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The Cabin in the Woods – Review

“Make sure you see The Cabin in the Woods before it’s spoiled for you,” my friend warned after he saw it in the theater. It was a warning I heeded. I avoided all discussion about the movie from then until now, having just recently seen the movie on DVD. I avoided anything and everything about the movie in fear of accidentally reading one sentence too long and having it spoiled. I didn’t even know Chris Hemsworth was in the cast until he appeared on screen.
To those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, I would recommend heeding my friend’s advice. A big part of what makes Cabin in the Woods work is the twist behind the movie, so try to have that not ruined for you if you can.
Like Scream, Cabin in the Woods is a good deconstruction of the horror movie genre. And Bradley Whitford is awesome in it, in his snarky Bradley Whitford way.
SPOILER WARNING: I plan on discussing that twist directly after this awesome poster.


 

Okay, the only people left are those of you who have already seen Cabin the Woods, right? Good.
This movie is a big metaphor about making horror movies, right? We, the audience, are ancient demons they’re trying to appease. I liked that the crew had every type of horror villain available to them in their subterranean holding cells. I also really liked that the projects being done in other counties reflected what horror movies are like there, like the ghost-children in the Japanese project.
I just wished they went further with it. Once Dana and Marty make it to the base, the movie sped along to its finish. I wanted to know more about this place. Yes, too much exposition is bad. But, I think a little more would have served Cabin in the Woods well.
Overall, Cabin in the Woods didn’t live up to the hype for me. I feel like I just lost a little geek cred by saying that. I thought it was good, but not great. It’s definitely entertaining and I would recommend people see it. But don’t go in with your expectations set very, very high.
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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 – Review

After months of waiting, it’s finally here, the conclusion to the animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s epic, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.  Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, the folks at DC’s animated division have once again created a movie worthy of the source material.

When I first heard that DC was dividing The Dark Knight Returns into two movies, the cynic in me saw this as a cash grab. But now that I’ve seen both movies, I’m glad the decision was made to divide the story into two movies. Nothing feels rushed, nothing feels left out.

Michael Emerson did a great job voicing the Joker. His Joker is not Mark Hamill’s Joker, but it is terrific in its own way. While I love Batman: The Animated Series, and hear Mark Hamill’s Joker and Kevin Conroy’s Batman when I read those characters, I like that Andrea Romano was tasked with finding all-new voice talent for the two Dark Knight Returns movies.

The climatic fight scene between Superman and Batman was awesome, as was the scene where Superman is hit by the nuclear bomb. Both scenes were like seeing what my mind’s eye sees in the gutters of the comic brought to life. The producers did an amazing job with both.

My only complaints about the movie are minor. The lighting seemed too bright for some of the street level action. I would have expected more shadows and murkier colors. The comic is full of a lot of blacks and  grays, but the animated movie has a more colorful overall palette.

There were two character designs that stood out for me that seemed very off from their comic book counterparts. In The Dark Knight Returns comic, Bruno, the Joker’s swastika-adorned, Neo-Nazi goon always looked like a post-op tranny to me. She’s more obviously a woman here in the movie. Batman’s bag lady disguise is the other design that was jarring to me. In the comic, this is a scary looking disguise. The bag lady looks like disease and death in an overweight bag. But her gruesome features are gone in the movie. Sure, she’s not winning any beauty contests, but they definitely gave her an upgrade in the looks department.

Bruno from the Dark Knight Returns comic

Having recently watched Batman: Year One, it was nice to see a couple of Easter eggs for that movie in this one. On the Gordan’s apartment wall, you can see photos of Gordan’s first wife, Barbara and their infant son James Jr.

I bought the limited edition version of the movie at Best Buy, which comes with a small Joker figure. Was this  figure worth the extra five bucks? I’m going to say no. The Joker’s face looks more like David Bowie by way of Gene Simmons and there is virtually no articulation.

Not the best Joker figure.

I definitely recommend watching Batman: Year One and then both parts of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. All three movies are very faithful and very well done adaptations of what I think are the two greatest Batman stories ever told.

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Tom Hanks Is One Sick Bastard in You’ve Got Mail!

I was hanging out with a couple of friends recently and You’ve Got Mail came on TV. I’d seen You’ve Got Mail before and enjoyed it. But it wasn’t until seeing it this time around that I realized how much of a manipulative jerk Tom Hanks’s character Joe Fox is.

I’m serious. The guy is a borderline sociopath. I’m not even talking about his character early in the movie, when he’s just the head of the big, bad chain of Barnes and Noble Fox bookstores. No, I’m talking about later in the movie, when he’s smitten with Meg Ryan’s Kathleen Kelly and both she and we are supposed to realize that hey, this Joe Fox isn’t a bad guy at all.

But he is! Look at what he does. He basically splits himself into two personalities when he’s around Kathleen. When he interacts with her online, he’s her mysterious suitor and when he hangs out with her person, he basically becomes her gay best friend.

Gay Best Friend (GBF) Joe Fox starts giving Kathleen advice on how to deal with online J03_F0X. And that’s when it gets weird. Because Joe Fox is giving advice on how to respond to himself. It gets really weird when J03_F0X asks Kathleen to do something. GBF Joe Fox tells her not to do what online Joe Fox wants her to do to make IRL Joe Fox look like the better man in Kathleen’s eyes OVER HIMSELF! This cutesy Jekyll and Hyde bit goes on for a while.

