October 16, 2015 by Billy Henehan

Diving in the Deep End of Cosplay

Photographs by Graig Kreindler and David Henehan and @dirkmanning. Written by Billy Henehan

My journey into cosplay has been a slow one. My first cosplay was as the 11^th Doctor. Tweed sports jacket, dress shirt, bowtie, suspenders and skinny jeans? No problem. That’s practically what I wear to work on Fridays. This was my regular cosplay for a few conventions. Fans know what you’re doing, but to anyone on the subway, you look like an average 20 or 30 something Brooklynite. How normal does the 11th Doctor outfit look? I interviewed Mike Tyson at NYCC 2014 in it and nobody batted an eye on how I was dressed, except for the one publicist who said I always dress snappy for interviews.

This year though, I wanted more. I wanted to dress up every day of NYCC and I wanted my cosplay to be more than my usual office wear paired with a sonic screwdriver. So I plotted and planned and ordered maybe one too many spandex outfits.

Here’s a big tip for anyone planning to cosplay to NYCC (or any big convention) next year: order far in advance. The companies that specialize in cosplay get hit hard during convention season, and what might be a 3 week turnaround time for them during the winter becomes a 12-16 week wait when SDCC and NYCC are nearing. I found this out the hard way. I ordered a very high quality Spider-Man suit from The RPC Studio. I was psyched for it to arrive. Sadly, NYCC has come and gone and my suit is still being processed. Bummer, I know. But I don’t blame RPC. I should have ordered sooner and not at the edge of their delivery window.

Marty McFly was my Day 1 cosplay for NYCC. This had many benefits: no mask, plenty of pockets, and Pepsi was giving out the very, very limited edition bottle of Pepsi Perfect from Back to the Future 2 to fans dressed as Marty. When I heard this, I was tempted to abandon my other cosplay plans and dress as Marty every day. Okay, not really a big step from the 11^th Doctor. Dressing as Marty McFly gets you zero second looks on the subway.

Dr. McNinja was my Day 2 cosplay. Dr. McNinja is very easy to put together: black pants, lab coat, ninja mask, prop sword – your whole outfit is one reasonably priced Amazon order. I really thought this outfit would get a lot of love. Clearly I have overestimated the size of Dr. McNinja fandom. The people who did recognize my outfit really loved it; one guy gave me a high-five, but I’m guessing more people though, “I don’t know, anime something.” The amazing thing is, when I stopped by Joe Prado’s table in Artist Alley, he immediately said, “What’s up, Billy?” I WAS IN A FULL NINJA MASK. How did he know? “You have very distinct eyes.” Why, thank you, Joe Prado!

It was on the weekend that I went for the deep dive. Thursday and Friday were the training wheel days. Pants with pockets. Outfits that easily helped me blend in with a few minor changes. Not so on Saturday and Sunday. I went double-Deadpool Saturday and Sunday. I really wanted a Deadpool costume, but Deadpool might be the most overplayed cosplay at conventions, so I decided to dress as Deadpool, but not the standard, Rob Liefeld designed outfit. On Saturday, I dressed as Zenpool, Deadpool’s AXIS-shifted peaceful persona. I even took a picture with Zenpool co-creator Gerry Duggan! He seemed psyched that people were dressing as Zenpool.

On Sunday, I wore what ended up being my most popular outfit of the weekend: Green Lantern Deadpool. A LOT of people stopped to take my picture, I think mainly because the Ryan Reynolds line in the trailer for the upcoming Deadpool movie where Deadpool requests that the costume just not be green, an obvious dig at the Green Lantern movie Reynolds starred in. I had that line thrown at me A LOT on Sunday.

It’s funny, this was a total last minute costume and I wasn’t even sure how good the quality would be. I ordered it from a dirt cheap seller somewhere in Asia on eBay. I just needed something to replace the Spider-Man costume that didn’t look like it was arriving on time. The Green Lantern Deadpool people were great. They rushed my order at no charge and I had my costume the Monday before NYCC. I think I ordered it 10 days earlier. The quality was great. The Green Lantern logo is actually sewn on, it’s not a dye sub. And the price couldn’t be beat. The green boots that I ordered off Amazon were the most expensive part of the costume. The major downside of this costume though was having no pockets. I was constantly worried that someone was going to take my wallet and phone from my backpack. Next year, I need to invest in green Deadpool belt.

