November 19, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Gravity – Review

When I first saw the trailer for Gravity, I thought it looked stunning. At the same time, I also thought it looked like it might be incredibly boring. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney stranded in space? With no aliens or laser guns? I had the feeling this would be the outer space version of Open Water*.

*Note: I have never seen Open Water, but I have always pictured it as the ocean version of what I thought Gravity would be.

I wanted Gravity to be a suspenseful thriller. Luckily, if it turned out to be boring, I was in the right theater. I caught Gravity at my new favorite movie theater, the AMC on Broadway and 84th. If the movie was a snoozer, at least I’d be snoozing in an oh comfy recliner for the next two hours. Win-win!

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Unfortunately for nap time, Gravity is a really good thriller. It’s a classic man-versus-nature story, even though most of the dangers from nature are man made. The premise for Gravity is very simple: an accident causes a chain reaction of satellites to explode, sending deadly shrapnel at 50,000 mph at our stranded astronauts . They need to get to the International Space Station for a ride home before being eviscerated by said shrapnel or running out of air. I wasn’t sure how the story was going to sustain itself for the length of the movie, but it did. I was on the edge of my seat, which is quite an accomplishment for a movie when the viewer is in a recliner.

Besides being a great thriller, Gravity is visually stunning. I wanted to see Gravity on the IMAX in 3D, but waited too long. It’s been booted off every IMAX in the New York City area thanks to Ender’s Game and Thor: The Dark World. Still, Gravity looks great in 3D. I highly recommend seeing it in 3D and seeing it on the big screen. I think you’ll be missing out on something if you just wait to catch it on DVD.

When Gravity comes out on DVD, I will definitely be buying it, mainly that for the first time in a long time, I really want to watch the making-of special features. The making-of specials are usually boring back-slapping on the part of the producers, cast and crew, but I am utterly fascinated to see how this movie was made. I could easily spend an hour listening to director Alfonso Cuarón talk about how he chose his shots.

If you haven’t seen Gravity yet, go see it! And see it in 3D! You won’t regret it!

November 18, 2013 by Billy Henehan

New Favorite NYC Movie Theater

New York City, say hello to your new favorite movie theater. It’s the AMC on Broadway and 84th. “Wait a second, I’ve been there before. It’s nothing special,” you might say. Oh, but it is. The theater has been completely overhauled and is now AWESOME.

You’ll notice the changes as soon as you walk in. The concession area is updated and modern, with a self serve ICEE machine, and that “what-crazy-combination-can-you-come-up-with?” 100-choice soda fountain.

Gone are the cramped seats, which have been replaced with rows of oversized, cushioned recliners. The chair are comfortable! And when I say, they go back, I mean they go back. I’m not talking about reclining like coach seats on a plane. I’m talking about reclining like your dad’s Barcalounger, with a footrest and everything. The aisles are huge, like exit row huge. This is the movie theater equivalent of sitting in first class.

Now this is a movie seat.

This is the view from the seat while it's fully reclined. There's no problem seeing the screen.

Even when your seat is fully reclined, you have a great view of the screen.

Most importantly, when you buy your tickets in advance, you select your seats! Yes! I have wanted New York City movie theaters to embrace this for years, ever since my first trip to the Arclight in LA. It is the best! Now you no longer need to arrive at the movie theater an hour beforehand to find five seats together. Unlike the Arclight, the ticket was the same price as other AMC theaters. There was no upcharge for selecting your seat.

I hope AMC does a good job of upkeeping this theater. Those reclining seats are awesome, but the control buttons look like they’re easily broken. And I hope the ushers enforce the assigned seating. I saw some self-enforcement going on when I saw Gravity there this weekend, but that was for a weeks old movie in a barely full theater. A blockbuster on opening night might be a different story.

The 84th St AMC seems to still be a hidden gem. Check it out now before people realize how awesome it is to see a movie there.

