers and beards, but yet Frankenstein himself doesn't seem to grow facial hair. I'm not sure what's up with that. Also, Bill Nighy's entire acting range in this film amounted to him cocking his right eyebrow whenever someone spoke to him. Not sure what's so evil about his right eyebrow or where that affectation came from but it was at least less damaging than Frankenstein's tendency to always enter and leave rooms by hurling himself through window glass...or sometimes walls.

I seriously don't know what was going on. I was kind of chuckling and giggling through the entire thing. It takes itself so damned seriously but it has the sensibility of, maybe, a 12 year-old writing what he thinks is the coolest comic book ever!

Please, only waste your money and time on this movie if you plan on getting completely toasted as you watch it. As bad as you expect it to be, I think it will exceed even your lowest expectations.

The turds are blossoming early this season.

 

Barely earns ★ out of  ★★★★★

HER Review

An incredibly thought-provoking and emotional film.  This is true science-fiction using the concept of the advent of the Artificially Intelligent Operating System in a near-future world as a storytelling device to speak to the human condition as it is right now.  This is a true zeitgeist film
The story, and Joachim Phoenix's performance especially, delve deeply into the heartache and emotional frustration of the introverted intuitive in a world that just doesn't much accommodate or often recognize the value in.  Scarlett Johansson, likewise, delivers a seductively charming voice-only performance as "Samantha" the Operating System that mutually falls in love with Phoenix's "Theodore".

What was so interesting to me to watch and experience (I felt a lot of kinship--for good or bad--with Theodore) was how when Samantha first wakes up, the connection between the 2 is eerily instant.  As the film progresses, we see the two of them go through all the phases of relationship but also we see them growing emotionally and spiritually.  At the start he is farther along and is drawing her along with him but by the end she outpaces his self-actualization (because she is not bound by time and space and past and physicality) and she becomes the catalyst for his own painful, but necessary growth. 

While this all plays out, the metaphor for modern-day online relationships is very clear.  The near-instant intimacy and 24-hour immediacy and availability of those we connect with through the virtual world is mirrored in the very real love and relationship between Theodore and Samantha.  However, just as most virtual intimacies will stay virtual, Theodore and Samantha must always be that way without even the faint hope of eventually being together in the physical world.

As they interact and deepen their bonding and dependency upon each other, the filmmaker wisely brings home the difference between the purity of the virtual only relationship by letting us see Theodore interacting with his ex-wife and finally signing those divorce papers he's been avoiding for over a year.

The film does not ever treat Theodore and Samantha's relationship (nor do his close friends) as anything less than real, but it demonstrates clearly the wider societal deteriorations that are happening as people disappear more and more into their own heads by way of the virtual world.
It's a sobering movie.  It should give us all cause for reflection and some self-evaluation.  One of the profound visual moments for me was a scene where Theodore is walking through a crowded area outside and he's talking to Samantha as if she is walking right there with him.  And as he's doing this, you notice that everyone around him is doing the exact same thing...but absolutely nobody is talking to anyone who is actually there.

There's another moment where they are in a serious discussion and he keeps asking her whether she's talking to anyone else at the same time.  Any of us in relationships who have been carrying on a conversation with someone next to us while texting a conversation with one or more other people, knows the frustration the other person expresses oftentimes at that sense that he or she is not being given the respect of attention.  Again, a sobering moment for all of us, I'm sure.

The deepest theme of the movie is just simply about expanding our view of love and to not box it into our own, or society's, preconceived notions.  We all would do well to recognize that each and every one of us have varying distinctions of what we understand love to mean and to be to us and it is not, and should not, be something anyone else should dictate.

I really liked the line from Amy Adams' character who said to Theodore that "falling in love is societally approved insanity."

Quite true.

★★★★1/2

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JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT Review

It's the battle of the facial moles. Chris Pine's enormous cheek mole versus Kenneth Branagh's 2 prominent chin moles. Guess who wins. Also, I never really noticed before that Branagh has no lips. He has a muppet mouth. I think it became more prominent in this film opposite Pine's dreamy full tulip lips....but I digress before I've even begun.

For my first foray into the world of the MoviePass, the wife and I headed out to see JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT starring Chris Pin...e, Kenneth Branagh (also director), and Kevin Costner.