UPDATE (December 2015): The Spider-Man costume finally arrived and it is AWESOME. The RPC Studio gets my highest possible recommendation! I can’t wait to wear it at SE: NYC 2016!

April 14, 2015 by Billy Henehan

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 67 – iZombie! Convergence! Archie Vs. Predator?!

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to talk comic books and preview new comics coming out this Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Between Convergence and the quite possibly the oddest crossover in the history of Archie Comics, we have a lot of new comic books to talk about this week.

Plus, Dave and Billy both read iZombie Vol 1 by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred, and give their reviews, plus their thoughts on the pilot episode of the iZombie TV series. If you’d like to play along at home, the guys will be reading iZombie Vol 2 for next week’s episode.

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September 30, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 39

In this episode of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast, Billy and Dave preview new comics coming out on Wednesday, 10/1/14. The guys give their opinions of the Gotham pilot. Billy reviews Batman: Zero Year – Secret City by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Plus, the countdown to NYCC is on!

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October 25, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Brazilian Breakfast Club

This past summer, Bleeding Cool ran a story with the headline Get a Brazilian Breakfast With Ivan Reis and Joe Prado at NYCC. The article talked about an art book called Ícones dos Quadrinhos (Comic Book Icons) being crowdfunded on Catarse. Catarse is like a Brailian Kickstarter. The book sounded cool. It had illustrations by 100 different artists. Each of the artists drew one of their favorite characters from their childhood. One of the support levels included a “Brazilian breakfast” with Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, a hardcover copy of Ícones dos Quadrinhos and sketches from Ivan and Joe in the book. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Not only are Ivan and Joe two of my favorite artists in the comics industry, but at NYCC 2012 I helped thwart a big art theft at their tables. Also, for years I’ve wanted a Hal Jordan sketch by Ivan, but have never been able to get one. Here was my chance!

I jumped to support the project. The Brazilian Breakfast option was limited to 6 people, and I figured that with Bleeding Cool running this story, it would sell out quickly. The price looked steep initially at R$500, but thanks to the magic of exchange rates, R$500 at the time turned out to be only about US$210. I was the first person go for the breakfast option.

When Bleeding Cool posted about the project, it was in its final day of crowdfunding. I figured the breakfast (and sketches!) at NYCC would be too hard to pass up and the other five spots would sell out quickly. Because of this, I was very surprised when I checked back on Catarse throughout the day and saw that no one else had gotten in on what to me was a tremendous deal. Later that day, the crowdsourcing period ended, and I was the only one who had signed for the Brazilian Breakfast.

WHAT?!?

Seriously, how did not one other single person decide to get in on this? I cannot put into words how excited I was. Getting breakfast with Ivan, Joe and 5 other fans would have been cool. But just me? AWESOME.

When I told a friend my news, he asked “What’s a Brazilian breakfast entail?” I said I wasn’t sure. “It sounds like a weird sex act,” he said. “I think you just signed up for a 4-way with these guys,” he added.

Shortly before NYCC , Ivan Freitas Da Costa, the man behind Ícones dos Quadrinhos, got in touch with me to coordinate when and where we’d meet up for the Brazilian breakfast. As it turned out, the Brazilian in Brazilian breakfast referred to the company I’d be in, not the food (also, thankfully, not the sex act). We we agreed to meet at the Market Diner near the Javits Center at 8 AM on Thursday morning, the first day of NYCC. Because they were all operating on a tight schedule, Ivan Freitas Da Costa told me to get to the restaurant by 8 AM sharp. I arrived at 7:45.

