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Webcomic - Joe Loves Crappy Movies
By: Joesph Dunn
Started: April 4, 2005
Updates: Weekly
God, I haven't done much on here for a while. To make up for it, I present Joe Loves Crappy Movies who is much more diligent than I am. (Please don't leave me.)
JLCM is not only a simple comic with very good sense of humor, but also weekly movie reviews. Now why would I review/highlight another movie reviewer?
Because he's damn good at what he does. His reviews are balanced and completely reasonable. Right from the start, he makes an effort to make readers realize that he isn't telling him what to see and what not to see, but rather voice his opinion and give readers the opportunity the same. As a bonus, he reads other reviews and calls them out when they're being unreasonable. He has a good rating system in place and my journey through his archives has brought me to the conclusion he's willing to learn and redo his methods in order to present the best product. Which is fantastic.
I haven't thoroughly check through his forums yet, but it looks like exactly the kind of people he was appealing to - people that can think for themselves and not take the world seriously all the time.
Do you know what else makes JLCM very awesome? It hosts four other comics done by Irvsher Fabor - Fish Tank Tango, Kevin Gleason - Retail Rage and Philip Chan collaborating with Joe Dunn - Matriculated, and another Joe Dunn production - Free Lunch: Fred the Food Critic. Once I get the chance, I'll most likely write up a shoutout for these as well.
Cheers, Internet!
Yours Truly,
Frugal Fan
PS: The vote incentives are completely worth it with a forum thread showcasing past incentives as well.
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Screen and Page: Superman Birthright
Superman: Birthright - The Origin of the Man of Steel
Writer-Mark Waid
Penciller-Leinil Francis Yu
Inking-Gerry Alanguilan
Colorist-Dave McCaig
Letterer-COMICCRAFT
Original Series Covers-Leinil Francis Yu and Gerry Alanguilan
Superman Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
My Thoughts
Just to get things out of the way, let me say this: I never liked Superman. I have attempted time and time again to formulate a pathos-free argument against the Man of Steel, but it never seems to come. I've tried to find some ultimately redeeming quality to him so I can stop admitting to people that I really do like Lex Luthor more than Superman. As Toyman said in the brilliant Action Comics #865, "There are two types of people in the world -- Superman people and Batman people." I, myself, am a Batman person. I admire the Dark Knight for his dedication and discipline, both physical and mental. He made himself into the man he needed to be. He trained for years and sacrificed a normal life and normal happiness for his goals. Superman didn't ask for his powers. Superman never worked for it.
What Superman struggles with is the ability to be human.
With so many other character with this situation like Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, Red Tornado from the DCU, etc. that I do enjoy, I end up wondering again why I don't like Superman. It's not because he is an alien because I love J'onn J'onzz, the Martain Manhunter and all the Kirby space stuff. And it can't because he has so many freakin' powers because I'm pretty sure J'onn has him beat. He just always seemed to embody one of the things I do not like about America: it's arrogance. Unlike some superheroes, it isn't something obvious about the character because it comes from his, appropriately, steel-like morality. Granted, I'm no comic expert. I haven't read every comic there is, heck, I've barely read all the "ground-breaking" ones. But I do have a sneaking suspicion that if he saw something beyond his comprehension (ex: an alien ritual or magic) and it wasn't making bunnies and flowers rain from the sky, he'd punch first and ask questions later. So perhaps, I have misspoken. It is not his arrogance I disdain, it is his ignorance, if only because his knowledge is so much lessor than it can be.
The man has super-speed. That requires a brain to match. Superman could easily be one of the greatest intellectual minds on the planet. Maybe he can't beat Lex or King Faraday in a game of chess, but he could best them in sheer encyclopedic knowledge. Superman should be a genius and that's a bit why I like Superman: Red Son.
But that review is for another time. Birthright far exceeded my expectations for a Superman comic. Perhaps that is the point of the comic: to be beyond expectations, to take your breath away. It has to since it's forced to stand up against every Superman Origin story ever told. It has all your typical locales: Krypton, the farm, and Metropolis with an appropriate side/parallel story to help anchor the main theme. What is very nice that he mixes up the order of the settings that your typical Superman story would follow. The pacing is spot on and Lu did a great job with the art with McCaig doing stupendous colors. (By the way, there's a great little story waiting for you if you read the Biographies page about McCaig and Birthright; it's worth it just for that.) All in all, Birthright is wonderfully written and artistically well executed. Coming from me, this is high praise since I was very ready to be bored with it being a Superman comic and the one theme I hate most: coming of age. I really have no words for how tired I am of "coming of age" or "discovering of self" stories. School ruined them for me forever, but...
When I do find a good story, a story following a character coming into their own, I do appreciate it all the more. It usually becomes one of my favorites (which is why Dick Grayson will always be my favorite Robin despite his unfortunate first name).
Superman: Birthright is definitely a story to read. It made a Batman person give the big blue boy scout a second glance.