At the end of the movie, Kathleen agrees to meet her online suitor in Central Park. Instead of a stranger, Joe Fox walks up to her in the park and it’s revealed to her that her cyber-beau has been Joe Fox all along. She says to him, “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly.” I think a better, more realistic ending would have been for her to realize upon seeing Joe that he’s been pulling her strings for months. She lets out an anguished cry, runs to him and beats him senseless while calling him a sicko.

The only thing missing from Joe Fox is a creepy mustache.
Written by Billy Henehan…who, despite this, still likes You’ve Got Mail.

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Premium Rush – Review

4/5 – Quite a rush!

I finally caught Premium Rush on Blu-ray this week. I missed it when it was in the theaters. Now that I’ve seen it, I wish I had seen it earlier. I remember not being that excited for it in the theater thanks to the trailer, which it turns out did not do this movie justice.

Premium Rush is an excellent thriller. I wouldn’t have expected a movie that takes place mostly on bicycles to be that entertaining, but Premium Rush really is great. The movie is told mostly in real time, between 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM on a weekday evening. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Wilee, a bike messenger with what appears to be a death wish. Granted, anyone who is a bike messenger in New York City is taking their life in their hands every day on the job, but Wilee lives at the edge. He doesn’t have brakes on his bike. He speeds through busy intersections and rides between buses.

Wilee picks up a package that gets him in a mess of trouble. It turns out there’s a McGuffin in this envelope that a bad man would like to get his hands on. It’s the bad guy in the movie, Bobby Monday (played by Michael Shannon), that was the only low point in the movie for me. At times, it just seemed like Shannon was overacting his part. But after watching the bonus features, it seems Michael Shannon might be like that in real life too, just full of crazed energy. So maybe I have to rescind this complaint.

Wole Parks does an awesome job as the other main antagonist in the movie, Wilee’s nemesis Manny. Manny is Wilee’s opposite in many ways. He wears a helmet, has brakes on his variable speed bike and trains daily, while Wilee thinks brakes will get you killed and rides a fixed gear, steel frame bike.

They’re chasing the ice cream man.

There are a few really cool chase sequences in the movie each involving a bicycle vs. something else. Bike vs. bike, bike vs. car, bike vs. pedestrian, they’re all done great. Director David Koepp does a really good job in the bonus features explaining how he wanted the bike chase sequences to each be very different from each other, and that’s what led them to having the bike face off against different modes of transportation.

My favorite of the chase sequences was the first one, with Wilee on his bike being pursued by Monday in his car. During this chase, a bicycle cop goes after Wilee as well. The bikes can go in places that cars can’t, which Koepp takes full advantage of.

It was also very cool to see Wilee’s point of view as he approaches a busy intersection. His decisions on different routes are mapped out on screen, showing which ways are perilous and which one will will work. The decision takes place in a split-second, but it was very cool seeing it mapped out like that.

It looked like at least 95% of this movie was shot on location. They are all over Manhattan, usually on the streets. It was very cool seeing actual New York City all over this movie. I felt like some of the geography didn’t match up during a couple of the chases, but for the most part, they were accurate.

Premium Rush is one of those rare movies where I recommend watching the special features after the movie. They are both very well done and definitely add to the experience of watching the movie.

Five people played Wilee in total throughout Premium Rush!

I wonder if Premium Rush is helping or hurting bike sales in New York City. After watching the movie, I plan on sticking to the subway.

Yeah…I think I’ll walk.

If I were to rank Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s movies from 2012, I’d rank them Looper, then The Dark Knight Rises, then Premium Rush, then Lincoln. How would you rank them? All-in-all, I scored those four movies 17/20 combined. That might make JGL the actor of the year for Tuesday Night Movies.

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Batman: Year One – Review

5/5 – Perfect adaption of THE Batman origin story.

Batman: Year One might be my favorite comic book story ever published. Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, it’s a story that I’ve come back to year after year and it’s never felt old. When I heard that DC was planning an animated adaptation of Year One, I was a bit worried. Would they change the story? Would they stay true to Mazzucchelli’s line work or attempt update the art style?

My worries proved to be unfounded. Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano have once again put together the pieces to make a great animated movie. Batman: Year One should be considered a must-see for any Batman fan. I would also say that Batman: Year One, the comic this movie was based on, is mandatory reading for any Batman fan. After hearing Bruce and Andrea talk at New York Comic Con, and seeing the quality of Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, I’m very excited for everything coming down the DC Animated pipeline.

This movie shows Batman at his most fallible. He’s inexperienced and unsure of himself. He doesn’t have the super computer, all the fancy gadgets (though he does have some), the fancy car or the network of crime fighting colleagues to call upon. It’s cool to see Batman make mistakes, like when he attempts to foil a home burglary. And I was very happy to see that the coolest scene from Year One, which was also used in Batman Begins, was kept in the animated movie, namely Batman calling the cloud of bats to come to his aid when fleeing the Gotham PD.

Batman: Year One is much Jim Gordon’s story as it is Bruce Wayne’s. This isn’t only Batman’s first year in Gotham. It is also Gordon’s first year there as well, after uprooting from Chicago with his pregnant wife. The Gordon presented in Year One is unlike any Jim Gordon presented before. He’s trying hard to be an honest cop in a corrupt city full of corrupt cops and politicians. He’s not an infallible knight in shining armor though. He is full of pathos. He questions his decisions. You probably will too. But at the end of the day, he’s the most upstanding cop on the Gotham force. It’s interesting to watch Batman and Lt. Gordon do their dance, unsure if they can trust each other.