Since I was the first one there, I grabbed a table for four. Shortly thereafter, Joe and the two Ivans walked in, along with two other guys. Looking at my four-man booth, I immediately thought we’re going to need a bigger boat. The two other guys turned out to be Daniel HDR and the Brazilain giant from the art theft story from last year, whose real name it is Breno Tamura. I’m glad Breno came to the breakfast, as he had become such a mythical figure in mind from the way he apprehended the thieves last year.

After we moved to a larger booth, sat down and introduced ourselves, I mentioned that I had met Ivan, Joe and Breno last year when I helped stop the theft at their table. The table erupted. Joe Prado exclaimed “I knew I recognized you when I walked in!” Joe, Ivan, Breno and I related the art theft story from our different points of view to the other guys at the table.

Ivan Freitas Da Costa presented me with my copy of Ícones. If I could only use two words to describe this book, they would be gorgeous and huge. The art is printed on thick, high quality paper and really pops off the page. Opposite the art is a text piece by each artist, presented in both Portuguese and English. The book really is big. It’s about the size of a DC Absolute Edition, which definitely helps show off the artwork inside. You can tell just by looking at it that it was a passion project. This book is very limited. If you can get your hands on one, I definitely recommend doing so.

The cover and slipcase to Ícones dos Quadrinhos. This book is gorgeous!

It was cool getting to hang out with all of these artists in such a casual environment. They’re a tight knit group, some of them having known each other for 20 years. Ivan Reis, Joe and Daniel told me the stories about how they each broke into the industry. I didn’t realize that Ivan Reis’s first pairing with Geoff Johns wasn’t at DC, but was at Marvel, during Geoff’s Vison limited series from 2002. It’s amazing to think this iconic pair has been working together for over 10 years now.

During breakfast, Ivan Reis drew a Green Lantern logo on a bottle of Tabasco and signed it. He then reached for the mustard and began doodling on that. Pretty soon, all the artists at the table were drawing comic book character faces on all of the creamers.

After everyone had drawn on something, Ivan Reis handed me a pen and said, “You do one.” I’m no artist, but I managed to draw a half-decent Spider-Man face on a creamer. Ivan Freitas Da Costa took a picture. He posted to Facebook that Ivan Reis was doodling on condiments at the Market Diner. No joke, less than 5 minutes later, two very fan boy looking dudes walked into the diner all wild eyed, spotted our booth and immediately sat in a booth near ours. I leaned over and said, “I think those guys are here for the condiments.”

The Legion of Super Condiments

Ivan, Joe, Ivan, Daniel and Breno are all super cool dudes. There was a lot of laughter at our table during our breakfast on the first morning of New York Comic Con. If you get a chance to meet these guys at a convention, do it. Each of them are awesome.

Ivan Reis signing his Astro Boy illustration in Ícones dos Quadrinhos.

After we finished a very good breakfast (thumbs up to the Market Diner’s Leo Omelette), and got back to chatting, Ivan and Joe each drew sketch for me in my copy of Ícones dos Quadrinhos. I asked Ivan for a Hal Jordan Green Lantern and Joe for a Hal Jordan Black Lantern.

As he was finishing up his sketch, Ivan pulled out a silver pen and began crosshatching in the background. Ivan then said, “3D cover!” We laughed. The two sketches by Ivan and Joe look amazing. They are on opposite pages and mirror each other. Ivan gave his Hal a word balloon that said “Thanks for saving my covers!” and Joe gave his Hal a word balloon that said “Thanks for the save, brother!”

As we left the diner, one of the guys in our group turned back and yelled “Those guys just grabbed the condiments!” Apparently, they didn’t even wait until we were all completely out the door before pouncing. Ivan Freitas Da Costa joked that we’re going to see “Ivan Reis Tabasco” on eBay. With a wry smile, I said, “They didn’t get the Tabasco.” I opened my sport coat to reveal the Tabasco bottle that has the ability to overcome great fear. There were howls of laughter. I’m glad I grabbed the Tabasco bottle on my way out of the diner, but I did feel weird about it. These were the guys whose artwork I stopped from getting stolen last year. Now I was showing off a purloined bottle of Tabasco in front of them.