November 15, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD S1E7 – The Hub

I really enjoyed the seventh episode of Agents of SHIELD. I think it is because the usual pairings of Ward and Skye, and Fitz and Simmons were shuffled. Fitz is sent to the field with Ward, and Skye enlists Simmons in a mission of subterfuge within a giant SHIELD facility known at The Hub.

Both Fitz and Simmons are taken out of their comfort zones this week. The lab-bound Fitz is enlisted into a heavy-fire field mission with Agent Ward. There is tension between Fitz and Ward. Fitz resents Ward for being the one who saved Simmons in last week’s F.Z.Z.T. Ward feels like he’s babysitting Fitz in the field. I’m glad Fitz wasn’t portrayed as only bumbling in the field. Fitz and Ward both get to save the day at various points during the mission. Though I’m also glad that concern over Fitz’s lack of field experience was used for humor when he lost a fight with a sliding glass door.

FitzWard

Simmons finds herself partnering with Skye in an scheme of intra-SHIELD subterfuge. While Skye has no regards for rules, clearance and procedure, Simmons is completely by the book. If this were D&D, Simmons would be lawful good. Or in her own words, “I like following the rules and doing what’s expected of me. It makes me feel nice.” She’s given a great arc in this episode, as by the end of the episode, she’s bragging to Fitz, “I shot a superior officer in the chest.”

Of course I’m going to love an episode that focuses heavily on FitzSimmons, as they are my absolute favorite characters on the show. As if I needed another reason to like Fitz, we find out in this episode that the guy has excellent taste in sandwiches. His favorite? Prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella with just a hint of homemade pesto aioli.

Two Marvel Comics characters make their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in this episode of Agents of SHIELD. Jasper Sitwell is a SHIELD agent who has been a member of SHIELD since his first appearance in 1966’s Strange Tales # 144. Victoria Hand is a newer character. She has a shadier past than Sitwell, in that she made her rise to prominence as the evil Norman Osborn’s #2 when he took over SHIELD and renamed in it HAMMER. She eventually made it to the side of the angels when Captain America offered her a chance at redemption after Osborn’s downfall. I like the inclusion of these characters and hope to see more comics characters make their way to the show. As much as I like the new characters created just for Agents of SHIELD, it’s cool to see pre-established characters pop in. It ground the show more firmly as a Marvel show.

Victoria Hand and Phil Coulson

Jasper Sitwell

I’m really loving Agents of SHIELD, especially these last two episodes. If you’ve fallen off the SHIELD helicarrier, I think now’s a good time to get back into it. Next week’s episode has Coulson’s team cleaning up after the events of Thor: The Dark World. If you’ve seen the movie, next week should be a great jumping on point for you.

November 14, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Thor: The Dark World – Review

It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning when we headed to the movie theater. The boys were seeing Thor 2 and the girls were seeing About Time. I hated having to decide between the two, as Rachel McAdams looks adorable in the About Time poster, but there was no denying the siren song of seeing Thor: The Dark World before it crossed oven with Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD (next week!).

Adorable

I thoroughly enjoyed Thor: The Dark World. Like the previous Thor movie, the takes-themselves-so-seriously Asgard scenes were balanced out with slapstick comedy during the Earth-based scenes. Unlike the first Thor movie though, I never felt like we needed to get back to Earth right now whenever Asgard was on-scene. Asgard is fleshed out more in this sequel, and while the individual members of the Asgard supporting cast are not on the screen very long, they are on just enough to make me want to see more of them in Thor 3.

There has been rumors circulating recently that Jaimie Alexander, who plays Sif, will be playing Wonder Woman in the upcoming Superman/Batman movie. After seeing her in Thor: The Dark World, this seems like the most perfect of perfect casting. Because her Sif armor isn’t that far removed from Wonder Woman’s current costume, it almost seemed like Wonder Woman was guest-starring in Thor: The Dark World.

Sif or Wonder Woman?