The Year One movie, like the Year One comic, accomplishes
 the amazing feat of making Jim Gordon as interesting as the Batman.

The only slight I have against the movie is the coloring of characters eyes. The whites of people’s eyes are the same color as the rest of their face. It’s not jarring when I see it in a still, but in the movie, I kept being distracted by it. I’m guessing the decision stemmed from wanting the animation style to match the book as much as possible, but I just found the flesh colored eyes to be weird.

I highly recommend watching Batman: Year One on DVD or Blu-ray. The special features included in it are great. There are two short interview-style featurettes, the first one focusing on the impact Frank Miller had on the Batman mythos. Miller doesn’t appear here himself, but a lot of other comic creators do, including Dennis O’Neil, Mike Carlin, Dan Didio and Scott Snyder. Producer Michael Uslan sits down with Dan Didio, Dennis O’Neil and Scott Snyder to talk about how Batman has changed over the years in the other featurette. Snyder, Didio and O’Neil each grew up during different eras of Batman, so it was very interesting to hear them talk about the differences and similarities of what defined Batman for them.

There’s also a Showcase animated short featuring Catwoman. I thought Eliza Dushku did a better job voicing Catwoman in Year One than she does here. In the short, she sounds stilted, as if she’s reading off of cue cards.

We’re coming up to the release of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 very soon. I recommend watching Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 in anticipation of it.

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Our Idiot Brother – Review

Score: 2/5 – Paul Rudd’s charm only goes so far

I really like Paul Rudd and wish I could give Our Idiot Brother a higher score. Looking at the cast, which includes Zoey Deschanel, Rashida Jones, TJ Miller, Steve Coogan, Adam Scott and Elizabeth Banks, I would have thought Our Idiot Brother would be a much funnier movie.

In the movie, Paul Rudd plays Ned. Think of the nicest and most innocent guy you know. Ned is that guy times three. Ned spends the majority of the movie bouncing around the NYC apartments of his three sisters after spending a short stint in jail.

The biggest problem with Our Idiot Brother comes from the script, which renders Ned’s sisters unlikable beyond repair. Ned unwittingly helps them expose and realize their personal and professional problems. They’re problems that none of the sisters want to deal with, so they blame Ned. But they come across as generic animated types, not individuals. There’s the Park Slope liberal mom, the Williamsburg lesbian and the uptight corporate bitch. That’s all you need to know about the three of them because that’s all there is to them. There are characters in this movie you aren’t supposed to like. Ned’s sisters aren’t three of them. But they are all made unlikable by the script. Any scene where they appear without Rudd suffers.

There are funny bits in Our Idiot Brother. I loved the very end of the movie. Any time Rudd and TJ Miller were on screen together was great. Basically, any scene with Rudd is better for it. His boyish charm is stretched to the max in this movie.

Our Idiot Brother needed more Miller time.

The DVD has an alternate ending. It’s good they didn’t go with the original ending. Compared to the theatrical release’s ending, it’s both overly long and far less funny, probably because the focus is divided away from Rudd, who carries this movie from beginning to end on his easygoing charm.

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Justice League: Doom – Review

5/5 Great adaptation of a great story

Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, Green Lantern: First Flight and Batman: Under the Red Hood, Justice League: Doom is part of DC Comics/Warner Bros direct-to-DVD line of releases. It is based on a story from the JLA comic book called Tower of Babel.

Why the name chance? In the original JLA story, Ra’s Al Ghul builds a tower that will render all forms of communication on Earth useless. This titular plot point is dropped from the animated movie (as is Ra’s Al Ghul as the story’s villain), necessitating a title change. Not to mention that Doom sounds much more menacing.

In the animated movie, the immortal villain Vandal Savage gathers an Injustice League made up of villains of each member of the Justice League. It’s a 1-for-1 match. If Vandal Savage wanted a higher chance of success, I’m surprised he didn’t stack the odds in his favor by hiring three villains for each hero, seeing as he seems to have an abundance of resources. Hubris is clearly Savage’s kryptonite.

Clothing is Star Sapphire’s kryptonite.

If you were a fan of the Justice League cartoon from a few years ago, you will like the voice cast on this movie. Kevin Conroy is Batman. Tim Daly is Superman. Carl Lumbly is the Martian Manhunter (and also pulls double duty as the villainous martian Malefic). Michael Rosenbaum is the Flash, though here he’s playing Barry Allen instead of Wally West. Susan Eisenberg plays Wonder Woman. A big addition to the cast is Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern. Fillion played Green Lantern in Green Lantern: First Flight, so it was nice to see him reprise the role here.

If I were to nitpick any part of the film, it would be Mirror Master’s heist of the Batcave. The motion sensors didn’t detect him because he was in hologram mode, but that device he attached to the Bat-Computer wasn’t intangible. It should have set off alarms. Someone as paranoid as Batman would have his motion detectors set to detect something smaller than a human, right? Or maybe Batman has his motion detectors tuned to weed out small objects. Otherwise, the bats would be setting off the alarms constantly. In that case, ignore my nitpick.

Actually, none of the Injustice League is a fan of much clothing.