If you’re the guy who took the Spider-Man creamer thinking it was drawn by Ivan Reis, sorry.

I walked the guys back to their hotel before heading back to Brooklyn to get ready myself. We were still hours away from NYCC officially opening to the public (though there were people lined up at that Javits that drizzly morning at 9 AM waiting for the doors to open at 3 PM). When we made our goodbyes, Joe asked if they’d see me at their tables. I said, “Of course!” I don’t know if you saw it, but the Brazilian artists basically took over the F aisle in Artist’s Alley this year. During the show, I started calling their row Brazil.

It’s funny how fate has linked me to Joe Prado and Ivan Reis over the past twelve months. From the art theft last year to breakfast this year, it feels like things have come full circle. Thank you Joe, Ivan, Ivan, Daniel and Breno. This breakfast really was the perfect start to my NYCC 2013.

Left to right: Ivan Freitas Da Costa, Daniel HDR, Joe Prado, Billy Henehan, Ivan Reis, Breno Tamura

January 15, 2013 by Billy Henehan

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!

October 7, 2012 by Billy Henehan

Friday at NYCC 2012 Planning Guide

Friday is the first full day of NYCC. If you can get out of your day job, I highly recommend going on Friday. You won’t face anything near the large crowds of Saturday and you’ll have much more programming options than Thursday. Friday is the sweet spot on the NYCC baseball bat.

10:00 AM – 7:00 PM Celebrity Autographing
If you’re interested in meeting Adam West, Burt Ward, Tom Felton, Sean Astin, Peter Davison, Lou Ferrigno or Christopher Lloyd, they’ll all be signing autographs today. Costs vary by person. For example, Batman’s signature is $10 more than Robin’s.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM CBLDF: The History of Comics Censorship
Attention all Media Studies majors!

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Wondrous Worlds, Fractured Futures: Speculative Fiction and Image Comics
A few years ago, I saw Brian K. Vaughn speak with JMS, Colleen Doran and Jeff Smith at a panel called World Building. Brian K. Vaughn quipped that the comics he was writing both took place in New York City, so he wasn’t sure why he was invited to the panel. His new comic with Fiona Staples, Saga, takes place far, far away from New York City. This is a can’t miss panel for fans of what Image Comics is doing right now.

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Marvel: House of Ideas
The focus of this panel is on Marvel’s digital comics offerings: Infinite Comics, Marvel.com and the Marvel mobile app. Oddly, Mark Waid will also be on this panel. Not sure what that’s about. Maybe a digital Daredevil exclusive?

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM Comics, Hollywood – What Creators Need to Know
Thinking about turning that spec script you wrote into a graphic novel? Thinking about trying to sell your graphic novel as a feature? This may be the panel for you.

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Marvel Now! All-New X-Men
Rick Remender is going to be here talking Uncanny Avengers. That’s really all you need to know, right?

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM How to Get a Job in the Video Game Industry with Capcom
Go to this and get your girlfriend/mom/loan officer off your back about not paying your bills and spending all your money on video games.

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Adam West and Burt Ward Spotlight
I picture this being very similar to the famous William Shatner Star Trek convention skit from SNL.

12:15 PM – 2:45 PM The 501st Legion’s “Shoot a Trooper”
If you’ve been to NYCC before, you’ve no doubt spotted at least a few members of the 501st Legion. They’re the guys in the very well done Stormtrooper costumes. These guys are super fans. They’ve even been incorporated into the Star Wars expanded universe and had an action figure made after them. They’re showing their softer side at NYCC this year: for a small donation to charity, you can take shots at Troopers with a Nerf gun.

12:30 PM – 1:20 PM – Tom Felton Photo Op
4:35 PM – 5:35 PM – Tom Felton Photo Op
To Do List: 1. Buy a Slytherin robe. 2. Pick up a twig. 3. Head to Tom Felton Photo Op.