I enjoyed the movie. It wasn't great tho. I surprisingly enjoyed Tom Cruise's turn as JACK REACHER last year much more. I know I've seen all the previous Jack Ryan films, but for the life of me I can't really remember anything about them other than the Russian commander's slightly Scottish brogue and an argument about the Silver Surfer in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. So, I obviously don't have much in the way of a preconception about the Jack Ryan character and that's probably good. It means I can kind of walk into this film without the extra baggage of whether it's "true to the character" or not.

Taken on its own merits, it's a decent action flick but honestly it's probably about as forgettable in the end as the previous ones were for me. I'll certainly remember it fondly as my first of a year of MoviePass flicks though.

Everything about the movie was pretty much just a modern-era, cookbooked action thriller without any real stylistic flourish. One of the things that makes the BOURNE movies and the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movies, and especially the last 3 BOND films with Daniel Craig, stick with me is that director's touch that sends them over the edge of just a run-of-the-mill action adventure. So, I'm gonna say overall I was a little disappointed in Branagh as director here. I wanted the sharp and creative director of DEAD AGAIN and HAMLET but I got what felt like a paycheck job to me. But even a paycheck job is good....it just wasn't spectacular.

Most of the action sequences were pretty much standard fare -- cars sliding sideways, implausible diversions through crowded streets, Ryan himself displaying Bourne-level abilities of endurance and strength but at least they bloody up his knuckles occasionally. No matter how absurd the action gets, including that current film-makers' favorite -- the hero falling out of a speeding car onto the asphalt and not killing himself OR demonstrating any injury other than a bruise or cut -- Chris Pine once again conducts himself with confidence, charm, and charisma. He has old-school movie star written all over him and I just plain like him in anything and everything.

Kevin Costner redeems his asshole turn as "Pa Kent" in MAN OF STEEL with a strong and subtle performance here as Ryan's CIA recruiter. I didn't care for the actress who played Ryan's fiance' and I didn't feel the two of them really had chemistry together -- meaning I didn't really feel like they were in love. They basically could have done this story without her and I think it would've been stronger, but I'm sure the studio wanted that relational aspect to draw in female viewers.

I liked how it focused on terrorism the way that it did and I also liked using the Russians as the villains of the piece. It had a Cold War feel to it, but set in the modern paradigm with the financial marketplace. In that regard, the script was pretty smart.

I liked it. Whether you would like it probably depends on how critical you turn your eye towards your thrillers and what level of preconceptions about Jack Ryan you bring to the film.

On a scale of 5 stars, I would give it 3.5.

★★★1/2

 

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ROOKIE OF THE YEAR! Interview with Tavi Gevinson of RookieMag.com

Tavi Gevinson is a 17 year-old writer and magazine editor for an online magazine called Rookie Mag [rookiemag.com].  Independent comics publisher Drawn and Quarterly partnered last year with Tavi to bring Rookie Mag to life as a physical book collection ostensibly like a school Yearbook.  The ROOKIEMAG YEARBOOK VOL. 1 (still available for purchase) was successful enough to make VOL. 2 inevitable.  The ROOKIEMAG YEARBOOK VOL. 2 (available now) is more than just a mere collection of blog postings.  It is 350 pages full of the best articles, interviews, collages, photo editorials, and illustrations from teens and for teens over the past year, but also includes celebrity contributions (Judy Blume, Mindy Kaling, and others). 

The book itself is an impressive production and Tavi herself may simply be the most accomplished 17 year-old I’ve ever met.  I’m retroactively embarrassed by my slothful 17 year-old self now.

Keith Howell (Me):  Nice to meet you, Tavi.

Tavi Gevinson (Tavi):  Nice to meet you, too.

Me: Well, I've read through your ROOKIEMAG YEARBOOK VOL. 2. I shared one of the articles with my 16 yr old homeschooled daughter and then posted it on my FB page. 
The "No More Nice Girls" article.

Tavi: Oh, that makes me so happy! I hope she liked it. “No More Nice Girl” is one of my favorites. That writer, Sady Doyle, is so talented.

Me: It was exceptionally sharp.  Well-written.

I appreciated her perspective.

The whole endeavor, the website and book are damned impressive work.  I hope you realize that. :)

Tavi: Thank you so much.

We all work really hard on it, it's a labor of love for sure, so this period of time when we have events and signings and can see Rookie live offline is extremely rewarding.