Overall, I liked this animated feature a lot. It kept the biggest aspect of the JLA: Tower of Babel story, namely that the Justice League is betrayed by one of their own. I wonder if Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano had to change the villain from Ra’s to Vandal Savage because Christopher Nolan was planning on using Ra’s in The Dark Knight Rises. At New York Comic Con this year, Bruce Timm mentioned that Nolan’s plans to incorporate parts of The Dark Knight Returns into his movies put on hold that particular animated film.

If Bruce and Andrea decide to go back to the JLA series for another animated film, I hope they base one on Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s Rock of Ages storyline. I’m still not sure if I understood that story completely, but it was awesome! Green Arrow firing the Atom into Darkseid’s brain may be one of favorite comic book moments ever!

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Oscars Rage!!

What!? Are you kidding me?!

Pardon the rage. The Oscar nominations came out today. I don’t always agree with the nominations, but this year seems particularly egregious.

I have four major problems with this year’s Oscar nominations:

Ben Affleck gets snubbed for Directoring. I was shocked to find out Ben Affleck wasn’t nominated for Directoring. Did you see Argo? If you did, I’m guessing it’s easily in the top five movies you saw this year. It is the best of the movies I’ve seen that was nominated for Best Picture, and the second best movie I’ve seen this year. After seeing the Best Picture nominees, Argo seemed like a shoe-in for the Best Picture winner. But the last time a movie won Best Picture without the director being nominated for Directoring was Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.

I would definitely nominate Ben Affleck for Argo over Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. And I’d give Ben the award too.

Lincoln gets 12 nominations. Lincoln was a good movie. It was not a great movie. Daniel Day Lewis was awesome in it and deserves to win Actor in a Leading Role. He deserves every bit of praise he gets for playing Lincoln.

But Tommy Lee Jones? No way. I loved Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln, but that’s because I love Tommy Lee Jones, and in Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones was playing Tommy Lee Jones as a senator. Tommy Lee Jones is the new Jack Nicholson. You can put him in any role you want, but chances are you’re going get Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones. Like I said, I love Tommy Lee Jones, but I don’t think he should have been nominated.

I saw three movies that Joseph Gordon Levitt was in this year. Out of the three, Lincoln came in third place. I don’t think Lincoln should have been nominated for Best Picture. It was good, not great. Its spot could easily have gone to Looper, the best JGL movie of 2012. But…

Looper was completely snubbed. Best movie of the year. Zero nominations. At the very, very least, it should have been nominated for Best Picture and Writing: Original Screenplay.

Wreck-It Ralph deserved a Best Picture nomination. I thought we were past the days of great animated movies being stuck in the Animated Feature Film ghetto. Wreck-It Ralph was awesome. It lived up to its name and wrecked it. It wasn’t technically a Pixar film, but for all intents and purposes, it was a Pixar movie. And like all Pixar movies that don’t have the word Cars in their title, it rocked. But then again, so did Argo and Looper and the Academy was more than happy to short all three of these movies in favor of gushing over “I’m at least a half hour too long” Lincoln.

I’m watching the 18th Annual Critics Choice Awards while I write this rant. Affleck walked off the stage with the Best Director award. Looper won earlier for best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie. Maybe the Academy should have waited a few days before they released their imperfect list of nominees.

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Les Miserables – Review

4/5 – Russell Crowe cost Les Miserables one star more

After The Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables was the movie I was most excited for in 2012. The countdown  began months out, once the first trailer was released. It was that trailer that really made me excited for the movie. Watching Anne Hathaway, as Fantine, singing I Dreamed a Dream over shots of the movie, my expectations were raised. If the rest of the movie looked and sounded as good as this trailer, this was easily going to be my movie of the year.

As it turns out, I Dreamed a Dream is the best song in the movie. The producers were smart to put that in the trailer. I’m guessing it put many more people in the seats than Russell Crowe’s rendition of Stars.

I liked this film version of Les Miserables a lot. I’ve now seen it twice. The first was on Christmas Day (which made that Santa scene feel a bit awkward). I think Anne Hathaway is a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscars. She was easily the best part of this movie not named Colm Wilkinson. I’ve never heard I Dreamed a Dream the way she sings it. In every previous rendition of it, it’s been a showcase for the singer’s voice, but no one ever sang it with the overwhelming despair that Hathaway infuses in it. When she finally gets to “I always dreamed my life would be so different from this hell I’m living,” you are seeing a woman at the end of her rope. This is Fantine at rock bottom.

Rock. Bottom.

Eddie Redmayne really impressed me as Marius. Going into the movie, he just looked like a guy with a goofy smile and silly hair. But he made Marius work very well. I loved his and Amanda Seyfried’s version of A Heart Full of Love. He’s adorable. When Eddie says “I’m doing everything all wrong”  might be the cutest part of the movie.

I want your hair.

After seeing her in the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert, I was excited to find out that Samantha Barks would be reprising the role of Eponine in the movie. She sounded great in the movie and acted well too. She sings On My Own much more subtlety here than she does on stage. It works. Somehow the filmmakers managed to make her not look drop-dead gorgeous, which can’t be an easy feat.

Before.
After.
Okay, she still looks great.

I thought both actresses who played Cosette were excellent. Isabelle Allen was wonderful as Young Cosette. Her version of Castle on a Cloud was really good, especially when she went from singing to whispering. I’ve heard people complain about Amanda Seyfried’s singing, but I thought she sounded good and was paired well with Eddie Redmayne.