Tom Hiddleston as Loki steals every scene he is in. It’s amazing what Hiddleston and the Marvel movies have done for the character of Loki. Before the first Thor movie, Loki was one of Marvel’s lamest villains. With the exception of when Walter Simonson was writing him, I can think of few comic book examples of Loki pre-Thor movie in which Loki didn’t come off as lame. But Hiddleston has helped to reinvent the character. But now, thanks to writer Kieren Gillen, Loki is one of my favorite comic book characters. I wonder if Marvel would have given Gillen his shot at reviventing Loki in the comics if Hiddleston didn’t create so many fans of the character in the movies.

We need to start the Tom Hiddleston for 13th Doctor campaign right now!
#Hiddleston13thDoctor

Often fantasy and science fiction are squarely separated from each other, but Thor: The Dark World does a good job of blending the two. The evil dark elves ride in starfighters that could have been in the latest Star Trek movie. Science and magic are weaved together, which I liked, because Thor exists in the same world as Tony Stark. Odin makes a point in this movie to state that Asgardians are not actual Gods. And the story plays that out. They’re more like mythological extra-dimensional aliens.

If you saw Thor: The Dark World already, hopefully you stayed until after the credits. Does anyone leave the theater any more before the credits are completely over in a Marvel movie? The scene with the Collector made me NERDGASM. No, not because of the Collector himself. Who cares about him? Because of what the Collector says, namely that THE TESSERACT AND AETHER ARE INFINITY GEMS!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Avengers 3: The Infinity Gauntlet? Yes, please! If you haven’t read the Infinity Gauntlet, I highly recommend buying it today and reading it. It’s one of my favorite comic book stories ever, it will fill you in on who that big purple guy at the end of Avengers is and why his appearance was the signal of something awesome coming.

November 8, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E6 – F.Z.Z.T. – REVIEW

Spoilers abound! Read this only if you’ve already watched F.Z.Z.T!

Episode 6 of Agents of SHIELD, “F.Z.Z.T,” starts out normally. There’s a new super-powered mystery to be solved. This time, it’s a scout leader whose dead body is both electrically charged and hovering in the air. The good news is that it takes the team only half the episode to solve this one. The source of turns out a be a Chitauri helmet carrying some kind of space virus.

It was cool that the Agents of SHIELD TV show went beyond just passively referencing the Avengers movie here and brought in an actual prop that kickstarted this episode. It definitely helps the show feel like it’s securely grounded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What was also cool about this plot was that there was no sinister villain hungry for power. The people who died thanks to the Chitauri helmet weren’t murdered. It was just wrong place, wrong time. Of course, it at first looks like one person is out to kill his friends, but when he dies and the SHIELD team recovers the helmet, everything is resolved and there’s no villain lurking in the shadows.

What follows is without a doubt the most intense half an episode we’ve had so far this season. I honestly had no idea if Simmons was going to make it out of this one alive. When she and Fitz failed in their final attempt at creating a cure, I was ready to yell at my TV, “You can’t kill Simmons!” But this is Whedon we’re talking about. He totally could.

Part of the reason that I love this episode so much is for the amount of screen time that Fitz and Simmons get. There is definitely chemistry between the two of them. We’re treated to their back story, which is great,except that it’s given to us in this frame that Simmons is about to die. If this was Lost, she’d definitely be dead for all the back story we got on the two of them.

When it’s revealed that the EM pulse from Simmons as she dies will blow the whole plane out of the sky, killing the entire SHIELD team, I breathed a sigh of relief. They can’t kill the whole team. There’d be no show. Then Simmons jumped from the plane…just as Fitz realizes they figured out a cure. It’s like a nerd version of Romeo and Juliet.

IAIN DE CAESTECKER, ELIZABETH HENSTRIDGE

If Simmons dies, we riot!

I literally cheered when Fitz tried to get that parachute on and Ward jumped out of the plane to save Simmons. This episode was INTENSE. At the end of the day, Ward saves Simmons and I don’t throw my remote at my TV over her death. Whedon, you played with my emotions like an episode of Parenthood here, and I thank you for it.