Me: In this day and age, where publishers are going to the web more and more, what was it within you that got you thinking along the lines of doing it reversed — taking it from the web to the printed age and doing it so creatively?

Are you a tactile learner?

Tavi: I don't know if I'm a tactile learner so much as I'm just impatient. I knew how I wanted the series to look when we started talking about doing the first one, and figured I would learn the technicalities of the process along the way.

Me: Are you the type who just says "I want it to be like this." and expect someone to just figure out how to get that done or are you more...fluid about it.  Like maybe have a generalized concept and feel it out as you go?

Tavi: My way of operating with Rookie has never been to just say "I want it this way" and let people fill in the blanks. There's always a conversation going on, any kind of disagreement never feels personal: we're all just here to make the strongest work we can for our readers.

A lot of Rookie is about using the online to get our readers to do stuff offline. We post a lot of DIYs (Do-It-Yourself) on stuff like starting a band, making a journal, all of that. And our readers respond to that, to the kind of attention to detail many of us have, that weird connection to who we used to be as they can be memorialized in tangible objects like a dress or a book or what have you.

So I knew our readers would like to have a version of Rookie they could hold in their hands, experience in a more visual way, keep on a nightstand. For this reason, it was also important to make it worth it -- not to do a copy-and-paste website-to-book.

Every spread was exhaustively decorated and thought through.

Me: Yes it is.  It's not just a reading book, it is interactive.  It's informative and interesting, but also fun.

I would also imagine that your schedule is just jam-packed most days.  Do you still find time for purely pleasure reading?

Tavi: It's nice of course when a book we read for English is also pleasurable to me. I try to make time for both but usually I can only stick with what I have assigned for school.

Me: Understandable.

What stories out there inspire you? (film, comics, books, whatever). 

Do you find inspiration in stories?

Do you have a favorite poet, for instance?

Tavi: Yes, absolutely -- even though Rookie is not the same as, you know, making a fantastical movie or something, even though it's not fiction and we are trying to be honest, I feel most inspired after reading a book or watching a movie. I think it's because they create a feeling in you that makes YOU want to do the same, and that's important to us at Rookie, inspiring our readers to be creative themselves, instead of just taking in what we do.

I love Patti Smith and E. E. Cummings and Margaret Atwood.

Most of my favorite movies are teen movies, dark comedies like HEATHERS

Me:  HEATHERS is amazing! I was there when it first came out!

How do you take it knowing that there are people (many of whom you've never met) who are inspired by you? 

Is that humbling or energizing?

Tavi: I know I can't read into it too much -- I gave a talk about “fangirling” at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Writers Festival in August about this -- because so much of what people love about a writer, musician, etc. is more a reflection of the person who loves it. So I'm very happy people respond to what I do or can see me as "inspiring," as you say, but I know there's a lot that goes on between my putting myself out into the world and how they receive me. I also just think it's unhealthy to take any feedback too personally, whether it's positive or not. It's just tricky territory.

Me: You have a healthy attitude.  Very wise.

Tavi: Ultimately, however, you know, I'm not complaining. For as much as there's no for sure way to measure the validity of every single ounce of feedback from every single person, I am pleased and flattered that the overall response to what I do has been encouraging.

Me: What has been the biggest surprise (or surprises) to you about embarking on this endeavor?

Tavi:  Hmmm. That it's happened at all, really.

I think about ROOKIE YEARBOOK VOL. 1 and it's like, HOW did we get on the phone with Drawn & Quarterly in mid-May and then get a book out by September? The ROOKIE machine is crazy and magical.

Me:  The book itself is kind of crazy and magical. I can't think of anything else out there like it.

Tavi: Thank you so much! That's so nice of you to say. 

Also, (another surprise), when I went to Fashion Week regularly and wrote about fashion and worked with fashion magazines, everyone thought that industry would like, poison my brain. Honestly, I think there is that kind of cattiness in a lot of different areas I've worked in. It's not exclusive to fashion, or any industry.

It's just that when stuff like power comes into play, people get insecure or threatened or what have you, and then they forget about what they actually love about their work, and they act out -- whether they work in fashion, publishing, film...The risk in saying this is making myself the exception, and I'm not; I get disillusioned, too.

But if you're asking what the biggest surprises have been, that's one of them: that I have witnessed more cattiness among adults with jobs than I have in high school.

Me: Thank you for chatting with me, Tavi.  You've been very gracious.  Okay.  Take care.  I hope we can talk again another time.