I’m of two minds on Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as Thenardier and Madame Thenardier. They were funny, and at the second screening I attended, the audience laughed very loudly during their scenes. On the other hand, at some points, I found their slapstick to be a little too over the top.

The biggest disappointment in the cast is definitely Russell Crowe as Javert. Every time he sings, my reaction is “No.” This was just bad casting. His voice is not strong enough to carry Javert’s part. He definitely cost this movie a star in my rating. How did his versions of Stars and Javert’s Suicide make the soundtrack, but Samantha Barks and Eddie Redmayne singing Little Fall of Rain was left off?

“And I’m…”
“Shut yo’ mouth! No, really, shut your mouth.”

Without a doubt the best casting decision was to bring in Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean, as the Bishop. It was a pleasure hearing him sing in the movie. The only downside is that when he is singing alongside Hugh Jackman, it really is apparent how much stronger a singer he is over Jackman.

Also in the movie is Frances Ruffelle, who originated the role of Eponine in London and on Broadway. She plays Whore #1 in the movie. I didn’t catch her appearance either time I watched the movie. Well, now I have an excuse to see it a third time.

Overall, I really liked this version of Les Miserables. My top 5 performers would be:

5. Amanda Seyfried – Cosette
4. Samantha Barks – Eponine
3. Eddie Redmayne – Marius
2. Anne Hathaway – Fantine
1. Colm Wilkinson – The Bishop

Hugh Jackman almost cracked the list at the number five spot. I enjoyed his performance a lot in the movie and thought he was a great Jean Valjean, but his singing voice just seemed to whither during some parts. He wasn’t able to adequately anchor my favorite song in the musical, One Day More, but maybe I’m just used to hearing a booming Colm Wilkinson or Alfie Boe performing that song.

According to IMDB, Hugh Jackman went without water for 36 hours to achieve his gaunt look as a prisoner.

I liked that later on in the movie Jean Valjean still had the silver candlesticks that the Bishop gave him. You see them with lit candles in them at Valjean and Cosette’s home, and he packs them in a bag when they’re fleeing. Since the Bishop giving him the candlesticks and not turning him into the authorities were what enabled Valjean his freedom, I thought it was very cool that he still had them, as a reminder of that pivotal night.

Aaron Tveit looks a lot like TJ Miller as Enroljas. I  kept expecting him to yell out, “Paris, yeah!”

“PARIS, YEAH!!”

Near the end of the movie, there were three small, but significant changes from the stage version that I caught.

When Valjean is nearing the end of his life, he no longer is greeted by both the ghosts of Fantine and Eponine. Here, he is just greeted by Fantine. This makes complete sense, as Valjean never met Eponine when she was alive.

When Jean Valjean gives his note of last confession to Cosette, he says “it is the story of one who turned from hating a man who only learned to love when you were in his keeping.” But in the stage version, the confession is “the story of those who always loved you. Your mother gave her life for you then gave you to my keeping.” I’m not sure which line I like better. The new line makes sense, especially with the addition of the new song, Suddenly, earlier in the movie. But it did throw me off as I was mouthing along to the lyrics.

It wasn’t until the second time I saw the movie that I noticed that in the final scene, with all the dead singing the Epilogue, a song advocating moving towards the future in peace and trading swords for plowshares, that all the French soldiers who died in the battle at the barricade were left as dead bodies at the foot of the barricade. They were just doing their jobs.Why couldn’t these guys get a spot of the barricade of ghosts? I don’t think Javert was singing on the barricade either at the end. I remember him being there in the stage version, but I could be wrong. Russell Crowe would probably have sounded best here, with a horde of singers drowning him out.

Overall, I really enjoyed Les Miserables and recommend seeing it. But, if you’re going to buy the movie soundtrack afterwards, do your ears a favor and skip the movie soundtrack for the Original London Cast Recording. I own both. The movie soundtrack is pretty good, but nothing beats the Original London Cast.

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Best Comic Books of 2012

Tuesday Night Movies presents a look back at the best comic books of 2012. These are the books that reminded us in the past year why we’re comics fans. 

Billy says…

Hawkeye– If you are not reading Hawkeye, then you are missing out on Marvel’s best series. Matt Fraction and David Aja show what Purple Arrow does when he’s not on missions with the Avengers. Fraction’s scripts are thrilling and witty. Aja’s artwork is amazing. The way he breaks down the page story-wise is unlike anything being published today. I defy anyone to read issue #1 and not become a fan. I love this series so much that I want a pair of purple Chuck Taylors.
 
The Walking Dead– 2012 was the year where I went from reading The Walking Dead in the collected softcover books to buying the individual issues. The build-up to issue #100 was just too much for me. I used to be able to wait. I can’t anymore. When part 1 of Something to Fear was released in issue #97, I had to read it immediately. Issue #100 was a punch to gut. I love this series so much.
 
Spider-Men– The Spider-Man from the Marvel Universe, Peter Parker, meets his Ultimate Comics counterpart, Miles Morales, in this awesome adventure. Which was the better scene? Peter interacting with Ultimate Gwen Stacey or Ultimate Aunt May getting some more time with Peter?


Uncanny X-Force– Rick Remender, you magnificent bastard. What an end-cap to an amazing series. This series will make you a fan of Deadpool and Fantomex if you aren’t already. Remender’s Uncanny X-Force is an instant classic, and is easily the best X-Men comic to be released in years. When’s the omnibus for this series coming out?

