December 31, 2013 by Billy Henehan

The World’s End – Review

Just in time for New Year’s Eve, I watched The World’s End, the latest movie from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. Thankfully, I somehow managed to avoid the plot twist that the movie hinges upon. To protect anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet and has also been lucky enough to not be spoiled, I won’t spoil it here in this review.

The basic, pre-twist premise of The World’s End is that Simon Pegg’s character, Gary King, has a mission. He wants to reunite his high school friends to reenact their epic pub crawl through town from their teenage years, a pub crawl that they never technically finished. That night was the best night of Gary’s life. Gary, it should be pointed out, is that friend of yours from high school (or college) who never changed…and not necessarily in a good way. The eternal pan, Gary is now nearing middle age, but dressing exactly the same as he did in high school. He’s like a British Al Bundy, but instead of throwing four touchdowns in one game, Gary’s crowning achievement is that he almost drank at every bar in town one night.

Gary is that friend.

Gary’s friends have all moved on from their home town, and from Gary, but in a Machivellian scheme, Gary gets the gang back together. If Gary put the effort he put into organizing this pub crawl to making positive changes in his own life, he probably would be in a much better place. But that’s neither here nor there.

I’m glad I watched The World’s End before the end of 2013, because this will definitely be in my Top 5 movies of the year. It is such a perfect mix of action and comedy. The special effects are great. ‘There was definitely a budget jump with this movie over Hot Fuzz. But back to the action and comedy combo for a second. There is a scene where The People’s Elbow gets used a fight. I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

If you liked This is the End, another hilariously funny movie from 2013, I think you will also like The World’s End. The World’s End almost seems like the British answer to This is the End. It’s almost funny how similarly they are named and that they were released around the same time.

I’ve seen Wright, Pegg and Frost’s other two movies, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. If I had to rank them, I’d rank them Shaun of the Dead, The World’s End and Hot Fuzz. But really, they’re all great, and The World’s End keeps the winning streak going for these three.

December 22, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Justice League #26 On Sale Now at Barnes and Noble!

I was in the TriBeCa Barnes and Noble last night and spotted Justice League #26 on the shelf. I was surprised that I missed it being released on Wednesday, and figured I’d buy it off Comixology when I returned home. But when I arrived home, I saw that the most recent issue available on Comixology was #25.

Justice League #26 isn’t supposed to go on sale until this Tuesday, December 24 aka Christmas Eve. Comic book stores received their shipment of it, along with other comics, with last week’s books, and are embargoed from selling it until this Tuesday.

Apparently, Barnes and Noble missed that memo, as it is not only the TriBeCa Barnes and Noble at 97 Warren St that is selling it, but also the Barnes and Noble at 106 Court St in Brooklyn.

One of these things does not belong here: Justice League #26, on the rack early at the Court St. Barnes and Noble in Brooklyn

I couldn’t resist the appeal of reading a comic before its official release. Justice League #26 is a great comic, showing the origins of most of the Crime Syndicate. We get origins for Power Ring, Deathstorm, Johnny Quick and Atomica, a look into the mind of The Grid, more in the mystery about the Crime Syndicate’s hooded captive, and a new mystery involving Superwoman. Ivan Reis’s art is gorgeous, as usual, though whoever inked the pages with the Outsider seems to given the Outsider a shave, as his mustache was nowhere to be found.

If you’d like to read Justice League #26 before it’s official release date on Tuesday, you head to your local B&N!

December 18, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Battling Boy – Review

For me, the telling sign of an excellent book is that as soon as I finish it, I immediately turn to page one and start all over again, because I just don’t want it to end. I didn’t want Battling Boy to end. It’s that good. And the second read-through was in some ways more enjoyable than the first read-through.

The first thing I noticed about Battling Boy when reading it was how kinetic the art is. Paul Pope captures movement in Battling Boy like no other book on the market right now. This helps make Battling Boy work very well, because the story of Battling Boy is that of a 13 year old super-powered boy, who must leave the confines of his cool cosmic super-powered town to go prove himself in battle against monsters before returning home.

Spoiler: Battling Boy doesn’t appear on page 1. But when he does appear, Pope mirrors the layout of the first page to introduce us to Battling Boy. I liked this technique a lot, as the mirrored panel layout immediately suggested that what we were seeing was an ordinary day in the life of Battling Boy. As Battling Boy and the reader would both find out, that day would be far from ordinary.

I love how creative Paul Pope is with the superpowers he gives his characters. It’s not just the usual super-strength and flying. Sure, there is super-strength and flying, but it’s not just that. In one scene, Battling Boy gets the powers of a T-Rex because of the T-Rex image woven onto his shirt. He has a collection of similar shirts, all with different creatures on them. How cool is that?