In Agent Coulson news, we get a BIG reveal tonight. Coulson undoes his shirt and shows off the massive scar where Loki blasted him in The Avengers. Someone told me that this is proof that Coulson is not a Life Model Decoy. I still think he’s a LMD, and that whoever designed the Coulson LMD went into very good detail. I’m guessing we won’t find out until the end of this season at the earliest.

Agents of SHIELD is crossing over with Thor: The Dark World in two weeks. In other words, make sure you see Thor: The Dark World. See you next week!

November 7, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Uatu Know About This

I found this postcard in my mail today. The image is a chalk outline of The Watcher, with the tag line “May 2014.” All is says on the back is “From Your Friends at MARVEL.” I believe this was sent to me because I am a Marvel Digital Unlimited Plus subscriber.

For those of you unfamiliar with the character, The Watcher is a cosmic being who shows up when really big events are going down. Uatu is The Watcher of Earth. There’s a whole race of Watchers, watching events all over the universe. They’re the ultimate couch potato, sworn never to interfere (though that rarely seems to stop Uatu). How do you know you’re looking at a Watcher? Well, they stand about 50 feet high, like to wear high-collared togas, and have extremely large craniums and pupil-less eyes.

Uatu likes to watch.

It’s those pupil-less eyes that are all seeing. That’s what has be interested about this image. Not only is it the chalk outline of what I presume is a dead Watcher, but some extreme violence has been perpetrated on this Watcher’s eyes. It’s the only part of the image that has bloodstains, and there is a lot of blood there.

This has me thinking, “Why would someone want to kill a Watcher?” Is is someone trying to hide a secret? It’d have to be a big secret in order to need to take out a Watcher. What did The Watcher see that he shouldn’t have?

There’s no way to tell for certain if this is Uatu or another Watcher. They tend to look and dress alike for the most part. But since Uatu is The Watcher assigned to Earth, it makes sense that this would be Uatu. The high-collared silhouette certainly looks like Uatu’s.

I’m guessing The Watcher didn’t see this coming.

November 7, 2013 by Billy Henehan

My 2nd New York Comic-Con

This year, I had the pleasure of attending my second NY Comic-Con. My first one, in 2011, was a dizzying, eye-opening experience of costumes, nerd love, and getting faked out by the promise of cupcakes. In 2012 I, sadly, was attending a wedding instead of witnessing the marriage of geekdom and even deeper niche geekdom. But this year, I was back and so was a beautifully renovated Javits Center.

I love traveling to the Javits via subway. Looking around in my car, I was wearing my 10^th Doctor t-shirt and looked like the only one heading to this thing. But then as I got out on 7^th Ave and walked west, I was slowly joined by more and more throngs clearly heading exactly where I was. How did I know? The capes gave it away, mostly. Also the inordinate amount of spandex.

And then, a block away. I witnessed this:

Why, yes, that is Boba Fett on an accordion. And he was playing the theme song from Zelda.

Anyway, the Javits was a big buzz of excitement, art, merch, and—my favorite part—creative costumes. As someone who throws a yearly themed birthday party, you know I have an appreciation for costumes—most especially the homemade ones.

Like this girl who came dressed as a character from Oregon Trail:

Or this homemade Dalek:

In fact there were a lot of Doctor Who related costumes this year, which I appreciated. Though, I thought, a dearth of Harry Potter costumes. Something I think I must remedy next year. (Luckily, I have thrown a Harry Potter themed party before so I am prepared.)

And speaking of Doctor Who, I was pretty thrilled that I had an opportunity to see John “Captain Jack” Barrowman—especially since I missed him at the convention I accidentally happened upon in Dusseldorf, Germany this year whilst on my honeymoon. (True story: you can read about it here).

The line to get his autograph and a photo with him were c-razy long. I mean, I have a photo of it, but I’m not sure how much you can surmise from it since I am a) short and b) not wearing a costume to compensate for that. (Another note to self for next year. Perhaps I can go as Madame Maxime.)