Batman– Scott Snyder and Greg  Capullo are killing it with every issue of Batman. From the Court of Owls to the current Death of the Family story line, Batman is consistently the best book DC is publishing since the beginning of the New 52.
 
Earth 2– When DC relaunched their line of comics in 2011 with the New 52, the Justice Society of America was nowhere to be found. The series Earth 2 launched this year as part of DC’s New 52 Second Wave. It takes place on an Earth in another dimension from the main DC Earth. Green Lantern and Flash are here, but it’s their Golden Age JSA versions. Remember when it was in the news that Green Lantern came out of the closet? That was Earth 2.
Green Lantern– Geoff Johns’s run on Green Lantern has consistently been one of the best comics on the stands every year since 2005. This year saw Johns replace Green Lantern Hal Jordan with the first Muslim Green Lantern from Earth, Simon Baz. Baz is imprisoned by the US government when the ring chooses him as Hal’s replacement. The Justice League hunted him down, leading to one of my favorite sequences of the year:
 
Edison Rex – Edison Rex is a reason to own an iPad. The digital-exclusive series from Monkeybrain focuses on a Lex Luthor-like villain who manages to take out his heroic archenemy and has to figure out what to do next. And each issue is only $0.99! It’s a bargain for this level of quality!
Daredevil– If you told me two years ago that Daredevil would be one of my favorite comics, I would have rolled my eyes so hard that I might have suffered from a detached retina. But man, Mark Waid, Chris Samnee and Paolo Rivera have made this such a fun read, month in and month out. I love the new take on Daredevil’s radar sense. The art is stellar and the writing is great as well. This is Marvel’s best currently published title not named Hawkeye.

John Romita Amazing Spider-Man Artist Edition– I love Spider-Man. I love the art of John Romita. On the Wednesday this book was released, the staff of my LCS and I stood around trying our best not to drool on the pages as we flipped through this book. It is so, so pretty. I highly recommend buying a copy. The black and white art is reproduced in full color so that you can see every blue line, white out and editorial note on the page. IDW is coming out with an Amazing Spider-Man Gil Kane Artist’s Edition in 2013. Expect that to appear on my list at the end of 2013.

 
Nick says…
 
When it came time to make a “top 10 comics” list from this year, I ran into a slight problem: while I read a ton of stuff in 2012, a lot of it was not actually released this year – I re-read a few favorite series, finally got around to reading books I’d had for a long time, discovered a few things that were “new to me” but not anyone else, etc. So, with that in mind, I decided to put together a list of my favorite comic book related things from this year – some are comics, some are books, some are movies…but it’s all stuff I liked, and it all was released in the last 12 months. In no particular order:
Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja – Last year’s unexpected hit for Marvel was definitely Mark Waid’s Daredevil series, which is a fun superhero book that exists outside of the company’s current event-driven mentality. Hawkeye is the same kind of book – a well-made series that doesn’t require a reader to know anything other than “Hawkeye is an Avenger, but he does other stuff when he’s not fighting aliens.” Fraction puts as much information as possible into each issue – I’ve never really minded “decompression” in comics, but as single issues get more and more expensive, I appreciate the effort to make each comic stand-alone. As for the art, David Aja is channeling David Mazzucchelli circa Batman: Year One, and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit. The comic is one of the best-drawn on the stands today. If you’re looking for an entry point, issue #7 is out soon, and Fraction will be donating all of his proceeds for the issue to Hurricane Sandy relief – it’s a good opportunity to check out a great book and support a great cause. Times are tough for any comic series without an “X” or “Avengers” in the title; hopefully Hawkeye will stick around for as long as Fraction and Aja want to make it.   
Groo Artist’s Edition, by Sergio Aragones – Aragones is my all-time favorite cartoonist – a few years ago I flew from Charleston, SC to Baltimore, MD just so I could go to a comic convention for one day in order to meet him – so when I heard that IDW was releasing an Artist’s Edition featuring his work, I was ecstatic! I’d resisted the urge to buy past Artist Editions (I knew once I started, it’d be hard to stop) but this one was a no-brainer. This book reprints a four-issue story from the latter days of Groo’s Epic series, along with covers and two page spreads from other issues in the run – all at “actual size!” The only “downside” of the book is that, by this point, Aragones was such a good cartoonist that there’s hardly any “work” that can be seen. There might be some white-out here and there, but for the most part, looking through this book is an exercise in “let’s watch this craftsman be perfect.” But to be honest, that’s fine by me.  
 
King City, by Brandon Graham – Graham’s work may be my favorite discovery of 2012. I had heard a ton of good stuff about King City, and picked the collection up as soon as it was available. There’s a strong Manga influence in his comics, which I don’t have a lot of knowledge about, but there’s just something about his art that really grabs me. Even though he has a very simple line, his pages are just packed with visual information – there’s always something happening in the background. The story is great as well – Graham has taken many different story threads (some of which you wouldn’t think would work together) and created a story that deals with how our memories can influence (and in some case impede) our progress in life – of course, this is wrapped up in action and romance and sex and puns (so many puns!). Image is currently publishing Graham’s new Multiple Warheads series in full color, and I cannot wait to dive into them.
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe – This was released just in time for this year’s New York Comic-Con, and it made for the perfect plane/subway reading for my trip. This book is a must-have for anyone who’s ever loved Marvel Comics; it covers the entire history of the company, providing tons of behind the scenes anecdotes and stories. 
 