This shirt! I want it!

First Second, the publisher of Battling Boy, has already announced a prequel to Battling Boy which will star supporting character Aurora West, the super-cool daughter of Monstropolis protector Haggard West. Aurora was my favorite character in Battling Boy, so I am definitely in for The Rise of Aurora West! Paul Pope will be cowriting this book with JT Petty. David Rubin will be handling art.

The Rise of Aurora West will be released in July, 2014.

The Rise of Aurora West will be released in 2014.

Battling Boy is definitely one of the best comic books that I have read in 2013. It’s inventive, action packed and gorgeous! I would recommend this book to fans of The Legend of Zelda and superhero comic fans that are looking for something new and exciting.

You can buy Battling Boy now at your local comic book store and on Amazon.

December 17, 2013 by Billy Henehan

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Review

4/5 – Exciting sequel to the first Hunger Games, that captures the spirit of the source material very well.

As the release date for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire approached, I noticed I did not have any signs of having caught Catching Fire fever. I’d see the posters in the subway and on billboards around New York City, but they barely registered, which is weird, because out of the three Hunger Games books, Catching Fire is easily my favorite

I think my lack of excitement can be blamed on two things, the first of which is the poster for Catching Fire. It just looks too much like it could be a poster for the first Hunger Games movie. It’s not just evocative of the first film, it looks like it could be a poster for either film. I get that there are a lot of similarities between the two movies, the biggest being that Katniss and Peeta head back into the Hunger Games arena, but modeling your poster to remind me exactly of a movie I already saw a couple of years ago? At least give me something new! Or else subconsciously I’m going to just think it’s the same movie I already saw.

Side by side comparison of the Catching Fire and Hunger Games posters.

The other source of blame for my lack of excitement was the first Hunger Games movie itself. Don’t get me wrong; I liked the first Hunger Games movie. But it was good, not great, and definitely did not live up to the awesomeness of the book. I get that capturing the magic that made something awesome when you’re adapting it to another medium can be tricky, and changes have to be made. But if the posters for Catching Fire are making me think I’m watching Hunger Games a second time through, then the original Hunger Games movie had to have been amazing for me to get excited for the new movie.

Thankfully, Catching Fire is excellent. It is definitely a step up from the first Hunger Games movie. I felt that the pacing was much better in this movie. The balance between time outside the arena and time spent in the arena, which the first film seemed to have problems reconciling, is handled very well here.

The casting for the new characters was excellent. Finnick is my absolute favorite character in the entire Hunger Games trilogy. It was Finnick who convinced me that Aquaman could be cool. Sam Caflin captures Finnick’s “brash yet really a sweet and damaged guy underneath” attitude perfectly. I’m looking forward to him giving us more Finnick in the next movie.

“Dude! What does mine say?”

Jeffrey Wright was very good in the role of Beetee. He definitely has the role of the loopy science person down. But what else would you expect from “quite possibly the the most underrated and underexposed actor of his caliber and generation.” The man has an “undeniable talent and ability to successfully bring to life any role he undertakes is on a par with the most praised and revered A-list actors in the business.” Those quotes were taken from Wright’s own IMDB page. No joke. Check it out.

Let’s not forget the Tooch! Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman was the highlight of the first movie for me. The Tooch delivers again in Catching Fire, making Flickerman an outstanding satire of the talking heads hosting and commentating on current prime time television. Casting directors: every movie can benefit from more Stanley Tucci.

“Ryan Seacrest ain’t got shit on me!

You know where Catching Fire really succeeded? It really succeeded at getting me excited for the movie version of Mockingjay. That’s no small feat, as Mockingjay is my least favorite book in the Hunger Games series. I’m hoping that the screenwriter and director work on making Katniss more proactive in the plot of Mockingjay. In the book, so much seems to happen around her, or while she’s sleeping. I’d like to see her be more proactive in the third film than she is in the third book. Catching Fire is an excellent adaptation to film. Hopefully Mockingjay will be also.

December 11, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD S1E10 “The Bridge” – Review

The marketing push was in full force this week heading into Agents of SHIELD’s mid-season finale. The Agents of SHIELD Facebook, Twitter and TV commercials all announced that in this episode, “Everything comes together!” I think there was a conscious effort in the advertising to engage the fans who may have fallen off the bus and bring them back into the fold with this episode, The Bridge.

Sorry Rob Liefeld fans. If you saw the title of the episode and thought X-Force side-character G.W. Bridge was making his Agents of SHIELD debut, you’d be disappointed.