But trust me, it was long. And, also, we had missed the photo portion, which made me sad since JB was wearing his suspenders and giving out hugs. He looks like a good hugger.

Luckily, we just managed to eke into the Q&A session with him. It was standing room only but we got to stand pretty close to the front. If you’ve ever wondered what John Barrowman is like in person, think Captain Jack—but not toned down for television. And I include the sometimes X-rated Torchwood in this scenario. In other words: charming, hilariously inappropriate, and raunchy as all get-out. Oh, and very purty, of course.

JB answered questions ranging from the practical jokes the Torchwood cast played on each other (involved nudity) to whether he likes Thai food (also, surprisingly, involved some nudity. And diarrhea). It was a really fun hour, punctuated by his husband Scott “swishing” out on stage in a Superman costume (“Superman doesn’t swish!” John protested), and John planting one on him. Who doesn’t want a bit of romance inserted into their Comic-Con, I ask you?

My Comic-Con experience ended at the art auction. I’ve actually never been to an auction before at all, so it was fun to sit there with a paddle and see people get razzed over some really beautiful art. The fact that all proceeds went to charity made it that much sweeter.

And what does one do after a rejuvenating celebration of stories and arts and people’s unbridled passion for the above? Channel it into karaoke, of course. So, really, you might say that my Comic-Con experience ended with a rousing duet of “Beauty and the Beast.” There may have also been a Grease 2 song in there…but I’ll never spill which one.

Written by Sarvenaz Tash. Check out her debut novel, The Mapmaker and the Ghost. Photos by Graig Kreindler.

November 2, 2013 by Dave Tomko

Arrow S2E2: “Identity”

I shall call myself Arrow.

We left off last episode with Oliver pondering a new identify while staring at an Arrow (CW, you’re so good at being deep). And this episode follows up with the title “Identity.”

Ok before we go on here I kind of want to take note of DC Entertainment’s super-hero naming conventions in media other than comics. In Smallville they did everything the could to not call Clark Kent Superman or Superboy. He was called the Blur or the Red Blue Blur. The Red Blue Blur? Really? That sounds cooler that Superboy? Selina Kyle was never called Catwoman in the Dark Knight Rises. Oliver Queen stars in a show called Arrow where he called the Hood. There was even a joke how dumb the name Green Arrow would be in the first season of the show. Now it looks like he will take the name Arrow. To me it feels like DC is slightly embarrassed by the names of their heroes. This Amazon show that is now on hold will feature Wonder Woman as the protagonist probably won’t call her Wonder Woman. She’ll probably be called the Amazon. Anyway, I hope Oliver takes the name Green Arrow before the last episode of the show.

This episode revolves mostly around FEMA trucks not being able to get supplies to hospitals in the Glades after the quake because they are being hijacked. This places Roy as the scene first. It doesn’t go to well for him. This provides the spark for more tension between him and Thea, and for Ollie and his crew to get involved.

Now that Oliver is all about being more proactive, not killing, his trick arrows, and figuring out what his new heroic identify will be he decides to reorganize “Team Arrow.” Felicity Smoak who was created for the television show and plays the tech support character gets “promoted” to Ollie’s personal secretary. This helps them stay in close personal contact but pisses Felicity off. Not too great for the resume but great for humor. Case in point, this leads to one of the two best lines in the show, both by John Diggle. In response to Felicity’s freak out, “It could be worse. My secret identity is ‘his black driver.” Boom. Hands down this guy is one of the best parts of the show. He follows with another great line later in the episode in response to one of Ollie’s “deep” statements talking about his two different identities, “You know I’ve been meaning to tell you it really weirds me out to no end the way you refer to yourself in the third person like that.” Could he be the Han Solo of the Arrow series? It is no wonder this made-for-TV character is jumping to the comic book pages.