Writer-Mark Waid
Penciller-Leinil Francis Yu
Inking-Gerry Alanguilan
Colorist-Dave McCaig
Letterer-COMICCRAFT
Original Series Covers-Leinil Francis Yu and Gerry Alanguilan
Superman Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
My Thoughts
Just to get things out of the way, let me say this: I never liked Superman. I have attempted time and time again to formulate a pathos-free argument against the Man of Steel, but it never seems to come. I've tried to find some ultimately redeeming quality to him so I can stop admitting to people that I really do like Lex Luthor more than Superman. As Toyman said in the brilliant Action Comics #865, "There are two types of people in the world -- Superman people and Batman people." I, myself, am a Batman person. I admire the Dark Knight for his dedication and discipline, both physical and mental. He made himself into the man he needed to be. He trained for years and sacrificed a normal life and normal happiness for his goals. Superman didn't ask for his powers. Superman never worked for it.
What Superman struggles with is the ability to be human.
With so many other character with this situation like Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, Red Tornado from the DCU, etc. that I do enjoy, I end up wondering again why I don't like Superman. It's not because he is an alien because I love J'onn J'onzz, the Martain Manhunter and all the Kirby space stuff. And it can't because he has so many freakin' powers because I'm pretty sure J'onn has him beat. He just always seemed to embody one of the things I do not like about America: it's arrogance. Unlike some superheroes, it isn't something obvious about the character because it comes from his, appropriately, steel-like morality. Granted, I'm no comic expert. I haven't read every comic there is, heck, I've barely read all the "ground-breaking" ones. But I do have a sneaking suspicion that if he saw something beyond his comprehension (ex: an alien ritual or magic) and it wasn't making bunnies and flowers rain from the sky, he'd punch first and ask questions later. So perhaps, I have misspoken. It is not his arrogance I disdain, it is his ignorance, if only because his knowledge is so much lessor than it can be.
The man has super-speed. That requires a brain to match. Superman could easily be one of the greatest intellectual minds on the planet. Maybe he can't beat Lex or King Faraday in a game of chess, but he could best them in sheer encyclopedic knowledge. Superman should be a genius and that's a bit why I like Superman: Red Son.
But that review is for another time. Birthright far exceeded my expectations for a Superman comic. Perhaps that is the point of the comic: to be beyond expectations, to take your breath away. It has to since it's forced to stand up against every Superman Origin story ever told. It has all your typical locales: Krypton, the farm, and Metropolis with an appropriate side/parallel story to help anchor the main theme. What is very nice that he mixes up the order of the settings that your typical Superman story would follow. The pacing is spot on and Lu did a great job with the art with McCaig doing stupendous colors. (By the way, there's a great little story waiting for you if you read the Biographies page about McCaig and Birthright; it's worth it just for that.) All in all, Birthright is wonderfully written and artistically well executed. Coming from me, this is high praise since I was very ready to be bored with it being a Superman comic and the one theme I hate most: coming of age. I really have no words for how tired I am of "coming of age" or "discovering of self" stories. School ruined them for me forever, but...
When I do find a good story, a story following a character coming into their own, I do appreciate it all the more. It usually becomes one of my favorites (which is why Dick Grayson will always be my favorite Robin despite his unfortunate first name).
Superman: Birthright is definitely a story to read. It made a Batman person give the big blue boy scout a second glance.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Incredible Hulk (2008) Review
Stats from IMDb
Company: Marvel Studios
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Zak Penn (Click here for info)
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Runtime: 114 minutes
Keywords:
What I Expected
Remember Ang Lee's Hulk film back in 2003? You know, the guy that later on did Brokeback Mountain? I don't. Somehow I've managed to suppress the memory and with new generation of CGI for comparison, I'm thankful I can't summon up the memories. Even with that out of my mind, I still expected a lot of flying/jumping green mass, leaping over fields and off buildings or something. Lots of rooftops. I really expected a lot of rooftop chases since what action film with a fugitive plot device is complete without a rooftop chase scene?
What I Hoped
As a comic fan post-Iron Man 2 hour visual-audio orgasm, I had hopes that were practically in orbit of the moon. I wanted Hulk dialogue.
No, seriously.
Marvel was never my God being a DC (*cough*Batman*cough*) fan at heart, but I did get an appreciation for the other side of the fence after reading some of Civil War, Marvels (which if you have not read yet, your life is forever incomplete) and House of M, which I am collecting. [shameless plug] If anyone out there knows where I could get a good price on Prelude to House of M: Excalibur or House of M: New X-Men, I'd appreciate it. [/shameless plug] House of M: Incredible Hulk has to be one of my personal favorites because of the Hulk's lines alone, much less the scene where he uses a whale to help hide a submarine from radar. It's kind of full of awesome.
Not to mention, it wasn't too unreasonable an idea that the Hulk might actually get some lines in this film. After all, many fans know that the Hulk is in fact quite intelligent and in some ways, smarter than Banner or at least, more practical.
What It Is
Is it an abomination? (haha, comic joke) Definitely NOT. Will it change your life? Not unless you really like the Hulk series or Edward Norton in a very strange way that you might need professional help.