GW Bridge and his thigh pouches didn't make it into "The Bridge."

Neither GW Bridge nor his thigh pouches made it into “The Bridge.”

If the last episode you watched of Agents of SHIELD was The Girl in the Flower Dress, you could jump right in this episode without a problem. Well, you’d have one problem, which is missing the FitzSimmons awesomeness in F.Z.Z.T. Not to mention seeing SHIELD deal with Dr. Janoch Pohaaa in The Well.

The Bridge does bring everything together. Centipede? Yup. The girl in the flower dress? She’s here. The creepy dude stewing in prison? Him too.

“Why do you only wear floral prints? WHY?!?”

The Bridge also brought back Mike Peterson, the super strong freak of the week from the pilot. Mike is now working with SHIELD. Centipede is surprised to see that Extremis didn’t burn his system out and now wants Mike so that they can dissect him to reverse-engineer his powers stabilizing.

Anyone else think that Mike Peterson is the Lando of Agents of SHIELD? He signs on to help Coulson’s team and then betrays them when the villain gains the upper hand. Coulson is Han Solo in this example. The helicopter is the carbon freezing chamber. Work with me here, people. Mike makes the complete Lando turn when he then tries to save the person he screwed over from the very same people he gave that person to. I’m really hoping that Episode 12 of Agents of SHIELD opens with Mike in disguise working as a guard on the Clairvoyant’s skiff.

Mike?

I really don’t get the Mike’s son for Coulson trade. Centipede needed Mike for a specific reason, namely figuring out how to stabilize Extremis. Why would they take Coulson over him? Yes, Coulson’s crew has been a thorn in their side since the series began, but a stable Extremis can’t be overlooked! Stabilize Extremis and shoot your three Extremis soldiers at SHIELD HQ like missiles. Or take both Coulson and Mike. Double-win! Was there not enough room in the helicopter for both of them?

Coulson: “Is it okay if I call you Lando?”

My favorite characters, FitzSimmons, did not shine this episode. I was watching The Bridge with someone who had never seen the show before, and the reaction FitzSimmons received was along the line of “Really? These two are your favorites?” FitzSimmonsjust came across so bumbling in The Bridge, as opposed to how awesome they were in F.Z.Z.T and The Hub.

What was up with Ward during the climatic bridge scene? Really, Ward, that’s where you set up? You couldn’t haven taken that high-powered sniper rifle to a different vantage point? You did notice those big gasoline tankers on the bridge when you picked that spot, right? You had the prep time. I’m starting to think you’re a Centipede double-agent. Not true, I actually think schtupping May has turned the boy stupid.

“Okay Ward, now you make sure you set yourself up in a spot where you can see nothing. Got it?”

Well, that’s it. We’re halfway through season one of Agents of SHIELD. The preview for the second half looks like we will be getting more clues about, if not a flat out answer to, what happened to Coulson after The Avengers and before the first episode of Agents of SHIELD. New episodes of Agents of SHIELD return on January 7 to ABC. New reviews of Agents of SHIELD return January 8 to Tuesday Night Movies!

December 2, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Director Jay Oliva Talks Justice League: War

In the third and final installment of my interviews with the crew from DC Animation at NYCC regarding the upcoming Justice League: War animated movie, I sat down with Director Jay Oliva. Jay is no stranger to directing animation, as he’s already directed Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and the excellent Batman: The Dark Knights Returns Parts 1 and 2, among other things.

Jay explained what makes Justice League: War different from Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. “It’s much more ensemble than Flashpoint. In Flashpoint, Flash was clearly the main one.” Cyborg does have a major arc in Justice League: War though. “In this one, Cyborg is the one the audience can empathize with more, because you see him as a regular guy, and then you see him become the hero he eventually does.” But from the sound of it, unlike in Flashpoint, the story will be more divided among the League members and not mainly focus on one hero. Jay explained, “(Cyborg) has more of an arc. Batman shows up and he’s Batman. There’s no Batman arc…He’s just Batman from beginning to end. He’s just a bad ass all the way through.”

I asked Jay if Geoff Johns, the writer of the Justice League comic that Justice League: War is based on, was involved in the script at all. Unfortunately, Jay didn’t know how much involvement Johns had with the script. “When I start, it’s usually after the script has been written. Then I take over and try to do my adaptation of that,” Jay went on to elaborate.

When you sit down with Jay, the first thing you’ll notice about him is that he very energetic. I think this comes from the huge level of enthusiasm he has for his work with Warner Brothers Home Video. He wants his animated movies to stand out. Jay explained, “You guys are paying 20 bucks for it. It’s on the same shelf as Man of Steel, Dark Knight, The Avengers. I have to be able to compete with that. I want you guys to say, “Hey, this looks like a good film,” and when you watch it, even though it’s animated, I want it to hold up with the live action stuff out there: balls to the wall action, good storytelling….I’m having fun with this stuff.”