Once Team Arrow sets up an operation to intercept the people stopping FEMA, shit hits the fan. They find out that last season’s villain China White and a new character from DC Comics the Bronze Tiger are behind it. Ahem, I mean we can’t use the name from the comic books. I mean Tiger. Hey does Tiger look familiar to anyone? That’s Michael Jai White who played Gambol, the thug that was not to happy with the Joker in The Dark Knight. In any case we find out that Tiger took the job just to challenge the Hood. They fight the fight is broken up. They’ll fight again later and hint, hint… Arrow wins.

Michael Jai White apparently loves sharp objects and DC Comics.

Things aren’t so neatly wrapped up. A new player is introduced as an advocate for the Glades, Alderman Sebastian Blood. He is an activist for the victims of the quake and being set up for as an antagonist for Oliver. He has comic book connections (see below). In the island flashbacks Oliver copes with his first kill with Shado and Slade. They find a cave containing World War II Japanese soliders. Here Oliver finds a stone that he gives to Thea when he comes home. She gives it to Roy when she breaks up with him and asks him to get his life on track. Speaking of which the Hood tracks down Roy and convinces him to stop fighting in the Glades, but instead become his “eyes and ears” in the Glades. The episode leaves off with Laurel setting a trap to catch the Hood. We leave with Oliver surrounded by Police.

SPOILERS/NOTES/COMIC BOOK CONNECTIONS

Below I’m going to go into some source material things so SPOILERS ahead.

From left to right: Green Arrow: Year One writer Andy Diggle, and actor David Ramsey who plays John Diggle, with Jeff Lemire who is bringing John Diggle from the TV screen to comic book panels.

From left to right: Green Arrow: Year One writer Andy Diggle, actor David Ramsey (who plays John Diggle) with Jeff Lemire who is bringing John Diggle from the TV screen to comic book panels.

John Diggle. He was created for the TV sereis. His last name is a nod to Andy Diggle, who wrote my favorite Green Arrow story, Green Arrow: Year One. It gorgeous stylized art from the artist known as Jock. Diggle’s character has entered DC Comics this past month in Green Arrow #24 written by Jeff Lemire.

China White: She first appeared as the main villain in Green Arrow: Year One (so good) by Andy Diggle.

Bronze Tiger: Ben Turner is is a character that first appeared in a prose novel called Dragon’s Fists, written by Dennis O’Neil and Jim Berry. He first appeared in comic books in Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter #1. Turner started out as an anti-hero and became brainwashed and forced to commit criminal. Later in his career he is deprogrammed more of a straight on hero. I hope to see him take more of a hero role in future issues.

Alderman Sebastian Blood: He is a character in DC Comics known as Brother Blood. He was created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez and first appeared in New Teen Titans vol. 1 #21 – 22. He is currently appearing in Animal Man written by current Green Arrow scribe Jeff Lemire.

Roy Harper: Roy Harper’s first appeared at the same time as Oliver Queen the Green Arrow did, in More Fun Comics #73 way back in 1941. After Roy’s father, a park ranger, died in a fire, he was raised by Brave Bow, a Navajo medicine chief. During this time Roy became a remarkable archer. After Brave Bow’s death, Roy was adopted by Oliver Queen and became his sidekick Speedy. Roy went on to join the a group of sidekicks called the Teen Titans lead by Batman’s sidekick Robin. During the 1970s he went down a troubled path when he became addicted to heroin in Green Lantern #85 – 86. He had an affair with a super-villain Cheshire, which resulted in him becoming a single father at a young age. He eventually changes his code name to Arsenal and eventually Red Arrow and then back again to Arsenal. Don’t ask. He seems to have as much trouble with names as DC Entertainment. If you’re looking for some good Roy Harper reading I would suggest the one-shot Batman plus Arsenal #1 and the 1998 mini-series Arsenal. Both are written by Devin Grayson and take place during a time where Oliver Queen is dead. Currently Roy is appearing in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Written by Dave Tomko. Check out Dave’s site, newearth2.com.

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Monthly Archives: November 2013