1:20 PM – 1:45 PM – Sean Astin Photo-Op
Wear your Hobbit feet and your Notre Dame jersey.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Oni Press – RevolutiONIzing Comics
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Marvel NOW! Join the ReEvolution
What’s the theme of NYCC 2012? Fun with the word revolution! Oni wins this round for working their company name into it.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Inside “The Batmobile”
On the down side, they didn’t work the word revolution in this title. On the upside, you get to see the entire one hour documentary on The Batmobile before anyone else. I will probably be here. If I am, I will definitely have a review of it up soon after NYCC. Going to this kind of derails my “Draco and Me” photo idea though.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Digital Price Showdown
Maybe you want to debate how much digital comics should cost. Or maybe you want
to see a bunch of people yell at the co-founder of comiXology that digital comics cost too much.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Vertigo: A View From the Cutting Edge of Comics
American Vampire and Fables are two of the best comics being published every month. Both American Vampire writer Scott Snyder and Fables writer Bill Willingham will be on hand for this panel.

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Grant Morrison Spotlight
News on Multiversity, please?

1:45 PM – 2:40 PM Stan Lee Photo Op
One of my regrets from this year’s Pittsburgh Comic Con was not springing for the Stan Lee Photo Op. Sure, the background screen that Froggy uses couldn’t be tackier, but a picture with Stan Lee would be a very cool souvenir from this year’s NYCC.

2:15 PM – 3:30 PM Writing to be Drawn (Comic Book Writing and Art Tutorial)
If you didn’t get enough Bill Willingham at the Vertigo panel, he’ll be here with Jerry Ordway, Cully Hammer and Michael Oeming to talk about the specific methods of storytelling in comics. Learn how to effectively break down a script and the ins and outs of story flow.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM DC Comics: Green Lantern – The Third Army Arrives
With Green Lantern, Geoff Johns is writing one of the most consistently best comics on the market. On the one hand, I’m excited to see some preview artwork and hear Geoff talk about the title. On the other hand, I feel like this panel is going to mostly be cryptic announcements from Johns and non-answers to questions from the audience. I’m not complaining about that. I’d hate for this story line to get spoiled at a con panel. I’m setting the over/under of number of people dressed as Guardians of the Universe at 1.5.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM VALIANT: The Future of VALIANT
I was a huge Valiant fanboy the first go-around. In fact, I stuck on the Valiant train way too long. On the upside, it meant I was one of the lucky few reading Quantum and Woody. On the downside, I also read The Visitor. There were rumors for years of a Valiant comeback. Now that it’s finally here, it’s almost hard to believe it’s actually happening. According to the listing, everyone in attendance gets a special door prize. Gold books, anyone?

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Skybound On The Rise
Skybound is the current jewel in the Image crown. If you have a bad case of Kirkmania, get yourself here, stat!

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Robert Kirkman Autographing at the Image Booth
Don’t show up to this line at 4 PM. With the popularity of all things The Walking Dead, the line will be capped by that point. I’d say to get there by 3:15 at the latest…which means leaving the Skybound panel early. Hello, Catch-22.

4:30 PM – 6:30 PM Carrie Fisher Autographing
I met Carrie Fisher a few years ago at a Big Apple Con. Childhood dream fulfilled. Now’s your chance!

5:15 PM – 6:15 PM Terry Pratchett Meet and Greet
According the NYCC website, Terry Pratchett won’t be signing anything, but will be handing out pre-signed book plates. BUT MY COPY OF GOOD OMENS IS ALREADY SIGNED BY NEIL GAIMAN AND IT NEEDS TERRY PRATCHETT’S AUTOGRAPH!

6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Carrie Fisher Photo Op
Keep it clean, gentlemen.

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Be a Comic Book Retailer!
Don’t go to this panel if you’ve ever been talked into buying a time share. With a shrinking market and an ever increasingly move to digital, this seems like an equally bad idea.

6:30 – 7:30 PM Robot Chicken
Last year’s Robot Chicken panel was my favorite panel of NYCC 2011. Don’t miss this panel. Unless you have no need for joy in your life, then by all means, miss this panel. I am half hoping, half dreading that the pothead who sat near me last year who cackled at everything that was said sits near me again.