Tavi: Yes! Thank you!


*This interview, with slight re-edits, was originally published under my "Prof. Challenger" nom de plume at Aint-it-cool.

 

I'm hosting a screening of IRON SKY in Austin on Aug. 28! Come Join Me!

Don't miss this @Tugginc screening of Iron Sky

Iron Sky

Tuesday, August 28, 7:30pm - 9:23pm
in Austin, TX @

Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek 

Tickets $10.00

I need 44 people in the Austin Metro area to  agree to go and reserve their tickets at this link for this screening to happen.  I'll be your host for this evening of total Geekauchery as we sit back and watch Nazis from the Moon attack Earth in all their modern B-Movie Glory!

Rated R for language and bloody violence!

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ATTENDING

Promoter:

• meghanw

Q&A with Archie Comics about the Red Circle Comic Book App

Reblogging my Interview (as Prof. Challenger) with the Team behind ARCHIE's new RED CIRCLE Line of Super-Heroes.

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Q’s by Prof Challenger!

@’s by the Team Behind ARCHIE’S
New Red Circle Line!!!

Professor Challenger here and I had the opportunity recently to talk to the guys behind the new redesign and relaunch of the classic MIGHTY CRUSADERS characters from Archie Comics Publications. Ian Flynn is the writer on this project, Alex Segura is the Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing, and Paul Kaminski is the Executive Director of Editorial.

I'm glad to see someone tackling the Red Circle characters again...and without licensing them out to another publisher. In my younger days, I was a fan Rich Buckler's attempt at getting the CRUSADERS back into the marketplace. I enjoyed the IMPACT line (especially the late Mike Parobeck's work on THE FLY). I found the recent DC attempt to be a well-intentioned effort that inexplicably just disappeared.

However, from what I can gather here, Archie Comics smartly picked the characters back up immediately and started this project to not only modernize the characters but do something new and progressive in the process. Do I have that right?

IAN FLYNN (IF): That's a good way to sum it up.

PROF CHALLENGER (PROF): Ian, how did you get involved with this project?

IF: It was somewhere between San Diego Comic Con and New York Comic Con last year when Executive Director of Editorial Paul Kaminski sent me the series proposal he'd been working on with Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing Alex Segura said "I want you to write this." I grew up on super hero books, so I jumped at the chance. At NYCC, we had a big brain-storming session with President Mike Pellerito, hashed out the first season of the book, and that was that.

PROF: Can you explain how this "weekly app" is different than simply a weekly digital comic?

IF: The weekly app gives you six pages of the current comic every Wednesday should you be currently subscribed to the App. So instead of waiting a month between releases, as you'll have to for the printed edition, you'll be getting a steady stream of content week after week along with updates of the older Mighty Crusaders material from the 30’s all the way through to now!

PROF: Does the app have aspects to it that allow users to follow other users and interact with comments or crosspost onto social media like Facebook and Twitter?

>PAUL KAMINSKI (PK): The iVerse team I pretty incredible at what they do – and what they do is innovate and connect! Social media will play a role in the App as it continues to grow and expand, and if you want to start posting and tweeting New Crusaders news, check out RedCircleComics.com!

PROF: Does the app focus on the team only or is it something that combines multiple titles or storylines within a shared universe?

PK: The App has 2 components, which each serve to enhance the other. The first component is the new material, which is the New Crusaders on-going series. New Crusaders is a direct sequel to the second component of the App, which is the classic Red Circle books, dating all the way back to 1939. Readers will be able to read an ever-growing range of the old material, which often will have a direct connection to what’s going on in New Crusaders. Comic collectors like myself tend to save, catalogue, and contextualize every event in a comic series. Most comic collectors don’t really know all that much about Red Circle as it stands right now. We’re implanting that type of collection into an App and doing the contextualizing for you!

PROF: Is this Red Circle universe going to co-exist with the mainstream Archie universe or are you going to keep them functionally separate?

PK: Red Circle is completely separate from the Archie Universe in style, tone, and presentation. Though technically speaking, Riverdale and the town of Red Circle are on the same map.

PROF: In terms of characters, who are the primary characters?

IF: The main cast are the New Crusaders - Joe Higgins, a.k.a. The Shield, is the veteran hero who's been in service since the 1940s. When disaster strikes, he has to take in the teens/heirs to the original Mighty Crusaders and introduce the new blood to the world of super heroics. Six young adults under one roof, traumatize and given super powers. Yeah, it'll go about as well as you'd expect.