My favorite parts of the book were the chapters dealing with the company during the 1970’s – I started reading comics in the 80’s, and have gone back and read a lot of the classic books from the 60’s, but was almost completely unfamiliar with what the company was doing during that decade – it was interesting to see how the company changed as the old guard left and the books were taken over by younger talent. I also loved the chapters dealing with the formation of Image Comics in the early 1990’s. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the history of the comic book industry.

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score, by Darwyn Cooke – This is the third of Cooke’s adaptations of Richard Stark’s classic crime series, and if you’ve read the others, you’ll know what to expect here. I’ve been making my way through the novels over the last few years, and The Score is definitely my favorite of the ones I’ve read so far – who could resist a story about a small group of criminals attempting to knock over an entire town? Cooke’s art keeps getting better and better, and he keeps finding interesting ways to make the books (which are very exposition heavy) into comics. In addition, he keeps most of Stark’s dialogue intact, with only a few tweaks here and there. I feel that Cooke’s involvement in the ill-conceived Before Watchmen debacle overshadowed this book’s release – I say you ignore all of that and pick this up. 
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples – Y the Last Man is one of my two favorite comic series ever, so I was super excited when this new series was announced. Only 8 issues have been published so far, but the book has already exceeded my expectations. Vaughan and Staples have created a sci-fi love story, leaning heavy on the “Romeo & Juliet in space” angle, introducing a huge cast of characters without ever getting too confusing. Staples’ art is fantastic, and she’s designed characters that are completely unlike those that we’ve seen in science fiction in the past, which is no mean feat. I know this list is not in any specific order, but if I was forced to assign numbers, this would be my #1 pick.   
The Dark Knight Rises–  First off, I will state for the record that this movie is a mess. The plot didn’t really make any sense and movie was filled with dei ex machina (in the case of “clean slate,” literally). That said, it was probably the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year, and I’m not just saying that because I have an unnatural love of (almost) all things Batman. One of the weird things about Nolan’s Batman films is that due to the acting talent on display, Batman almost becomes a supporting character in his own movies – but I think that that works – Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine – hell, I don’t usually care about Joseph Gordon Levitt but I loved him here. And I may be one of the few that absolutely loves Tom Hardy’s Bane voice – if I could sound like a jaunty Sean Connery, I would always talk like that. Billy and Bryan were kind enough to let me yammer on about the movie (and Batman) for like 2 hours on their podcast, so I’ll just say: as long as you don’t pay too much attention to the plot, The Dark Knight Rises is a ton of fun.
Hellboy in Hell, by Mike Mignola – Over the last 10 years or so, while Marvel and DC have been turning out endless iterations of phony deaths and “big changes,” Mike Mignola and his colleagues (most often John Arcudi) have been quietly creating the best superhero comics with his Hellboy and B.P.R.D. series. Over dozens of books, Mignola’s been able to craft stories where things change and stay changed, and where “nothing will ever be the same” actually means something. Favorite characters have died, never to be seen again, and cities have been leveled. Mignola took a few years off from drawing the Hellboy books, but Hellboy in Hell marks his return to the drawing board, and while only one issue has been released so far, it is (of course) one of the best looking books on the stands. The series picks up after the shocking events of the Storm & the Fury and allows Mignola to dive right in to what he does best – draw Hellboy punching monsters, and crackin’ wise. I don’t know if the series is necessarily “new reader friendly” (I’ve been reading them all along, so I know what’s happening/who’s who, for the most part), but I recommend giving it a try. Besides – if you like superhero/adventure comics, and you’ve never read Hellboy/B.P.R.D….well, boy, I don’t even know.    
God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls, by Jaime Hernandez – Much like Sergio Aragones, Jaime Hernandez is a cartoonist’s cartoonist. He (along with his brothers) has been making Love & Rockets for 30 years now, and it’s one of the best series in the history of comics. I’m not really a fan of Gilbert’s work, but I’ve fallen hard for Jaime’s comics over the last few years, and this book is a prime example as to why. Most of the story was originally published in the first 2 issues of Love & Rockets: New Stories, but Jaime has added pages, turning this into its own book. The story (sort of) introduces superheroes into the “Locas” universe, and allows Hernandez to focus on Penny Century, along with some of the other characters that have been on the fringes. It’s a pretty light, fun story, and (as usual) is an absolute joy to look at.    

Scott Pilgrim Deluxe Color Editions, by Bryan Lee O’Malley –  Remember when I said that Y the Last Man was one of my two all-time favorite comic book series? Well, this is the other one – I’ve read the original comic series multiple times, and probably watch the movie adaptation every few months. That said, when these color editions were first announced, I was a little hesitant to double-dip – there was never a point when reading the original books that I felt like color was needed. Once I started seeing previews online, however, I knew I’d pick them up – these new editions are just fantastic. Much like the color editions Bone, the colors (by Nathan Fairbairn) add to the story without being overbearing. In addition, this has allowed O’Malley to make subtle changes to the art throughout the books. As an added bonus, there’s also tons of supplementary material in the back. Now that I’ve seen the new versions, the only downside of buying them again is that we have to wait until 2014 to get all six books. 