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM CollegeHumor Live at New York Comic Con
I love comics, sketch comedy and stand-up. I can’t think of one reason why I would miss this.

9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Steampunk 101
If you buy a top hat, goggles and a velvet topcoat, you can proceed directly to Steampunk 102.

Written by Sarv, who likes us on Facebook. You should like us on Facebook too.

September 20, 2012 by Billy Henehan

Green Lantern (On The Couch 2012 #9)

As summer 2011 was approaching, with its hoard of superhero movies, I was excited for Green Lantern most of all. I am a huge fan of what Geoff Johns has done with Green Lantern since he started writing the character in 2004. When I found out that he was on set during the production of the movie, I had a feeling that we were in store for something amazing.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the Green Lantern movie puttered out before I saw it in the theater. It got so many bad reviews from critics and people on the street that I figured this would be DC’s version of Daredevil. The only people I know who like this movie are the guys who work at my local comic book store, one of whom has worn a Green Lantern ring since before I met him AND has a Green Lantern tatoo. So maybe he’s a little biased.

Basically, I missed it last summer and wasn’t that upset about it.
Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim are two of the writers on the Green Lantern screenplay, and Berlanti produced the movie, so I’m shocked how flat and boring the whole thing felt. Usually at the end of a Greg Berlanti production, the response in my house is “Damn you, Berlanti,” but it’s meant as a compliment for his uncanny ability at tugging on our heartstrings and manipulating our emotions. Here, any exclamations of “Damn you, Berlanti,” would just be about delivering a disappointing movie.

I think they should not have had Parallax be the main villain. Parallax bogged down the movie with cuts that had to be made to what it was doing in space, which was usually making an angry face. We could have done without all the exposition as to what Parallax was. These wasted minutes in long movie. Instead, the story should have been borrowed almost whole form from Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’s excellent Green Lantern: Secret Origin comic book.

There were positives about the movie. I thought that Peter Sarsgaard was great as Hector Hammond. I think the movie in general would have been better off focusing on Hammond as the main villain, and Sinestro as Hal’s rival/future nemesis. But instead, I’m stuck on my couch wondering why we keep cutting back to a space cloud with a pouty face.

Go away, angry space cloud. You’re bringing down our green vibe.

Mark Strong was great as Sinestro. If I were involved in the production of this movie, my note would read, “More Mark Strong as Sinestro, less pouty space cloud Parallax.”

This is either Mark Strong, or Sinestro found his way into the bleed, made it to our earth and is hiding out in Hollywood. Crafty, Sinestro, very crafty.

In the past, I’ve liked Blake Lively in the roles I’ve seen here in. But while her last name might be Lively, she delivers a completely wooden, flat and basically DOA portrayal of Hal Jordan’s love interest Carol Ferris in Green Lantern. Carol Ferris is woman with a lot of spirit, but Blake Lively sounded like she was half asleep and reading off cue cards.

Blake Lively could have been replaced with a Blake Lively cutout to the same effect.

I still wish Nathan “Captain Tight Pants” Fillion was cast as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, but at least we got him as Hal Jordan’s voice in Green Lantern: First Flight.

The best part of the Green Lantern movie is the scene after the credits start rolling. I liked that scene so much that I almost forgave the rest of the movie for being such a disappointment. Almost.

October 2, 2011 by Billy Henehan

Summer’s End and the Movies I Missed

Summer’s over, and with it so is the summer blockbuster movie season. I caught some of the big ones, but managed to still miss out on movies that should be hitting us on DVD and Blu-Ray in time for the holidays. Movies like…

Green Lantern

How did I miss it? I love comic books. I mean I LOVE comic books. When it was announced that Green Lantern, currently one of my favorite comics, was coming to the big screen I was psyched. I thought they went with the wrong Two Guys & A Girl alum when they cast Ryan Reynolds over Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan, but that didn’t sway my excitement. But then the movie came out. And the best review I heard of it was “It’s nowhere near as bad as Transformers 2.” That doesn’t inspire confidence.