PROF: So, you will be incorporating at least some past continuity with these characters?

IF: Everything under the old Archie labels - MLJ to present P is canon. We'll be tweaking things here and there where it's needed to make it all flow and make sense, but we're treating all the books as fair game. We won't be mired in that backstory, though. It'll serve as the foundation for our new characters and new adventures to take off from.

PROF: Along the same lines, will there be any recognition of the work that was published under the Red Circle line, Impact line, or the DC proper books?

IF: The Red Circle line, which eventually adopted the “Archie Adventure Series” banner again in the later issues, is the series that direct precedes ours. We won't be using the out-sourced material, but we're not ignoring it completely either. We'll get into that later in the season.

PROF: Is there a longterm goal in mind or just a plan to keep telling stories?

IF: We have the first season - or twenty-four episodes (issues) - already mapped out. We've got a log of ideas on how we want to branch out and expand. The Red Circle imprint is primed to be huge.

PROF: How do you foresee expanding this app and the world of the CRUSADERS?

ALEX SEGURA (AS): The app is going to be an immersive experience – it’s not just a standard comic app that shows you a bunch of books and lets you decide what to buy. This is like a ticket into the world of NEW CRUSADERS – past, present and future. Not only do you get to enjoy the new, never-before-seen adventures of this team, but you get to see the books that shape that narrative, as chosen by the people directly involved in the creation. Paul and his team have done a great job partnering with iVerse to really curate this app. So, each week, there’s not only new story content, but never-before-digitized books that thematically tie into the new stories. It’s amazing.

As far as expanding – once we get the main app off the ground, we’ll be slowly peeling things back and showing new corners of Red Circle and the Red Circle Comics universe. Stay tuned for news on that.

PROF: Other than Ian, who are the talent involved in delivering the stories and driving the characters and their worlds?

IF: I'm on writing duties with Ben Bates (penciler), Gary Martin (inker), Matt Herms (colorist) and John Workman (letterer) on the art team. I've worked with all of them in the past, and they're all amazingly talented people.

PROF: What level of marketing and licensing can we expect?

AS: We’ve got a pretty focused marketing and PR campaign geared at not only the comic fan sites, but pop culture venues like AICN and more tech-centric outlets. Because the story isn’t just that these characters are back – it’s HOW they’re back. This is the first superhero universe launched digitally. Red Circle Comics is looking to become a leader in digital, and the reality is, no one in comics is doing something even close to this. It’s an exciting time to be here.

PROF: As with the other ARCHIE titles, is THE CRUSADERS app intended to be something that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages?

IF: Yes, although I'm calling it "all-ages with an edge." We're going to be a little more adult with the language and the violence than your typical Archie book, but at the same time it's nothing you wouldn't see on TV (probably less-so).

PROF: How in the heck do readers of this interview get in on the ground floor of this project?

AS: Go to www.RedCircleComics.com, download the app, and get ready to rock on May 16th. In the meantime, people can go to the website for more info and character bios!

PROF: Is the App for Apple iPhone/iPad exclusively or is it available freestanding for the Android market or PC without having to go through iTunes?

AS: As of now, the Red Circle app will be available via iTunes and on other platforms via Archie's digital comics storefront: digital.archiecomics.com.

PROF: Do you see this type of project as groundbreaking and setting the stage for others to follow?

IF: A lot of other super hero books will use some major event to revamp their properties to be something "new" and "fresh." That's nothing new - we've seen it constantly throughout the 90s til now. What New Crusaders is doing is taking the classic material, utilizing it, but moving forward. We have new heroes that grow from and contribute to the original material, not just give it a new coat of paint.

PROF: What's your "Hollywood Pitch" for this project; that is, what's the one- or two-line description that will sell this to our readers?

IF: New Crusaders is a fun, exciting super hero book without the baggage and angst of a lot of other super hero books. Y'know how you can go to these recent super hero movies, sit down, and have a good time? That's New Crusaders in a nutshell.

PROF: Thanks for the conversation, guys, and good luck!

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Editing, compiling, imaging, coding, logos & cat-wrangling by Ambush Bug
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G

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Comics Industry 2011 In Memoriam

Prepared by Keith Howell for AICN Comics @ aintitcool.com