Dave says…
 
Justice League Dark– When I was a kid I always enjoyed the mystical C to Z list characters. When they would be involved in some sort of team-up with each other I’d wish it was a regular event. A series based on a team of mystic loners seemed always just out of reach. There was a group called the Conclave in the Fate series just after Zero Hour. Though Dr. Mist’s team, The Leymen in Primal Force almost fit the bill, that series was canceled almost as soon as it was started. Geoff Johns gave us the Sentinels of Magic in Day of Judgement but they never were given their own book. It took the horribly entitled; Justice League Dark to bring a team of magic based characters into a team book. I was really excited to read the first issue but the book didn’t live up to what I expected. It felt depressing, slow, and a tad boring. I didn’t read past there until Jeff Lemire took over writing duties with issue #9. I’ve been loving this series since then. If characters like Felix Faust, John Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Black Orchid, Dr. Mist, Tim Hunter, Amethyst, Frankenstein, and Madame Xanadu are you cup of tea, I’d suggest picking it up. 
Jeff and new co-writer Ray Fawkes start a new storyline in January with #15.
 

Batman Inc.– Grant Morrison has been by favorite writer for a long time and this series is one of the many reasons to love his writing. Relaunched a few months after the start of the New 52, this series continues from where Grant left off in his epic batman story he started back in 2007. The new series should be penetrable to new readers but is so much more rewarding if you have been reading from the beginning.

Spider-Men– I got hooked reading the adventures of Miles Morales with his start in his own series. Brian Michael Bendis was doing very interesting this with Miles in the series. This year it seems to have slowed down and with the past few issues being a crossover with  the rest of the Ultimate Marvel Universe I am becoming uninterested. This cannot be said of the limited series Spider-Men where the 616 Spider-Man (Peter Parker) makes his way into the Ultimate Universe to meet Miles. Bendis tells a very touching, action-packed, and heartfelt story here. I came out wanting to read more Peter and Miles adventures. I’d suggest picking this up in trade.

 
Aquaman– I recently was complaining to Billy how All-New X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen was moving too slow for me. I felt like the first three issues of story I could have obtained from looking at the cover of the first issue showing the original X-Men time displaced in our present. I had almost the same complaint when I initially started reading Aquaman with the start of the New 52 except I felt there was too much action. I felt like tore through those books in a couple minutes. As the book as gone on that problem has seemed to dissipated. The story in this book has been great from the beginning. The first arc we meet a new life form from the seas that makes Jaws look like a guppy. And with the second arc series writer Geoff Johns builds on Aquaman’s mythos by giving him a whole team of new characters from his past which all builds to the “Throne of Atlantis” Crossover between Aquaman and Justice League. Johns and Ivan Reis are doing what they did on Green Lantern on Aquaman but ten-fold. These stories are funny, action-packed, gorgeous, and challenge the idea of who people think Aquaman is. Check this book out!
 
The Flash– Month in and month out Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato provide gorgeously written and drawn comics that make the make the reader stop, slow down, and take in the art. The Flash is anything but a quick read. It’s a book that always keeps me guessing and amped for the next issue. The only time I am not completely into this book is when there is a fill in artist. Manapul and Buccellato have such a distinct storytelling style it feels jarring when a fill in artist comes aboard, no matter how good he or she is. All in all this is a series definitely worth reading.

 

Action Comics– As I stated in my review of Batman Inc., I love Grant Morrison’s writing. What is better is I also love Superman and the art of Rags Morales. Grant brings us stories about the early days of Superman’s career. He reinvents much of Superman’s story. He gives it a modern twist and often a heartfelt one. This series starts off as a tale of Superman for the people. The story grows and twists and often requires more than one reading. I’d suggest reading this series in trade or re-read the single issues a lot to get the most enjoyment out of them. I highly recommend it.

The Shade– This 12 issue series should be collected soon because it just wrapped up a few months ago. When James Robinson writes the Shade he is at his best. When James Robinson writes the Shade with top-notch artists like Cully Hamner, Darwyn Cooke, Jill Thompson, and Gene Ha he is even better. The Shade was a character Robinson breathed life into in the Starman series from the late ‘90s. In this series he sends Shade on a globe trotting mission and gives us his origin. I highly recommend this series for anyone who is a fan of James Robinson, Starman, The Shade, Earth 2, JSA, or good comics.

Earth 2– James Robinson is also the scribe on Earth 2. The extremely talented Nicola Scott joins him on the art. Scott brings a unique style to this parallel world. The characters are reinvented from their original Golden Age/Justice Society counter parts with new updated origins. Robinson and Scott are building a diverse world of heroes that has nod to the old. This is a perfect comic for someone who doesn’t want to worry about the rest of the DC Universe because this is a universe unto itself.

Daredevil– Daredevil has been gorgeous, fun, and insightful since the start of the series. Mark Waid has brought a look at Matt Murdock we have not seen in a long time. This series shows how Waid knows how to write to his artist and his character. He is doing something here that will be looked at again and again in years to come.

Wonder Woman– This year Wonder Woman has edged out Daredevil as my favorite book. Brian Azzerello has turned Wonder Woman’s origin on it’s head and made her a much more interesting character. She now has a family of gods and goddesses that act like a crime family. Azzerello’s use of mythology reminds me of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. This series is filled with reveals, twists, and gorgeous art.


Written by Billy Henehan, Nick Doyle and Dave Tomko.

Now it’s your turn. What are your top comics of 2012?