Will I See It? I don’t know. I haven’t seen a lot of the less than great comic book movies out there (Fantastic Four 2, Ghost Rider, Punisher: No Mercy). But I’m more likely to see this than any of those.

Captain America

How did I miss it? Like I said, I love comic books. And I’ve been buying Captain America every month since writer Ed Brubaker started on the title a few years ago. Growing up, the Mark Gruenwald era of Captain America was one of my favorite comics. So how did I miss this movie? At the beginning of the summer, one of my closest friends complained about suffering from superhero movie fatigue. I thought he was nuts. But then Captain America came out and while it looked cool, I just didn’t have the desire to see it. After X-Men and Thor, maybe I OD’d on comic book movies. Or maybe Green Lantern just killed the idea of seeing a superhero movie for me this summer.

Will I see it? No doubt I’ll catch in on DVD. It does look good. I actually would have liked to see this in the theater.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

How did I miss it? Better question, how did anyone not miss this movie? After Transformers 2: Revenge of Fallen, anyone who went back to the theater to see Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon is like someone who goes back to their lying, abusive spouse. You know it’s a bad idea walking in and it’s not going to end well. Can we stop paying Shia LaBeouf to further ruin our beloved 1980s franchises?

Will I see it? Only if I lose a bet.

Horrible Bosses

How did I miss it? It was either Horrible Bosses or Midnight in Paris when we went to Reel Pizza in Bar Harbor this year. I was really happy with Midnight in Paris, so I can’t complain about missing Horrible Bosses. Sadly, once we got back from Bar Harbor, it was no longer playing at my neighborhood theater.

Will I see it? Definitely. Just looking at this poster makes me laugh.

The Help

How did I miss it? I heard the movie was great. I heard the book was great. I even bought the book for my mom for her birthday. I just wasn’t that excited for it.

Will I see it? I might read the book first, but yes, I’m sure I’ll catch it at some point, either on DVD or TBS.

Crazy Stupid Love

How did I miss it? These large ensemble cast romantic comedies that have become popular over the last few years have made a lot of money for the studios, but have pretty much been movies worth avoiding, so I wasn’t excited to see Crazy Stupid Love despite Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone being in it.

Will I see it? After it was released, I heard it was good. So…yes.

Have you seen a movie that was awesome this summer that I haven’t blogged about? Let me know, as I’m always on the hunt for something good to see. Likewise, if you saw something I should avoid, I’d appreciate the warning.

December 2, 2010 by Billy Henehan

At The Theater #37: 127 Hours

Did you like the self-mutilation in Black Swan, but weren’t really into the lesbian make-out scene? Then Fox Searchlight has the movie for you: 127 Hours!
I’m only kind of joking here. 127 Hours is a very graphic movie. But you have to expect that going into a movie about Aron Ralston, the hiker who had to cut off his own arm to save his own life.

The first 20 minutes of 127 hours show the beauty of nature. It will make you want to visit your nearest national park and take in the natural splendor that our country is full of. How awesome is that underground pool that James Franco brings Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn to?

The next hour and 15 minutes are all about how nature is something to be feared. Because nature will fuck you from behind the first chance it gets. And it will donkey punch you while it’s doing it. And it won’t call you the next day.

It will be hard to go hiking and not think of this.

I wondered how Danny Boyle was going to keep the audience’s interest up throughout the movie. Aron gets trapped fairly early on and his only companions are a couple of ants and his own hallucinations. But Danny Boyle and James Franco did a great job. I was never bored during 127 Hours. Boyle used the perfect mix of problem solving on Ralston’s part for getting out of his situation and flashbacks to Ralston’s life leading up to this moment. And Franco was wonderful as Ralston, immediately portraying him as both likable and fallible, basically making him human. I think it’s an easy pick for both Boyle and Franco to receive Oscar nominations for 127 Hours.

I was really happy to hear Plastic Bertrand’s Ca Plane Pour Moi during the movie. Everyone needs this French punk song on their iPods.

Download it.