It's a good action film all around. Not a great one, but a good one. Visually, it looks great , the pacing is fast, but still transitions from story to action and back rather smoothly and the story stays interesting more or less with decent dialogue. The best part is that it's for everyone really. The only reason why anyone would not recommend taking your smaller grade school tykes to it is that it has one sex joke and almost-sex. Yes, almost-sex, the bane of teenagers everywhere. That brief moment of almost getting it on and end up not getting any. In any case, with a combination of animatronics and CGI for the Hulk, the mean green Marvel money-maker looks fantastic throughout the movie. There are a couple scenes when they seemed a little overzealous with the slick rain look, but that is a small, small offense that can easily be overlooked.
As far as writing goes, it was okay. The romantic subplot was subdue, but still corny. It didn't help that LotR's Liv Tyler (Betty Ross) was not as hot as I expected. Between bad costume choices in certain scenes and strange directing, it didn't seem they were trying to make her more attractive, which confused me greatly. When Hollywood has a love interest, don't they usually spice her up for the potential fan boys?
All they really give to the hard-core fans is the intro which is just riddled with all sorts of goodies that are gone in a flash. Granted, there are very obvious jokes throughout about the Hulk series in general with the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, but there was little evidence of anything more. If they had anything after the credits, I would have given it a slightly higher score.
Overall, the movie is okay. If you've seen Leterrier's Unleashed with Jet Li, you have a good idea of what to expect. Good action, mediocre movie. Go to it with low expectations and try not to think too much during it and you'll have a great time. It's a film you go to strictly to have fun, not to mentally masturbate your fanboy-ness.
Company: Marvel Studios
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Zak Penn (Click here for info)
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Runtime: 114 minutes
Keywords:
Opinion Time!
What I Expected
Remember Ang Lee's Hulk film back in 2003? You know, the guy that later on did Brokeback Mountain? I don't. Somehow I've managed to suppress the memory and with new generation of CGI for comparison, I'm thankful I can't summon up the memories. Even with that out of my mind, I still expected a lot of flying/jumping green mass, leaping over fields and off buildings or something. Lots of rooftops. I really expected a lot of rooftop chases since what action film with a fugitive plot device is complete without a rooftop chase scene?
What I Hoped
As a comic fan post-Iron Man 2 hour visual-audio orgasm, I had hopes that were practically in orbit of the moon. I wanted Hulk dialogue.
No, seriously.
Marvel was never my God being a DC (*cough*Batman*cough*) fan at heart, but I did get an appreciation for the other side of the fence after reading some of Civil War, Marvels (which if you have not read yet, your life is forever incomplete) and House of M, which I am collecting. [shameless plug] If anyone out there knows where I could get a good price on Prelude to House of M: Excalibur or House of M: New X-Men, I'd appreciate it. [/shameless plug] House of M: Incredible Hulk has to be one of my personal favorites because of the Hulk's lines alone, much less the scene where he uses a whale to help hide a submarine from radar. It's kind of full of awesome.
Not to mention, it wasn't too unreasonable an idea that the Hulk might actually get some lines in this film. After all, many fans know that the Hulk is in fact quite intelligent and in some ways, smarter than Banner or at least, more practical.
What It Is
Is it an abomination? (haha, comic joke) Definitely NOT. Will it change your life? Not unless you really like the Hulk series or Edward Norton in a very strange way that you might need professional help.
It's a good action film all around. Not a great one, but a good one. Visually, it looks great , the pacing is fast, but still transitions from story to action and back rather smoothly and the story stays interesting more or less with decent dialogue. The best part is that it's for everyone really. The only reason why anyone would not recommend taking your smaller grade school tykes to it is that it has one sex joke and almost-sex. Yes, almost-sex, the bane of teenagers everywhere. That brief moment of almost getting it on and end up not getting any. In any case, with a combination of animatronics and CGI for the Hulk, the mean green Marvel money-maker looks fantastic throughout the movie. There are a couple scenes when they seemed a little overzealous with the slick rain look, but that is a small, small offense that can easily be overlooked.
As far as writing goes, it was okay. The romantic subplot was subdue, but still corny. It didn't help that LotR's Liv Tyler (Betty Ross) was not as hot as I expected. Between bad costume choices in certain scenes and strange directing, it didn't seem they were trying to make her more attractive, which confused me greatly. When Hollywood has a love interest, don't they usually spice her up for the potential fan boys?
All they really give to the hard-core fans is the intro which is just riddled with all sorts of goodies that are gone in a flash. Granted, there are very obvious jokes throughout about the Hulk series in general with the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, but there was little evidence of anything more. If they had anything after the credits, I would have given it a slightly higher score.
Overall, the movie is okay. If you've seen Leterrier's Unleashed with Jet Li, you have a good idea of what to expect. Good action, mediocre movie. Go to it with low expectations and try not to think too much during it and you'll have a great time. It's a film you go to strictly to have fun, not to mentally masturbate your fanboy-ness.
My Rating: C+
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