When asked what storyline he’d like to turn into a film, he was very quick to answer. “I would do Gotham by Gaslight,” Jay said. He would go on to namedrop Gotham by Gaslight a few times in our conversation. The dude really likes Gotham by Gaslight. And looking at how he handled The Dark Knight Returns, I bet he could do a stellar job on the period piece Gotham by Gaslight. Warner Brothers, let Jay Oliva make Gotham by Gaslight!

Gotham by Gaslight features Batman taking on Jack the Ripper.

Jay also said he’s love to a Kingdom Come movie, but that he wasn’t sure “if we have the technology to do it. It’s too hard. It would have to look like Alex Ross’s watercolors…We don’t have five years for this. We have a one year turnaound.” The 76 minute limitation posed by the budget of the animated movies also comes into play. “I’d love to do 120 minutes,” Jay said, “But the animation studio could not physically do it. Hopefully we can do parts 1 and 2 or more if it sells well….Dark Knight Returns sold really well, so Home Video is seeing hey, maybe we can do two-parters.” I don’t know about you, but if Kingdom Come were done as a four-parter, I’d buy every release!

“Action, action, action.” That was Jay’s response when asked what we’re going to see in Justice League: War. “The comic is literally an invasion of Earth…It’s about a group of heroes who are powerful, but couldn’t take down Darkseid by themselves. So they have to band together to take down this greater evil. Personalities clash. Superman and Batman, whenever they meet they gotta fight. They’re so polar opposite…Ultimately, they become the team we all know and love,” Jay said. He also confirmed that we will see Apokolips, the home of Darkseid and his parademons in Justice League: War. But Jay also pointed out that, “We don’t see any New Gods, which I would have loved to put in there. It’s strictly just Darkseid and his parademons.”

Jay has worked for both DC and Marvel’s animation divisions and was candid about the differences between the two. “From my own experience, the DC stuff I work on, they leave us alone…I don’t have to show my storyboards to the president of animation…They trust us. They know that we’ll do good work,” said Jay. Comparitively, he said about Marvel: “At Marvel, there’s a lot of hands in there. Mind you, I haven’t worked for them since they were taken over by Disney…I would never have been able to get away with The Flashpoint Paradox at Disney. Never.” That said, he also mentioned that he would love to work for Marvel again one day, “but right now I’m enjoying the freedom I have here,” meaning at DC. Going by the quality of his output at DC, I hope Jay Oliva stays with them for a long time.

The February 4 release date for Justice League: War is approaching quickly. Have you made your pre-order yet?

December 2, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E9 – Repairs

This week’s episode has an interesting title. Repairs. It wasn’t until the end of the episode, with May smiling in the cockpit, that the meaning behind the title became clear. Repairs didn’t refer to a what, but to a who. Melinda May is the resident BAMF of the Bus. We finally learn the meaning of her nickname, “The Cavalry,” in this episode. First FitzSimmons give Skye a bogus, over-the-top story as part of their pranks, but we later find out from Coulson that the true story is much darker. We also learn that before “The Calvary” incident, May was much more lighthearted, but changed and darkened a lot from that experience. It was nice to see May’s lighter side come out at the very end of Repairs.

Agent May used to be cuddly. True story.

The B-story of FitzSimmons wanting to prank Skye was my favorite part of the episode. I liked that there were callbacks to their pranks, even after the shit hit the fan. Fitz’s scream when the mop fell out of the closet as the closet door opened was priceless, made even funnier by the fact that Fitz was the one who rigged the mop to fall.

We get some follow-up on last week’s ending. Ward and May definitely slept together. May out-dudes Ward when she leaves the hotel room without him as he’s in mid-explanation about them staggering their exits so as not to arouse suspicion. I think we’re going to see an interesting triangle between May, Ward and Skye going forward. Skye and Ward definitely have chemistry. It will be intriguing to see what Skye’s reaction will be when Ward and May are outed, and this being television, they will definitely be outed.

Ditched!

I liked the two-part twist to this week’s threat. Not only was Hannah Hutchins not telekinetic and pyrokinetic, but the man trapped between dimensions who was stalking her was benevolently motivated. This was a cool take on the “Why are these weird things happening all around me?” story.

I’d call this another solid episode. FitzSimmons continue to shine. Hopefully the writers agree that they’re the best parts of the show and give them more screen time in the future.

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Monthly Archives: December 2013