Little things stand out. I thought it was really cool that Danny Boyle used the distinctive whirring sound made by the tape loader in Canon DV video cameras whenever James Franco turned on his video camera. I know that sound all too well from owning one of them. Boyle also used the same on-screen icons from Canon’s camera when we were seeing things from Ralston’s video camera’s point of view.

Aron Ralston is amazing. 127 Hours is a testament to the huge amounts of hope and willpower Aron had to have in order to survive being trapped in the wilderness on his own. Even when his situation was at its bleakest, he never gave up. The guy is the epitome of willpower. Forget Hal Jordan. Aron Ralston should be the Green Lantern of Earth.

Geek to English translation: Green Lantern’s power ring is powered by his own willpower.

The most shocking part of the movie isn’t when James Franco does what you knew all along was coming, namely getting to the business of removing his own arm, it’s at the very end, when it’s shown that the real Aron Ralston is still at it doing hard hikes in the wilderness after all that he went through. He’s even fitted his stump arm with an awesome looking claw tool for digging in ice. I broke my wrist a couple of years ago snowboarding and never put on snowboarding boots again. Maybe I should rethink that.

Bad-Ass.

I believe there are five lessons to take away from 127 Hours: 1. Hike with a buddy. 2. Return phone calls, especially from your mom. 3. Spend an extra five minutes looking for your Swiss Army Knife. 4. Never give up. 5. When you fall down, not matter how hard, get back up and live life on your own terms.

May 4, 2010 by Billy Henehan

At The Theater #17: Paper Man

While I didn’t see Paper Man at the Tribeca Film Festival, it is a Tribeca Film Festival film that I saw while the festival was running. We made it back to Brooklyn from our free Snow Men screening with time to spare to catch the 9:30 Saturday night screening of Paper Man at Brooklyn Heights Cinemas. Woo-hoo! Double feature!

I probably would have liked Paper Man less if I hadn’t seen Greenberg. While watching Paper Man, I couldn’t help but think “This is what Greenberg would be like if that movie wasn’t so annoying.” Similar to Greenberg, Paper Man is about a man with mental issues and without social skills who finds himself trying to get by in a new environment. Greenberg has an awkward relationship a personal assistant played by Greta Gerwig. Paper Man’s Richard Dunn, played by Jeff Daniels, has an awkward friendship with a local high school student played by Emma Stone. Greenberg vents his frustrations to his English best friend who didn’t talk much. Dunn vents all his frustrations to his imaginary best friend named Captain Excellent, a superhero played by Ryan Reynolds. In every one of these match-ups, Paper Man wins. But then again, being better than Greenberg isn’t that much of a compliment.

I wasn’t excited about Ryan Reynolds being cast as Green Lantern Hal Jordon in the upcoming Green Lantern movie. Out of all the stars of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, I thought Nathan Fillion would have been the much better choice as Hal Jordan. Besides looking like Hal Jordan, Fillion proved he can do outerspace action in Sci-Fi’s short-lived Firefly.After seeing Ryan Reynolds here, I’m more excited than I was before about Reynolds as Green Lantern. The guy can carry himself like a superhero. Though the costume designer in Paper Man seems to have borrowed so much from Miracleman for Captain Excellent that I kept expecting him to yell out “Kimota!”

Never let your imaginary friend drive, even if he is a Super Friend.

The best part of Paper Man is Emma Stone explaining how easy it is to make soup. She explains that soup is the easiest thing to make, because you just take all the things you have lying around that aren’t maybe in tip-top shape anymore and instead of throwing them in the garbage, cook them in some chicken broth and you’ve got soup. Hmm, that sounds less appetizing than how she described it.

I’m really glad I didn’t pay $16.50 + $3.50 to see this movie. There’s an important lesson to be learned from this weekend. Very few movies are probably worth what Tribeca Film Festival charges for tickets. You’re better off waiting until they make it to your theater or to Netflix. That said, in a little less than a year I’ll once again be anticipating the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Family Festival coming to town.

Tuesday Night Movies

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